.STUDIES IN EUROPEAN POLITICS BY MOUNTSTUART E. GRANT DUFF MEMBER FOR THE ELGIN DISTRICT OF BURGHS ^ : 'I' V ■ 1 I i- EDINBURGH EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS 1866 /3^S-t- \ \ ADVEETISEMENT. The seven Chapters which form this volume were, in their original shape, contributed as articles, during the last three years and a half, to the North British Re- view, the National Revieio, and Frasers Magazine. They are now reprinted, by the kind permission of the conductors and proprietors of those periodicals. The thii'd, which is from the North British, and the seventh, from Fraser, having appeared quite re- cently, are hardly at all altered. To the first and second, also from the North British, considerable addi- tions have been made ; while the two German papers, which were published in the National in 1863 and 1864, are very greatly altered and enlarged; less, however, than the sixth, the nucleus of which w^as a paper in Fraser of March 1863. All the seven articles were based upon some per- sonal acquaintance with the countries to which they refer, as Avell as on a good deal of reading ; and warm thanks are due to many foreign friends for information and criticism. VI ADVERTISEMENT. Undertaken primarily for the \rater's o^vn instruc- tion, and as part of a scheme of study, these articles were "studies" in the most literal sense of the term, and they are now republished in the hope that they may abridge the labour of other persons engaged in similar pursuits. Should this turn out to be the case, the present series will probably be followed by a second, some of the materials of which have already been collected. CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. SPAIN. PAGE Increased facility of Spanish travel ... 1 Different classes of travellers in Spain .... 1 Political travellers . . 1 Books recommended to them 2 The constitution of 1812 . 4 The reign of Ferdinand . 5 Accession of Queen Isabella 5 Commencement of the civil war 5 The Estatuto Keal . . 6 Mendizabal ... 7 Isturiz and Galiano . . 7 Mutiny of La Granja . . 7 Constitution of 1837 . . 8 Convention of Vergara . 9 Conduct of the Queen-mother 1 Revolt of Barcelona . . 10 Regency of Espartero . 1 1 Unsuccessful rising at Pamplona 1 2 Coalition against Espartero, and his fall ... 13 Transition ministry of Lopez 13 Olozaga and the queen . 14 Gonsalez Bravo . . .14 Narvaez and the constitution of 1845 ... 15 The Spanish marriages . 16 Cabinet of Narvaez and Sar- 'torius . • . .16 1848 at Madrid . . 16 Ministry of Bravo-Murillo . 1 7 Iklinistry of Sartorius . 1 7 Pronunciamento and Revolu- tion of 1854 . . 18 The Constituent Cortes . 19 Mmisterial crisis . . 20 O'Donnell in power . . 20 PAGE Reactionary government of Narvaez . . .21 Ministerial changes . . 21 O'Donnell and the " Union- Liberal" . . .21 The war with Morocco . 22 The fall of O'DonneU . 24 Short-lived ministries . 24 The Narvaez cabinet of 1864 25 The troubles of 1865 . 26 The present administration 27 Views of I\Ir. Buckle on Spain 28 The Spanish monarchy . 29 The existing constitution . 29 The ]\linistry of Grace and Justice . . .30 The Ministry of the Interior 32 The Ministry of Public Welfare 34 Material revival of Spain . 35 Railways, roads, foreign trade, etc 35 The Ministry of Finance, Spa- nish credit . . .39 Sale of church property . 41 The Ministry of War . 42 The Spanish soldier . . 42 The Ministry of Marine . 44 The Ministry of the Colonies 45 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs 46 Parties in Spain . . 47 The newspaper press . . 47 Contemj)orary literature . 49 Education . . .51 State of religion . . 54 Protestantism . . .56 The dynasty . . .60 The present and future of Spain . . . .61 Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTEE 11. RUSSIA. PAGE Western European opinion on Russia . . . .65 It8 elements . . .65 Clarke — Custine — Presumptu- ous foreign policy . . 65-6 Alexander I. . . .66 Wliat tlie HolyAlliance really was 67 Congress politics . . 68 Last days of Alexander I. . 69 Early dangers of the reign of Nicholas ... 69 Tlie Crimean war . . 70 Death of Nicholas, and break- uj) of his system . . 71 Alexander II. . . .71 Period of fermentation . 71 The Russian peasants . 72 a. The Odnodvortzi . 72 b. Tlie Cossacks . . 72 c. The free labourers . 73 d. Tlie foreign colonists . 74 e. The crown peasants . 74 f. The peasants of the apan- ages ... 74 g. The peasants of the J 7YHf?65 74 h. The peasants of the crown establishments . 75 i. Tlie Yamschiki . . 75 j. The serfs proper . 75 M. Nicholas Tourgueneff . 75 Tlie Russian commune . 77 The pers(Mial serfs . . 81 History of the emancipation project . , .81 The i)r(>clamation of eufriinchise- ment .... 83 M. Milutine . . . 83-4 Possible effects of the emanci- pation . . . 85-6 Gathering in London in the spring of 1861 . . 87 News arrives of the first colli- sion at Warsaw . . 87 PAGE 87 The Polish question . Poland under Alexander I. . 88 Poland under Nicholas . 88-9 Wielopolski, Andre Zamoyski 89 The Agricultural Society . 90 The year 1863 . .91 The conscription . . 91 Difficulties of the Polish ques- tion .... 92 The religious element in the insurrection . . .95 The venerable feud of the "FQioque" ... 95 The Greek Church . .95 Its wide extent and great power . , . .96 Its influence on the peasantry 96 Its art and its music . . 97 Its want of learning . . 97 Reforms which it recpiires . 97 The Dissidents . . 99 Schedo - Ferroti's book — La Tolerance, etc. en Russie . 99 Tlie Greek and Anglican Churches . . .101 England and Russia — Have they anything to fear from each other? . , .102 Russia in Central Asia . 102 Our policy in Asia should be one of strict alliance . 103 Constantinople and the Eastern question . . 103-4 Russia in Germany ! . 105 Pansclavism . . .105 Extract from Chamiakoff . 106 Russia strong for defence but weak for aggression . 107 Circassia . . .109 Russian finance . .109 Russian jjarties . .109 Constitutionalism in Russia 110 Herzen and the KoJolcol . 112 CONTENTS. IX PAGE Democratic basis of Russian society , . .113 The Russian nobility . 113 The Tchinovniks . . 114 Russian law . . .115 Russian literature . . 116 Russian journalism . . 117 The universities . .118 Education . . ,119 PAGE Uncertainties of the future . 120 Events of the last twenty months . . .121 L'Echo cle la Presse Russe . 125 Milutine in Poland . .127 M. N. Tourgueneff on the Polish land question 127-31 Results of the present reign . . . .131-2 CHAPTEE III. AUSTRIA. all character of arransements in Provisional political Austria . . .133 Ciitical state of that empire 133 Books on Austria . . 134-6 The modem history of Austria begins ^vith Joseph II. . 136-7 Leopold II. . . . 137-9 The SYSTEM . . .140 The Emperor Francis .141-2 Prince Mettemich . . 142-4 The Greek insurrection . 145 End of the diplomatic period 145 Himgary in 1825 . .146 The Bohemians . . 147 The Greek revolution . 148 The Polish struggle of 1831 148 The SYSTEM to the death of the Emperor Francis . . 149 Decline of Metternich's in- fluence . . .150 The Emperor Ferdinand . 150 The Triumvirate . . 151 TheTyror . . .152 Hungarian grievances . 152 First appearance of Kossuth 153 Stephen Szechenyi . . 153 Transylvanian agitations — Wesselenyi . . .154 Croatia . . . .155 Hungarian parties and poli- tics . . . .156-7 The 1st of March 1848 . 158 General disaffection . . 159 The Galician massacres . 160 Occupation of Cracow . 161 The 13th of March at Vienna 163 The laws of 1848 in Hun- gary .... 163 The Hungarian war and its results . . .164-5 Schwartzenberg and Bach .166-7 The Bach system and the re- action . . . 167-73 Fall of M.Bach . .173 The strengthened council of the Empire, May 1860 The October diploma Count Goluchowski Baron Nicholas Vay M. Schmerling . The patent of February 1861 The Hungarian Diet meets . The Hungarian solved . The Schmerling tion 173 174 175 176 177 177 178 Diet is dis- . 179 administra- 180-1 The three letters from Pesth 182-3 Deak .... 184 Retirement of M. Schmerling 185 The SejDtember manifesto . 186 Vienna in September 1865 . 187 The autimm of 1865 in Austria {note) . . . .188 CONTENTS. Ditticiilties of Austria . Till' cnminercial treaty The nationalities Venetia . Geniiany and Austria . PAGE I PAGE 180-90 I Austria and the Eastern ques- 191 ! tion . . . .197 . 193 Austria and Poland . .198 194-5 ; The future . . .199 195-6 1 The threatened war . .200 CHAPTEE IV. PKUSSIA. Unattractiveness of Prussian jx.litics .... 201 Recent history of Prussia . 201 Four well-marked periods . 202 Deatli of Frederick William III 202 Frederick William IV. . 203 1840-47 . . . .204 Tlie " Historical" school . 205 The " Vereinigte Landtag" 205-6 1848 in Berlin . 206-10 Gains of the revolutionary period .... 210 Commencement of the reaction 210 Mauteiltlel . . .211 Retirement of the democratic j.arty . . . .211 Tlie constitution . .212 Tlie crisis of 1850 and Olmiitz 212 The reaction continues . 213 Staid, (lerlacli, and the king 215-16 Viiicke . . . .217 The Prussian war and the Crown Prince . .218 Violence of the reaction . 220 l*o]»ular education in Prussia 221 Illness of the king . . 222 Regency with full powers . 222 T\n'. new gcn'einnient . . 222-6 Character of the regent . 226 The coronation at Kiinigsberg 226 The military (juestion . 227 Re-ftj>iK.'ttmnce of the democratic |Mirty as the Oenuan i)arty of progresH . SS*^ Its manifesto . . .229 Constitution of the new parlia- ment . * . . . 229 Leading liberal politicians . 230-1 The military question . 231 Resignation of ministers and dissolution . . .231 The Von der Heydt cabinet 231 The new parliament . . 232 Vincke and Sybel . '. 232 M. von Bismarck-Schonhausen 233 His history and character . 234-5 Quarrel between the House and the ministers — prorogation 236 Press ordinances . .236 The speech of the Crown Prince at Dantsic . .237 Dissolution and new parlia- ment .... 238 Death of Frederick VII. of Denmark . . .238 The Schleswig-Holstein ques- tion becomes dangerous . 239 M. Bismark and the Lower House .... 239 The Danish war . .240 The autumn of 1865 . .241 The short session of 1866 . 241 Ditliculties of Prussian Liberals 242 The army . . . .243 Tlie Feudal pai-ty . .244 Mecklenburg . . . 245 The situation in the spring of 1866 . . 246-9 Tlie future . . 250-1 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER V. THE GERMANIC DIET. 252 252 253 PAGE Distinction between a federa- tive state and a confedera- tion of states . Germany is the latter — a Staaten-Bund not aBundes- Staat .... The Holy Koman Empire . The Confederation of the Rhine .... 254 The negotiations of 1814 255-7 The Federal Act . 257-8 The Final Act . . . 259 The Ministerial Conferences of 1820 and 1834 . . 260 Plans of Federal reform . 260 The Vor-Parlament . .261 The Frankfort Parliament . 261 The League of the Three Kings and the " Union" . .262 The Gotha party . .263 The Interim at Frankfort . 263 Saxony and Hanover secede from the "Union". . 264 The Erfurt Parliament . 264 The threatened war of 1850 265 Ascendancy of Nicholas . 265 Fall of Radowitz and the "Union" . . .266 The Dresden Conferences . 266 PAGE Elation of Prince Schwartzen- berg .... 266 France, England, and Russia interfere . . .266 The Confederation as it is . 267 The Diet. . . 268-76 The Federal army . ,270 Austria and Prussia . .270 The minor German States {note) . . . 272-6 Plans of Federal reform . 276 The National- Yere in . .277 The Duke of Saxe-Coburg . 278 Official steps for Federal re- form . . . 279-80 Count Bismark's recent pro- posal .... 281 281 282 283 284 284 285-6 The three Ideas The " Great-German" Idea The " Trias" Idea The " SmaU-German" Idea The threatened war . German unity . Estrangement between land and Germany Its cause — the Holstein imbroglio Better hopes for the future . Eng- Schleswig- 287 287 288 CHAPTER VI. HOLLAND. Physical character of the Netherlands . .289 Contrast of their ancient and modem condition . . 290 Wonderful achievements of the Dutch . . .290 The comic side of Holland . 290 Books on Holland . 291-2 The modern history of Hol- land begins with the French Revolution . . .292 Creation of the kingdom of the United Netherlands . 293 Xll CONTENTS. I'AGE Four pericKls — 1. 1815 to 1830. 2. 1830 to 1840. 3. 1840 to 1848. 4. 1848 to the present time 293 The Dutch royal family . 294 Achievements of the fourth periml .... 294 Life and character of Thor- hecke . . . 294-5 Tlie " April movement" . 296 Steady jjrogi-ess . . .297 Holhind is in advance of every country in Europe in two departments of national life. These are — a. Her ecclesiastical system b. Her elementary educa- tion . . .297 History of theology in Hol- land from the Reformation downwards . . .298 The Synod of Dort . .298 Inlhionce of the Cartesian jdiilosophy . . .299 The eighteenth century in Holland . . 299-300 Van der Palm . . .301 Tlie reaction in Holland 301 BiMi-rdyk .... 301 Da ('(.sta . . . .301 M. Groen van Prinsterer . 302 Tlie high Tory and Confes- sional i.arty . 303-6 312 313 315 315 316 PAGE The Vinet school in Hol- land .... 306 The theologians of Gronin- gen . . . 307-9 Tlie theologians of Leyden 309-11 The " modern" theologians 311 The Walloon churches M. Albert Reville M. Oj^zoomer The theologians of Utrecht Spinoza The Jansenist Church of Hol- land . . .316 Other dissenting sects . 317 Ecclesiastical organisation . 318 Prospects of the Dutch Church 318 Noble reply of the General Synod . . .320 Education in the Netherlands 321 Cuvier's report . . 321 M. Victor Cousin's report . 321 Mr. William Chambers's book 321 Mr. Matthew Arnold's report 322 The "Society for the Public Good" . . .322 Tlie school law of 1806 . 322 The debates of 1857 . 323 M. Jfimile de Laveleye's book 323 Working of the law of 1857 323-5 Dutch secondary education, till lately, very imperfect . 326-7 The Dutch Universities .327-9 Colonial reforms now under dis- cussion . . . 330-1 ("llAPTEE YTT. I)talh of Kini^' JA-opold Mm H'ign deservt-s to he studied ... CiTution of the kiii-iloiM ol thr Unitt'd NrthcrliiMils . CiumeH of its failure KKLC ;iUM. 332 "The Union" . 33 4 The four glorious days 334 332 The Provisional Govern- ment . . . . 334 322 Tlie Congress 335 333 Leopold becomes king 335 CONTENTS. Xlll PAGE Services of Lord Palmerston to Belgium 336 of the new Political life nation .... 336 Liberals and Clericals . 336 Useful measures . . 337 M. Devaux and his article in the Revue Nationale . 338 The De Theux cabinet . 338 The Eogier cabinet . .338 The Nothomb cabinet . 338 The Van de Weyer cabinet 339 M. de Tlieux again First Minister . . .339 Reform meeting at the Hotel de Ville in Brussels . 340 M. Eogier and M. Frere- Orban .... 340 Their programme . . 341 Fall of the July monarchy . 341 The year 1848 in Belgium 342-3 Party conflicts . . .344 Ministry of conciliation . 344 M. de Brouckere . . 345 The Vilain xiiii. and De Decker cabinet . . 346 The Jamais of M. Vilain xiiii 348 The Ej)iscopal aggression . 348 The " Loi des Couvents" . 349 Biots .... 350 The kuigs letter . .351 Fall of the ministry . .352 M. Rogier once more in power . . . .352 PAGE Session of 1858 . . 353 New cj[uestions . . .353 Abolition of the Octroi . 354 Commercial treaty with Fran ce 355 Question of Antwerp . . 356 Commercial treaty with Eng- land . . . .356 Abolition of the Scheldt dues 357 Enlightened views on fiscal reform . . . .357 M. Dechamps . . .358 His programme . . 359 The dead-lock of parties . 359 The Encyclical of December 1864 . . . ,360 The session of 1865. . 361 The death of King Leopold 361 In what condition did he leave his country . .362 Moral and material progress 362-3 Recent works on Belgium . 363 The AYalloons and the Flem- ings .... 364 Belgian literature . 365-6 The periodical press . 366-7 Population, pauperism, taxa- tion . . . 367-8 M. Dechamps — his article in. the Revue Gene rale . 368 M. de Laveleye's article in the Revue des Deux Mondes 369 Clericals and Liberals 369-73 Richard Cobden, Roi des Beiges .... 373 France and Belgium . 373-7 PEEFATOEY NOTE. While these sheets have been passing through the press, the diplomatists of three great countries have been engaged, with more or less of zeal, in attempting to preserve the peace of Europe. There seems now little reason to doubt that their efforts have been unsuccessful, and that more than one of the questions, which we have discussed, may be brought to a speedier settlement than any one expected a few months ago. Still, whatever may be the result of the encounters of armies, and however long they may continue, it will be necessary, when the storm has passed away, to remember accurately the position of affairs before its first mutterings began to be heard ; and it is hoped that the present work may not be wholly useless to those who desire to do so. Ere yet, then, the whole face of the Continent is covered with the smoke of battle, let us take one last glance at the seven countries to which this volume is devoted. Spain, fortunate in her isolated position, would have indeed gone out of her way to seek misfortune if she had contrived to become involved in the present xvi PREFATOKY NOTE. European complication. At this moment her govern- ment appears to be making a somewhat more earnest efibrt than usual to put herself right with her credi- tors, and to ol)tain, so to speak, a locus standi in the great money-market of the world. Meanwhile English newspapers are full of reflec- tions upon her doings in the Pacific ; and it is most assm'cdly not our business to justify them, anxious as we are to see tlie rights of commerce, in time of war, ever more and more protected. Nevertheless, we sliould wish that more prominence were given to the Spanish side of the question. All Europe is interested in restraining the petulance of the South American States, whose one bond is an intense jealousy and dislike of the old Continent. Those who imaoine that their ill humour is the fruit of past injuries, and is directed only against Spain, might turn with advan- tage to the extremely interesting essay prefixed by M. Calvo, tlic C'harge d'Afiaires of Paraguay, to his v;ilual)le collection of the Treaties of Latin America. They will there find that England comes in for con- siderably more than her fair share of detestation, and is accused of " intolerable oppression." It is difticult, as any onc^ who pursues the tangled thread of our relations with these promising, but still imperfectly- civilised communities, will readily discover, always to hit tli<^ exact mean between over-severity and weak- ness. Of one thing, however, there can be no doubt, — PREFATORY NOTE. xvii that any interference on the part of Spain in South America, which goes beyond what is absolutely necessary for the protection of Spanish subjects and Spanish commerce on that Continent, is simple mad- ness. If she must play the Quixote, she had much better find vent for her superfluous enthusiasm in another quarrel with the Moors. What secrets may be known to those wonderful persons who telegraph to Mr. Eeuter the contents of autograph letters from the Czar to the Kaiser, we cannot pretend to say ; and it is quite possible that the policy of Eussia in the present crisis may be as evil as we are often told that it invariably is. So far, however, as any information which looks authentic has reached us, the conduct of the Autocrat and his ad- visers has been very fair and loyal. Every one, at least, will admit that we seem to be separated, not by seventeen years, but by whole ages, from the famous proclamation which marks the culminating point of the insanity of Nicholas : — " Nobiscum Deus, audite populi et vincemini, quia nobiscum Deus ! " The Prussian press, as we gather from its faithful exponent in Brussels, is decidedly favourable to peace, and, although watching with great care all that passes on the Danube, is chiefly occupied with internal afiairs, more especially with the new judicial institutions, which came into operation at Petersburg and Moscow in the month of April. These institutions will, we xviii PREFATORY NOTE. trust, be one step more on the road to legal as dis- tinguished from arbitrary government; but large deductions will doubtless have to be made from the enthusiastic observations of the Minister of Justice, who lately declared that the new code of procedure was " ahnost the dernier mot of juridical wisdom/' In the far East we see, by the latest news, that Russia has good cause, not for alarm, but for anxiety. The defeat which her arms lately sustained, at the hands of the Emir of Bokhara, must have been more serious than was at first supposed — so serious indeed as to require that something considerable should be done, in order to recover her lost prestige. We are far from saying, that if Eussia ends by annexing the whole of that part of Tartary which is still independ- ent, it will not be right for us to consider, most seriously, whether there are not some points which we ought to secure as outworks of our Indian Empire. Because we once played, what a brilliant writer has called, " the great game of Central Asia " extremely badly, that is no reason why we should conclude that it will never have to be played at all. Far from neglecting the advance of Eussia towards the South, we til ink we should watch it with the greatest possible attention ; but this should be done in a friendly, not in M hostile s])irit, the ultimate object being, as we have I'lscwlierc suid, to arrive at a mutual understanding "I Asia, an understanding which may, before our PREFATORY NOTE. XIX frontiers, still separated by enormous distances, shall touch each other, be so close as to lead us to feel that each other s neighbourhood is a guarantee against the insurrectionary tendencies of the Mussulman popula- tions in our respective dominions. The worst forms of fanaticism, which we have to dread in India, cannot well be more formidable than the peculiarly-odious type which the religion of the prophet has assumed in Turkistan. In treating of this subject there are two things equally to be deprecated — an excessive indifference to Kussian advance, and a foolish fear of it. We are glad to observe that Mr. Long has taken up the cudgels for Eussia in Calcutta. If his views are a little too favour- able to that power, as we have hinted, they are, we repeat, far nearer the truth than those which have often prevailed in India, and the discussion which he cannot fail to bring about in the press of Bengal, will tend to enlighten public opinion. In suspending for a time the publication of the Moscoiv Gazette, the Eussian government has only carried out the existing press law of the empire, and we cannot attribute any political significance to the course which it has adopted. Its latest appointments, on the contrary, were highly approved of by that journal. Of these the most important was the sub- stitution of Count Tolstoi, as Minister of Public In- struction, for the more liberal Golownine. Count Tol- XX PREFATORY NOTE. stui has taken a very prumiueut part in the direction of ecclesiastical affairs, and his appointment indicates a desire to fall back upon the church for aid against Her- zenism, Nihilism, Polonism, and all the other spectres with which the Russian reactionists think they have a mission to fight. A curious standard of comparison between the -relative enlightenment of the retrograde party, immediately east and west of the Vistula, is afforded by a recent article in the KreiLZ Zeitung, which, while highly approving Count Tolstoi's appointment, and praying for the revivification of the Greek Church, points out that the best way to attain that object would be to grant religious toleration, and this at the very moment when, at least in the western provinces of Russsia, that church is assuming an exclusive and intolerant attitude, by no means in accordance wdth her traditions. The rescript of the Czar, lately ad- dressed to Prince Gagarine, is another symptom of a desii'c to invoke the aid of superstition as a protec- tion against " antisocial machinations." Austria continues her slow progress down the easy slope of Avernus. The war into w^hich she seems as anxious as either of her adversaries to plunge, can bring to her, at least, the satisfactory solution of no one of the questions which have so long tormented htr. She may well di'ive back Victor Emmanuel from the (^)uadrilateral, she may well overbalance by sheer force of numbers the advantage derived by her Ger- PREFATORY NOTE. xxi man foe from that formidable needle-gun, which we are told makes one soldier do the work of three ; but who, that knows the forces now at work in Europe, can doubt that Italy and Prussia must conquer in the end ? It appears to be generally expected that Hungary will forget her grievances and support the Kaiser in his attempt to establish, once for all, his preponder- ance in Germany. We shall iDclieve this when we see it. The chivalrous Magyars showed, even in that famous Diet when they rallied round the Empress- Queen, that they had a tolerably sharp eye to their own interests. If the ingenious author of Pearls and Mock Pearls of History ever republishes, in an en- larged form, that interesting article, we should recom- mend him to examine what basis of historical truth there really is in that famous story of the " Moriamur pro rege nostro," the onQfact (?) in Hungarian history familiar to Englishmen, before the war of 1848-49, and which has been set by Lord Macaulay in a bril- liant passage — the same, by the way, in which he has exalted the tiny mound called the Konigsberg into the " Mount of Defiance." As is that hillock to the castle- hill of Presburg which rises over it, so we trust will be the real to the anticipated enthusiasm of Hungary in this evil war. And Prussia — can she escape censure ? Certainly not ; for unless we separate the people from the xxii PREFATORY NOTE. government, she is far more in the wrong than her opponent in' the quarrel which is the j^roximate cause of war. Nor can we altogether separate the people from the o-overnment, for if the annexationist schemes of Count Bismark in the Duchies had not been seconded last year by the enthusiasm of many who ought to have known better, he might not have advanced so far. The best we can say is that the attitude of the nation in view of the approaching danger has been worthy of an intelligent and civilised community. It seems impossible to believe that the war could be long continued without the complete break-down of the present system of government ; and if that break- down is sudden and final, if the vast change which would be involved in the substitution of the policy of, say, M. Roggenbach, for that of M. Bismark, were soon to follow the commencement of hostilities, it would undoubtedly be a not inadequate return for a good deal of suffering. That Prussia, even in the best event, has, if she once goes to war, a good deal of suffering to pass through, we cannot for a moment doubt. It may be, as some military authorities teU us, that the superiority of her weapons will give her a great advantage ; but her whole social system will be far more disorganised by war than that of her antagonist, and she will have to use up on the battle-field material far more valuable than any wliich her adversary will use, or even pos- PREFATORY NOTE. xxiii sesses. We may smile at those excited gentlemen who believe that the scenes in Schiller's " Camp of Wallen- stein " are going to be reproduced all over North Ger- many, and we do not for a moment believe that the Seressaner or Likaner of 1866 is more of a barbarian than many of the private soldiers in other armies ; but the fact of his not being on a par with the soldiers of Alva, or the Pandours who followed Trenck, will not make him exactly a pleasant visitor. The smaller states of Germany, divided now by their sympathies, will ere long be divided only by geographical lines, for it can hardly be that, if war is once commenced, theii' neutrality mil be respected by their mighty neighbours. He would be a bold man who would prophesy how many of them will stand erect when the threatened troubles are at an end. Holland, with characteristic prudence, desires to keep as far from the combatants as possible, and very reasonably proposes to make arrangements for withdrawing Limburg from the Germanic Confedera- tion, with which it has never, de facto, been as closely connected as Luxemburg. The colonial debates which were proceeding when the paper on Holland was printed, resulted in the carrying of an amendment which ministers considered fatal to their measure of reform, and they have ac- cordingly resigned, and have been succeeded by a xxiv PKEFATORY XOTE. cabinet of Conservative, though not Tory, colour. It is hardly probaWe that M. van Zuylen van Nyevelt and his colleagues can, in the present state of parties in Holhind, long retain power; and perhaps the only effect of their return to office may be once more to unite all Liljcral factions, and to lead to the passing of a measure of colonial reform more comprehensive than that which was recently under discussion. Belgium, though on the whole in sufficiently good heart, is naturally beset by the anxieties which afflict the mind of a householder who sees his neighbour's house on fii'e, and learns that there is some difficulty in getting up the fire-engines. Accordingly we were not much surprised to find an article in a recent number of the newspaper which is most closely con- nected with M. Frere, in which England is well rated for not taking more active steps to prevent the out- break of liostilities, the writer being no other than M. Hymans, whose excellent work on the reign of Leopold was our chidf guide in the earlier part of the paper which treats of that country, but who does not repre- sent precisely that shade of Belgian liberalism with which, in its views on the questions now under discus- sion, wc have the greatest sympathy. In Brussels, as in London, the question of electoral rcfoi-ni is IxH'oming daily more important, nor can thrrc be any doubt that the passing of the measures which \U'v Majesty's government has brought forward PREFATORY NOTE. XXV this session, would greatly assist the best Belgian Liberals. Happy the country which, at so solemn a moment, is able to watch with interest the encounters of cham- pions whose respective war-cries are a seven and an eight pound franchise ! Over half the fairest cities of Europe the thunder-clouds seem closing as we write, and for some time to come we must be content to find our best comfort in the old German distich — Herrscht der Teufel heut' auf Erden, Morgen wird Gott, Meister werden. London, June 9, 1866. ' LI HH A «vY CHAPTER I. SPAIN. The opening, in August 1864, of the line from Beasain to Olazagutia, through a country as rugged, although fortunately more beautiful than, those strange Basque names, completed the railway communication between Madrid and Paris. Amongst many good results which will flow from this, not the least will be the invasion of the Peninsula by many travellers, who have hitherto taken, all too literally, the witty saying, that "Africa begins with the Pyrenees." Su ch travellers will belong, for the most part, to one of two categories : those who go abroad in search of novelty, and those who are attracted to the Peninsula by the love of art. To these two classes we do not address ourselves, for they have, in numerous well- known books, every literary help that they can possibly need. May we not hope, however, that in addition to those who go to Spain as the nearest preserve of picturesque barbarians, or as one of the great museums of the world, there will be some who will go with other views — some who will cross the Bidassoa in the hope of seeing for themselves whether the vague rumours of revival, which reach our shores, are true or false ; whether there is any hope that that nation, once so famous, is going to take part in the forward movement of Europe ; or whether it is indeed true, as Mr. Buckle tells us, that " she lies at the further extremity of the Continent, a huge / / SPAIN. and torpid mass, the sole representative now remaining of the feelings and knowledge of the Middle Ages ?" Travellers, who have this purpose in view, will find that they have embarked upon an enterprise, which is made un- necessarily difficult by the erroneous notions about Spain which prevail even amongst well-informed persons in England, as well as by the scantiness of the information with regard to her condition, which is readily accessible. It is mainly for the purpose of clearing away from the path of such investi- gators some preliminary difficulties, that we have drawn up tliis paper — not without hope that some one, who may be benefited by its hints, may repay the obligation with interest ; may give us, in a not too bulky volume, a full and accurate estimate of the state and prospects of Spain. This is perhaps the place to say a word or two as to some books which such an investigator may take with him, or may buy in ^ladrid. They are not very numerous, and none of them is by itself of surpassing importance ; but they are the best that exist, written by persons of very different views and characters, and one who is anxious to ascertain the truth, may, l)y a sensible use of them, arrive at pretty correct conclusions. First, we have ^linutoli, whose work may be taken as a veiy exact inventory of Spanish affairs in 1851. Minutoli writes from the StandimnH of a Prussian bureaucrat who til inks that Berlin is illuminated by Intclligenz in a quite supernatural manner, and who believes that the via inima sal alls is to have an efficient and upright BcamteiithiLin. He is anxious for the development of all manner of wealth, for tlie fmtherance of the happiness of the greatest possible number ; but he distrusts the power of the people to work out its own wellbcing, and is consequently a good friend to the BOOKS ON SPAIN. 3 Moderado regime wliicli extended from 1843 to 1854 His book is, it will be observed, somewhat out of date, but it still is serviceable, though we must warn those who would read it, that it stands in the same relation to the typical blue-book in which that stands to a sensation novel. Then we have Mr. Wallis, who wrote in 1853, and who looks at Spain through the spectacles — and very colourless ones they are — of an accomplished, highly-cultivated American gentleman, a warm friend to free institutions, but possessed of a more than aristocratic hatred of popular clap-trap. His book is only too easy to read ; but his means of information were ample, his head is clear, and his conclusions, after making allowance for a little unsoundness on questions of trade, will commend themselves to most Englishmen. Next comes Eico y Amat, a prejudiced Tory writer, but very useful for giving the sequence of events down to 1854, discussing all parliamentary matters in great detail, and quoting many important documents at full length. In strong contrast to him is the go-ahead Orense, ^Marquis of Albaida, who, dissatisfied with the conduct of his brother Progressistas, has cast in his lot with the Democrats. The views of the politicians who were hurled from power in 1854 may be gathered, by one who has eyes to look for them, from a very slight but clever little book called the Attache at Madrid, which, professing to be translated from the diary of a young German diplomatist, who spent part of 1853 and 1854 in the Spanish capital, and published in America, really owes its ori- gin to one who had the best information, and excellent reasons for wishing well to the cause of Sartorius. When the reader has laid it down, he may take up Garrido's work, which we have used in its German form. Garrido belongs to the ex- SPAIN. trenie left, as may be guessed wlien we mention that his book was transhated by Arnold Kuge, and that he was introduced to the ex-editor of the Hallischcn Jahrhucher by Dr. Bernard. It would be as imprudent unconditionally to accept his view of matters, as to find nothing to object to in those of Rico y Amat, or of the author of the Attache at Madrid, but his pages are full of statistics and information of all kinds, deserving to be read and weighed most carefully. The articles in the Annuairc des Deux Mondes, which extend in unbroken succession from 1850 to 1865, are some- wliat Moderado in tone, but extremely valuable and interesting. Tlie Spanish papers in the Revue itself are not, perhaps, so happy as those on several other countries ; but some of them — such as C. de Mazade's on Larra, and on Donoso Cortes — will repay perusal even now. The life of Olozaga, lately published — surely the hugest political pamphlet which ever appeared — should also be consulted. No one, of course, will omit to read the Handhook and the Gatherings, both full of that wisdom of Spain which is trea- sured up in her proverbs, and quite indispensable, in spite of their constant offences against good taste. Captain Widdring- ton's works are still valuable, while most of the modern English books of travel in the Peninsula are absolutely worthless. Spain has slipped, of late years, so thoroughly out of the notice of Englishmen, that it would be mere affectation to pre- tend to imagine that one in a thousand knows even the ABC of her recent history and politics. We must, therefore, briefly relate the events of the present reign, for some know- lodge of these is quite necessary to those who would compre- hend licr actual position. 'i'luj Cortes of Cadiz, in 1812, devised a Constitution, ACCESSION OF QUEEN ISABELLA. 5 which, in spite of many blemishes and shortcomings, was on the whole most creditable to its framers. It sinned, indeed, against several of the first principles of Liberalism, but it cordially accepted many others ; and, considering the circum- stances of the country, it unquestionably went too far in a democratic direction. In 1814, Ferdinand VII. overthrew this Constitution, restored the Inquisition, and ruled for six years despotically. In 1820, the revolt of Eiego, and the movements which followed it, again inaugurated a brief period of liberty, which continued until the Spanish patriots were put down by the French, under the Due d'Angouleme, and the re dissohcto was once more able to ride rough-shod over all that was honest and virtuous from the Bidassoa to the lines of Gibraltar. This terrible time lasted until the day when Ferdinand VII. was trundled off to his last home in the Escurial, in the way which Ford has described with so much grim humour. The last act of importance in the wretched man's life had been the confirmation of the right of succession of his daughter Isabella II., as against his brother Don Carlos. The pretensions of that personage had been already loudly proclaimed, and he hardly waited for the challenge of the Eoyalists to erect his standard. That challenge soon came, for on the 24th October 1833, the voice of the herald, according to ancient custom, was heard in Madrid, proclaiming " Silencio, silencio, silencio, oyid, oyid, oyid, Castilla, Castilla, Castilla, por la Senhora reina Dona Isabel II. que Dios guarde." Bilbao was the first place to pronounce for the Pretender, and ere long the whole of the north was in arms, and the civil war had begun. How that war raged, and how many souls, heroic and other, it sent to Hades, it is unnecessary to say. How it ended we shall presently have occasion to relate, but we must confine our 6 SPAIN. narrative, for tlie present, to that portion of Spain which acknowledged the rightful sovereign, merely reminding the reader that Don Carlos represented two totally distinct in- terests,— first, that of bigotiy and corruption generally, in all parts of the Peninsula ; and, secondly, the infinitely more respectable aspirations of the Basques, who, attached to liberty, but possessed of little enlightenment, desired to remain a semi-republican island in the midst of an Absolute Spain, rather than to lose the local franchises which they knew, in the general freedom of a Constitutional Spain, which had not yet come into existence, although its advent was near at hand. The queen-mother, obliged by the force of circumstances to rely on the support of the Liberal party, but anxious to be as little liberal as possible, accepted the resignation of Zea Bermudez, who represented the party of enlightened despotism, and called to her councils Martinez de la Eosa, who had suffered much for his attachment to Constitutional principles during the late reign, but who from 1833 till his death in 1862, was one of the most eminent of the Moderado or Con- servative statesman of Spain. By his advice she promulgated the Estatuto real, a Constitution incomparably less liberal than that of Cadiz, but still a Constitution, and one professing to be ibunded upon the ancient and long-disused liberties of the land. This document, we may observe in passing, may, like that of 1812 and all its successors, be read at length in Itico y Amat's History. By the Estatuto were created an upper house of " Proceres," and a lower house of " Procura- dores." These soon met, and the discussions which took place iu them, combined with the agitation out of doors, and some diplomatic misadventures, soon obliged Martinez de la Ptosa to reliiv. lie was followed by Toreno ; but he, too, was MENDIZABAL. 7 unable to hold his own. A far more energetic and enlightened minister was required, and that minister soon appeared in the great reformer Mendizabal. He it was \7ho concentrated the forces of the revolutionary agitation, which had already broken out in the provinces, and gave them a definite direction. This he did chiefly by three great measures, which will cause his name ever to be held in honour by all Spanish patriots. These three measures were the closing of the monasteries, the sale of all the lands belong- ing to the regular clergy, and the organisation, on a thoroughly popular basis, of the National Guard. All this he effected in a very short space of time, for his cabinet, attacked at once by the most impatient Liberals, by the retrograde party, and by French intrigue, had a hard battle to fight, and soon gave way to an administration, of which the leading spirits were Isturiz and Galiano.* These politicians, however, utterly failed to carry the country with them, and their days of power were few and evil. Eeaders of the Bible in Spain will recol- lect the strongly-contrasted descriptions of Mr. Borrow's visit to Mendizabal at the zenith of his power, and to Isturiz, when that minister had already begun to hear the mutterings of the storm which was soon to burst upon his head. That storm was the mutiny which broke out amongst the troops stationed at the royal residence of La Granja, which is situated in the * Alcala Galiano was born at Cadiz in 1789, entered the diplomatic service in 1812, took an active part in the revolution of 1820, and was banished for his share in it. During the eight years that he passed in England, he was a frequent contributor to the Westminster and Foreign Quarterly. On his return to Spain he again entered political life ; became a bitter opponent of the first two Constitutional ministries, and a supporter of Mendizabal. Like the Duke of Eivas, however, and many others, he soon changed his politics, and the second half of his life was passed as a Moderado. He enjoyed a great reputa- tion as an orator, and his lectures at the Madrid Ateneo were in their day ex- tremely celebrated. He died as Minister of Public Welfare in 1865. 8 SPiUN. mountainous country to the north of Madrid. The leader of this mutiny was a certain Sergeant Garcia, and the chief objects of the discontented soldiery were to force the Queen Eegent to dismiss her ministers and to proclaim the Constitution of 1812. In these objects they w^ere completely successful. Christina yielded to the threats of the mutineers, and power passed once more into the hands of the movement party. After the assassinations, disorders, and escapes across the frontier, which are usual in Spanish political crises, the new government, which was of course composed of men of Liberal politics, convoked the famous Constituent Cortes of 1837. Out of its labours arose the new Constitution, which was based on that of Cadiz, but differed from it in many particulars. Argiielles, w^ho had been one of the principal authors of the former, was also concerned in the latter, and was indeed a member of the committee which drew up the resolutions on which it was based. Its tone is much less democratic than that of its predecessor ; and the fact that Olozaga and other distinguished Liberals supported it created much dissatisfac- tion in the ranks of their followers. We are far, however, from tliinking that, in the circumstances of Spain, the changes which they introduced were otherwise than necessary. With regard to the one point in which the Constitution of 1837 made more concession to Liberal opinions than that of 1812, tliere can be no question among honest and intelligent men. The Cortes of Cadiz proclaimed the Eoman Catholic religion to be the only true one. The legislators of 1837 contented themselves with asserting as a fact that the Spanish nation professed the lioman Catholic religion, and bound itself to maintain that form of faith. This giv;it wurk had not been long completed, when the CONVENTION OF VERGARA. 9 ministry which had been called into existence by the mutiay of Granja succumbed in its turn to another military revolt, excited by the partisans of those whom it had so summarily displaced, and Espartero, whose military reputation was already great, became for a brief period the President of the Council ; for a brief period, we say, for, defeated in the elec- tions, he was succeeded by the reactionary Ofalia ; he again by others of little note, till the Convention of Vergara came to alter the whole position of affairs. The reader will recollect that during all these ministerial changes, revolutions, and makings of constitutions, the Philis- tine was still in the land. The advanced posts of Don Carlos had been seen from the walls of Madrid ; Gomez had made a sort of military progress from one end of the country to the other ; La Mancha was in the hands of one rebel, Valencia was overrun by another ; and the whole of the mountainous north was a camp of the " factious." Fortunately for the cause of Queen Isabella, there were dissensions in the enemy's ranks not less bitter than those which distracted the capital. The military party and the clerical party hated. each other with a deadly hatred ; and at last their animosity became so em- bittered that Maroto, the most important of the lieutenants of Don Carlos, took the law into his own hands, and put some of the most conspicuous of his opponents to death. This was the beginning of the end ; and after infinite intrigues, the little Basque town of Vergara saw the signature of the document which assured the throne of the young queen, put a period to the war of lN"avarre, and made the pacification of Arragon merely a question of time. Espartero's attitude had now been for some time of the greatest possible interest to all who watched the politics of Spain. He was evidently inclining 10 SPAIN. more and more towards the Progressista party, while his re- lations with the ]\Ioderado government became ever colder. A letter addressed by his secretary to one of the Madrid papers had openly condemned the conduct of the ministry in dissolv- ing tlie Cortes, with a view to get rid of the Progressista majority ; and the party which was now about to resort to revolutionary measures in Madrid reckoned on his assistance. The struggle in the Cortes of 1840 was fierce but short. The galleries, as was usual in those stormy times, took an active part in the political combat ; and on one occasion the scenes of 1793 seemed about to be repeated. In spite of the gallant resistance of the Progressista party, the government carried several reactionary laws, — the most important of which was one for the modification of the municipal system, which would have had the effect of very much diminishing the influ- ence of the Liberals throughout the country, and of strengthen- ing unduly the powers of the Crown. Just at this crisis, when jNIadrid was in a most uneasy state, and nearly all the large towns hardly more tranquil, the young queen was advised to take warm sea-baths at Barcelona, and to that place she repaired, accompanied by her mother. Christina had not been long in the Catalan capital, when she announced to Espartero that she liad given her assent to the law relating to the nmnicipalities. To this ungracious declaration he replied by resigning liis position as commander-in-chief His resignation was not accepted ; and he then informed the Eegent that he was about to retire from the city, as he could be of no further use to lier. Hardly had he done so than Barcelona rose in rebellion, and the ministers who had accompanied the queen I1<<1 liillici- and thither. Tlie movement begun amongst the turbulent Catalans rapidly spread all over Spain. Madrid REGENCY OF ESPAKTERO. 11 pronounced on the 1st of September, whereupon the Eegent gave way, and Espartero was ordered to form a new govern- ment. Her new advisers insisted that she should issue a manifesto, in which she should throw upon the late cabinet the whole responsibility of the recent attempts at reaction, that she should solemnly promise that the law relating to the municipalities should not be carried into execution, and that the Cortes should instantly be dissolved. These terms she refused, resigned the regency, and took refuge in France, ad- dressing from Marseilles to the Spanish people a proclama- tion in which the sentiments of her heart were expressed or disguised, in the ornate language of Donoso Cortes. The abdication of Christina left the first place in the state without an occupant, and it was necessaiy to fill it as speedily as pos- sible. The question which now became urgent was, How should this be done ? Two opinions divided the suffrages of the victors in the recent struggle. The advanced Progressistas were in favour of a regency of three. The immediate entourage of Espartero desired the elevation of their chief to undivided authority. It was this last view which prevailed ; for the Moderados, seeing that the question was an apple of discord to their enemies, threw all their influence into the scale of Espartero, feeling sure that they should succeed in embroiling him with the majority of those whose alliance had placed the successful soldier in a position to play the great game of politics. So it came about that, on the 8th of May 1841, Espartero was chosen by the Cortes to be sole Eegent ; and no sooner was he fairly installed in his office, than the edifice of his power began to crumble under his feet. His descent was more rapid than even his rise, for the circumstances in which he found himself required infinite skill in intiigue, — a 12 SPAIN. quality of whicli the honest and well-meaning Duke of Victory had a veiy^ small share. His great mistake was his surround- ing liimself from the very first with ministers and private advisers who had not the confidence of his party, and who soon became known to the public by several injurious epi- thets. Some called them AyacucJios, from the name of one of the battles in South America which had been most disastrous to the Spanish arms, — the insinuation being that they were a mere clique of military old fogies; while others spoke of them as Santones, intending thereby to ridicule their want of revo- lutionary energy. The Moderado party soon took advantage of the weakness of the government; and in October 1841 a military revolt broke out at Pamplona, at Madrid, and elsewhere, in the inter- est of Christina. The Kegent showed a good deal of decision. A file of soldiers at Vittoria sent to his account Montes de Oca, who had been Minister of ]Marine in the former govern- ment. General Leon met a similar fate at Madrid ; while O'Donnell got safe to France, living " to fight another day." Espartcro, however, had other adversaries more formidable than even the Moderados. More than once he was oblisjed to put down with a strong hand the Democratic agitations of Barcelona ; and each successive act of vigour directed against those wlio, after all, formed the extreme left of his own party, cost him a large portion of his popularity. Then the French government did all it could by underhand methods to assist Christina, and to discredit Espartero, and at last a hostile vote in the Lower House destroyed his ministry. By tliis time the Progressista party was so disorganised that his second cabinet was not more generally satisfactory than his first. His third, at the head of which was Loi^ez, who had FALL OF ESPAETEKO. 13 distiiigiiislied himself very much as a popular orator, came too late, and was too short-lived. Its fall, which was the result of Espartero's firm support of his friend Linaje against it, was another blow to his influence ; nor did the friendship of England at all tend to liis greater popularity amongst a proud and ignorant people. Of the many accusations brought against him, not the least potent in exciting hatred was his alleged subservience to our commercial policy. And now the end came fast. A coalition, which comprised large numbers both of the Progressista and Moderado party, was formed throughout the country. Pronunciamentos followed. Nar- vaez, O'Donnell, and many of the exiled or fugitive generals, entered Spain. Treachery helped the w^ork that disunion had begun ; and in the beginning of August 1843, the idol of Sep- tember 1840 was on his way to England, whither he was pre- sently pursued by a decree which stripped him of all his titles, honours, and decorations. Lopez was the next First Minister. His intentions were, we believe, not otherwise than honest, but his position was an untenable one. Himself an advanced Progressista, he found himself obliged to place all the military powders of the country in the hands of the Moderado generals, who had borne the brunt of the contest with the Duke of Victory. He soon saw that the game was lost, and passed through the Cortes a measure for proclaiming the queen of full age eleven months before the time which the Constitution prescribed. This done he placed his resignation in the hands of Her Majesty, and retired from power a sadder and a wiser man. He had much occasion for sadness, for the knell of his party was very soon to sound ; nevertheless it was a Progressista ministry which succeeded his, and thei;e was still one act of the play to be played out. 14 SPAIN. The new President of the Council was Olozaga, who was then, and is still, a foremost figure amongst the Progressistas. Hardly was he fairly in the possession of power, when tliere occurred an incident of so strange a kind, that it only requires to be seen through the mist of ages to have the ro- mantic interest of the Go wrie conspiracy. The President of the Council could reckon upon the ardent support of a minority in the Cortes, but of a considerable majority in the electoral body. It was therefore his obvious interest to appeal, as soon as possible, to the country, and a decree dissolving the legisla- ture shortly appeared. Hardly, however, had it been pro- mulgated, when strange rumours arose in Madrid, to the effect that the decree for the dissolution of the Cortes to which the young queen owed the declaration of her majority, had been obtained, not only by undue moral pressure, but by personal violence ; and these rumours acquired additional confirmation, after a decree had appeared revoking the former one and dis- missing the minister. Expectation was raised to its height, when, on the day appointed for the discussion, a personage new to such functions took his seat in the Congress, with the ministerial portfolio under his arm. This worthy defender of tli(j tlirone was no other man than the editor of the Spanish Satirist of that day — Gonsalez Bravo ; and the paper which lie proceeded to read was a full account, signed by Her Majesty, of the violence which had been employed by the late Premier. The discussion was long and stormy. Its principal feature was of course the speech of Olozaga, which even his adver- saries admit to have been a very great effort, and in which he contrived to exculpate himself without bringing home to his sovcrei.L;n Ww. charge of falsehood. The real history was pro- bably tliat the minister was somewhat more peremptory in CONSTITUTION OF 1845. 15 his manner than is usual, as a man of Olozaga's character and commanding appearance might well either be, or appear to be, when urging a matter of pressing national importance upon a puzzle-headed young woman, and that the worthless persons who surrounded the queen, and who were entirely in the hands of the opposite party, magnified the importance of the incident in her eyes, until they actually brought her to sign a paper in which she perhaps hardly Imew how to distinguish the false from the true. Olozaga, after his defence, fled to Lisbon to avoid the by- no-means-chimerical danger of assassination ; and the mean- ing of the intrigue gradually unfolded itself, as it was seen that Gonsalez Bravo was merely an instrument in the hands of Narvaez — the bridge, as some one said at the time, by which that ambitious warrior meant to arrive at power Avith his pure Moderado following. When the bridge was passed, the ministry of Gonsalez Bravo disappeared, and the Duke of Valencia, whom he had served so well, ruled in his stead, and advanced with firm steps upon the road of reaction. The leading measure of his government — its flower and crown in the eyes of the Moderado party — was the revision of the Con- stitution, and the promulgation of the new Constitution of 1845. We have already seen that the Constitution of 1837 was less liberal than that of 1812. That of 1845 was in its turn far less liberal than its predecessor. The liberty of the press was curtailed ; the Senate became a nominated, not an elective body ; the Cortes lost its right of assembling by its own authority, in case the sovereign neglected to sum- mon it at the proper time, and the principle of the national sovereignty disappeared from the preamble. The most signi- ficant change, however, in the circumstances of the hour was 16 SPAIN. that which precluded the necessity of the approbation of the Cortes as a preliminary to the royal marriage. This was the event which was the pivot of intrigue for several years. Those who would understand the complications of Spanish politics during the period that immediately preceded and im- mediately followed the marriage of the young queen to her cousin Don Francisco de Assis, must find the clues of half- a-dozen plots, in which the interests of courtiers, ministers, and confessors were strangely interwoven with the hopes of Carlist, French, Neapolitan, and Portuguese competitors for the doubt- ful blessing of the royal hand. Most readers will, we presume, be satisfied to remember that no less than six ministries rose and fell in an incredibly short space of time, and that all of them were more or less of a Moderado complexion. At length a cabinet was formed, in which the chief places were filled by Narvaez, and Sartorius Count of San Luis, a very young man, who had acquired fame first as a journalist, and then as a politician. It was this government which was in power when the events of February 1848 threw Europe into con- fusion. It contrived to pilot Spain through that stormy time with tolerable success. More than once the Democratic party took up arms. There was fighting in the streets of Madrid, and many persons were transported, but the amount of blood- shed was not very great. This ministry fell, like so many of its fellows, before a palace intrigue, the wire-pullers in which were ecclesiastical persons. Its successors, however, only remained in place twenty-four hours, long enough to win a place in Spanish history as the " ministcrio del o^elampago " — the lightning ministry — so rapidly did they flash out of and into obscurity. Narvaez and Sartorius returned to power with a somewhat modified list of colleagues, and tried to fortify r '.. '',■ CONSTITUTION OF 1815:' ' V7 , '/. \^ ' / , '//. ;v. ' / / their power by new elections, in which the authority^qf th6^ government was exercised in so barefaced a manner, that.it scandalised even Madrid, and the assembly which resulted from^ / this pressure was called the " Congreso cle familiar All this^-= zeal was, however, in vain. The intrigues of Christina, who had quarrelled with Narvaez, were too much for him, and down once more went the Sartorius ministry. It was now the turn of Bravo Murillo, who claimed the confidence of the country as a financial genius and economical reformer. So determined was he to have this confidence entire, that he actually succeeded in excluding from the new Cortes the very man who had peopled the last one with his creatures, and Sartorius found himself for a time in private life. The rock upon which Bravo Murillo ran was an attempt to imitate the coup d'etat, and to remodel the Spanish Constitution by getting the Cortes to sanction en Hoc nine new laws, which would have undone nearly all that had been done since the death of Ferdinand. His attempt, eagerly backed by the court cama- rilla, utterly failed. In vain he sent Narvaez across the frontier. The country would have none of his reforms, and he too passed into nothingness, leaving behind him as his legacy the Concordat of 1852, by which the pope, to a certain extent, accepted the measure of Mendizabal in 1836, and other accomplished facts, obtaining in return many concessions. Several short-lived cabinets succeeded, and on the 18th Sep- tember 1853 Sartorius was again the President of the Council, with the Marquis of Molins, Calderon de la Barca, General Blaser, and others, to assist him. The last months of 1853 and the first of 1854 passed un- easily. Every day the scandals of the court and of the ministry became more flagrant, and the measures of repression c "/, 18 SPAIN. more severe. General after general was sent out of Madrid, and the persecutions of the government fell, be it observed, not on the Progressistas, who were keeping quite aloof from public affairs, but upon all the sections of the Moderado party, except the immediate followers of Sartorius. Accusations of the grossest pecuniary corruption against many persons in liifdi places were bruited about, and almost universally be- lieved. The crisis came in June 1854 " Will you not come with us ?" cried General Dulce to the Minister of War, as he rode in the grey of the morning out of Madrid, to try, as was supposed, a new cavalry saddle. " I should like nothing better," answered General Blaser, " but I am too busy." In a few hours it was known that Dulce had been joined by O'Donnell, and that the long-expected revolt had taken place. An indecisive action took place between the queen's troops and the revolted generals at Vicalvaro, whence the name Vicalvarist — which is now very generally given to the fol- lowers of O'Donnell ; and that commander issued a procla- mation at Manzanares, explaining that the pronunciamento was made in favour of constitutional government and of morality. Up to this point the rising, it cannot be too dis- tinctly understood, was a ^loderado rising, and Narvaez him- self, as afterwards appeared, was deeply implicated in the conspiracy. But on the 17th of July the whole aspect of affairs changed. An emcutc took place in Madrid, and the revolt of O'Donnell was swallowed up in a revolu- tion. After a very agitated period, things began to settle down. Tlie Moderado regime of eleven years was fairly at an end, and the queen, with the Counts of Lucena and Luchana, O'Donnell and Espartero, was awaiting the meeting of a Constituent Cortes, which was to decide, amongst other REVOLUTION OF 1854. 19 things, whether the Bourbon dynasty was to continue to rule in Spain. It met on the 9th November 1854, and soon decided that question — 194 as against 19 were quite willing to keep Queen Isabella on the throne if she would conduct herself with tolerable propriety. The discussions on the other bases of the new Constitution took more time. There was a very long one early in 1855, upon the question of religious toleration, and other matters were hardly less warmly debated. The greatest work, however, of the Constituent Cortes was their carrying out to its legitimate issue the leading measure of Mendizabal's administration, and freeing the soil of Spain, with inconsiderable exceptions, from the tyranny of the dead hand, and from the colossal entails under which it had so long suffered. The queen resisted, in the interest of the church, but yielded after a private interview with O'Donnell and Espartero at Aranjuez. Next to this great measure, which, although one of its immediate results was a Carlist rising in Arragon, gave very general satisfaction, the best acts of this assembly were those which it passed in furtherance of the material interests of the country. Its other purely political performances were not so successful. It settled the Constitu- tion, but never promulgated it, and several of the most import- ant laws which were necessary to supplement that Constitution were never finished. It should be the first care of all such bodies to do quickly whatever their hand finds to do, for if their deliberations continue long, they invariably become un- popular, since they are always accused of wishing unduly to prolong their own power, while agitators are quite sure to take advantage of a provisional state of things to pursue their own objects. So it happened in Spain in the spring of 1856. Dis- turbances, and above all incendiarv fires, became the order of 20 SPAIN. the day. By the middle of 1856 people began to weary. The conflicts in the Cortes between the moderate Progressistas on the one hand, and the advanced Progressistas, backed by the Democrats, on the other, were frequent and severe. Not less marked was the division in the cabinet between O'Donnell and Espartcro. At length a quarrel, occasioned by an attack which was made by Escosura, the Minister of the Interior, upon the Moderado views of O'Donnell, brought about an open rupture, and at four o'clock in the morning, on the 14th July, a ministerial crisis took place. (In Madrid, ministerial crises always seem to take place in the small hours, thanks to the owl-like habits of society it that capital.) When the Madri- lenian housewives came back from market, they were able to tell their lords that a revolution had taken place since they went to bed. Their lords committed the imprudence of flying to arms, and thereby gave O'Donnell and the queen the excuse they wanted for a little coitiJ d'etat, O'Donnell and his colleagues, the most important of whom was Eios y Eosas, straightway dissolved the Cortes, and as the Constitution, which it had elaborated, had never been promulgated, fell back upon the Moderado Constitution of 1845, supplemented by an ad- ditional act of their own, good as far as it went, although of extra-lcf:jal ori^iiin. Henceforth they worked steadily, and with no unnecessary severity, to bring back matters to the position in which they would have been if the military revolt begun by O'Donnell and his friends in 1854 had not been followed by a revolution. Tins, considering their views, which were those of Liberal Conservatives (Union-Liberal), was natural enough ; but it was also quite natural that when the court and its corrupt adlu'icnts saw that it was possible to go so far in a reactionary REACTION OF 1857. 21 course, they should wish to go a little further ; and so, after three months of power, O'Donnell was tripped up, and Narvaez came in with a cabinet in which he was by no means the most anti-liberal element. He pushed the reaction a good deal further, and, above all, made an arrangement with Eome by which the sales of church lands already effected were re- cognised, but all further sales w-ere stopped, and other con- cessions were made to the clergy. The Constitution of 1845 was likewise altered in so far as the composition of the Senate w^as concerned. Xarvaez fell in the autumn of 1857, overthrown partly by the results of his interference in one of those bedchamber questions which are so constantly arising in the palace of Madrid, and partly by the odium excited by the rabid reactionary tendencies of his colleague NocedaL He was succeeded by General Armero, w^ho took for his motto : "The Constitution of 1845 — neither more nor less." As, however, the Narvaez Government had turned out too reactionary for its own party, the Armero Government turned out to be too much the other way. In other words, the Moder- ados hardly knew their own mind. One combination more was tried. M. Isturiz, the vir pietate gravis of his side of poli- tics, was sent for, and formed an administration, which had no particular fault, except that it commanded the sympathies of nobody ; and wdien it followed its predecessors, as it very soon did, the queen once more called O'Donnell to her councils. O'Donnell came back, determined to represent the Union- Liberal more thoroughly than ever, and to construct, if possible, some machine by w^hich, amidst the decomposition of parties, he might contrive to guide the politics of Spain. So concilia- tory was he, that in one province it is said he had a Progress- 22 SPAIN. ista civil governor, a Moderado secretary, and a military commandant who belonged to the Union-Liberal. The new Congress was composed of equally diverse elements, and gave him infinite trouble, Avhen very luckily the Italian war of 1859 came to call off the attention of the people from internal affairs ; and so kind were the influences of the Palmerstonian star under which he was born, that no sooner was that contest over, than the Moors began to make themselves so intolerably unpleasant, that he had an excellent excuse for proposing to his countrymen to go to war on their own account. The speech of the President of the Council, announcing the commencement of hostilities with Morocco, caused the greatest rejoicings in all parts of the country ; and through the five months during which the war lasted, the Government had little to complain of, even from the Opposition press. The Spanish arms were, of course, victorious, and peace was soon restored. It was fortunate that this was so, since, if the struggle had lasted longer, the attempt of Ortega — who, in the beginning of April 1861, landed at the mouth of the Ebro with the garrison of the Balearic Isles, of which he was captain-general, with a view to renew the Carlist wars — might have been more inconvenient. As it was, the danger did not last above twenty-four hours ; Oi-tega was taken and shot, the Conde de MontemoHn and his second brother were arrested, and liberated after signing a re- nunciation of their supposed rights, — a renunciation which, as they had pledged their honour in it, and were their father's sons, they naturally made haste to disavow, so soon as they were in a place of security. Their sudden and most strange deaths at Trieste, a few months after, deprived these transac- tions of any importance, and left their brother Don Juan at the 1 1 ca ' I ( . r U 1 u family. With the return of tranquillity the struggle i o'donnell and the "union-liberal." 23 of parties recommenced, and was envenomed as well by the severities whicli were exercised, or alleged to have been exer- cised, in putting down a sort of Socialist rising or Jacquerie which broke out during the summer at Loja, not very far from Malaga, as by the constantly-increasing influence of the clerical camarilla. O'Donnell, who had now been in power for a longer time than any minister since Spain became a constitu- tional country, had become fond of of6.ce, and, in order to keep it, allowed his measures to be far too much moulded by the court, which was under the control of the Mmcio, acting chiefly through the Nun Patrocinio, one of those personages — half-deceiver, half-enthusiast — who are so common in Catholic countries. In the end of 1861, the attacks in both branches of the legislature became very frequent and fierce. Olozaga particularly distinguished himself by his plain speaking ; and when O'Donnell, with a strange want of tact, appealed from him to the other great Progressista leader, Don Pascual Madoz, it was only to draw from that statesman a w^arning to the administration to change its ways, '* lest some one might say, at the head of 2000 horse, that he would no longer serve a government which was dishonoured by a camarilla'^ — the quotation being taken from O'Donnell's own rebel manifesto. A more dangerous adversary perhaps than two men so well known for their advanced Liberal opinions, was Eios y Eosas, who, as we have seen, was the leading spirit of O'Donnell's cabinet in 1856, the very incarnation of the Union-Liberal. When a politician of his colour reminds the sovereign that princes, who are too long obstinate, generally finish their lives in exile, the state of affairs has become alarming. O'Donnell, knowing that his internal policy would not bear inspection, and satisfied with the success of his Moorish diversion, still 24 SPAIN. continued to try to distract popular attention by bold diplo- matic strokes. If the additional Concordat, published in 1860, made too great concessions to the clerical interest, had he not soon the re-incorporation of St. Domingo, and the impetuous action of the Spanish commander on the Mexican coast, to flatter the national vanity ? The Liberal party from the first pointed out to what these measures must lead ; but ministers live from hand to mouth in Spain, and that is the best course which keeps things quiet for the moment. The O'Donnell cabinet continued all through 1862, reaped what little glory was to be gained from the successes obtained, in concert with France, in Cochin-China, and incurred much additional unpopularity from the results of the Mexican expe- dition. It fell at length early in 1863, and the Marquis of Miraflores succeeded the Duke of Tetuan. The new chief allowed one of his colleagues to issue a most imprudent circular, restraining, after the model of imperial France, the right of electoral meetings. The result of this mistake was, that the whole Progressista and Democratic parties refused to take part in the elections. Miraflores succeeded in getting a Congress, composed of various fractions of the several Conservative parties, but fell before an adverse vote of the senate, on the question of reforming the composition of that body, as arranged in 1857. The Mon Cabinet settled for a time the difficult question about the composition of the senate by restoring in its integ- rity the Constitution of 1845 ; but, agitated by rumours of re- volutionary projects in various quarters, they acted in an extremely arbitrary manner — exiling Prim, for example, to Oviedo, and trying obnoxious journalists by councils of war. In thr iu('antini,.,ll,r conflict with Peru and St. Domingo, and NARVAEZ GOVERNMENT. 25 the state of the finances, got more and more desperate. In September 1864 Narvaez was sent for, and came into power with a cabinet which contained, besides himself, no less than four ex-Presidents of the Council. The N'arvaez Government * seemed at first inclined to a moderate and conciliatory policy. In spite of the known character of their chief, who is always ready to cut himself out of a difficulty, sword in hand, sanguine people imagined that ministers might contrive to keep their places without shedding blood. They began by condoning press offences, by repaying fines which had been imposed on newspapers, by proposing to withdraw from the San Domingo imhroglio and the Peruvian folly, made as if they would do something to restore Spanish credit, and allowed full liberty of discussion during the elections. ISTo sooner, however, were these over, than M. Gonsalez Bravo, who had already, in the month of October, attempted to restrain the free-speaking of professors, issued, on November the 25th, a circular curtailing this same liberty of discussion. That document excited much amuse- ment in England, and elsewhere, from the absurdity of for- bidding the press to do what had just been proved to be perfectly harmless. The truth was, however, that a struggle * Narvaez was born in the j'ear 1800. In 1822 he took the side of the Liberal party, and after the French invasion was obliged to live very quietly at Loja, his native place, until the death of Ferdinand. In 1834 he returned to the army, and distinguished himself upon several occasions, more especially in 1836, when he overtook and defeated the famous Carlist leader Gomez. From this time forward he became sufficiently important to be considered as a sort of rival to Espartero. His first attempts were, however, unsuccessful ; and after a fruitless endeavour to put himself at the head of a party, he fled to France, whence, in 1843, he returned, as we have seen, to take a decisive part in the overthrow of the best and most patriotic of Spanish politicians. His history from that date has been sufficiently commented on in the pre- ceding pages. 26 SPAIN. which had been going on in the cabinet had been decided in favour of the less liberal fraction of it. This was first be- trayed to the outer world by the retirement of M. Llorente. Presently a cabinet crisis occurred, ostensibly about the with- drawal from San Domingo, really from a court intrigue ; and the Narvaez ministry seemed on the point of being replaced by a new combination. Keplaced it was not, however, and the session of the Cortes of 1865 o^^ened under its auspices. By this time, however, it had drawn closer to the violent Catholic party, and had gone further away from any Liberal mlleites which it may at first have had. Just at this crisis the queen made over to the nation the whole of the remaining patrimony of the Crown in return for a sum much below its presumed value, for which the Treasury became liable. Two views could be taken of this. It might be regarded as a grand and patriotic act, or as a good bargain. Foreigners generally took the former view — so did some Spaniards ; but others were not so amiable. Amongst these last was M. Emilio Castelar, professor at the University of Madrid, and editor of the newspaper called the Democrazia. He published a very strong article against the royal benefaction. The government immediately prosecuted him, as it had a right to do ; but it did more. It insisted on the Rector of the University, M. Montalvan, proceeding academically against the opposition journalist. This he de- clined to do, and he was immediately dismissed. The students tlien applied for permission to give him a serenade. This was first granted — then refused. Crowds collected in the streets. On the night fixed for the serenade, the 7th of April, there were more crowds, but no disturbance. On the lOtli, lidwi'viT, some stones were thrown ; the troops were PRESENT GOVERNMENT. 27 ordered to fire ; about a dozen people were killed, and more than 100 wounded. These violent proceedings called forth the most bitter attacks in the Cortes, and ministers came out of the debate terribly damaged in spite of the eloquence and daring of M. Gonsalez Bravo, who bore the brunt of the onset. The dis- quiet of the public mind reacted on the finances, and M. Barzanallana retired in desperation after having added one more wild expedient to the wretched make-shifts of Spanish Chancellors of the Exchequer. At length, in June 1865, the whole cabinet, utterly discredited, bankrupt in reputation, and at its wit's end, vanished into space ; while O'Donnell once more reioned in its stead.* We wish we could say that he had decidedly mended matters, but he has done something. Italy has been recog- nised — a fact far more important in its bearing upon internal than external affairs. Hopes have been held out to the negro in Cuba, the press is more gently handled, a sort of Parlia- mentary Eeform Act has been passed — no panacea, alas ! for the evils — at least of Spain ; the rash attempt of Prim was suppressed with singular gentleness and good temper, but the " complaint in the chest " is still alarming, and the wretched Chilian squabble will not improve it. If we consider the advanced age of Espartero and Olozaga, the blunders of theii' party, the repeated failures of ISTarvaez, the scanty following and slender political experience of the democratic leaders, we cannot help coming to the conclusion that the government of O'Donnell is perhaps the best which * For a clear and very detailed account of the last Narvaez administration, the reader is referred to an article hy M. Charles de Mazade in the Revue des Deux Mondes for September 1865. 28 SPAIN. Spain is at present likely to get ; * but let the name of the government be Union-Liberal, or Progressista, or Demo- cratic, it must keep the court within bounds, and govern toleraUi/, or another 1854 may at any time occur. The reader who has followed us thus far will be able to judge for himself, whether the country which has passed through so many political vicissitudes in thirty years, can be fairly de- scribed, in the words of Mr. Buckle, as " a torpid mass." We shall now briefly sketch its existing government, endeavouring to answer, as shortly as possible, the more important questions which an intelligent inquirer into the state of an European community is likely to ask. It will be seen, we hope, that the Spain of to-day, with all her faults, is hardly a represent- ation of " the feelings and knowledge of the Middle Ages." t Dona Isabel Segunda, Queen of the Spains, rules over the conterminous, but most hetrogeneous, provinces of Spain pro- per (la Peninsula) ; over the " adyacentes," including the Canaries, the Balearic Isles, the small places (Presidios) on the north coast of Africa, with Fernando Po and Annabon in the Gulf of Guinea ; and over certain colonies in America and Asia (Ultramar). Espaila Presidial is, in some respects, under the same, in others under different regulations, from * The author of a sensible article on Spain in Frascr for December 1865, says : •* We are far from assenting generally to the shallow doctrine — For forms of government let fools contest ; Whatever's best administered is best. But we do think that the existing form of government in Spain is good enough for all useful purposes, if it were only well administered ; by which we mean, if the politicians engaged in the practical working of the machinery, whether in office or opposition, would simply act like the politicians similarly t'ligiigfd in Eiigliuid — no very exalted or unattainable standard of public virtue." t A great deal of miscellaneous information upon Spain is collected in Mr. O'Sheu's Guide, published in 1865. The bulk, the frantic prejudices, the bad CONSTITUTION. 29 the rest of the monarchy. The colonies, of wliich we shall speak hereafter, are subject to an exceptional regime. By the Constitution now in force — which is, as we have seen, that of 1845 — the sovereign can do no wrong, and minis- terial responsibility is fully recognised. The legislative power resides in the Crown and in the Cortes, but far too large a space is left for the arbitrary action of authority, and royal decrees often do the work which ought to be done by the legislature. The Cortes consist of two bodies — a Senate and a Congreso of Deputies ; but behind both, and stronger than both, are the private influences of the palace. Ministers can generally make both Houses pretty " safe," but clouds gather in a clear sky, and they fall even with the Cortes at their feet. It does not fare much better with the guarantees of public and individual liberty common to most constitutions. They are pompously paraded in the Moderado great charter, but con- venient little clauses are introduced, which leave the rulers free to do pretty much what they please. In short, the exist- ing Spanish Constitution deserves what has been said of it by many persons, and by none more pointedly than by Gonsalez Bravo, the late repressive Home Minister. It is neither one taste, the inaccuracy of Ford's work, together with the changes that have taken place since he wrote, make it perfectly natural that some one should at- tempt to become his rival. At the same time his merits are so great that his name ought to remain attached to the English tourist's HmidhooTc for Spain for at least a generation longer ; and we think that Mr. O'Shea would have conferred a greater benefit upon his countrymen, to say nothing of having done a more graceful act, if he had confined himself to publishing a work avowedly as a supplement to that of his predecessor. Such a book would have been bought by every one who went to Spain under the guidance of the elder traveller. Mr. O'Shea's Guide, in spite of its very considerable merit, will be unable to compete with a judiciously-corrected edition of the Hancl- hook, and only those who have a very strong interest in Spain will, we should think, buv both. 30 SPAIN. thing nor another ; the product neither of frank despotism nor of frank constitutionalism. The government of Spain is carried on by nine ministers. The Premier, who is, unhappily, but too often a soldier, is called the President of the Council, and is supposed to direct the general policy of the country. His colleagues are — The jMinister of Grace and Justice. The Minister of the Interior {de la Gobernacion). The Minister of Public Welfare {de Fomento). The IVIinister of Finance {dc Hacienda), The Minister of War. The Minister of Marine. The Minister of the Colonies. The Minister of Foreign Affairs {de Estado). To the province of the Minister of Grace and Justice be- longs everything that is connected with the administration of the law, both in the civil and ecclesiastical courts ; and he superintends the proceedings of all legal functionaries, from the judges of the supreme tribunal at Madrid, dow^n to the Alcaldes, or mayors of the towns, and to the juges de ;paix in the country districts. The state of the department committed to his charge is not one of the things upon which Spain can be congratulated, for the confusion, delay, and uncertainty of Spanish law is a frequent subject of complaint in the country. According to Mr. Wallis, the last collection of laws which had any pretension to completeness was published in 1806. This Novissima rccopilacion was founded on the Nueva recopilacion of Philip II. Neither of these two documents, however, quite excludes the authority of some more ancient codes, which are understood to be in force, in cases not otherwise provided for. ADMINISTRATION — JUSTICE. 31 We need liardly say that the laws promulgated in 1806 have been altered in a thousand ways since. The criminal law, as revised in 1853, is decidedly humane. The punishment of death is only inflicted in cases of wilful murder. The gallows, to which the Iberian mind has a pecu- liar objection, has been superseded by the garrotte, to which it attaches, for some reason or other, more agreeable associa- tions. Corporal punishments and the pillory have been abo-^ lished. Trials take place in public, but there are no juries, and have never been any, except in cases connected with the press. A curious description of his own trial, at Lerida, for publishing a pamphlet which was charged with a seditious tendency, is given by Garrido. The jury was, however, once more abolished in press cases after the counter-revolution of 1856. Prisoners are often detained a most unreasonable time before they are tried ; while caprice, bribes, and the protection of the powerful, have still far too much influence upon the lot of the criminal. Mr. Wallis, himself a lawyer, and with a keen interest in all that relates to his profession, bears testi- mony to the high character of the leading advocates at Madrid, and was evidently much struck with the advantage which they have over American lawyers, and, to a certain extent, over English barristers, in finding all the lower and mechanical part of litigation taken off their hands by the attorney and the notary, or escrihano. This last-named personage is a kind of middleman between the attorney and the court. " Every picture," says Mr. Wallis, " that is painted of the law's delay, and of the costly injustice, for which men curse it, has for its chief figure the escrihano. " ' Con semblante infernal y pluma en mano.' " All evidence "goes before the judge in the shape of declarations 32 SPAIN. made before the escribano, and reduced by him to writing. In- deed there is nothing which concerns the case, in law or in fact, of which the cscrihano is not the conductor, from the judge to the parties, and from the parties to the judge, and to each other." This is an evil inherent in the system. We fear, however, that whatever evils there are inherent in the system of Spanish justice, they are far surpassed by the evils which have been engrafted on it. The worst of these is the venality and parti- ality of the judges. As long as these prevail there is a canker at the root of all prosperity. In the office of the Minister of the Interior, all the threads of a most elaborately-centralised system meet in one point. France, as France was under Louis Philippe, supplied the model upon which the victorious Moderados of 1845 re-organ- ised their own country ; and the changes, which have been introduced since, have not been favourable to local liberties. The whole mainland of Spain is divided, for administrative purposes, into forty-seven provinces. Over each of these is an officer who bears, in the province of Madrid, the title of Political Chief, and in the other forty-six that of Civil Gover- nor. Each of these personages is assisted by counsellors, appointed, like himself, by the Crown, and by a consultative body whose members are elected by the province. The local administration is carried on by Alcaldes^ who are also nominees of the government, and are helped in the discharge of their functions by elected councils, larger or smaller, according to the population of the district ; those same Ayuntamientos, of which we have already spoken, and whose power, before the reaction abridged it, was the mainstay of the Liberal party. In the very smallest places there is a still humbler adminis- trator, who is called the Alcalde pedaneo. / ADMINISTRATION — JUSTICE. ' \ "^ /^ 33 "■' ' ^.' All these Alcaldes, great and small, must do as the miniS' / ter of the hour commands, and they are the principal instru- ments by which the elections are worked so as to produce tKey - results which are desired by the party in power. The management of the police forms another part of the< ^ multifarious duties of the Minister of Gohernacion. Minutoli - speaks well of it ; and all men speak well of the allied service called the Guardia Civil, which looks after the safety of the roads, and is due to General Narvaez. The danger to which the traveller is exposed from robbers in Spain has, of course, been materially diminished by the increase of railways ; but even the common roads are much safer than they were. There is really hardly anything that does not fall within the province of the minister of whom we are writing ; and Minutoli, in describing his functions, speaks ch omni scihili Of the charitable institutions of Spain he expresses warm approbation, and on this head the reader will do well to con- sult the Attache at Madrid, always remembering that he is reading the work of a Eoman Catholic neophyte. Of the lunatic asylums, the state of which Ford describes as very bad, Minutoli also gives a painful account. On the other hand, he says that the prison at Valencia was, under the management of Col. Montesinos, the very best which he ever saw in Europe, except that of Munich under Obermayer, and he certainly adduces some most remarkable facts in support of his opinion. The aptitude of Col. Montesinos for his work must have been quite exceptional, and his prison very unlike some others in Spain ; for about the very time that he was doincr wonders at Valencia, the Carcel del Corte at Madrid was, as we know from Borrow, in a frightful condition. The management of the post in Spain does scant credit to D '^^r 34 SPAIN. ministerial wisdom. Nothing more ridiculous can be imagined, and its in-egularities are complained of by all travellers. Tourists cannot be too earnestly cautioned not to have letters of importance addressed to them at the post-office in Spain. They should always be sent to the house of some banker, or other w^ell-known person. The persecution of the press is another most important part of this minister's functions ; and whatever else he may neglect, he generally fulfils this part of his duty with great zeal. Still, even under Narvaez, there was more freedom for public writers in Spain than in France. The Ministry of Public Welfare has the care of the mines, of agriculture, of the scanty but priceless forests, of all public works, of the studs, of the telegraphs — in short, of commerce and material improvement of every kind. The rapid development of the wealth of Spain during the last twenty years has excited more attention beyond her own boundaries than any other phenomenon connected with her recent history ; but the very reasonable and proper attitude of the London Stock Exchange, towards a defaulting state, has had the indirect effect of closing the channels by which we in England should in the natural course of things have heard of her prosperity. It is chiefly from France that those supplies of capital have come which have swelled the not inconsiderable hoards of the natives, which appear to have been kept out of liarm's way during the troubles, and to have come to light in recent and more peaceful times. Travel where you will in Spain, you will see more evidence of poverty than of abund- ance ; but even in the poorest districts, let there be a piece of clerical or other land to be sold by the authorities upon ad- vantageous terms, and it is curious to see how many people ADMINISTRATION — MATERIAL REVIVAL. 35 are able to offer for it. Not less interesting is it to notice that the ill-will of the church has had so little effect in preventing the acquisition of estates once devoted to pious uses. On the subject of the material revival of Spain — a revival to which nothing save peace has contributed so much as the sale of lands which belonged to the clergy — a long array of most carefully-marshalled and significant figures appeared in an article of the too short-lived Home ccnd Foreign Review. The WTiter, who had peculiar means of information, shows that the population is steadily increasing, having risen more than five millions between 1797 and 1860 ; that there is every reason to suppose that agricultural produc- tion has increased during the same period more rapidly to the south than to the north of the Pyrenees ; that the use of meat is becoming more common, and the number of cattle and other domestic animals rapidly multiplying. Not less cheering is it to learn that the consumption of coal has more than quadrupled in the last few years, and that the possessors of iron mines are not less prosperous, while exports and imports had increased by 350 per cent between 1843 and 1860. There is no more agreeable feature in the last ten years of Spanish history than the rapid development of railway com- munication. We have seen that the line from Bayonne to Madrid is quite finished. A gap occurs in the railway com- munication between the capital and Cordova ; but when that city is once passed there is no interruption till the traveller arrives at Cadiz. Fifteen hours of very comfortable railway travelling connect the seat of government with the port of Alicante, and with the capital of the wealthy and important province of Valencia ; while ere long we may hope to see the 3G SPAIN. locomotive traversing the whole length of the coast-line from the city of the Cid to Perpignan. Already, in 1864, passengers were set down at the Saguntum. station, and were, indeed, carried considerably past it to the northward. From Barcelona the line is only completed along the Cata- lonian shore as far as Gerona, but one can go straight across the countiy from sea to sea, without any diligence travelling. Montserrat ; IManresa, so famous in the life of Loyola ; Lerida, the Ilerda of Horace ; Calahorra, the ancient Calagurris ; and Tudela, are all stations upon this line, the latter half of which is singularly picturesque, ascending as it does the upper valley of the rapid and beautiful Ebro, and descending the course of the Nervion, affording through almost every mile the most beautiful views, and doing infinite credit to the engineering skill of its daring constructors. The journey from IMiranda to Bilbao is the very poetry of railway travel- ling. The railway already connects Pamplona with Sara- gossa, and Saragossa with the metropolis ; while the lounger of the Puerta del Sol can hurry to the fresh breezes of San- tan dar, without any of " les belles horreurs," which Mr. Bor- row has so feelingly described. Even Zamorra, whose deso- lation had become as much of a jest in Spanish literature as that of Cum 86 in the days of Juvenal, can now be reached by railway ; and if only the lines from Santa Cruz to Cordova, and from INIadrid to Badajoz, were completed, the tourist would really have very little reason to complain. Several other important lines are in progress, and not a few minor lines are already completed ; but we need not give further de- tails, as Spain has already an Indicador of its own, on the plan of the well-known French publication. The roads that are to feed these railways advance more MATERIAL REVIVAL. 37 slowly, but still they advance. We can well believe that the Marquis of Albaida tells an " ower true tale," when he says that the promise of a road or a bridge is one of the commonest bribes held out by the Alcaldes to induce their fellow-towns- men to vote for the government candidates, — the " Diputados di Alaen/' as they are wittily called, Not less true, we fear, is it that these roads and bridges are oftener promised than made. The coasting vessels and those for foreign trade advance in numbers, and in the frequency of their voyages, while some- thing is being done for the harbours, which, especially along the eastern coast, are far from being what they must be, if Spain is to become, as she surely one day will, a great mari- time power. Judging by the number of houses which bear upon them the device of some insurance company, we should have thought that fire insurance was more generally practised than the fifi^ures before us would lead us to believe. Banking is very far behindhand, and credit walks still with lame and staggering feet. Turn where we wiE, we see what marvellous changes an increase of science would work in this splendid country. There are rivers of wine, but it is rarely fit to drink. There are lakes of oil, but it is equally abominable. There are acres of peaches, but the fruit is a sort of turnip. There is no want of industry. The Spaniard works hard with his hands, as those of our engineers who have superintended railways in Spain are ready to testify. Sobriety is a common virtue. Intelligence is not wanting, and elementary education is not so very backward. It is intelligent direction which is wanted, central direction, if nothing better can be got, independent 38 SPAIN. local dii-ectioii where that is possible. How many Spaniards, however, are there who have imitated Espartero, who devotes the greater portion of his time to making his property near Logrofio a model for his neighbours ? It is melancholy when we reflect that vast spaces of fer- tile land in Spain have been utterly waste since the days of Philip III., to know that every year large numbers of indus- trious persons emigrate to Oran and elsewhere, and that the attempts at colonisation in Andalusia have not been crowned with any great success. The religious difficulty here, as else- where in the old world, has done much to keep far from the borders of Spain the most hardy and useful colonists. Garrido has accumulated, in his fifteenth and sixteenth chapters, statistical tables illustrative of the commerce and manufactures of Spain. We should be more tempted to quote their principal figures, if they were more complete, and if some of the more important industries, — as, for instance, the cotton-spinning of Catalonia, — were not exotics fostered by unwise laws. Of all Spanish exports the most important is wine, and of all Spanish wines the most important is sherry. We observe that the amount sent out of the country doubled between 1841 and 1861, though the price advanced by about 80 per cent. It should not be forgotten that, as Ford points out, sherry, although grown in Spain, is chiefly made by and for foreigners. There is less wine drunk at a Spanish taUe cVhdte in a month than at a German one in a day. One of the most important matters to which the depart- ment of Fomento could devote itself, would be the increase and better distribution of the water supply of Spain. Drought is, next to misgovernment, the great curse of the country. The funiuition of reservoirs to catch the wdnter rains must ADMIXISTRATIOX — FINANCE. 39 one day be set about in good earnest, if Spain is ever to support a population at all equal to that whicli we see in many other countries. The replanting of those forests which human shortsightedness and folly have destroyed, is another urgent necessity ; but its difficulty is, alas ! proportionate to its importance. The multiplication of canals for purposes of irrigation would be another great boon, but unfortunately this too is, from the character of the Spanish rivers, far from easy. Long and loud has been the clamour in favour of making the upper Tagus and upper Douro navigable, but neither they nor the Ebro are as yet of much use for purposes of transit. One is tempted to believe that the Moors, as they quitted the soil of Europe, laid a curse on the waters of Spain, — so unsuccessful have their conquerors been in imitating their dealings with that wayward element. It was the brilliant and unfortunate Larra who proposed to inscribe over the gate of the Madrid Exchange, " Aqui yace el credito Espanol," and who observed, that when that was done, everybody would compare the building to the Pjrramids of Egypt, marvelling that a work so vast should be raised for the sepulture of a thing so little. The English translation of the suggested inscription has the advantage, as Ford perceived, of the double meaning of the verb. Things are somewhat better than they were in those days of repudiation and bank- ruptcy, but still the Spanish Finance Minister has a bad time of it. The best source of information to which we can refer those who wish to know the most important facts about the public debt and the actual state of the money matters of Spain, is two sections of the article " Espagne," in Block's Dictionnaire 40 SPAIN. General dc la Politique. They are both written by Barzanallana, who was, as we have seen, Finance Minister in the last Narvaez Government. He gives as the total amount of the debt on the 1st January 1862, — 14,603,231,950 reals,butithas of course in- creased since. He also states the amount of the budget voted on the 4th March 1862 at 2,003,853,536 reals, for the ordinary expenses of the state, as against 2,009,938,000 reals, the esti- mated ordinary revenue ; while more than 560,000,000 reals were assigned to extraordinary expenses, which it was expected would be met by receipts not forming part of the ordinary revenue. We may remind our readers that a sum in reals may be converted into one in pounds sterling, with sufficient accuracy for ordinary purposes, if it is divided by 100. ]\f any of the methods of raising the revenue are much com- plained of by intelligent Spaniards. The tariff is still ruin- ously protective. The tobacco and other monopolies are opposed to the most elementary principles. The barbarous octroi minimises the internal commerce of the country, loses many hours of every day to thousands of industrious people, and fosters the vicious propensities of a whole army of officials, whose illegitimate gains, as every traveller knows, are far greater than their honest ones. An elaborate and vexatious system of stamps interferes with alrnost every transaction of life. With one hand the Minister of Finance beckons into existence a host of contrabandAstas, and with another an army of carahineros to keep them in check. The lottery still sows demoralisation broadcast over the whole Peninsula. In sliort, there are few economical heresies which are not em- braced as great truths by Queen Isabella's government, in spite of the efforts of many enlightened persons who translate lVistiat,and otherwise attempt to dispel the darkness of the land. ADMINISTRATION — FINANCE. 41 Of the wrongs of the bondholders we will say nothing. There are few Spanish topics which are so familiar to the newspaper reader. Those, however, who would learn what can be advanced on the Spanish side of the case, might look with advantage at the pamphlet called S;pain and Morocco, by Mr. Owen Eoss. So obvious are the benefits which would accrue to Spain from an honest arrangement with her creditors, and so perfectly able is she to make one which would be accepted as satisfac- tory, that we cannot doubt that such will be made. Made it would have been ere this, if the present state of things had not been useful to speculators, whose influence at Madrid is more powerful than any consideration of national prosperity, to say nothing of national honour. We have seen that in the year 1858 the Neo-CathoHc party, which had attempted to stop the sale of the national church lands, was obliged to give way to the politicians of the " Union-Liberal." They recommenced the good work, and an enormous amount of real property has now passed from the dead to the living hand. The money received by the state has been and is being applied to many good objects — inter alia, to the construction of harbours and lighthouses, to canals, roads, and bridges. Unfortunately, vast sums have been squandered on preparations for and munitions of war ; while, according to Garrido, not one penny has been spent in promoting the increase of knowledge — the great want of Spain. Assuredly finance is not the bright side of Iberian affairs. And yet let any one compare the figures of recent budgets with those of the days of Spain's prosperity and pre-eminence, asking himself, after he has done so, what people mean when 42 SPAIN. they say that she has declined. Hen relative position has changed, and she has not advanced as she ought to have done ; but how much of that halo of greatness which surrounds her past is mere delusion ? It should not be forgotten that the figures we have cited are only those connected with the central •'overnmeut. Very large sums are raised for public purposes by tlie provincial councils and by the municipalities. It should also be borne in mind that the debt has been much increased by the state's having given to the former owners of lands held in mortmain, obligations upon the National Treasury instead of the estates which they lost. The events of the Peninsular War left on the English mind a somewhat too unfavourable impression of the Spanish soldier. Faults, which were really attributable only to his officers or to the War Department, were unhesitatingly ascribed to him ; and his demerits are even now popularly accepted as part of the low estimate of Spain which is usual amongst us. And yet the great Captain who freed the Peninsula by no means shared these views. He did not hesitate to express the highest opinion of the warlike virtues of the Spanish private ; and a person is still living who can testify to his having said, '' The British soldier — if you treat him w^ell — if you feed him — if you clothe him — will go anywhere and fight anybody ; but the Spanish soldier — if you donH treat him well — if you don't feed him — if you don^t clothe him — will do the same." The necessities of the civil wars directed very great atten- tion to the better organisation of the royal troops in Spain ; and when peace returned, the wants of the service were not lost sight of. Minutoli, who had himself served for twenty- four years in the Prussian army, gives a most detailed account of till' wholu military system, satisfying in his scruj)ulous ADMINISTRATION — WAR. 43 pages alike the curiosity of the drill-sergeant and of the army tailor. His summing-up is higlily favourable to the efficiency and high character of the troops of Queen Isabella, who, when he wrote, had been for some time reposing on their laurels. When, a few years afterwards, they were called to make proof of their valour and endurance in the war with Morocco, they earned, it will be remembered, much praise at the hands of the Times correspondent, whose letters have since been republished, and should be referred to by those who are anxious to form an opinion as to the real importance of Spain. Official returns of the year 1863, quoted in the Statesman's Year -took, give 151,668 men as the total strength of the Spanish military forces ; but more than 22,000 of these belong to the Carabineros and to the Guardia Civil ; while more than 44,000 are militiamen. There are also troops in the Canaries and in the colonies, which are not included in the above. The army is recruited by conscription ; but great privileges are given to volunteers, who receive a large bounty, and substi- tutes are freely permitted. Minutoli calls particular attention to the artillery, which is destined to act in mountainous dis- tricts, — an arm of the first importance in the land of Sierras. The exercises of the army in general, and of the cavalry in particular, are arranged on the French model. We have no very certain information as to how far Spain is keeping pace with the latest improvements in military science ; but a govern- ment which is almost always presided over by generals should hardly be behindhand in such matters. The Spanish navy, which had sunk very low, rose rapidly into importance under Charles III., and at the commencement of the present century was still in a very flourishing condition. The great disaster of Trafalgar inaugurated another period of decline, from which 44 SPAIN. it is only now recovering. Perhaps it is to the filibustering expeditions against Cuba, more than to any other cause, that we must attribute the very marked improvement that is now visible in the Marine Department. Some credit is also due to the Marquis of Molins, now minister in London — better known by his name of Eoca di Togores — whose poetical and rhetorical merits raised him to the office of First Lord of the Admiralty about the time that the Cuban question became alarming. As early, however, as 1845, things had begun to mend ; and Minutoli speaks of as many as 78 vessels being in process of construction, or undergoing large repairs, in the spring of 1851. Ever since there has been a gradual advance, and now, like other and greater powers, Spain is turning her attention to the construction of ironclads, of which she has several afloat. The officers of the Spanish navy are very highly spoken of by Mr. Wallis and others. Both the war and commercial marine suff'er much from the obstinate adherence of the authorities to a system based upon the French maritime inscription. The sailor too has, it would appear, other griev- ances, of which the chief are a low rate of pay and severe punishments. It is probable that the Spanish Government will follow in the wake of their great neighbour in undoing the mistakes of Colbert ; but Garrido says that it as yet is only the Democratic party which urges this change. The minister who now presides over the colonies of Spain has not a very laborious office. Her gigantic colonial empire has now sunk to Cuba, Porto-Eico, a corner of the Virgin Islands, part of the Philippines,* the Marian Archipelago, with * Tlic reader wlio is cuiious about these unfamiliar regions should consult a recent article in the llcvuc des Deux Mondes, and Der Stille Ocean icnd die ADMINISTRATION — COLONIES AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 45 the far-scattered Carolinian group. The whole population of these possessions may be 8,000,000, so that Holland has now many more colonial subjects than her once terrible antagonist. The want of good faith the Spanish Government has dis- played in all that relates to the slave-trade, has been a frequent subject of complaint in this country. Since the treaty of 1817, the slaves in Cuba have enormously increased, and almost every captain-general has made large sums by conniving at the importation of slaves from Africa. The most conspicuous exception to this rule was General Valdez, who administered the island during the regency of Espartero, and whose name is a synonym for honour. The Democratic party is of course thoroughly opposed to the existing system, and its writers do not cease to point out that soon or later the sins of the past and present will be washed out in blood. The absolute stop- page of the slave-trade, with gradual emancipation immediately begun and steadily persevered in, are the only possible methods of conjuring the frightful calamity which impends over the Queen of the Antilles. The downfall of the Confederacy has been a warning to her to set her house in order. The really liberal party in Spain, as we have seen, is alto- gether opposed to attempts at " re- vindications" of colonial empire. Garrido even goes so far as to assert, that Spain, if she lost the colonies which she has, would be all the stronger, and there is much to be said on that side of the question. He admits, however, that public opinion is not ripe for such a change as this, and Spain will have done all that England can expect, if she tries to imitate what we have done during Spanischen Besitztcngen im OstindiscJien Archijyel, publislied at Vienna in 1860 by the gifted Austrian savant and diplomatist, M. Ch. de Hiigel. * It is said that very strict orders to enforce the laws against the slave trade have been sent by O'Donnell to the present captain-general. 46 SPAIN. the last thirty years, without attempting to place herself abreast of our most " advanced" colonial politicians. Her de- pendencies are still governed by an arbitrary system, for the laws promised in the Constitution of 1837 have never been introduced. The captain-general of Cuba, if we believe the Democratic press, is as despotic as a pasha. The Secretary for Foreign Affairs is generally placed in the list of Spanish ministers immediately after the President of the Council. We have put him last, wishing thereby to indi- cate that there is none of his colleagues who does not occupy a more really important position. The advice of every man of common sense, who desires the welfare of Spain, to the Spanish Foreign Minister, will, if he understands the circum- stances of that country, be, for thirty years to come, a very simple one. " Try to forget that Spain has ever exercised any influence beyond her own borders. Instruct all your ambas- sadors to confine themselves to protecting the lives and rights of their countrj^men in foreign lands, and to keeping you well informed, taking especial care to hear as much and to say as little as possible." If this policy were persevered in, and the other ministers were as active as their colleague was tranquil, Spain would not, at the end of the period we have named, have to ask humbly to be admitted into the councils of Europe. She would be one of the " Great Powers," in virtue of being a great 'power. Parties in Spain at the present time may be thus divided : — I. The Royalists, " pures et simples," who are again split into three fractions : the Carlists, the Neo-Catholics, and the Royalists of Isabella II. IT. The Constitutionalists, who are either — AToderados of several shades ; PARTIES AND PRESS. 47 Men of the Union-Liberal ; Moderate Progressistas ; Advanced Progressistas. III. The Democratic party, which has two subdivisions, according as its members are Democratic Progressistas or Socialist Eepublicans. Neither the Constitutional Progressistas nor the Democrats have taken any part, as we have seen, in the recent elections, but they, like all the other sections, have their representatives in the press.* * In the autumn of 1864, the Carlists had for their principal organ the Esperanza, a large paper, of very little merit, but which had, we believe, a great circulation. Practically, this party, of course, can only strengthen the hands of the clerical faction, the Neo-Catholics, whose chief paper was El Pen- samiento Espanol. It must be remembered that Neo-Catholicism in Spain means something very different from the comj)aratively moderate views to which it is applied in France. In the latter country we connect it with the name of Montalembert, and with certain veUeites towards Liberalism, while in Spain it is the creed of the "real old bats of bigotry." The only j)aper in Spain which supports the principles of the Corres2)ondant was, in 1864, so far as we are aware, the Diario di Barcelona, an old-established journal, which was then under the direction of M. Mane y Flaquer, a man of intelligence and ability. The Eoyalists, who have rallied round the present dynasty, had the Rcgeneracion for their organ. The Moderados had the Reino, the Contemporaiuo, and several other journals. The Union-Liberal had the Epoca, the Politica, etc. The Progi'essistas had, amongst others, the Novedades and the Iheria, the latter of which was perhaps the best Spanish paper which then appeared. It is strange that it is hardly ever quoted by the English press, while the names of verj' inferior journals appear frequently. The Democrazia, which is edited, as already mentioned, by Castelar, who has attracted much attention by a series of lectures at the Ateneo, ui)on the civilisation of the first five centuries, represents the opinions of the Demo- cratic Progressistas ; while the Discusion is the organ of the Socialist Republi- cans. Till 1864, that journal was under the guidance of a Catalan, M. Pi y Margall, and it still has great influence in Barcelona and its neighbourhood. In literary merit it seemed to us very inferior to the Democrazia, with which it lived on the worst possible terms. 48 SPAIN. Garrido gives 279 as the number of the journals of Spain. Of these, 62 were daily and political, 52 belonged to the bishops, 58 to the government, and the other 93 were devoted to particular branches of knowledge, to commerce, and so forth. These figures have probably not been very much altered in the last two years ; and although the state of things which they disclose is not one to make us over-sanguine, yet compare it with the accounts which we have of Spain from 1823 to 1833, and we seem to have entered a new world. Students of Spanish literature who have been led down to the reign of Charles IV. by the learned and only too-pains- taking Ticknor, may well be excused if they decline to pursue its history to our own times with such imperfect helps as they The writer in Fraser, already quoted, observes : — *' The Moderado El Espaiiol, of the 31st October last, employed the fol- lowing language, which may be taken as a specimen of the licence of Spanish journalism : — ' Yicalvarism (O'Donnellism), that political plague, that nega- tion of all idea, that deleterious miasma that decomposes and envenoms the political atmosphere of parties, and for Avhich the word country is synonjTnoiis with ^;ri;:c; that group of apostates and political pillagers, that sect without faith, without creeds, without history except what defines a period of illegality, of violence, of pilfer, and of blood ; that vermin's nest which has bred and grown witli the pest ; — Vicalvarism, that denies the history of all parties — that presumes, insensate ! to deny the merit and the glory naturally and legiti- mately corresponding to historical combinations, — that is not a party with which we ought to measure our strength, is not a legitimate and noble adver- sary whom we ought to combat.' * # * *• * " Sir James Mackintosh, happening to be at Paris at a time of more than ordinary looseness of morals, notes down in his journal : ' I hear that Madame is excluded from society. I really should like to know what her offence can be.' Just so, when, after reading such specimens of pennitted journalism us have fallen under our observation, we hear that a newspaper writer has bi'cn profiecuted, we are driven to wonder what his offence can be. In the midst of their violence, tlie opposition papers take good care not to attack the government for the gravest errors of commission or omission, when in accord- ance with the national feeling — such as the war with Chili, or the culpable delay in restoring credit." LITERATURE AND EDUCATION. 49 can find. They must not, liowever, conclude, as too many do, that nineteenth-century Spam has no literature worthy of the name. The only substitute for Ticknor whicli we can suggest to them, of course a very imperfect one, is the two-volume collection of extracts from Spanish contemporary writers, edited by Ochoa for Baudry in 1840. A biographical notice of each author is prefixed to the passages taken from him. Amongst many now dead they will find the names of Hartzen- busch, Pacheco, the Duke of Eivas, Ventura de la Vega, and not a few others who are still alive. There are also several writers who have appeared since Ochoa's collection was given to the world. Such is Campoamor, whose short pieces, called Doloras, are of really very great merit, and may be most strongly recommended to those lovers of fugitive poetry who have come to the end of all that the better known literatures have to offer in this kind. If quantity were of great importance in literature, great would be the place which would be filled in the eyes of his contemporaries by Don Modesto Lafuente, the twenty-second volume of whose history of Spain only brings us down to 1814 ; but those best entitled to speak with authority upon such a subject accuse him of much too great haste, and of pandering to some of the worst prejudices of his countrymen. The his- tory of the reign of Charles III., by Ferrer del Eio, relates in minute detail the annals of a period which is very imperfectly known, and has been favourably received by foreign critics. Like these, the great statistical work of Don Pascual Madoz has found its way into good English libraries. Amador de los Eios is retracing in fuller detail the ground already so well traversed by Ticknor. Beginniug, however, with the beginning, he thinks it necessary to go back not only to Lucan and E 50 SPAIN. ^Martial, but even to I'ortius Latro, the worthy rhetorician who was the teacher of Seneca. The Marquis of Pidal, long prominent in politics, is a historian of a higher order, and unlike Lafuente, who is said to have spent only five days at Simancas, has brought many new facts to light. The lady who writes under the assumed name of Fernan Caballero is perhaps better known out of her own country than any living Spanish writer, and at least one of her novels has been translated into English. It is unfortunate that her in- fluence, such as it is, is thrown into the scale of the anti-liberal party. This is the case, too, with the popular poet and romance writer, Don Antonio de Trueba. Those who care to know more about living Spanish \\ riters may turn to the work of Latour, Etudes Litteraires sur L'Espagne. We should warn them, how- ever, that this author is but the one-eyed in the kingdom of the blind, and we only recommend him because, superficial and prejudiced as he is, we know no better guide. When will some one do for Spain what Marc Monnier, in V Italic est elle la Terre des Morts .^ has done for the sister Peninsula ? Although the state of education in Spain is very far from being satisfactory, even when compared with other Catholic countries, it would be a sad mistake to suppose, as too many do, that it is no better than Mr. Borrow found it. In the year 1832 there were in the whole country only 700 educa- tional establishments, and in 1839 these had, thanks to the civil wars, increased only to 900. In the end of 1851, Minu- toli calculated that were — 17,009 Boys' Schools, attended by . 626,882 scholars. 5,021 Girls' Schools, attended by . 201,200 „ 287 Asylums for Children, educating 11,100 „ Total . 839,182 „ LITERATURE AND EDUCATION. 51 On the 1st of January 1861, according to official returns quoted by the writer in the Home and Foreign Review already aUuded to, the number of children receiving instruction had risen to 1,046,558, and the proportion between the sexes had materially altered ; for whereas in 1851 there were three times as many boys as girls in the schools, the ratio in 1861 was as nine to four — a change which can hardly fail to be fruitful of good to the next generation. Minutoli, speaking from personal observation in many parts of Spain, says that in spite of their low salaries the schoolmasters are in general very tolerable, and that he came from time to time upon schools which were quite excellent. All this progress has been made in little more than a quarter of a century, for the first school-law that seems to have had any effect was framed in 1838. In 1797 there were not 400,000 children attending the primary schools. Very little good, we fear, can be said of the class of schools corresponding to the French Lycees. They are few in number, and ill attended. Hence the Universities have to do much of the work that ought to be got over in the years of boyhood — an evil of which we know something nearer home. In Spain, Greek, which in the sixteenth century had a very heretical flavour, has never been much studied, and we were recently assured by an eminent professor of the University of Madrid, that the instruction in Latin usually given in Spanish schools was extremely imperfect. The Universities are ten in number, but of these Madrid is the only one which is organised on the scale of a great national establishment. It represents the famous University of Alcala — whose name we connect with Cardinal Ximenes and the Complutensian Polyglott. It alone bears the title of 52 SPAIN. "Central," while its humbler sisters are only "District Universities." These are situated at Barcelona, Granada, Oviedo, Salamanca, Seville, Santiago, Valencia, Valladolid, and Saragossa. The darkness of the Middle Ages still lies deep upon Valladolid and Salamanca, but in Seville the ideas of our time have at least one worthy exponent. In the capital of Catalonia the Scotch philosophy contrives to reconcile itself with the fervent Catholicism of Balmez, a foeman more worthy the steel of Protestant controversalists than any whom Spain has produced since the commencement of her decline ; and the general tone of that University appears for the moment to be singularly alien to the Democratic tendencies which have of late been so prominent in the most active and turbulent of Spanisli provinces. The University of Saragossa shares in the general decay of the old capital of Arragon ; a decay whose persistence is all the more remarkable, when it is remembered how favourably it is situated with respect to railway com- munication. The library of this institution is really one of the most touching spectacles which the lover- of letters is likely to see in any part of Europe. Eoom after room may be traversed without finding almost a single book likely to interest any one, except the hihliomane. Yet even here, where so little provision is made for giving solid instruction to the students, we could mention the name of one professor who is honourably distinguished among his reactionary colleagues by liberality and intelligence. A detailed account of the IMadrid University, with all the api)aratus of higher, secondary, and primary instruction which it sets in motion, is to be found in a convenient little volume, the Mcmorin-Aiivario de la Univcrsidad Centred. On paper, EDUCATION. 53 at least, everything seems well ordered, and in a course of steady improvement. Whether Dr. Pattison and Mr. Arnold would give as pleasant a picture of the actual working of the machine is quite another question. It is, however, undoubt- edly doing good service to sound learning; and the tone of the very important philosophical faculty is extremely liberal. Not the least remarkable of its professors is M. Sanz del Eio, whose Ideal de la Humanidad para la vida now lies before us. Tell it not in Gath, but it is the philosophy of Krause which is now taught to the rising generation in the metropolis of the autodafe — of Krause, who found in freemasonry the germ of that higher order in which he believed that all states and churches would one day merge. Vera is preaching Hegel at Naples, and Krause is indoctrinating the " only court." It is enough to bring Philip 11. out of his grave again. Garrido observes, that although the laAv of 1856, which now governs public instruction in Spain, was framed by a very reactionary cabinet, the ideas of the time have been too strong for its contrivers, and it is to a great extent working in a liberal direction. He tells an amusing anecdote of the troubles of an unfortunate boy at a school in Andalusia, wdio, when examined by the priest with regard • to the creation of the world, made the same answer which he had been taught to make in the natural history class of the same establishment. Everywhere throughout Spain, the old and the new, super- stition and enlightenment, are in presence of each other, but nowhere do they meet in sharper conflict than in the educa- tional institutions. All attempts to make the scientific works used even tolerably conformable to the teaching of the church seem to have been given up. Education is certainly cheap, even when we consider that Spain is a poor country ; and 54 SPA.IN. indeed it is difficult to understand how tolerably competent professors can be secured for the very small remuneration which is offered. It is unfortunate that we cannot refer those who desire to know something of the religious state of Spain, to any recent work which can bear comparison with Doblado's Letters, which are now more than forty years old, for there is no subject on which it is more difficult for a foreigner to speak. A few facts, however, we may note as certain : — First, The existing Spanish Constitution, although it still contains no clause pro- claiming religious toleration, is in this one respect very much more liberal than that of Cadiz, which distinctly committed the nation to intolerance. At present the legislation of Spain recognises the liberty of religious opinions, but does not recog- nise the liberty of religious \vorship. The distinction is a ]Ditiful one for these our days, but still it is very real, and re- presents the abolition of an enormous amount of tyranny and annoyance. Secondly, The territorial power of the priest- hood, once so great, has ceased to exist ; monasteries are a thing of the past, and in their place we find only a few scattered mission-houses, while the whole number of ecclesiastics has been diminished by many thousands. Thirdly, Although it might be imagined that the sacrifice of so large a portion of its worldly advantages might have been repaid to the Spanish clergy by an increase of spiritual influence, this has certainly not been the case, and every traveller knows that neither they nor their office are respected by large sections of the community. Some curious evidence with regard to this point is supplied by a book published in 1851, and entitled. The Practical Worldng of the Church in Spain. Its authors (for more than one liand fontriluitcd to its pages) belong or belonged to that STATE OF RELIGION. 05 section of English Churchmen who talk of Dr. Pusey as *' one wliose words are priceless." It may then readily be inferred that they went to the Peninsula expecting to see and hear much with which they could sympathise. They thought that they were entering a land of " happy peasants, all holy monks, all holy priests, holy everybody ;" and great, accordingly, was their consternation when they found ceremonies profaned, confession laughed at, and the clergy despised. In Malaga and Cadiz, in Seville and Cordova, through all south-eastern Spain, they be- held the old religion sinking into contempt. The priests can- didly confessed that they had lost their hold over the middle class; or, to use their own peculiar diction, they said, '' If it was not for the poor, there would be no worship of God in the land." Sometimes, when a sermon of an exceptionally startling kind woke up the slumbering consciences of the masses, the ancient fanaticism flared up again in a ghastly way ; but it was a mere momentary revival, and things soon returned to their accustomed course. We strongly recommend those who are interested in Spain to read this little work, because the testimony which it gives is evidently wrung from its authors with great reluctance. They had no sympathy with some of the more flagrant delu- sions of the Koman system, — with its Mariolatry, for example ; but with much that to a real Protestant is quite as objection- able, they were thoroughly at one. If we turn to the debates wliich took place in the Con- stituent Cortes with regard to religious toleration, and which have been published in a separate volume, we shall see that not only were several of the amendments brought forward by the Liberal party very respectably supported, but that the reasons given by some of the most influential persons in sup- port of the less liberal proposal of the committee, which was 56 SPAIN. ultimately adopted, were by no means such as could be acceptable to conscientious bigots, while the counter-proposal which was brought forward by tlie ISTeo- Catholic party met with very little fovour. The motion of Montesinos, deputy for Caceres in Estremadura, to establish complete religious toleration, was only lost, on the loth of January 1855, by 103 votes to 99. There is little doubt that if it had not been for the difficulties occasioned by the bigotry of Queen Isabella, and the fear of introducing another element of disturbance into an ah'eady-agitated countr}^, the amendment we have just alluded to would have been carried. There can be no doubt that the barbarous suppression of the Eeformed tenets was one of the chief causes of the decline of Spanish glory, but we do not feel by any means sure that the introduction of a considerable leaven of Pro- testantism into sixteenth-centrny Spain might not have exercised so powerful a dissolving force as to have undone the work of Ferdinand and Isabella, by breaking the country once more into two or more separate kingdoms. Xo one has a right dogmatically to assert that this would not have been so, until he has well weighed and considered the centrifugal forces which have long worked, nay which are even now Avorking, in Spanish politics. It is not impossible that the historians of the twentieth century may think that they understand why it was that the good cause was allowed so utterly to fail ; and as they narrate the discomfiture which assuredly awaits the " Great Church" in the Peninsula, may sec how fatal to the interests of superstition has been that national unity of which its advocates have said so much. The shades of iEgidius and San Ptoman are, if we mistake nul, likely to be far more thoroughly avenged upon their STATE OF KELIGION. 57 enemy than they wonld have been by the kind of partial success which followed efforts similar to theirs in France or Southern Germany; and those who read their story by the light of what is now passing in Spain may comfort them- selves with the saying — " Thougli the mills of God grind slowly, Yet they grind exceeding small." It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that there is any tendency towards the Confessions of the sixteenth cen- tury on the part of any appreciable number of Spaniards. The expedition of Mr. Borrow, except in so far as it produced a book which has been well called " Gil Bias in Water- Colours," was a perfect failure, as is well explained in Captain Widdriugton's second work. The more recent movement, to which the name of Matamoros is attached, has not even the proverbial importance of straws that show which way the wind blows. If any exhortations of ours were likely to reach the class of persons who find a vent for their superfluous energy in missions to the Mediterranean, we would advise them for the present to devote all their attention to Italy. There they will And, under the protection of an enlightened government, a fair field and certainly no disfavour. There, by a plentiful expenditure of money and zeal, they will be able thoroughly to test how far their views are suitable to Latin populations in the nineteenth century. The cause of progress can only gain by their having full scope for their operations, whether judicious or otherwise. In Spain the case is ^^ery different : they have to deal with a half-enlightened government, and with a people which, so long as we hold Gibraltar, will be apt to look with intense dislike on every- thing which has a peculiarly English colour. Whatever they 58 SPAiSr. do, let them at least not make Gibraltar the pivot of their operations. The only result of doing so will be to stultify their own efforts, and to alienate the sympathy of Spaniards from any of their converts who may get into trouble. Our own impression is, that the form of Eomanism which prevails in Spain is lower, and retains less of the real spirit of Chris- tianity, than that which exists in any other Catholic country with which we are acquainted. Over the lower classes it still has very considerable hold ; but rather as a superstition than as a religion. On the other hand, the creed of the bulk of the men among the educated classes is pure in- differentism, and probably in their hearts the majority of those who are opposed to religious toleration oppose it in order that they may not have the trouble of settling what attitude they are to take up towards the religion of the state. At present they are Catholics, as a matter of course, just as they are Spaniards. If they could be anything else, they would be ashamed to profess belief in a system which they utterly despise. This state of things need surprise no- body : it is the natural result of the forcible suppression of free thought, and is seen in a less degree even in those countries — pagan and other — where public opinion, and not penal legis- lation, is the supporter of the existing creeds. We cannot expect this miserable hypocrisy, injurious alike to morality, to literature, and to statesmanship), soon to pass away ; but a beginning is made. Any one who knows Spain could men- tion the names of Spaniards who are as enlightened in these great matters, and as earnest, as the best amongst ourselves ; and just as surely as the opinions of Luther and Melancthon would, through the Enzinas family and many others, have taken root in Spain and converted a large minority of the DIFFICULTIES. 59 nation, if tlie persecutions of Philip 11. and his successors had not made it absolutely impossible, so one or other of the forms of pure Christianity which, under various names and with differences more or less marked, but not of vital import- ance, are becoming the creed of most thinking men in the countries of Europe generally recognised as progressive, will most certainly, before the end of this century, have great in- fluence in rapidly reviving Spain. Only let all concerned remember that any attempt on the part of foreigners to hasten this good work will only retard it. There is an excellent Castilian proverb which impatient reformers would do well to remember : " JVo ])or nmiclio madrugar, amanece mas tem- 'prano ;" " However early you get up in the morning, the dawn comes never the sooner." All this is not very like the Middle Ages ; and we can- not help thinking that if IMr. Buckle had lived, he would have found it necessary to reconsider the latter part of his elaborate and valuable treatise on Spain. We think that the key to modern Spain is to recollect that she is essentially not mediaeval, but that, in the room of the old faith, loyalty, and punclonor, she has not as yet got any great national belief, philosophy, or idea, in the light of which to live. The old principles were bad enough, yet let no man condemn them too utterly, till he has seen the Cathedral of Toledo, and read Avhat is best in Calderon. Nearly all the moral and social phenomena which we now observe amongst the educated classes of Spain, may be explained by the influence of a superficial French culture acting upon a people in whom long tyranny had dried up the springs of national life. The question which underlies all other questions in the Peninsula is the question of the dynasty. Will this wretched GO spa!n. Bourbon race ever be able honestly to reconcile itself with constitutional government, or must it be trampled down at Madrid as elsewhere. Our readers will have gathered that, altogether apart from the play of the political forces, there is an evil influence which is perpetually interfering with the action of government. As long as there is the camarilla in the palace, there will be a constant danger of revolution in the streets. It is more than probable that Queen Isabella would ere this have been set aside, if it were possible to put anybody in her place ; but against every candidate whose claims have ever been canvassed, there are great objections, and he must be an ardent republican, indeed, v/ho would seriously propose to try his favourite form of government in such a country. As long as the queen persists in giving her confidence to priests, swindlers, and favourites, it is impos- sible to say what may happen from hour to hour ; but if the royal difficulty could be got over, and the intelligence of the country could be once for all reconciled with its dynasty, which we should be heartily glad to see, the next great poli- tical step should be, if not to restore the Constitution of 1837, at least very much to alter that of 1845, and, above all, to sweep away those dishonest saving clauses which leave it open to a minister to exercise despotic authority under con- stitutional forms. It may be doubted, however, whether even good political change is so important for Spain as quiet and decently-honest government. Anyhow, the improvement that would be effected, if all parties would consent to abstain from the exercise of that undue influence which has been employed against all in turn, would be so enormous, that all questions sink by comparison into insignificance. Corruption by private persons has never made much progress in Spain, although DIFFICULTIES. 61 there, as in France, it is upon the increase. If these reforms conlcl be effected, Englishmen could look with great equani- mity upon a nominated Senate, and the continued abeyance of the Xational Guard, althouoh we are far from venturing to assert that real reforms will be carried out without recurrence to the use of that powerful but dangerous instrument. An- other cr3'ing evil, which it would be most imjDortant to sweep away, is the intolerable number of functionaries and^ pensioners, who eat up the revenues of the state, and eke out their wretched pay by bribery and oppression. This, how- ever, is an evil with which the constitutional government of Spain finds it as diflicult to deal as does the Autocrat him- self It is easier to say that Spain ought to have half the number of employes which she now has, and to double their salaries, than to propose any feasible means of effecting such a reform. It is no less clear that her policy ought to be to have a small, thoroughly well-appointed army, which, in the improbable case of a really necessary war, might act as a nucleus round which her population — than which none in Europe more easily adopt the habits of the soldier — might rapidly rally. ISTor would it be less desiral)le that Spanish generals should confine themselves to their own art, standing aloof from politics, and imitating, in this respect, their naval brethren. We have alluded already to the ruinous results ^^•hich have followed the unfair dealing of Spanish Finance Ministers, to the abominations of the tariff, and the whole fiscal system, as well as to the extreme impolicy of the excessive centralisation which prevails in every department of the state. We canaot, however, too strongly impress upon our readers that the punctual execution of the laws which even now exist in Spain, bad as these laws in many parti- 62 SPAIN. culars are, would very much improve the position of the countiy. Everywhere there is slackness, gross dishonesty, want of business habits, and falsehood. With regard to all this side of Spanish affairs, the observations of Ford cannot be too frequently read, or too carefully treasured. Against such evils as these the best government can do but little, and any man who, like Espartero and some of his friends, stood erect amidst the general abasement, deserves, although their conduct amounts to little more than a protest, to be placed upon the same level as far more successful reformers in more fortunate lands. The railways and the abolition of passports have done, and will do, much to diminish that intense provincial jealousy which is one of the greatest difficulties of Spanish rulers. Intercourse with foreign nations, which has now become so easy, will gradually force the Spaniards of the upper and middle classes, both men and women, to become more educated. The bull-light, at once an index and a stimulant of national brutality, is now more flourishing than ever ; but this may be accounted for by increased wealth, and everywhere there is an intelligent minority which protests against it. We should, however, only be too happy to think, that the hundredth anni- versary of the day on which Jovellanos attacked it would see it beginning to vanish. If Spain had only, at the commencement of the present reign, adopted a reasonable policy towards her colonies, she might ere this have stood towards them in a position at once honourable and profitable, and have acted in Europe as the head of the Spanish race in all parts of the globe. As it is, it is more probable that she will lose the last of them, than that she will be wise in time, and introduce a good government. H<'r colonial, like her foreign policy, has remained that of TKUE POLICY OF SPAIN. 63 Ferdinaud VII. There is surely no power in Europe to which non-inten^ention is more recommended by nature, for the Pyrenees, as has been truly said, " damp the sound of her voice." She has but two real foreign interests, and both these are peninsular : the union with Portugal, and the possession of Gibraltar. The former of these will, we think, certainly come about when both nations arrive at a higher point of development, for such a union will increase the powder of both in geometrical ratio. We should not, however, be deceived, for as yet nothing is prepared for it, and the Pcdrist intrigues of 1854 were quite premature. There are hardly two capitals in Europe which have so little intercourse w^itli each other as Lisbon and Madrid. When the frontier is cut by half-a-dozen railways it will be very different, and ere that time may we not hope to see a really free and good government in both countries ? At present, Portugal is politically much in advance.* With regard to Gibraltar, we do not care to discuss the question either from an English or a Spanish point of view. Those who imagine that it will not have one day to be very seriously discussed, must have odd ideas about the future of the Mediterranean. There seems, however, at present to be little likelihood of its becoming a subject of immediate interest in this generation. Spain w^ould have made a very great step towards pros- * There is an interesting paper on Portugal in the Revue des Deux Moncles for 1864. In tlie opinion of its intelligent author, the tendency of public feeling in Portugal is altogether against any rcqipTochement to Spain. Since the idea of annexation was taken up by a portion of the Spanish press in 1861, he says that it has become the fashion in Portugal to affect ignorance even of the language of their nearest neighbours. " The two nations are brothers, but brothers who desire to live apart." A similar dislike on the part of Scotland, did not, however, prevent the Union, and the logic of interest and events will one day perhaps be too strong for national prejudice. 64 SPAIN. perity, if slie could only understand, that all intelligent Englislimen wish that she should rise to a point of national wealtli and real power, such as she has never as yet attained. They are quite aware that, in the present condition of the world, Spain cannot be prosperous without being enlightened, peaceful, and industrious ; and they well know that the trans- formation of the Iberian Peninsula into an enlightened, peaceful, and industrious state, would not only be a great blessing to mankind, but would add enormously to the well- being of their own country, which is becoming every day more and more the workshop and the entrepot of the world, Nor will the complete regeneration of Spain be less important to us in an intellectual than in a material point of view. Consider what she did when she was enslaved to a faith only less bloody than that which she overthrew^ in Mexico, — a faith at which all intelligent Eomanists now shudder ; then judge what she may do when the fine intellects of her people are freed from the bondage of ignorance, and she has her fair share of the knowledge of those facts of the universe, which are now acquired for humanity. So surely as a new product of any value is discovered, it soon finds it way to England. So surely as a new idea is born into the world, it soon finds its way liither also ; and no nation can now become rich or wise with- out largely contributing to the increase of our riches and wisdom. CHAPTEE 11. RUSSIA. EussiA, said a French historian to an English friend, is a siren, with whom it is dangerous to parley. " Just look at Haxthausen's book ; he starts as a very good German, but he becomes more Muscovite than Muscovy, before he gets to the end." If the remarkable man who used these words had ever thought of Eussia, except as a subject for dithyrambic rhetoric, he would probably have reflected that to say of a country that, the more you examine it, the better your opinion of it is likely to be, is to pass upon it a very equivocal kind of censure. We place his remark, however, at the very com- mencement of this article, in order that the reader may not be unwarned, but may suspect us, if he finds anything more favourable to Eussia than he anticipates, to have listened too long to the voice of the siren. What are the elements which make up the ordinary ideas about Eussia, now floating in English society ? Eirst, there is a general feeHng of dislike, not unmingled with disgust, which may be traced up perhaps to the publication of Dr. Clarke's travels. That writer, who influences many who never read a line of his works, visited Eussia during the reign of the Emperor Paul, and suffered, like most who did so, from the caprices of that maniac. His descriptions have been criti- cised, but were probably in the main correct, and the state of F 66 RUSSIA. society, which he found in Eussia, was eminently detestable. The impression which his book left upon the mind of Western Europe was heightened by the bitter diatribes of Custine ; and even those who would have been willing to look, with a friendly eye, upon the Eussian people and their advancing civilisation, have been revolted by the impudent pretensions of their government to give law to Europe, and by that long succession of presumptuous follies which, commencing with 1814, only came to an end when the heart-strings of the Em- peror Nicholas cracked in the agony of defeat and humiliation. The bloody repression of two Polish insurrections, the long grim t}Tanny of Nicholas, and the fact that the events of even the present reign come to us coloured, as has been well said, either by the views of Germans who fear, or of Poles who hate Eussia, have combined to make the task of any one who asks the Liberal party in England to look upon the empire of the Czars as it really is, very far indeed from an easy one. Alexander I., during the earlier years of his reign, seemed inclined to give his attention to the internal affairs of his empire. Too soon, however, he was dragged into the whirlpool of the revolutionary wars, and ere long the utter failure of Napoleon's mad attempt put him in a position to dictate to the Continent. He caught too, beyond his own frontiers, that strange malady of religious enthusiasm which broke out all over Europe, when the subject nations began first to hope for an opportunity of shaking off the domination of France. Opposition to the Eevolution estranged the pupil of Laharpe from the doctrines of his master. The influence of Madame de Kriidener made the eldest son of the Holy Eastern Church a mvstic accordinjz to the Western manner. THE HOLY ALLIANCE. 67 After the peace he still cherished hopes of making Warsaw a centre, whence a modified Liberalism might be conducted, at the good pleasure of the Czar, from one city of Paissia to another ; but the difficulties he met with from a people, which then as now cared much more for national freedom than for forms of government, of however liberal a character, gradually altered the views of Alexander about Poland, while he became engaged ever more and more deeply in the Con- gress politics, of which Metternich was the moving spirit. Before he died he was little more than the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Eussia, while the legitimate functions of the Auto- crat were discharged, and discharged detestably, by his all- powerful favourite Araktcheieif. We have said that Alex- ander was gradually led into this unfortunate policy ; indeed, nothing would be more mistaken than to suppose that even the signature of the Holy Alliance was coincident with his reaching any very advanced point on the political " descensus Averni." So much nonsense has been talked of late about the Holy Alliance, in connection with the Carlsbad and Kis- singen interviews of 1864, that we shall not do wrong to re- mind our readers what that agreement really was. The document called the Holy Alliance was originally sketched at Paris, in the French language, by Alexander's own hand, after a long and animated conversation with Madame de Krlidener and Bergasse. It was suggested, per- haps, by words spoken by the king of Prussia after the battle of Bautzen, but was chiefly the result of the influence upon a mind always inclined to religious ideas, of the conver- sation of Madame de Krlidener and of the philosopher Bader;, the admirer of Tauler, Jacob Boehm, and St. Martin, the deadly foe of Kant and his successors in Germany — a man 68 RUSSIA. who may be called, in a certain sense, the father of the Tractarian movement, and who used to speak of the Eeforma- tion as a deformation, just as Eichard Froude did at Oxford some twenty years afterwards. The Czar dreamt of founding a Communion of states, bound together by the first principles of Christianity. He hoped to see the Turk driven out of Europe, and he had not much more affection for the Pope than for the Turk. The king of Prussia signed the paper from motives of friendship for the Czar, without attaching much importance to what he did, to the vexation of Madame de Krudener, to whom, of course, his carelessness appeared a sort of profanation. The emperor of Austria, the least sentimental of mankind, at first declined to sign, " because," he said, " if the secret is a political one, I must tell it to Metternich ; if it is a religious one, I must tell it to my confessor." Metternich accordingly was told, and observed scornfully, " Cest du verhiage." Indeed no one of the princes who adhered to the Holy Alliance, with the single exception of Alexander himself, ever took it seriously. It was doomed from its birth. As M. de Bern- hardi observes : " It sank without leaving a trace in the stream of events, never became a reality, and never had the slightest real importance." What had real importance was the continuance of the good understanding between the powers who had put down Napoleon, and their common fear of France. This good understanding and that common fear led to the treaty of the 20th November 1815, by which it was stipulated that the Powers should, from time to time, hold Congresses with a view to regulating the welfare of nations and the peace of Europe. It was these Congresses, and not NICHOLAS. 69 the Holy Alliance, which kept up close relations between the rulers, of Eussia, Prussia, and xA.ustria, and enabled them, when the liberal movement on the Continent, which followed the conclusion of the w^ar, began to be alarming, to take measures for a combined system of repression. Alexander I., when he lay on his deathbed at Tag- anrog, had wandered far away from his mystic benevo- lence of ten years before. The danger of revolution had come much nearer, and although he did not know all before he closed his eyes, he knew enough to understand that the whole of his system, and even the lives of the imperial family, were in imminent danger. It is well, perhaps, for his reputation as a humane and well-meaning sovereign, that he did not return to encounter the rival conspiracies of the south and of the north — the republicanism of Pestel, or the constitutionalism of Eyleieff. His brother Mcholas, v/ho succeeded him after a short but most dangerous interval, w^as a man of narrow views, and brave rather from the force of will than from impulse. At the critical moment when the attempted revolution had to be encountered and put down, he behaved with great spirit, but his nerves were unquestionably shaken by what occurred. Long afterwards he said to an English diplomatist, who re- marked to him that only two thrones in Europe were secure, that of England and of Eusssia : " Speak of England, if you please, but I, you know, sit upon a volcano." Y\"hen he came to examine into the state of the empire, he found nothing to reassure him. All was in disorder. He set to work, and from that time till his death, although his principles were false, and the objects which he set before him were impossible, it cannot be denied that he tried hard to improve the country 70 RUSSIA. over which he ruled. He had, however, inherited from Alex- ander the unfortunate legacy of the foreign policy, which had been inaugurated during the years which followed the Peace ; and his own imperious temper, no less than his extreme fear lest the revolutionary spirit should cross his frontiers, led him to plunge deeper into the com]olications of Western Europe. He strove so successfully to sliow his hatred to liberalism, if not to counteract its efforts, that the name of Paissia became detested by every intelligent man in Europe, and only the few who were led by accident fully to examine the character of the man, and the nature of the circumstances in which he was placed, could ever think of Nicholas except as a demon reigning over one of the circles of the Inferno. Those who knew the truth could make more allowances, and could per- fectly understand how it was that the type of all absolutism should have quizzed Lord Heytesbury about the fears with which the English Tories regarded the Eeform Bill, and have assured that minister, that if he had been the sovereign of England, he would have found no difficulty in assenting to it. The mistaken foreign policy of two reigns bronght its own punishment. The conduct of Eussia in the commencement of the Crimean dispute is intelligible enough, and it would not be impossible to justify some of the claims of the Czar. Certainly the war would never have occurred, if it had not been for the utter abhorrence with which Eussia was regarded by all the liberal and progressive elements of Western society. The English Cabinet went to war for Turkey, but enlightened public opinion supported it, because it saw an opportunity of striking a heavy blow at the stolid power which lent itself to ])ro]) up every decaying throne and every worn-out authority in)iii the Vistula to the Ocean. THE CRIMEAN WAK. 71 The great struggle began, and although short, was decisive. It ended too soon, perhaps, for the glory of the English arms, but not before the object which the nation, as distinguished from the government, had at heart, was thoroughly attained, for peace was followed by the utter break-down of the whole system of Nicholas at home and abroad. With the death of the great oppressor, and the accession of a sovereign who was justly supposed to resemble rather his uncle than his father, a change came over the tone of society in St. Petersburg and Moscow. All tongues seemed to be loosed. The government was as freely criticised in many drawing-rooms as if it were not still omnipotent, and. even to the press an altogether unwonted latitude was allowed. Numerous projects of reform — social, political, and industrial — were put forward and discussed. Out of all this fermentation there has hardly come, up to this time, a propor- tionate amount of solid advantage, although it would be most unjust to deny that Eussia is much better prepared for reforms of many kinds than she was ten years ago. One extremely important measure has indeed become law ; we allude, of course, to the emancipation of the serfs. There is, we trust, every reason to believe that as this was a change without which no real improvement in any direction was possible, so it will be only the first of a series of measures which may reflect glory upon the reign of Alexander II., laying broad and deep the foundations of the true greatness and prosperity of Eussia ; and we hope indeed to show, ere we conclude, that many salutary innovations are tolerably far advanced. Before we give some account of the emancipation of the serfs, it will be necessary to take care that our readers should 72 RUSSIA. have a clear notion of the condition of the Eussian peasant before 1861. It is quite a mistake to suppose that all Eussian peasants were serfs up to that year. Several large exceptional classes must be deducted from the mass of the peasantry, before we come to those who were actually serfs. First, There were the small proprietors, or odnodvortzi — a word which signifies possessors of a single house or court. M.' N. TourguenefP, who wrote in 1847, calculates their numbers at 1,400,000. They were not to be distinguished from the other peasants, either by their dress or manner of life ; but they retained the recollection of the days when they had been in the position of the scJiliachta, or "petite noUesse" of Poland, about which we have lately heard so much ; and these recollections combined with their personal freedom before the law, to keep up their self-respect, although they were too often treated by their wealthier neighbours, and by the agents of government, as if they were actually serfs. Secondly^ The Cossacks, a numerous body, or rather aggregation of bodies, scattered through different parts of the empire enjoying peculiar privileges, and forming the nucleus round which cluster many of the most incredible stories which are told about Eussia. When Napoleon said that in fifty years Europe would be either Cossack or republican, he made a false prophecy in the most unlucky language possible. " Free as a Cossack " is a common proverb in Eussia. The truth of the matter is that the first Cossack communities were composed of bands of heterogeneous adventurers, who, at first little better than brigands, were at length allowed to establish themselves THE COSSACKS. 73 on the frontier of the empire, with a view to protect it against the Tartars and other barbarous tribes. In return for a nominal allegiance, and for their warlike service, they were permitted to rule themselves after their own fashion. The most celebrated of the Cossack associations is that of the Don. Dr. Clarke visited it before the changes which were introduced into its organisation by Alexander I., and he gives a very curious and far from unpleasing picture of Cossack manners and mode of life, contrasting them very favourably with those of the inhabitants of Great Eussia. They are now chiefly known as largely contributing to the light troops of the empire, and making themselves extremely useful in keeping up communication, cutting off stragglers, and so forth. For actual fighting they are not well adapted. Small, rough-looking men, on small, rough-look- ing horses, they swarmed in Poland during the recent insur- rection, and no doubt had their fair share in the atrocities that were so freely committed on both sides. At the same time, we believe that M. Tourgueneff is supported by the testimony of all entitled to judge, in saying that the Cossack is not naturally cruel ; probably it may be very truly said of him, as w^as said by one who was laughing over the alarming stories about the Croats, which were circulated in Germany during the Hungarian war, and into which reminiscences of the days of Tilly and Pappenheim very largely entered : " Ah ! the modern Croat is much improved, he prefers plunder to murder." Thirdly, The free labourers, a class which was called into existence during the reign of Alexander I. They were cal- culated by M. Tourgueneff at only about 70,000, because the endless formalities with which the transformation of serfs into peasants of this class was attended, had prevented the bene- 74 RUSSIA. volent design of the emperor being carried out as fully as he had expected. Fmirthly, The foreign colonists, numbering about 84,000, and dispersed over very distant regions. Full and interesting accounts are given of some of these by Haxthausen, more especially of the Mennonite settlers in the south of European Eussia. Fifthly, The enormous class of the Crown peasants, who, although very much harassed by the employes, were really free '' comme on Test en Eussie," as M. Tourgueneff observes, who, inhabiting the domains of tlie Crown, were, in addition to the capitation-tax, only bound to pay a small sum, of the nature of rent, in return for their share of the communal lands. It has been often said that these peasants were worse off than the serfs themselves, because they were oppressed by the inferior agents of government, and were without the pro- tection of any seigneur. This is, however, a complete mis- take, as is proved by the fact that the happiest serfs were always ready to make great sacrifices to pass into the hands of the Crown, and so to become Crown peasants. Sixthly, The peasants of the apanages — serfs in all but the name — consisting of the inhabitants of a large number of properties which were separated under Paul I. from the domains of the Crown, to be a special provision for the members of the imperial family. Seventhly, The peasants of the arendes, a class which was created by Alexander I., who put an end to the bad old custom of giving away to private persons domains belong- ing to the Crown, with the peasants inhabiting them ; thus reducing these peasants to the position of serfs ; but instead of it introduced the nearly equally bad custom of giving to M. N. TOURGU^NEFF. 75 persons whom lie desired to favour, leases of portions of the Crown lands called arendes. The lot of the peasants who were in this way let to private persons, was extremely wretched. The custom existed only in the Baltic provinces, and in those governments which formed part of ancient Poland. EiglitJdy, Peasants attached to the establishments of the Crown, employed in the government mines, factories, and works, and sometimes even in those of private persons. They formed a large and often very ill-used class, calculated by M. Tourgueneff at about 200,000. Ninthly, The peasants attached to the administration of the post, or yamscliiki, also very hardly used, but not falling within the class of serfs. The government, by recent legislation, has facilitated the acquisition of a portion of land by each family of Crown and apanage peasants, so that in less than fifty years the whole of this immense mass of men will be turned into peasant pro- prietors, holding in fee-simple, except in so far as the rights of the commune may continue to exist. At length we arrive at that large and interesting class which has recently passed from serfdom to liberty amidst the applause and thanksgiving of the whole civilised world. And before we go further, we should advise all those who take an interest in the question of serf-emancipation to make themselves acquainted with that portion of M. Mcholas Tour- gueneff 's book, La Bussie et les Russes, which deals with this subject. That excellent and very distinguished man was, in early life, attached as Eussian Commissary to Stein during the advance of the armies of the Czar upon Paris. After the peace he returned to his own country, and was the first, or 76 RUSSIA. almost the first, to press the importance of the serf question upon the Eussian reformers of that period. He and his brother, along with some other much larger proprietors, presented a project of emancipation to Alexander I. For- tunately for M. Tourgueneff, he was travelling abroad when the attempted revolution of December 1825 broke out. Summoned to return by the government of Nicholas, he wisely refused, and Mr. Canning treated with silent contempt a proposal for his extradition from England. There can be no doubt that in the then temper of the Czar he would have been sent to Siberia or put to death, although there was not a tittle of evidence to connect him with any of the treasonable designs which were undoubtedly cherished by some of the persons with whom he was more or less connected. For many years he has lived in Paris, and was there at the time when he composed the book to which we are calling attention, and which, although nineteen years have elapsed since its publi- cation, is still one of the best which we possess upon Eussia. No living man has laboured so long and so steadily for the emancipation of the serfs, not only because he sympathised most deeply with a body of men whose excellent qualities he well knew, but because, half-a-century ago, he saw, what few then perceived, that this great reform was a sine gud non for all real progress in Eussia. The novels of his namesake, M. Ivan Tourgueneff, are also most valuable, as giving a faithful picture of the working of serfdom ; and some portions of Haxthausen compared with, and to some extent corrected by, the appendix to M. Hertzen's Du D^veloppement des Id^es Revolutionnaircs en Russie, ought to be read by any one who desires to have a fair notion of the state of the Eussian serf up to 1861. THE COMMUNE. 77 Every person in Eussia wlio does not belong to the nobility, or the hourgeoisie, must necessarily belong to some commune. The commune of Eussia is simply a slightly modi- fied form of the village community which was one of the earliest institutions of the Indo-Germanic race, and is still the basis of society in Hindostan. Modern jurisprudence, following the mature Eoman law, looks, in the words of Mr. Maine, "upon co-ownership as an exceptional and momentary condition of the rights of pro- perty ;" but in India, and we may add in Eussia, this order of ideas is reversed. It is separate proprietorship that is exceptional, while co-ownership is normal. The word mir, by which the Eussian describes his commnne, is the same word wdiich he uses when he wishes to speak of the Kosmos. Haxthausen says, and we think he is right, that it is un- translatable by any word in the Eomance or Teutonic lan- guages, and he gives a most curious list of proverbs which illustrate the idea of sanctity attached to it. The commune or microcosm is, or rather should be, in theory as regards the state, a single individual. The state has no right to go beyond it. It is responsible for all its members, and its deliberations ought to be regarded by all external to it, as we in the West should regard the workings of a man's own mind. Each commune possesses a certain amount of land, and has the absolute power of parcelling out this land in equal portions to the individuals who compose it, the individual obtaining only the usufruct, wliile the pro- perty remains in the commune. The commune decides with- out appeal what portion of the taxes imposed by government upon itself, is to be borne by each of its members, or rather, by the land whose usufruct belongs to each member. Every 78 RUSSIA. male dwelling in the commune has a right, as soon as he arrives at majority, to demand a portion of land, and then becomes entitled to a voice in the communal affairs, and is subject to pay his share of taxes. The elective head of the com- mune, or Starost, has great authority over every individual, but no authority over the commune itself. M. Hertzen points out that M. Haxthausen makes a great mistake in saying that the authority of the Czar is reflected in the Starost. The truth is, that the Starost can only act despotically when he is supported by the public opinion of the commune. This local administration was, before the emancipation, and still is, in fresh observance. The power of the seigneur stopped with the commune. In the words of M. Hertzen : " Le seigneur peut reduire la terre concedee aux paysans ; il pent choisir pour lui le meilleur sol ; il peut agrandir ses bien-fonds, et, par 1^, le travail du paysan ; il peut augmenter les impots, mais il ne peut pas refuser aux paysans une portion de terre sufifisante, et la terre, une fois appartenant a la commune, demeure completement sour I'administration communale la meme en principe que celle que regit les terres libres ; le seigneur ne se mele jamais dans ses affaires." An Englishman finds it very difficult to understand how such a degree of self-government was consistent with serfdom, but his surprise is diminished when he reflects that these communes were very much isolated, and had often but little communication even with the communes which formed part of their own group. The serf since the days of Peter the Great bowed low his head, in the words of M. Hertzen, and allowed misfortune to pass over him. It is his absolute retirement, within the circle of the commune, from everything like poli- tical life, that accounts for his having kept many good qualities, THE COMMUNE. ' ^ y "^9"^/'' '■ ■' ^ /> i which, if the whole weight of tyranny had pressefl/ipon hinj, ' ' i would have crushed all good out of his character. .^ , / • How was it, however, that not only an absolute gove'rii^ - ^ / - ment, but the thousand petty local tyrants, respected the / organisation of the commune ? The answer to this is, that there are some things which every government must respect, and on the few occasions on which the Eussian government , was imprudent enough not to respect the communes — as, for instance, in the affair of the military colonies under Alexander I. — it was met by a resistance which, coming from one of the gentlest of races, seemed so preternaturally savage that it has for a long time taken good care to let well alone. The justice of the village tribunal is, it would appear, of a very rough-and-ready kind, and by no means dispenses with the argument from the stick, which is so frightfully common in Eussia. Those who have witnessed a meeting of villagers to discuss their common affairs, give a curious account of the gradual process by which a conventional unanimity is arrived at; and it has been well pointed out how completely this Sclavonic idea of a conventional unanimity broke down, when, transferred from the narrow circle of the commune, it was adapted, in the Polish Diet, to great affairs. Most persons will see in the communal institutions of Eussia merely an interesting sample of arrested social deve- lopment, and will look with interest for the slow and gradual breaking-up of the communes, and their replacement by indi- vidual ownership. M. Hertzen is, or was in 1853, of a different opinion. He thinks, or thought, that Eussia with her com- mune stands before an epoch in which the anti-communal civilisation of feudalism and the Eoman law has come to a deadlock, and he dreams or dreamt that " the barbarians of the 80 KUSSIA. north, and our home barbarians, may find out that they have a common enemy — the old feudal monarchical edifice, and a common hope — the social revolution." His friend, M. Ogareff, wrote his Lcttres a un Anglais, published in 1862, chiefly to briuo- out and defend the Socialist side of Eussian institutions. Tliey are well worth studying * The communal institutions of Eussia are far older than its \ serfdom. They saw that evil institution begin, as they have seen it end. Serfdom, properly so called, only began in Eussia with the reign of the usurper Boris Godunoff, and w^ith St. George's day of the year 1593. It was on that day that the peasants, whose right of moving from one master to another had been for some time confined to that festival, became through enormous districts adscripti glebce. Afterwards, how- ever, and more especially in the reign of Peter the Great, things became much worse, but it was Catherine II. who completed the iniquity by introducing serfdom into the wide region called Little Eussia, which did not form part of the empire of Boris Godunoff. The agricultural serfs were divided into two great classes : — Those who were obliged to work for a certain length of time, generally three days in the week, for their masters, and those who were bound to pay an ohroTc or rent. This rent was almost always moderate, and the peasants who paid it were generally the happiest. This was particularly the case in the great cen- tral governments of Jaroslav, Kostroma, and Vladimir, whose iiihabitants wander all over Eussia, exercising their various * Only very recently a Russian paper announced that the mission of that oouiiti y was to proclaim the universal equality of all citizens before the state, and the duty of the state to give lands in fee-simple to all its citizens.— (See the Reimr. des Deux Mondes, for March 15, 1866.) THE EMANCIPATION. 81 trades, and paying to their seigneur a small acknowledgment. A few grand seigneurs possessed serfs who were enormously wealthy. This was the case more especially with the great family of Cheremetieff. Of course, according to law, all the property of these wealthy serfs belonged to their masters, but a custom stronger than law prevented this right being often enforced, although there were exceptions, and sometimes very melancholy exceptions, to this rule, for an account of some of which we may refer to La Bussie et les Busses. In addition to the agricultural serfs, there was a still more unhappy class who were really very nearly slaves, and who were called personal serfs or clvorovye. M. Tourgueneff says of them: " On les appelle en Eussie^e?is de cour (clvorovye), et pour ne pas donner aux courtisans la meme denomination on a invente pour eux une variante, en les appellant gens pres de la cour (pridvornvye). The idea of emancipating the serfs was not a new one. The serfs of the Baltic provinces became freemen in name, if in name only, under Alexander I.; and Nicholas during the latter part of his reign bestowed much attention upon a project which was to apply to the whole of the rest of the country where servitude existed. It is said that the present emperor was, when heir to the throne, by no means favourable to the project, and that the Grand-duke Constantine was its chief partisan in the imperial family ; while Count Kisseleff, Count Bludoff, who died this year in honourable poverty after having exercised enormous power for many years, and General Bibikoff who had already introduced considerable improve- ments in the situation of the peasantry in Kieff, Volhynia, and Podolia, were its principal supporters in their immediate entourage. Prince Dolgoroukoff tells, in the first number of his G 82 RUSSIA. Keview called Le Veridique, a curious story of the deathbed of Nicholas, and traces what Alexander II. has done since to the words of his father upon that occasiou. When the emancipation had been fairly determined upon, the nobles were requested to send in their views as to the way in which certain general principles, which the emperor declared were to be the basis of his great reform, should be carried out. Forty-six provincial committees laboured for eif^hteen months to come to an agreement as to details, but without arriving at any result very satisfactory to the govern- ment, which afterwards took the affair into its own hands. Upon one point, and almost upon one only, were all parties agreed, and that was that no indemnity was to be paid to the proprietors for their personal rights over the serfs. The state of feeling which prevailed during the transition period which intervened between the announcement of the intention of the government, and the production of its plan, was well described to English readers in the pages of Russia by a Recent Tramller, a small but very remarkable book which was published at the office of the Continental Review in the year 1859.* The situation was to the last degree uneasy, and might have become dangerous. The government only obeyed the dictates of common sense in at last determining to act for itself. The landed proprietors, by the testimony of one who had perhaps a better right to express an opinion upon the subject than any other man, showed in the whole transaction all the defects and all the merits of the Eussian character. While the method of emancipation was still uncertain, they were most unpractical and unsatisfactory in their suggestions. * S<«(' also a piip(?v \^\ Ainclio r.nddfus in Unftere Zcit for 1858. THE EMANCIPATION. 88 When it was once settled, they threw themselves heartily into it, and have tried, honestly to carry it out. The whole number of serfs, male and female, in the begin- ning of 1861 was about twenty-three millions, but of these considerably more than half a million may be left out of ac- count, as the arrangements which applied to them were special, and not those of the general measure of enfranchisement. The 22,500,000 serfs to whom that measure applied were scattered for the most part over forty-six governments of European Eussia. The excepted governments were Archangel, where there were hardly any serfs ; the three Baltic provinces, which, as we have seen, were under a different regime; and the district inhabited by the Cossacks of the Black Sea, where serfdom never existed. In Siberia there were in all only 3700 serfs. Out of these 22,500,000, about 1,300,000 were dvorovye, the rest were ordinary peasants. The proclamation of enfranchisement was issued on the 3d of March 1861. By that proclamation all the serfs in- stantly acquired personal liberty and civil rights, but it re- mained to regulate the relations between them and their former masters in respect to the land. For this a period of two years was allowed. With a view to effect this purpose, the government created a new body of officials, answering somewhat to our Justices of the Peace, and taken from amongst the gentry of the country. On them was thrown the duty of arbitrating, upon certain fixed principles, between the serfs and their former lords, and of .seeing that the deeds of agreement between these parties were correctly drawn up. The clearest and most succinct account of what has been done which we can recommend to the ordinary reader, is the pamphlet published by M. Milutine 84 RUSSIA. ill 1863 in Paris, and which was originally read as a paper at the meeting of the French Politico-Economical Society, in May 1863. M. Milutine took a very active part in carrying out the fTovernment scheme, and no man is better entitled to speak about it. In May 1863, when he read his paper before the Econo- mists of Paris, nearly all the necessary agreements had been drawn up. Out of 112,000 which had to be concluded, 110,098 were already finished, besides a number of agree- ments between the A^ery small proprietors and their serfs. Authentic details had only been received with regard to 99,420 agreements. These 99,420 agreements represented an equal number of communes, with a male population of 8,762,956 ; out of that number, 48,023 agreements were drawn up in consequence of friendly agreement between the parties, and they applied to a male population of 3,617,079 ; 51,397 agreements, applying to a male population of 5,145,877, were drawn up by the proprietors, and received the sanction of certain provincial commissions created for the purpose, and were afterwards accepted by the serfs, although not so freely as those in the other class. There were three kinds of agree- ments : the first, of which there were 30,368, reserved for the proprietors provisionally the right of corvees or forced labour, giving, however, to the peasants the right of compounding for that forced labour by an annual payment ; the second cate- gory, wliich consisted of 57,750, reserved only a rent and abolished all corvees ; the third category, consisting of 11,302, abolished all land relations whatsoever between the serfs and their former lords, so that the former became, for a considera- tion, subject of course to the rights of the commime, absolute «>\viK'is of tli(^ soil, or of some portion of the soil which they THE EMANCIPATION. 85 had formerly cultivated as serfs ; or, in other words, arrived — except in so far as the commune still remains — at that position to which it is the object of the Kussian government, by means of a complicated system of arrangement of advances made through the bank, eventually to raise the whole mass of the peasantry. It may be reckoned that already, in 1864 15'5 of the Eussian serfs had become proprietors, 50*8 paid the ohrok or rent until they were able to acquire the fee-simple of their lands, and 337 remained provisionally subject to forced labour, which may, however, be commuted for rent. The dvorovye received their liberty on the same day as the others^ but their obligations towards their masters were j^rovi- sionally retained for two years. These obligations consisted either in household or farm service, or in payment of a rent. Many of these serfs appear by a legal fiction to have had their names inscribed on the rolls of the rural communes, and many in tliis way have become entitled to a share in the lands allotted to the communes of serfs adscripti glebce ; others, however, were not so provided for, and in this way some think that a dangerous element of pauperism has been introduced. This does not, however, seem to be M. Milu- tine's opinion, and economists in the west of Europe will generally share his views. Eussia, during the next generation, will be a battlefield in which the rival principles of indi- vidual property and socialism will contend for the mastery. We shall be well content to see the experiment fairly tried.* * It is possible, as lias been stated to us on very good autliority, that ]\I. Milutine took rather too favourable a view of the success wliich the measure in which he was so much interested had met with at the time when he read his paper ; but we have seen no figures which can claim equal authority with those given above. 86 KUSSIA. Aniougst other wholesome changes which may result from the enfranchisement of the serfs, we should give particular prominence to the great reinforcement which will accrue to the class of the resident gentry. Many persons who have hitherto neglected their estates, now find themselves obliged to go to look after them, and it seems probable that during the next twenty years necessity will cause the landed proprietors of Russia to learn how to make their diminished possessions more productive under a system of free labour than they ever were in the bad old times. Many of the effects of serf-emancipation are, of course, ex- tremely doubtful, and the ablest of those who have studied the question have probably in store for them not a few^ surprises. No one can say to w^hat an extent the break-up of the old communal system may go, nor how" far the love of wandering, which is characteristic of the half-nomade Russian, may ere long be carried. Then, again, is it certain that the peasant who has hitherto only communicated with the state through the commune and his lord, will very readily come to under- stand the allegiance which he now" ow^es to the law ? AYill the district tribunal receive the same cheerful obedience as the patriarchal assembly of the village ? Will not the tendency be ever more and more to forsake the country and to crowd into towns, to exchange the allegiance to the commune for the ever-changing, elastic combinations of the trades' associations or artels ? Will, again, the proprietors try to use their power in the provincial assemblies for the re-introduction of serfdom in some form or other? Time only can answer these and other questions ; but one thing is certain, the abolition of serfdom is the corner-stone of all real reform in Russia. If that corner-stone is displaced, it is impossible to foresee the THE POLISH INSURRECTION. 87 cou sequences, but our anticipations, if anything of the kind occurs, cannot be too gloomy.* In the spring of 1861 a large party was gathered together at the house of a well-known Eussian in London to celebrate the emancipation of the serfs. It was a meeting of a kind not usual in our staid metropolis, for the whole of the exterior of the building in which it took place was illuminated, to the astonishment and confusion of the neighbourhood. The house would have been as gay within as it appeared to be without, if it had not been for intelligence which had reached London a few hours before, and had thrown a gloom over the festival. It was the news of the first collision between the troops and the people at AVarsaw. What the news of that tragedy was to the gathering in London, that the Polish insurrection has been to the reign of Alexander 11. It has dimmed — nay, in the minds of many it has altogether blotted out — the glory which had accrued from the emancipation. And yet nothing can be more utterly false than the statement which is often made by those who arrogate to themselves the title of friends of the Poles, that they " were driven to revolt by the bad government of the last two reigns." What the Poles wanted, it cannot be too often repeated, was not better government, but national independence. National independ- ence they had a perfectly good right to wish for, and to demand, if they thought they were strong enough to obtain it, at the sword's point ; but to say that they were driven by oppression to revolt, is simply to pervert history. * Perhaps hardly enough has been said of the great sacrifices made by the Russian proprietors. They were, to be sure, inevitable, but not the less hard to bear. 88 KUSSIA. Alexander I. returned to his own dominions after the great peace, full of tlie most generous intentions towards Poland. In earlj life, while his grandmother was still alive, he had knit the closest relations wdth Prince Adam Czartoryski, which be^^an in a sort of stolen interview in the Tanrida Gardens at St. Petersburg, and ended in a close friendship. At one time he even dreamt of re-annexing to Poland those w^estern provinces of Eussia which she won back in 1772 from her old enemy and former oppressor ; but the strong feeling which was excited by this proposal, and wdiich found a mouthpiece in the historian Karamsine, soon induced him to dismiss from liis mind his half-formed purpose. The liberal inclinations of Alexander never hardened, so to speak, into liberal principles; they were vcUeites, as the French say, nothing more. He w^as ready to let everybody have the most perfect liberty, provided that that liberty was never used except just as he wished it. In Poland, as elsewhere, he w^as always halting between two opinions ; and whilst with one arm he upheld the Polish constitution, with the other he upheld the authority of his half-madman, half-monster brother, Constantine. This regime, at once irritating to national pride, and stimulant of national hopes, gave rise to an extensive conspiracy, which w^as connected with that of Pestel, and would have broken out simultaneously with it, if a premature end had not been put to the designs of that enterprising man. After the failure of both the Eussian conspiracies, the Poles determined to act alone, and broke into open revolution some years afterwards. As usual, they chose a most unlucky moment, and as usual they w'ere utterly defeated. Nicholas, wliou once fairly their master, used his power without a thought of mercy, and every hope of Polish independence THE POLISH INSURRECTION. ' 89 seemed for a moment to be for ever crushed, except in the hearts of those who had escaped over the frontier. Gradually, liowever, two tendencies began to manifest themselves amongst the Poles in Poland — for we leave the exiles, who were feeding on hope, as usual, out of account. When Nicholas was dead, and it became possible to breathe freely, these two tendencies showed themselves more openly, and their representative men in the early years of the reign of Alexander II. were the Marquis Wielopolski and Count Andr6 Zamoyski. The first of these, who had been the envoy of the insurrectionary government in England in 1831, was fully convinced that Poland had nothing to hope from the Western Powers ; that the time was come for her to resign all ideas of political independence, and to ask only for administrative independ- ence. The other hoped, by improving the material prosperity of the country, gradually to make it strong enough to try another fall with its mighty neighbour. The views of these two men unequally divided the gentry of Poland ; the former having very few, the latter very many partisans. Between 1831 and 1861, however, a new power had grown up. Some- thing like a middle-class had been called into existence. This middle-class was composed of the so-called lesser nobility (an absurd term which we use for want of a better, although the persons who composed it were chiefly in the position of the humbler portion of the middle-class in England), of the Jews, and of the Catholic clergy. These sections, from various motives, but above all from a very natural and laud- able patriotic sentiment, were excessively anxious for national independence, and they kept up the closest relations possible with the democratic section of the emigration ; while what we may call the aristocratic section of the emigration was in 90 RUSSIA. equally close connection with the party of Count Andre Zamoyski. The rule of Alexander II. in Poland at the be- ginning of his reign was milder than anything that had been known since the death of his uncle ; and encouraged by the comparative mildness of his government, and hopeful of great convulsions in Eussia as the result of stirring the serf ques- tion, both the Zamoyski party and the democratic party prayed and worked. Tlie former had for their chief organ the Agricultural Society. The latter gradually wove a great secret conspiracy extending over the whole of Poland, and connected by in- visible threads with the democratic party in most Continental countries. Presently demonstrations of a religious character took place. The government, at once afraid of being in- human, and afraid of allowing the movement to get too strong for it, wavered and took half-measures. Things got more and more alarming, and at last unarmed multitudes were attacked in the streets of Warsaw, and the first blood was shed. Then began the period of which M. de Montalembert gave an account to Europe in the eloquent and sentimental pages of La Nation en deuil. Every day through 1861 and 1862 the excitement in Poland grew more intense, and the determina- tion of Eussia to hold her own more savage. Tt was perfectly clear that the breaking out of a deadly struggle was only a question of time. The beginning of the year 1863 saw the government of Poland in the hands of the Marquis Wielo- polski. Holding the views which he held, there was nothing which he so much dreaded as the outbreak of a revolution. Standing aloof from the great mass of his countrymen, and thinking the Zamoyski party and the democratic party equally unwise, he fondly hoped to be able to save his country in WlELOPOLSia. 91 >pite of them both. Haughty to an excess, he was restrained by neither affection nor pity from doing what appeared to him to be abstractedly best. Clear-sighted and able, but destitute of political tact, he did not feel that it is impossible to save a nation against its will, and that his only proper course would have been to retire from a position where he could do no good, and to leave the sanguine Poles and the grimly-resolved Ptussians to the only arbitrament which they could accept. He decided otherwise, and fancied that by a stroke of statecraft he would get out of his difficulties. Since the close of the Crimean war there had been no conscription in Eussia or in Poland, but a new one had been ordered for the beginning of 1863. Between the close of the Crimean war and the commencement of 1863, a new law had passed, by which the old system of conscription in Poland, imder which the government had the j)ower of taking any one it pleased, had been done away with, and a system like the French had been introduced. In order to carry this out, it would have been necessary to collect large bodies of men in the towns for the purpose of drawing lots, and Wielopolski saw clearly that if this was done, the revolution which he so much dreaded, as likely to prove absolutely fatal to tlie country, would immediately break out. He determined, there- fore, deliberately to break the law, and to cause the conscrip- tion to be made after the old fashion, with a view to get into his power, and to draft off" into the army, the persons whom he thought most dangerous. His secret was badly kept, and his coup-cVetat utterly failed, for many of those, whom he most desired to seize, escaped, and getting into the woods, began the insurrection. The broad outlines of the history of what followed are sufficiently familiar to all readers of newspapers. 92 RUSSIA. Through the whole of 1863 the hopes of the revolutionists were buoyed up by expectations of assistance from abroad, and more especially from France. When, however, Austria, which had connived at the export of arms and munitions of war across her frontier, changed her policy, and began to be as severe in her repression as the Eussians themselves, all reasonable Poles saw that the game was up, a conclusion to which less interested observers had come some months before. Now that all is over, we do not care to criticise the con- duct either of our own government or of any other, with regard to the Polish question ; but w^e do wish to press upon all serious political students the importance of coming really to understand the difficulties of this question, so that when next the affairs of Poland come up for discussion, they may be able to give some advice which will be worth listening to upon the subject. They will be met at the outset by one great difficulty : there is no really good book about Poland, answering, for example, to Mr. Paget's work on Hungary. The late war has brought into existence several livres cU circoTistance, of which far the best is Mr. Bullock's interesting Polish Experiences, written from the insurgent point of view ; with which may be compared Mr. O'Brien's book written in the interest of the victors. A paper in Vacation Tourists by the Cambridge Public Orator, two articles which ap- peared last autumn in the Spectator and the National Bemew, and a series which appeared in BlachivoodJs Magazine, may also be mentioned.* What we want, however, before we * Since this was written, Mr. Sutherland Edwards has published his Private History of a Polish Insurrection, a more valuable work than any of the above. See also " Le Lendemain de la Victoire en Pologne," in the lirvuc dcs Deux Mondcs for November 1864. We want, however, to know nmch more of Poland than we do. To how many readers will not the follow- i THE POLISH QUESTION. 93 can form any very definite opinions about the future of Poland, is a book of a quite different kind — a book which shall sum up all the resources belonging^ to the one party and the other, which shall point out the difficulties in the way of Eussia's assimilating Poland, the difficulties in the way of Poland's becoming reconciled to Eussia; and after having gone minutely into all this, shall attempt to strike the balance and say, Whether any future Polish insurrection will or will not deserve the sympathies of the Liberal party in Europe ? Do those who struggle for Polish independence follow a reason- able instinct which will one day lead them to attain what they desire ; or has the time come when they must submit for ever to that " inexorable necessity," the idea of which enraged the emigration so much when that phrase was used in January 1864 with reference to the war which was then drawing to a close ? It is not only from sympathy for a brave and unhappy race, but because we are anxious to see Eussia far greater than she is, that we long for some satisfactory arrangement of her Polish difficulty. When, however, we ask, What is to be done ? a load of despondency settles down upon us. The ing paragraph, which we take from Man and Nature, by G. P. Marsh, be new and startling ? — "There are still unsubdued sand-wastes in many parts of interior Europe, not familiarly known to tourists or even geographers. ' 01- kucz and Schiewier in Poland,' says Naumann, ' lie in true sand deserts, and a boundless plain of sand stretches around Ozenstockau, on which there grows neither tree nor shrub. In heavy winds this plain resembles a rolling sea, and tlie sand-hills rise and disappear like the waves of the ocean. The heaps of waste from the Olkucz mines are covered with sand to the depth of four fathoms.' No attempts have yet been made to subdue the sands of Poland, but Avhen peace and prosperity shall be restored to that unhappy country, there is no reasonable doubt that the measures, which have proved so success- ful on similar formations in Germany, may be employed with advantage in the Polish deserts." 94 RUSSIA. struggle which so recently ceased has left behind it embers from which may burst forth a conflagration more terrible even than itself Seven years ago many enlightened Eiissians wished to give up the kingdom. Few indeed would venture to propose that now, for there flows between Warsaw and Moscow a stream of blood too wide and deep to cross. Another generation will, however, soon grow up which has forgotten the past. That is the only hope ; but it is a faint one. The Eussians have, as Ave shall presently see, under the able guidance of M. Milutine, lately introduced into the king- dom a territorial arrangement highly favourable to the peasants. Their intention has been partly, no doubt, to confer a benefit on the country, but partly also to conciliate the sympathies of that class which was least concerned in the insurrection. Will they succeed ? It is more than doubtful. The peasants did not take a very active part in the national movement, — not because they liked the Eussian government, — not because they had any great dislike to the gentry, but because they had not sufficient education to come within the spell of Polish nationality. Wealth, however, will bring education, and with education that spell will come. The year 1888 may find Eussia face to face with an insurrec- tion as much more formidable than that of 1863, as it was, teste Mouravieff, more formidable than that of 1831. We are quite ready, nay, only too anxious to be convinced that there is a happy future for Poland ; but nothing that we have ever heard, either from the partisans of the insurrection or from the partisans of Eussia, leads us to hope that either are strong enough to overcome the others, and so arrive at a state, so to speak, of stable equilibrium. Poland must remain, we fear, the Irc^lnnd of Eussia, as much more perplexing than our THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 95 Ireland as Eussia is larger than Great Britain. The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. Well will that Eussian deserve of his country who can in any w^ay rid her of this terrible embarrassment. Of course it is more than doubtful whether it is not a positive advantage to Western Europe, that Eussia, for some time to come, till she has transformed herself into a thoroughly- civilised state, should have a joint in her armour through which she can always be attacked with deadly effect. ]^ay, looking only to the interests of the rest of Continental Europe, it would probably be exceedingly desirable to have a small state bitterly hostile to Eussia interposed between Germany and that country. The question is not, however. Is this desir- able? but, Is it possible? and if so, is it w^orth the sacrifices which Western Europe would have to make in order to obtain it ? We are far from disposed to answ^er that last question by an absolute negative. During the first debate which took place in 1863 in the House of Commons about Poland, there was, if we remember, only one person w^ho alluded to the religious element in the insurrection. For once, that monomaniacal horror of the Jesuits, which makes him see the finger of Eome everywhere, led Mr. Newdegate not right, but in a right direction. It is quite true, that on that frontier-land between tw^o civilisations, Eome and Byzantium were " fighting the old quarrel out." There were causes enough of a purely political kind to bring the war about, but the venerable feud of the "Eilioque" was not without its influences. The pleasant lectures of Dr. Stanley, who always seizes so well the picturesque aspect of a subject, have done something to rouse our interest in those far-scattered and too- much-forfyotten communities which, in the words of Mr. Xeale, 96 RUSSIA. " extend from the icefields which grind against the walls of the Solovetsky Monastery to the burning jungles of Malabar;" but we suspect that, in spite of Dr. Stanley's vivid pictures, the reader must actually stand in the Kremlin and Troitza before he fully realises what a mighty, although latent power, the Greek Church^ still is, and how great a part it may have to play in the drama of human history. Inert, abject, superstitious, full of abuses, it undoubtedly is. It can hardly be said to have done anything for literature or for art, nothing at least that has become famous beyond its own frontier ; and yet a form of reli- gion which has supported its adherents under the successive deluges of misery w^hich flowed over Eussia during the middle ages, and in spite of the dull weight of wretchedness which has weighed on the Eussian peasant almost up to the present hour, has made him so gentle, so enduring, so tolerant, must have some not inconsiderable merits. Its education of a thousand years must have something to do with that inexhaustible gentle- ness which, in the words of Schedo-Ferroti, is the base of his character ; with " that incomparable sweetness of temper which causes his soul to reflect everything in a way difterent to that which we observe in the lower classes of other nations." We have more than once asked lay and clerical members of the Eussian Church, whether there was any book which could give us the same sort of glimpse into the influence of their communion upon the minds of its adherents, which Miss Sewell's novels do with regard to the Church of England at this moment, or the Memoirs of Eugenie de Guerin do with regard to the contemporary Church of France? We have never received a satisfactory answer, and do not believe that anytliing of the kind exists. THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 9*7 The art of the Russian Church is, as is well known, essentially conventional ; but of late years it has become less purist than formerly, and some of the modern pictures are at least graceful. The exquisite music, a modification of the old Gregorian chant, has often been described, and can never be over-praised. It is amusing to observe that controversies of which we know something nearer home have agitated the Russian Church. Mr. Sutherland Edwards mentions that the Emperor Nicholas was anxious to introduce an organ into the Cathedral of the Assumption at Moscow, but that the Metro- politan Philaret threatened to resign if this sacrilegious inno- vation was attempted. The story may or may not be true, but there is no doubt that the dislike of the Russian peasant to the " kist fa' o' whistles"* would be quite as intense as any- thing to be found in Scotland. The reforms necessary in the Russian Church, are, alas ! of a very rudimentary kind. Before any accommodation of its dogma to the existing state of human knowledge can be hoped for, the great mass of the clergy must be raised out of the state of abasement in which they now are. Some means of provid- ing a decent subsistence for the secular clergy, who are obliged by the ecclesiastical law to incur the expense of a family, must be discovered. They must be better educated, and edu- cated if possible, as Schedo-Eerroti proposes, along with those who are destined for other callings. At present the son of a priest usually enters an establishment in connection with the * This ** organ question" has been making the tour of Europe. The writer was visiting some months ago the great Calvinist church of Debreczin, in company with one of the professors of the neighbouring college. " Oh ! " he said, " you have got an organ here." "Yes," was the reply, "it was introduced some twenty years ago, and caused some discussion at first, but all that has long passed away." H 98 RUSSIA. theological seminar}- at eight years old, and, until his educa- tion is finished, associates only with persons who are destined to take orders. Further, they must be freed from the abject subservience in which they are held by their bishops, who are taken from the regular or black clergy ; and lastly, they must be taught that they have duties which are quite incompatible with their performing the functions of assistants of the police. M. Golobensky, whom Haxthausen saw at the Troitza, is now dead. Such persons are of course quite exceptional, but it would be interesting to know how many priests there are in the whole of the Eussian Church who have studied any of the more important works of theology or biblical criti- cism, which have been produced during the present century to the west of the Vistula. The theological seminary attached to the Troitza would be called in any country but Russia a truly wretched place ; and although the educated society at Moscow speak highly of the harmony and ability of its pro- fessors, we venture to doubt whether they apply to them a very high standard of excellence. A reader would, we think, carry away too favourable an impression of the Eussian Church if he were to trust only to the interesting sketch of Dean Stanley ; and perhaps if he were to take his ideas exclusively from the pages of Russia hy a Recent Traveller, he might, on the other hand, rate its merits too low. The truth is, that a very strong line must be drawn between the clergy of high rank and the ordinary priests. The former are much looked ujd to, and a high position is favour- able to the development of their best qualities. The latter, when not in the exercise of their sacred ofiice, are thoroughly duty on salt should be reduced ; that the edicts of go- HUNGARY. 153 Vernment to officers of justice should be discontinued ; that the laws respecting the taxes on the clergy should be observed ; that the Hun- garian chancery should be made really, not merely nominally, inde- pendent of the Austrian chancery ; that the coinage should bear the arms of Hungary, and that the exportation of gold and silver should be prevented ; that the j)aper money should be abolished, and a return made to a metallic currency ; that the Himgarian language should be used in all official business ; that the fiscal estates, such as have fallen to the crown on the extinction of the families to whom they were granted, should, as the law directs, be given only as the reward of public services, and not sold, as at present, to the highest bidder ; and, lastly, that spies should not be employed and trusted by the Austrian government." But the discussion of grievances was not all. 'New names and new projects appeared. It was now that Kossuth first made himself conspicuous, not by his speeches — for his subordinate position, as the mere delegate of a magnate's widow, did not give him the right to vote, and hardly the right to speak — but by the system of reporting which he organised. It was in this Diet too that the good Stephen Szechenyi first proposed the building of a chain-bridge to unite Pesth with Buda — a proposal which, imimportant as it appears at first sight, contained the germ of a com- plete political and social revolution. Some of our readers may remember the long bridge of boats which in the simimer of 1847, and perhaps for some time Jater, connected the two lialves of the Hungarian capital. If so, they must have observed that while most of the persons whose dress and appearance showed that their position in society was a humble one, paid toll as they passed the bridge, most of those who appeared to belong to the higher ranks passed without chal- lenge. The immunity which the Hungarian nohilis, who was in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred in no respect what we call a noble, but merely a freeman, or member of a p^rivileged 154 AUSTRIA. :' class, and indeed often a pauper, enjoyed at this bridge, was a type of the immunity which he boasted from all dues and taxes whatever, which were borne by the misera contribiiens plehs. Szechenyi proposed that, with a view to defray the expense of the new bridge, the nobles should abdicate, as far as it was concerned, their special privilege ; and it was clear that when such a privilege was abandoned in any one instance for the sake of the pubHc weal, its final abolition was only a matter of time. The proposition was carried, as were also several other measures of reform, and with this Diet the pre- paration for the Hungarian revolution may be considered to have begun. The flowing tide of liberal sentiment in Hun- gary was soon aided by an agitation, chiefly amongst the Mag- yar population of Transylvania, which in 1834 forced the government to convoke the Transylvanian Diet, which had, contrary to law, been left unsummoned for twenty-three years. The leader of the patriotic movement in Transylvania, the im- petuous Wesselyeni, the true son of his father, who had been shut up for four years in Kufstein for storming the castle of an obnoxious neighbour, soon passed beyond safe limits, and was imprisoned by the government, a fate which also befell Kossuth, and some young men who had tried to walk in his steps. But these measures only tended to increase the un- popularity of the ruling powers, and to sow disaffection wider. The lead in the movement was taken by the Magyars, who comprised a very much larger portion of the privileged class than any of the other numerous nationalities which inhabit Hungary. Unfortunately for them, their pre-eminence was too undisputed, and day by day the agitation assumed more of a Magyar character, while it became evident that the victory of the movement party would be anything but a triumph for CROATIA. 155 the Sclave, or the Eoiiman population. A national revival which had taken place amongst the Sclavacks, or Sclaves of north-western Hungary, had taken the form partly of a pas- sive resistance to the exaggerated claims of the Magyars, partly of a controversy with the Czechs of Prague, as to the respective merits of the Sclavack and Czechian dialects. But the linguistic enthusiasm of the Croats, another branch of the great Sclave family, soon became more formidable. For gener- ations there had existed a party in Croatia which resisted what it considered the exaggerated claims of the Presburg Diet, and aimed at giving greater power to the minor Diet which as- sembled at Agram. A long controversy had been waged about the relations to Croatia and Hungary respectively, of the dis- trict between the Save and the Danube, which is usually known as Sclavonia, and about the port of Fiume in the Ad- riatic. These, and other ancient matters of dispute, were of course called into new life when the Magyars proposed to abolish the use of the Latin, which had for ages been the lan- guage of business in Hungary, and to oblige every one who wished the smallest possible public office throughout the whole of Hungary to speak Magyar, thereby coniming in practice the use of all other languages to the family circle. It is possible that the reaction in favour of their own nation- ality among the Croats might not have reached a dangerous height if it had not been for the efforts of Louis Gai, a joiu-nal- ist of great talent, who, after having been brought up at a German university, returned to Croatia, and started a news- paper, with the view of advocating the claims of his country- men to become the leaders of a great lUyrian movement, which was to embrace not only Dalmatia, Croatia, and Scla- vonia, but also a large portion of European Turkey. Increased 156 AUSTRIA. experience of tlie world soon showed Gai that his dreams were at least premature, but he roused an enthusiasm which was artfully taken advantage of by men who were looking nearer home, to excite the Croats to resist the encroachments of the Magyar majority in the Presburg l)iet. When, therefore, that majority succeeded, in 1844, in getting the Vienna authorities upon theu' side, and in making Magyar the official language of the whole of Hungary, the irritation of the Croats became very bitter, and they were in consequence a ready instrument in the hands of the Austrian government, some years later, in opposing the ultra-Magyar party, by force of arms, although there is no evidence to show that, at the moment of which we are speaking, the policy of Vienna was dictated by any "vdews about the use to which the Croats might be put, if the worst came to the worst, in Hungary. Indeed, the evidence is all the other way. The men of the system followed their wonted habit, and thought of nothing but keeping things quiet. " If the Hungarians were to ask for the moon," it was truly said at this time, " I verily believe that the Austrian government would not refuse their request, but would only say that the matter required matm^e consideration." Wliile the linguistic controversy was inflaming the pas- sions of the Magyars, and exciting anti-Magyar feelings through all the non-Magyar populations of Hungary, a number of other irritating questions were being discussed in successive Diets, in the county meetings, and in the press, which last, chiefly through the instrumentality of Kossuth, had suddenly grown into a great power. There was the question of the re- ligious education to be given to the children of mixed mar- riages — a most important matter in a country where the rrotestants arc so numerous. This subject of dispute, after a HUNGARIAN PARTIES. 157 long struggle with the Ultramontanes, was settled in a liberal sense. There was the question of the abolition of the im- munities of the ^whiles in matters of taxation, of the increase of the political power of the urban commimities, of the better ordering of the counties, of the criminal law% of improving the material condition of the country, with many others. Dis- cussion gTadually opened the eyes of nearly all politicians to the necessity of making vast changes in Hungary, and three parties slowly separated themselves and fell into rank. These were — (1.) the Conservatives, led by the Chancellor Appon}d, who wished for a strongly-centralised government of the absolutist kind, the driving-wheel of which should be in Vienna ; (2.) the Liberals, led by Deak, who wished for a government of the constitutional kind, based on a reform of the old institutions of Hungary, the driving-wheel of which should be the Diet ; (3.) a party whose views were as yet in- determinate, but which became, in 1848-49, the revolutionary and democratic party, and which, in the Diet of 1847, was led by Kossuth. Count Stephen Szechenyi became a little before this time identified with the Conservative party, much in the same way in which we have seen M. Michel Chevalier gradually become an out-and-out imperialist, because he thought that through the Conservatives and the Vienna government his plans for the material amelioration of the country would best be carried out. An important section of the second party was led by Baron Joseph Eotvos, who, possessing a far deeper knowledge of political science than most of his countrymen, and entitled, from his wide and varied knowledge, to take rank among the best of his contemporaries, looked with impatience on the many follies and atrocities of the old Hungarian system, 158 AUSTRIA. which he has satirised in The Village Notary, aud would have desired to govern Hungary on a more centralised system, the driving-wheel of which should be the Diet, amended and made into a parliament after the English manner. These parties met in the Diet of 1847, and in its discus- sions were being gradually shaped and moulded. What forms they aU, and especially the third, might ultimately have taken, if the Eevolution had not, in February 1848, broken out in Paris, it is impossible to say ; but that event acted in Hungary, as in so many other places, like a torch in a powder magazine. On the 1st of March 1847, Kossuth rose and said : '' Tliere are moments when the legislature must not only demand re- forms, but also w^ard off dangers." With these words the curtain fell upon the old party contests. The interest wliich attaches to all that is passing in Hun- gary at the present moment has induced us to trace the course of events in that country at far greater length than it will be necessary to do those of the rest of the empire. The assemblies of the nobles in the provinces on this side the Leitha, more especially in Bohemia and Lower Austria, began also during this period to show symptoms of discontent. Their efforts were, as was perhaps natural, chiefly directed to obtain greater liberty, and some substantial share of political power, for their own class ; but their members were by no means unaffected by the liberal aspirations of more advanced countries. Many of them were more or less familiar with French and English literature, or had travelled in Western Europe ; and their efforts, if barren of immediate political advantage to themselves, nevertheless cast further discredit upon the system, by showing not only its inapplicability to GENERAL DISAFFECTION. 159 inoderu exigencies, but, in some cases, its distinct opposition to still unrepealed laws. The nobility was the only class which could give voice to its complaints, but the professional and commercial classes suffered at least equally. The system had succeeded in re- pressing, but not Id crushing, the intelligence of the empire. There grew up after the year 1815, very slowly and gradually, a race of men to whom the articles of the court journalists and the verses of the court poets were wholly intolerable. There was a time when the self-satisfied saying — " s'ist nur a Kaiserstadt s'ist niir a Wien," represented the creed of all the German-speaking subjects of the kaiser ; but that delusion had hardly outlived the Emperor Francis, and by the year 1840 had quite vanished away. The censorship was now felt to be an evil which was only endurable because it was so constantly evaded. It had become, indeed, to a great extent inoperative ; for so surely as a work was pronounced harmless by the censor, the public refused to buy it, and so surely as a work printed in Leipzig or Hamburg obtained the distinction of a " damnatur," it was sure to be smuggled in scores over all the northern frontiers. Instead of the literature of the Eomanticists, some of w^hom I had looked lovingly to Austria, and had even selected it for their habitation, there were the spirit-stirring verses of Count Auersperg (Anastasius Grlin), whose Spaziergdnge eines Wiener Poeten attacked the existing state of things in no measured ! way. The government itself was obliged to call in the assist- I ance of strictly-prohibited journals, if it wished to defend I ItseK with effect ; for to the statements of the authorised organs no credence at all was attached. The schools were 160 AUSTRIA. everywhere in an utterly A\Tetched condition ; and the few Austrian subjects who could boast of any superior acquire- ments had either obtained them abroad, or only after a laborious course of study at home, the first step of which was to blot out from their memories nine-tenths of what they had acquired from their teachers. The last blow was given to the tottering edifice by the events which took place in the Polish provinces in 1846. For some months it had been manifest to all who had eyes to see, that the Poles of the emigration were about to make a new attack upon their enemies. Warsaw was their principal object, but they proposed to begin operations in Posen and Galicia. The little independent republic of Cracow, the last remnant of ancient Poland which had not been seized by the spoiler, was the centre of their patriotic but foolish machina- tions ; and the 21st of February 1846 was destined for the outbreak of the insurrection. The Austrian government, although quite aware of what was intended, took its measures so badly as to allow General Collin, who had marched into Cracow at the request of the representatives of the three partitioning powers, to be overwhelmed and driven out, — the honour of the Austrian flag being only saved by the courage and conduct of Benedek, whose name became then for the first time famous. The same carelessness which the rulers showed in not sufficiently strengthening the hands of Collin, led them to neglect giving specific orders to the officials who were scattered through the Polish provinces. The result of this was, that when the insurrection broke out, and the Euthenian peasants came to ask what part tliey slioiild take, they were too often, it is to be feared, directed by men who were in panic-fear for their own lives THE GALICIAN MASSACRES. 161 to secure the persons of their disaffected Polish landlords, living or dead. How far the Vienna authorities were accessories before the fact to the hideous massacres which followed, it is very- difficult to decide. Certain it is, that after the insurrection had broken out, rewards were paid by Austrian emiploy&s to the men who were engaged in the massacres. And on the heads of those whose culpable negligence permitted such things to happen, must rest an amount of reprobation but little inferior to what would have been their due if, as was loudly asserted by the Poles, and very generally believed throughout Europe, they had deliberately planned out for the assassins their bloody and terrible work. Before the end of the year 1846 Cracow was seized by Austria, in spite of the hostile attitude of France and Eng- land, — a proceeding for which there is but one excuse, and that is, that Prince Metternich knew ]3erfectly well that if Austria hesitated to do the deed, Eussia was determined not to be so scrupulous. The massacres had excited the people against Austria all through Western Europe. The incorpora- tion of Cracow was not less successful in alienating states- men. By that act Metternich stultified his whole life, threw ridicule upon the treaty of Yienna, and illustrated once more the true -words of the poet — " Qiiam temere in nosmet legem sancimus iniquam," by affording an admirable precedent to be followed in the case of Lombardy* Such were the effects of the occurrences in Austrian Poland upon the foreign relations of the empire, but they were hardly less momentous in their influence upon its inter- nal condition. The detestation with which the Euthenian M 162 AUSTRIA. peasants regarded their Polish landlords was the result not only of differences of race and of religion, but of long ages of oppression. It was quite clear that the relations between the owners and cultivators of the soil in those provinces must be materially altered ; but no sooner was the idea of an import- ant alteration anywhere introduced, than the leading idea of the SYSTEM was shown to be unsound. From the moment that changes began to be made in the landed tenures of the Polish provinces, partial and ineffective though those changes were, the desire for change seized the one class which had hitherto been on the side of the government, from Bodenbach to Orsova. The stu;^id Conservatism of the peasants was at an end, and one more element of confusion was introduced. Those who were politically or pecuniarily interested in Austria, will not soon forget with what anxiety they watched for the first news of the effect which should be produced in that country by the news of the February revolution in Paris. No one could have visited any part of the empire, during the course of 1847, without perceiving that everywhere a most dangerous spirit was at work. The question which no stranger who had not enjoyed very exceptional opportunities could answer, was, How far mil it be in the power of the government to put down firmly and finally any troubles that may break out ? For as to the certainty of troubles breaking out there really could be no doubt, unless, indeed, in the minds of Prince Metternich and his friends, who seem to have foreseen nothing, and provided against nothing. The first effects were seen in Presburg, but the echo of the words of Kossuth, to which we have alluded above, died away before they reached our shores, and Englishmen first learned that a storm was about to burst when thev heard of KOSSUTH. 163 the disturbances in tlie Austrian capital upon the 13th of March, followed, as they soon were, by the resignation and flidit of Prince Metternich. The words of Kossuth on the 1st of March marked, as we have seen, the end of " the old order." From that moment the great agitator abandoned himself to the impulses of the moment, and, partly acted on by events, partly exercising a reflex action upon them, hurried along his strange and mete- oric course, till the day when, in the great church at De- breczin, amidst the plaudits of a multitude which had gone vn\d with excitement, he proclaimed the dethronement of the house of Hapsburg-Lorraine and the independence of Hungary. The events of the 1st of March 1848 at Presburg were followed by six weeks crowded with events of the most exciting and important character, the array of which was closed by the emperor's going in person to that city, and formally sanctioning a series of resolutions of a highly revo- lutionary character, which had been passed under the influ- ence of the orator who had attained in a few days a world- wide reputation. These are the laws of 1848, about which we have heard so much. "We give a precis of them, taken from a work called Hungary and its BevohUions, u'iiJi a Memoir of Kossuth, which affords, on this head, more detailed information than the work of Professor Springer : — " The substance of the resolutions passed in this Diet, and confirmed by the king, was as follows : — That the executive power should be exercised through the ministry alone. That the palatine, in the absence of the king, should be mvested with all royal power, excepting the appointments of the dignitaries of the church, officers of the army, the high barons of the kingdom, and the disposal of the army when out of Hungary. That every member of the cabinet should be responsible for his official acts, liable to impeachment by the Chamber of Deputies, and to be tried by a committee from the Chamber of Magnates. That 164 AUSTRIA. the sessions of the Diet be held at Pesth, and the laws sanctioned during the session by the king. That perfect equality of rights, as well as of public burdens, should be established among all the people of Hungary, without distinction of class, race, or denomination. That the franchise should be extended to every man possessing property to the value of three hundred florins, or an income of one hundred ; to every one who had received a diploma in a university ; and every artisan who em- ployed an apprentice. That with the concurrence of both countries, Hungary and Transylvania, and their Diets, should be incorporated. That the number of representatives sent by Croatia to the Diet should be increased from three to eighteen, and the internal institutions of that province remain the same as before. That the military frontiers of Hungary, or border troops, should be placed under the authority of the Hungarian Minister of War." We do not propose to enter into any detail as to the events of the revolutionary period, which occupied nearly the whole of 1848 and 1849. The direct influence of the trans- actions which then occurred upon the history of Austria, during the last sixteen years, has not been so great as might have been expected ; and if we were to attempt to describe with any minuteness the elements which then came to the surface, and which may be expected to work in various ways during the years that are coming, we should be carried far beyond the limits to which even the longest article can be extended. Through the complications of the eventful months which followed the flight of Prince Metternich we know no more sober guide than Professor Springer, and for no period of recent history is a sober guide more wanted. Greater issues were decided before Sebastopol, far larger masses of men were hurled against each other in the American civil conflict, but no war of our time has ever approached in romantic interest that which was waged in 1848 and 1849 upon the plains of Hungary. The English public was plentifully supplied, from 1850 1848—1849. 165 to 1854, with the narratives of rival generals, and with the pamphlets, sometimes disguised in the form of history, of the contending parties ; but we know no narrative and no po- litical treatise in English, referring to these events, which we could venture to recommend, without advising the reader to follow up its perusal with that of a work of diametrically opposite tendency. The two great gains which the moral earthquake of 1848 brought to Austria were, that through wide provinces of the empire, and more especially in Hungary, it swept away the sort of semi-vassalage in which the peasantry had been left by the Urbarium of Maria Theresa, and other reforms akin to or founded upon it, and introduced modern in the place of middle-age relations between the two extremes of society. Secondly, it overthrew the policy of do-nothing — a surer guarantee for the continuance of abuses than even the de- termination, which soon manifested itseK at head-quarters, to make the head of the state more absolute than ever. After the taking of Vienna by Windischgratz, the National Assembly had, on the 15th of November 1848, been removed from the capital to the small town of Kremsier, in Moravia, Here it prolonged an ineffective existence till March 1849, when the court camarilla felt itself strong enough to put an end to an inconvenient censor, and in March 1849 it ceased to exist. A constitution was at the same time promulgated which contained many good provisions, but which was never heartily approved by the ruling powers, or vigorously carried into effect — the proclamation of a state of siege in many cities, and other expedients of authority in a revolutionary period, easily enabling it to be set at nought. The successes of the reaction in other parts of Europe, and above all the 166 AUSTRIA. cowp (Xetat in Paris, emboldened Schwartzenberg to throw off the mask ; and on the last day of 1851 Austria became once more a pure despotism. The young emperor had taken " Viriius ^mitis" for his motto ; and his advisers interpreted those words to mean that Austria was henceforward to be a state as highly centralised as France — a state in which the minister at Vienna was ab- solutely to govern everything from Salzburg to the Iron Gate. The hand of authority had been severely felt in the pre-re- volutionary period, but now advantage was to be taken of the revolution to make it felt far more than ever. In Hungary, for example, which had, as we have seen, always proved in- tractable, even when the Germanic provinces were living in contented servitude, it was fondly imagined that there would be no more trouble. The old political division into counties was swept away ; the whole land was divided into five pro- vinces ; and the courtiers might imagine that from henceforth the Magyars would be as easily led as the inhabitants of Upper Austria. These delusions soon became general, but they owed their origin partly to the enthusiastic ignorance of those who were at the head of the army, and partly to two men, about whom we must say a word. The first of these was Prince Schwartzenberg, the son of the generalissimo of the allied army in the campaign of 1814. Bred to diplomacy, he was the Austrian minister at Naples when the revolution broke out in that capital, then served for a short period under the imperial flag in Northern Italy, and shortly afterwards re- turned to tlie centre of affairs, to animate the drooping spirits of the court. Several of his sayings will be remembered, and they show a certain amount of shrewdness and insight ; but there is nolhinq- recorded, either of his words or actions, which SCHWARTZENBERG AND BACH. 167 bears evidence of a high capacity for statesmanship, to say nothing of wisdom or matured political ability. He had energy and power of will, nor would it be difficult to draw a parallel between him and Count Bismark, although we are bound to say that the latter has given much greater proof of talent. In audacity, however, there is little to choose between them ; and in the " Systole and Diastole" of German politics the Prussian statesman played in 1865, to the disadvantage of Austria, just the same part which the Austrian statesman played in 1850 to the disadvantage of Eussia. Those who are tempted to attach too much importance to such triumphs of audacity should remember how much easier it is to cut knots than to unravel them, and wait to see the end. Whether Prince Schwartzenberg might have developed any higher powers if his life had been prolonged, we cannot say. He died suddenly in April 1852. More space to develop his energies, we might almost say " more rope to hang himself," was given to Alexander Bach, who succeeded the conservative, but able, and by no means bigoted Stadion, when the health of that statesman broke down in 1849. Bach was born in 1813, and was the son of a provin- cial em'ploye under the department of Justice, who, however, eventually removed to the capital, where he established a thriving business as an attorney. His son began life as a clerk in his father's office, studied the law with success, and became a Doctor Juris. He then travelled, and ultimately succeeded his father. Before 1848 he was so conspicuous, both as a jurist and as a reformer, that he was called to take the portfolio of Justice in the ministry which came into power in May 1848. His behaviour in this office gave much offence to the extreme revolutionary party ; and during the disturb- 168 AUSTRIA. ances whicli marked the month of October in that year, his life was in some danger. Whether it was that the experiences of that stormy time cooled his reforming ardour, — or whether it was that the temperature of that ardour had been always exaggerated, — or whether, as his enemies assert, he distinctly changed sides to further his own purposes, — or whether again he was gradually led further than he meant to go down the slope of reaction, — we need not here inquire ; but certain it is, that after the first successes of the court he soon became one of its most trusted agents. His two leading ideas were to cover the whole empire with a German bureaucracy, and to draw closer the ties which connected the court of Vienna with that of Eome. In his view, and in that of the ecclesiastics who worked with him, much of the evil that prevailed in the empire could be traced to the anti-religious influences which had acted on the mind of Joseph II. ; and it was under his auspices, and those of Count Leo Thun, that Austria made that extraordinary retrograde movement which was announced to Europe by the conclusion of the Concordat. If absolutism in Austria liad a fair trial from the 31st of December 1851 to the Italian war, it is to Bach that it was owing ; and if it utterly and ludicrously failed, it is he more than any other man who must bear the blame. Already, in 1849, the bureaucracy had been reorganised, but in 1852 new and stricter regulations were introduced. Everything was determined by precise rules — even the exact amount of hair which the employ^ was permitted to wear upon his face. Hardly any question was thought sufficiently insignificant to be decided upon the spot. The smallest matters had to be referred to Vienna, if their settlement had not been provided for in \\\q instructions previously issued. THE BACH SYSTEM. 169 The higher officials were directed to keep an accurate record of the political dispositions of their subordinates, and the non-official citizens were subjected almost as completely to the despotism of these subordinates as they were to that of their superiors. The result of all this was, that in spite of many improvements upon the pre-revolutionary system in matters of detail, and a greatly increased vigour at head- quarters, the internal affairs of the empire soon fell into hopeless confusion. The finances, which had been thrown into terrible disorder by the events of the revolution, and by the expenses attendant on the menacing attitude adopted towards Prussia in 1850, showed no tendency to recovery. The new communal organisation was put off from year to year, and was at last promulgated in 1859, only to be found absurd and unworkable. The new criminal code, which was one of the few things actually accomplished during this period, revived obsolete punishments, was particularly severe upon the press, and in all respects disgraceful. The same may be said of the Concordat concluded in 1855, of which the best that can be told is, that it has never been so fully carried out as its promoters desired, and that it was a most efficient instrument in exciting hatred against the party to which it owes its origin. The best thing between the paci- fication of Hungary and October 1860 was the remodelling of the system of public mstruction by Count Leo Thun, — a statesman who, although his opinions led him to promote the views of the Ultramontane party, had yet sufficient lirmness not to let it drag him further than he wished to go, and suf- ficient enlightenment to see that the state of the Austrian schools and universities was simply disastrous and intolerable. In general, however, the politicians of the reactionary period 170 AUSTRIA. showed themselves singularly incapable of translating their ideas into accomplished facts, partly, perhaps, from want of ability, but much more because the task which they had set themselves was absurd and impossible. It was a time of great activity in the public offices, of endless instructions, counter-instructions, revised counter-instructions, and so forth ; and when we learn that between 1849 and 1860 the medical department of the army was reorganised four times, the artillery and engineers three times, the Judge- Advocate's department three times, and the War Office at least four times ; when we learn, further, that the same spirit prevailed in other branches of the administration, we can hardly be surprised that the great ruin of the Italian war brought down with a crash the whole edifice of the reaction. "While the internal affairs of the empire were going from bad to worse, its external affairs were by no means prosper- ous. All those who understood the German question saw that the triumph gained at the expense of Prussia in 1850 could only be of temporary importance. There were fewer who were aware that Louis Napoleon had been on the very point of declaring war against Austria, immediately after the news of the battle of Novara had reached Paris, or who felt certain that the day would ere long arrive when France would break with a strong hand the web of treaties which Metternich had woven around the limbs of Italy. A quarrel with Switzerland, and another with Piedmont, came to em- bitter public opinion in Europe against the cabinet of Vienna, already roused by the exaggerated but eloquent declamations of Kossuth, as well in tlie New as in the Old World. The mission of Count Leiningen to Constantinople on the subject ul' Montenegro was by numy supposed to be a diversion in INCREASING DIFFICULTIES. 171 favour of Eussia ; and althougii this has never been proved, and is in itself improbable, it did not tend to make Austria more popular either in France or England. Her uncertain attitude during the Crimean war alternately flattered and dashed the hopes of the West ; and although the diplomatist can hardly blame her, the opinion of intelligent Europe was not gained to her side, while she became to Eussia the object of the most deadly hostility. Thus, at the table of the Con- gress in Paris she had hardly a single real friend, and men began to watch, with all the pleasures of malevolence, the struggle between her and the wily Genevese-Italian, who was destined to rob her of all she had won in the Peninsula by the laboiu's and the crimes of more than forty years. The isolated position in which Austria was placed after the conclusion of the Eussian war had a very unfavourable influence upon her internal politics. The watchword of the new system was, as we have seen, " Virihus unitis" but now the wielders of these " united forces," the ministers at Yienna, at length thoroughly awake to the fact that their system was a failure, began to throw the blame upon each other. Bruck, the one man of real insight amo-ngst them, occupied his high position as Finance Minister solely in \T.rtue of his merit, and had none of those powerful connections which are necessary to one who would carry through great reforms without popular support. He passed his time making one concession here, another there, in the vain hope of getting something useful done. It was all in vain. From the beginning of 1849 to the end of 1858, the public debt rose from 1200 million florins to 2292 million florins, and every source of taxation had in the meantime been strained to the uttermost. The years 1857 and 1858 passed in peace, but without producing 172 AUSTRIA. any important improvements in the state of things ; and at last, in 1859, the long-deferred retribution came. There was no violent outbreak of disaffection, and although Kossuth accompanied the emperor in his Italian campaign, ready to do what he could to raise Hungary as soon as the French flag aj)peared on Hungarian soil, he prudently insisted upon its appearance there as a condition precedent. It is of good augury for the non-resurrection of absolutism in Austria that it was not overthrown, but died a natural death. Bach was dismissed in August 1859, and was succeeded by Count Goluchowski, a man of much inferior abihty, who had been governor of Galicia, but who did not do anything as minister to justify the respectable reputation which he brought into the government. M. de Hubner became at the same time Minister of Police, and showed, during his short tenure of office, far more consideration for the press, and far more desire for reform, than his predecessor. Both he and the Foreign Minister, Count Eechberg, are believed to have seen, even at this period, that concessions to Hungary had become absolutely necessary. Indeed, M. de Hubner is said to have resigned his portfolio in consequence of tlie rejection of his plans for effecting something in this direction. It must be borne in mind that all through the reactionary period the so-called " Old Conservative party" (whose name, be it remembered, has nothing now to do with the sort of questions which divide our Liberals and Conservatives) amongst the Hungarian magnates, had been protesting as ardently against the system of M. Bach as they had protested against the ideas of Kossuth in 1848. Those who would follow the outs and ins of their long struggle — and no one, FALL OF M. BACH. 173 we are persuaded, can follow them without having his impression of the political capacity of the Magyars consider- ably raised — should read the earlier pages of the work called Drei JaJire Verfassungsstreity the author of which is well known, and is a person whose possession of the best infor- mation can be relied upon. The resolution to break with the system of M. Bach was not, however, taken in a day ; and even after his dismissal things went on for a time in the old fashion. Numerous commissions were called into life charged to advise the government, but nothing decisive was done except by a Hungarian conamission, which refused to report, and reminded the rulers that if they wanted advice about Hungary, the best plan would be to obey the laws and summon the Hungarian Diet. Abroad, the Austrian diplomatists fought hard to recover the ground which they had lost in Italy, and are said to have arranged the preliminaries of a grand Catholic league, which they fondly believed would replace them in their old position, and which would perhaps have given serious trouble if it had not been for Garibaldi's timely land- ing at Marsala. At home, the reactionists obtained a triumph by driving Bruck to commit suicide — not, however, before he had publicly pointed out that the whole system of govern- ment in Austria was rotten to the core. The first step in advance was made in the end of May 1860, by calling together the assembly which was known as the " Yerstarkte Eeichsrath" (strengthened Council of the Empire). Ever since 1851 there had existed a Eeichsrath ; but this was a mere governmental board, remarkable for nothing, unless it were that it was a shade more illiberal than the other public departments. The new Eeichsrath was 174 AUSTRIA. an assembly of notables from all parts of tlie empire, chiefly, but not exclusively, composed of men of very high rank. What the government expected from the Eeichsrath was advice as to what was to be done in the dire perplexity into which want of money, Hungarian disaffection, and its other misfortunes, had thrown it ; but of specific advice it succeeded in getting very little. On the other hand, the Eeichsrath thoroughly condemned the existing state of things, and begged the emperor, in his omnipotence, to find out and apply a remedy. Nothing was further from its views than to make an energetic demand for a constitution ; and the Saxon Transylvanian M. Maager, who ventured to pronounce that dreaded name too loudly, was no doubt thought by the majority of his colleagues a very dangerous person. The chief difference of opinion which was manifested in the Eeichsrath related to the amount of centralisation and de- centralisation to be maintained in the reorganised empire. The opinion of the de-centralising or federalist party pre- vailed, and the government proceeded, a week or two after the four months' session of the " strengthened Council of the Empire" came to an end, to issue the diploma of the 20th October 1860. The broad difference between the system of M, Bach and that inaugurated by the October diploma was this — that while in the Bach system everything was, as we have seen, regulated down to the minutest detail by the government offices at Vienna, acting under the pressure of unmitigated despotism ; in the system inaugurated by the October diploma a broad distinction was drawn between those general concerns of the empire which had to be regii- lated at Vienna, and those particular concerns of the pro- vinces which had to be regulated by the provincial THE OCTOBER DIPLOMA. l75 assemblies. Fiuiher, a sort of modified system of repre- sentation was introduced, by the creation of a new sort of Eeichsratli, consisting of one hundred persons, whose mem- bers were to be selected by the emperor from the provincial assemblies. This was well, so far as it went, but it did not go far enough. Hungary, indeed, had her Diet, which could imme- diately be called together, and could, if the nation were so minded, proceed to take its share in working this new" system. Hungary, however, positively refused to do anything of the sort, and the measures taken to enable it to elect members to the Diet, in the manner customary before the revolution, ^ wholly failed to lead the country to give up its determination to stand firm in its legal position, and to have the laws of 1848, or nothing. The difiiculty in the Germanic or German- ised provinces w^as different, but not less great. In them there were no provincial assemblies at all adequate to modern necessities, and when Count Goluchowski was rash enough to pubbsh the scheme of provincial assemblies devised by M. Bach, in the height of the reaction, retaining as it did many of the worst features of the pre-revolutionary period, he was met with a shout of derision, and soon afterwards retired from office, having made himself " impossible " on both sides of the Leitha. His successor was M. Schmerling, of whom w^e shall have more to say presently, but in the meantime we may observe that it was in the winter of 1860-61 that the two parties which at this r moment divide the empire began to take a definite shape. The nucleus of these two parties, respect- ively, were the Hungarian advisers of the court, who thought that Jf Hungary could only be fully conciliated, other things 176 AUSTRIA. would ill the end come right of themselves, and those German advisers, who thought that if the Germanic or Germanised provinces could be fully conciliated, Hungary might he coerced, and obliged to take its part in working a new system, the driving-wheel of which should be a parliament at Vienna, acting under moderate pressure on the part of the sovereign, — a parliament in Avhich the non-Germanic pro- vinces should indeed be fairly and liberally represented, but in the eye of which even Himgary should be merely a pro- vince like the Vorarlberg, and not a kingdom connected with the rest of the empire by the link of the Pragmatic Sanction. One of the most important incidents of this period was the summoning to Vienna of Baron Nicholas Vay, the leader of the Hungarian Protestants, in their struggle against the encroachments of the central authorities, which was one of the many results of the unlucky policy which was inaugu- rated by M. Bach. Vay had been three times tried by Haynau's military commissions ; twice he was acquitted, but at last convicted, and imprisoned for two years in There- sienstadt. At this moment he was the most popular man in Hungary ; for the religious contest had been really a political one, and had engaged the sympathies, not only of the Pro- testants, but of other confessions also. This man was now made chancellor of Hungary, and exerted a most important influence, until he was obliged to retire in the summer of 1861. He is understood to have been one of those most instrumental in raising M. Schmerling to power, probably because, knowing his ability, and miscalculating the strength of his Germanism, he thought that he would understand and be equal to the situation. It soon became clear, however, that it was not to the SCHMERLING. 177 views of Baron Vay that M. Schmerling would give his support. There ought, indeed, as it seems after the event, to have been little doubt as to the scale into which the new minister would throw his influence. Born in 1805, of a family which belonged originally to the Ehineland, but which settled last century in Lower Austria, he had passed his early manhood and middle life in the bureaucracy, and is before all things a bureaucrat — liberal in the ends he pursues, not liberal in the means by which he would compass them. A decided oppo- nent of the SYSTEM, he had made himself observed in the provincial assembly of Lower Austria before 1848, and had been sent in the spring of that year to represent Austrian interests at Frankfort. There he took a conspicuous place in the ranks of the Gross-Deutsch party, and combated with all his might the idea of the Pnissian Hegemony. On his return to Vienna he became a member of Prince Schwartzenberg's ministry, but retired from it when it began to move fast down the steep of reaction. A man with these antecedents was not likely to yield without a struggle to the pretensions of Himgary. If the Hungarians could make good their claims, farewell for ever to the idea of a great united Germany, to which Vienna should give the word of command ! The views of the new minister were no secret to his colleagues, and the breach between him and those who represented the interests of Hungary in the government became every day wider and wider. The first result of M. Schmerling's activity was the Patent of February 26, 1861. This document was in form an addition to the Diploma of October 1860, but in reality it amounted to a new constitution. Instead of the Reichsrath N 178 AUSTRIA. of a hundred members, sitting in one chamber, it created a much larger Eeichsrath, sitting in two chambers ; and whereas the Diploma of October contemplated a federalist organis- ation, the Patent of February contemplated a centralised organisation, worked by a real Parliament, which might eventually grow to be as powerful as our own. There is nothing in such a conception that can be otherwise than agreeable to an Englishman. But that is not the question. The question is, Are the circumstances of Austria such as to make it possible to create and to work such an organisation ? The events of the last five years have answered that question for us, but in the early spring of 1861 it was not so easy to answer. The experiment was of course to the last degree hazardous ; but one can hardly blame a statesman who held M. Schmerling's views with regard to Central European politics, if he determined to make a fight for it. The first thing to be done was to call together the Hmi- garian Diet, which had not met since the Eevolution, and to try whether it could not be induced to come to terms. The next step was to summon the new Eeichsrath, in the consti- tution of which an arrangement was introduced for turning it into a " special or restricted Eeichsrath," for the discussion of the affairs of the German and Germanised provinces, so that its activity would not necessarily be suspended, even if the Hungarians were to prove obstinate. The Hungarian Diet met upon the 6tli of April ; at first in Buda, and immediately afterwards in Pesth, Some time was occupied with the verification of the elections, and then the struggle of parties commenced. The point debated was whether the Diet should reply to the Crown by an address or by a resolution. The Moderates, lead by Deak, preferred an THE DIET OF 1861. l79 address ; the extreme party, led by Count Teleki, preferred a resolution, taking tlieir stand upon the undoubted fact that the emperor was not, according to the laws of the pre-revolu- tionary period, de jure king of Hungary ; for, as we have already seen, according to the old view, " Princeps est qui jurat, qui jurata servat, et qui coronatus est!' Just at this crisis Count Teleki committed suicide, having found himself in a position from which he thought he could not escape without either being false to his political convictions or break- ing a promise which he had given to the emperor. The views of the " address party " in the end prevailed, but they made some concessions to the views of their opponents, and amongst other things omitted the title of " Imperial Eoyal," in address- ing the emperor. This was objected to at Vienna, and the address was finally voted unanimously in the form in which it was originally proposed by Deak. It is far from impossible that, if the government had shown itself disposed to make concessions to Hungary, it would have got better terms than it is now likely to have to put up with ; but concession was the last thing of which it thought. The jurists in the service of M. Schmerling an- swered the Hungarian address, and showed, at least to their own satisfaction, that Hungary had no shadow of right to stand upon, that the revolution had swept away all her old franchises, and that she was in no better position than any other province of the empire. Between parties so diametri- cally opposed as those of Deak and Schmerling, it was evident that there could be no rapprochement, and so in August the Diet was dissolved, and the Cabinet of Vienna determined to break the spirit of the nation, by reinvigoratiag, for the coun- tries beyond the Leitha, the worst maxims of M. Bach. 180 AUSTRIA. The day will come, we hope, when the story of the stern resistance of Hungary, during the period of four years which intervened between the dissolution of the Diet and the issuing of the Patent of the 20th of the last September, will be fully told to Western Europe. There would, we think, be material in it for many pages like the best of those in Baron Eotvos's Village Notary. We are far from wishing to assert that such a record would contain only pages creditable to Hungary. At the county meetings, held previously to the meeting of the Diet in 1861, much appears to have been said and done which was quite unjustifiable ; but the Hungarians were right in the main, and we must forgive, in a people which has been so misgoverned, many excesses which would be unpardonable if the ordinary march of affairs had not been broken by revolu- tion and counter-revolution. M. Boner's chapters on Transyl- vanian politics show the effect that the vehement one-sided- ness of the Magyars produced on the mind of a friendly ob- server, who was not persuaded of what we believe to be true — that, viz., the system attempted to be carried out in Hungary after the dissolution of the Diet could lead to no good result. We may now return to Vienna, where the Eeichsrath as- sembled a week or two later than the Hungarian Diet, and was opened by a speech of great vigour, in which a breach with the old absolutist system was distinctly promised. The place of meeting was but badly filled, for neither Hungary, Croatia, Transylvania, Galicia, Venice, nor Istria had sent deputies, and of the three hundred and forty-three members who ought to have attended, only some two hundred were there. It soon became clear that of these two hundred about two-thirds were distinctly centralist and governmental in tone, altogether opposed to the ideas of the Federalist, or, as they THE SCHMERLING ADMINISTRATION. 181 have been called, State-right party. In the Upper House, too, the governmental majority was decisive. The tone of these majorities, as shown in their first debates, had a bad influence, it would seem, upon ministers, or, if this was not the case, the traditions of the Bach system and of the pre- revolutionary period, were too strong to be overcome, for cer- tainly very little was done during the years in which M. Schmerling enjoyed power, even for the Germanic and Ger- manised provinces. Trade was still in fetters, the transgres- sions of the press were punished by long and cruel im- prisonments, no right of association for political purposes could even be dreamt of, and societies formed for non-political purposes were always in danger of being suppressed, if they strayed at all too near the charmed boundary. During its later period the Eeichsrath showed itself far less complaisant to ministers, and they had to endure very sharp criticisms ; but a dispassionate observer will hardly consider that the re- sults of the working of the February Patent in Austria were such as to make him very much regret the suspension of the sort of constitutional life which was enjoyed under it. Ever since the dissolution of the Hungarian Diet and the retirement of Vay and Szechen, close relations had been kept up between the Himgarian "Old Conservatives" and the Fede- ralist section of the Eeichsrath. They showed, on the other hand, great attention to Deak, and endeavoured to come to an understanding with him, as the leader of the moderate Hunga- rian Liberals. At last, about Easter 1865, a highly-conciliatory article appeared in his organ at Pesth, and that was speedily followed by three letters from Pesth, which appeared in the Dehatte, laying down authoritatively the programme of the moderate Hungarian Liberals. The Dehattey acting in the in- 182 AUSTRIA. terest of the " Old Conservatives," claimed for these most remark- able letters a careful and candid perusal, which they obtained in very wide circles, nor can we doubt that they contributed materially to prepare the way for a good understanding. The principal points laid down in these letters are, that, without the retirement of M. Schmerling, no good understand- ing between Hungary and Vienna could be dreamt of ; that Deak was in the habit of speaking in the most friendly terms of the Lower House of the Eeichsrath ; and that his friends were generally in favour of a conciliatory policy. They then go on to point out that the Hungarians take their stand upon the Pragmatic Sanction, and that to leave so firm a standing- ground would be unpossible. Looking, then, to the Pragmatic Sanction as the ultimate authority on all questions between Hungary and its monarch, the writer asks — 1. Are there any affairs which are common to all the lands of the Austrian empire ? 2. If so, what are they ? 3. How should they be managed ? The first of these questions was answered by the laws of 1848 and the addresses of the Diet in 1861. There are affairs luhicli are common to all the lands of the Austrian empire. The answer to the second question can easily be deduced from the Pragmatic Sanction, if we suffer ourselves to be guided by the principle, that all affairs which are common to all the lands of the Austrian empire, are so only in so far as their being treated as common affairs is necessary to the safety of the monarchy. The Pragmatic Sanction, then, contemplates all the Austrian lands as belonging to one common ruler. The first THE LETTERS FROM PESTH. 183 comiiiou afi'air is then the keeping up the position and dignity of the common rider. Next, the Pragmatic Sanction binds the several lands to niutucd supp)ort That mutual support must be of a twofold kind, peaceful and warlike — that is, diplomatic and military. Hence the management of foreign relations and of the army are common affairs. The management of foreign relations must necessarily be entirely common, and guided by one hand. Not so the army. Tlie command of the army, and all that relates to its internal management, must belong to the emperor ; but the right of determining all matters relating to Himgarian troops, which it is not necessary to the idea of a common army should belong to one hand, must belong to the Diet. This relates to such matters as time of ser\dce, recruit- ing, amount of force, billeting, and so forth. Of course there is nothing in this demand to exclude common deliberation as to the quota of troops to be furnished by Hungary. Another common affair is the providing of money for all common affairs, and it would be the duty of the Hungarian Finance Minister to furnish to the Imperial Finance Minister Hungary's proper quota ; but he would at the same time manage the finances of the nation, in so far as they were not common affairs, according to the pleasure of the Diet. So, too, the highest and broadest questions of commercial policy must also, in the nature of things, be common affairs, and a good understanding about them can hardly be difficult to arrive at, when we remember that the tendency of the age is in all countries towards uniformity. The answer to the last question is more difficult, and the writer speaks, when he comes to deal with it, with more diffidence. His leading principles are : That a central parlia- ment is impossible ; that a separate Hungarian ministiy is 184 AUSTRIA. indispensable ; and that the countries east and west of the Leitha must "be considered as two aggregations of lands, having a 'parity of rights. Into his other suggestions we need not go, for they have, to a considerable extent, been already left be- hind by the progTess of events ; but we have analysed his first two letters in some detail, because they form the very best answer which we have met with to the question — What is it precisely that the Hungarians want ? AVe ought, perhaps, to say something of the man to whom all Hungary was now looking, and whose views are supposed to be embodied in these letters. Francis Deakwas born in the year 1803, on an estate be- longing to his father in the county of Szalad. He studied at Baab, and, like most of the Hungarian gentry, began to attend the county meetings as soon as he was of age. There he soon became conspicuous, and acquired the goodwill of the Cortes, or electors, in so high a degree, that he had no difficulty in succeeding his elder brother as their deputy to the Diet, which sat from 1832 to 1836. By 1840, his position as the leader of the Liberal party was acknowledged, and he had become known beyond the limits of his country, for his profound acquaintance with her laws, as well as for his wisdom, politi- cal tact, and conciliatory temper. He was not a member of the Diet of 1847, but held a portfolio in Count Louis Batthy- ani's first cabinet, in 1848. This he resigned when Kossuth and his immediate supporters seemed bent upon pushing matters to extremity ; and his last public appearance during the revolutionary period was as a negotiator in the camp of Windischgriitz, when that commander was marching upon Pesth. After the revolution, the government of Prince Schwartzenberg tried to induce him to aid them in their plans THE RETIREMENT OF SCHMERLING. 185 for re-arranging the institutions of Hungary. Although, how- ever, the changes which he had proposed to introduce as minister were very great, their leading ideas were so utterly different from those which were entertained at this period in Vienna, that he declined the advances made to him, and lived as a private citizen, till the events of 1861 brought him, as we have seen, once more into prominence. And now, again, "the wheel has come full circle," and he stands before Europe as the first man of his people. If his wise and moderate policy succeeds, no one now living will better deserve the title of ^^ faUr ipatrioer Even before the reconstruction of the cabinet last summer, the royal visit to Hungary, which has been so well described in the Eevioe des Deux Mondes, the retirement of M. Schmer- ling, and other symptoms, showed that a change of system was in contemplation. Of the new ministers who were gathered under the wing of Count Mensdorff-Pouilly, whose importance is not in connection with the internal affairs of the empire. Count Belcredi became Minister of the Interior for all the provinces not linked with the crown of Hungary. Of Italian descent, he has property in Moravia, has been Statt- halter of Bohemia, and is favourably known as a good ad- ministrator, averse to the "Zopf" of the old bureaucratic system ; Count Larisch, a nobleman of good intentions and liberal views, but by no means a Gladstone, took charge of the finances ; while George von Majlath, an extremely able man, became Chancellor of Hungary. The name, how- ever, which has been chiefly mentioned in connection with the overthrow of the Schmerling policy, is that of Count Maurice Esterhazy, who has been in the govern- ment ever since the retirement of Baron Vay. His name, 186 AUSTRIA. it must be admitted, associated as it is with intrigue and Jesuitry, has been anything but a tower of strength to his colleagues. The overthrow of the Schmerling policy was finally an- nounced to the empire by the imperial manifesto of the 20th September 1865. ^Vhether we agree or disagree with the views which dictated it, it is impossible to read that document without feeling that the intentions of those who framed it were honest. By it the emperor declares his intention of falling back upon the Diploma of 20th October 1860, suspending the effect of the Patent of the 26th February 1861, with all its conse- quences. In fact, he admits, in effect, that the system of centralisation by which M. Schmerling had attempted to work out and to modify the ideas of the October Diploma, had been an utter failure, and that upon the foundation of that Diploma a new system must be erected, carrying out its ideas without any modification, at least in a centralist sense. The effect produced upon public opinion in Vienna by this proclamation was of course very great ; and those who, like the writer of this paper, chanced to be upon the spot, heard the most diverse opinions. " The situation,'^ said one, " is as triste as possible. The ministry stands alone, and has really no party, except in Hungary." " Why do you come here at present ?" said a second ; *' you can learn nothing now. All that was has disappeared, and nothing has been put in its place." " The present position of affairs," said a third, " is very puzzling, and the Germans are not unnaturally irritated ; but the change of system having been once announced, there is nothing for it but to help it to work. The new ministers are honourable men — men of the world, aristocratical in tend- ency, and hence unpopular with the German party, which is THE SEPTEMBEK MANIFESTO. 187 essentially of the middle class." " Talk of governing Austria by the Hungarians!" said a fourth; "talk of governing England by the gipsies I" Some there were who thought that the irritation of the emperor against certain members of the Eeichsrath had had much to do with the suspension of its powers. Others, again, looked at the whole matter from a very different point of view. " Of course," they said, " for Liberals to rejoice at the suspension of a constitution has an ugly look ; but if that constitution is only laid aside in order to put something better in its place, they are surely right in rejoicing. The recent change was the only thing possible." This chaos of opinion * still continues, and will continue ; and while we range ourselves on the side of the new minis- ters, we do so with the full consciousness that some of the most impartial and best informed observ^ers of Austrian politics have taken the other view. To our thinking, then, it would be infinitely desirable that the idea of that Austrian Guizot, M. Schmerling, should be carried out, and that there should be in Vienna a Parliament whose decrees on all subjects should be as much respected in Essek and Sissek, in Debreczin and Kronstadt, as those of * About a month, after this paper originally appeared, an extremely interest- ing article upon the "Situation in Austria" "was published in the Westminster Review of April 1866. It should be read in connection Avith another article, evidently by the same hand, which enriched the pages of the same periodical about three years ago. Both are the productions of one who had a good right to interpret to England the views of the part}^ most opposed to the September Patent, more especially the Boheroian section of it. The following paragraphs, which we quote from this well-informed and able writer, express with very gi-eat clearness the views taken by the various provincial assemblies, of tbe lands unconnected with the Hungarian crown, about the great change of last autumn : — ' * All the Diets of the countries on this side the Leitha, seventeen in num- ber, met towards the end of last November, We give below, in a tabular 188 AUSTEIA. our own are from London to Unst or St. Kilda ; but that seems to us just one of the many desirable things which are simply form, the votes for and against the present government in the different Diets, with the population of the countries represented, the number of members in such Diet, and their quotas of deputies to the Reichsrath, according to the Patent of February 1861 : — In respect to Number of Population represented. the Sep. Patent ; Members in the Countries and Seats of Diets. Votes for and against the Ministry. Diet. rath. Galicia — Lemberg 4,612,000 149 1 150 38 Bukowina — Czernowltz . 462,000 30 — 30 5 *Moravia — Briinu ... 1,887,994 51 42 100 22 *Caniiola — Laibach ... 451,941 18 12 37 6 Gorz — Gradiska — Gorz . 195,000 13 6 22 2 Istria — Parenzo 235,000 30 — 30 2 Trieste — Trieste ... 95,000 36 4 40 2 Dalmatia — Zara 404,499 32 3 43 c 5 Bohemia — Prague ... 4,705,525 118 10 97 46 241 66 54 18 Lower Austria — Vienna 13,038,959 1,681,697 Upper „ Linz ... 707,450 12 34 50 10 Styria — Gratz 1,056,773 7 50 63 13 Salzburg 146,769 — 26 26 3 Silesia — Troppau 443,912 1 30 31 6 Carinthia — Klagenfurth 332,456 7 28 37 5 Vorarlberg — Bregenz . . . •• 102,000 2 18 20 68 2 10 fTyrol — Iimspruck 4,471,057 774,000 513 393 It will be seen in the above table that seven of the Diets, representing a population of about four and a half millions, have, either iu resolutions or addrescs to the Throne, expressed more or less dissatisfaction with the Sep- tember Act. It has been most decidedly pronounced in the addresses of Lower * Although, as regards confidence in the present ministry, the votes in these two Diets were as above, yet in neither were motions of addresses to the Crown, to express thanks or dissatisfaction, carried. That for the expression of gi-atitude for the September Act was lost by a majority of three in the Diet of Moravia ; that to express dissatisfaction was lost by a majority of nine. f The Diet of Tyrol did not enter into any discussion of the September manifest. It was received in silence. The Diet is not satisfied with the present ministry on the Protestant question. It never, however, approved of Schmerling's policy. DIFFICULTIES OF AUSTRIA. 189 impossible. We can well understand how painful it is to the members of the " Great- Austrian party " to be obliged to give up a brilliant and clierished dream ; but they must learn, we fear, to recognise the limitations of existence, and to say, with the philosophy which distinguishes their race, " Es ist nun einmal so." There may be a time far off when their dream shall become a reality ; but it must be at a time so remote as to lie quite beyond the ken of the politician. It is but too true that even if the question which now divides opinions in Austria were settled in the most satisfac- tory manner, and if the Hungarian Diet and the Central Assembly at Vienna were working side by side, with most of the minor provincial assemblies, from the Lake of Constance to Cattaro, following suit, the empire would still be an object of considerable anxiety to all politicians. It is hardly pos- sible that such a state of concord can be perpetual ; nothing, at least, has ever occurred in the world's history to entitle us Austria and Vorarlberg. That of the latter little province was couched in language so violent and disrespectful to the Crown that it has not been received. In this land, as in T}to1, the greater portion of the countiy population has alwaj's been opposed to the policy of the late government ; and it has been owing to the influence of the Protectionist wealthy German manufacturers and the people in their employ (most of them immigrants from Switzerland and Southern Germany) that the action of the Diet has been decided. The Diets of Galicia, Bukowina, Bohemia, and of the coast-lands (Istria, Trieste, etc.), have acted in a direction contrary to the above, and have pre- sented addresses to the Throne expressing deep-felt gratitude for the Septem- ber manifest, and the change of policy involved therein. The Diet of Dalmatia likewise voted an address appro\dng the manifest, but at the same time regretting the suspension of the lesser Reichsrath. This clause was introduced through the influence of the officials, too many of whom, owing to Schmer- ling's election manoeuvres, have seats in this assembly, greatly to the dis- satisfaction of the Slavonic population of that country. If we include Dalmatia, the Diets which, in addresses to the Throne, have expressed approval of the September Act, represent a population of upwards of ten and a half millions. " 190 AUSTEIA. to cherisli so bright a hope. The best, perhaps, to which we can look forward is, that some day or other, under circum- stances different, and far more favourable than the present, it may be given to some statesmen to turn the personal union which Deak now conceives to exist between Austria and Hungary ; or the real union which Wheaton and other publicists see in their connection ; or the unnamed union he- tween a real and personal union, for which the author of Drei Jahre Verfassungsstreit contends, into an incorporative union like that which exists between England and Scotland. The increase of railways and other means of communication may make this come quicker than seems possible at present, but it must still be very far away. There is in this mighty empire the strangest intermingling of society as it Avas in the seventeenth century with society as it is now in the most highly-advanced nations. How diffi- cult it is to believe that the scenes which Mr. Boner describes in the Transylvanian Saxon-land are going on at this moment ; or that in the Eouman nation, which is called to equal rights with the most civilised populations of the empire, there should be only about 150 educated men ! The difficulties which have been entailed upon the present rulers of Austria by the follies, crimes, and neglects of many generations, are so great, that we ought to judge particular acts, if they continue as now to be clearly animated by honest intentions, with the greatest forbearance, and give much weight to what such writers as Mr. Paton and Mr. Boner have to say about the doings of Austrian employes, even at the worst and most painful moments of recent years. We hope that if the questions which at present agitate the empire can be in any way tolerably arranged, the next few years will be THE COMMERCIAL TREATY. 191 given, as much as possible, to material improvement. Much, even since we first saw Hungary, nineteen years ago, has been done for the improvement of that magnificent country ; but millions of capital must still be expended before her resources are even half developed ; and we cannot help thinkmg that Mr. Boner is right in pointing to Transylvania as a very profitable field for English enterprise. A most wise beginning has been made by the present ministers of Austria in the commercial treaty with England — a measure which, as has been truly said, marks a turning- point, not only in the policy of their country, but in that of ours ; in the policy of their country, because they give up the prohibitive system in which they have so long delighted ; in that of ours, because, far more decidedly than in the French treaty, we come forward as the assertors of the principle that for a nation to refuse to exchange with us those commodities which can be exchanged with mutual advantage by both nations, is an unfriendly, semi-hostile act, and because we give it distinctly to be understood, that far from thinking it necessary to buy '' concessions" by " concessions'' on our part, we think that by persuading the Austrians to make these ^' concessions" we are conferring at least as great a benefit upon them as on ourselves. The " concessions " which we make with regard to the timber duties, and to the duties on wines in bottle, are really no equivalents at all for their "concessions," for not only are they trifling in them- selves, but we should very soon have made them for our own purposes. In fact, their being treated as " concessions" at all, is only an accommodation to the weakness of haK-con- verted neophytes. The history of this treaty is a curious one. Springing out 192 AUSTRIA. of the anti-Frencli sympathies of a small knot of English politicians, becoming complicated with questions of a loan and the private arrangements of capitalists, it gradually slipped into the hands of the two men most fitted to carry it to a successful issue — Mr. Morier, one of the ablest of that not too numerous class of diplomatists who take au serieux their noble profession, and Mr. Mallet of the Board of Trade, whose great knowledge of mercantile affairs, wide sympathies, and high political ability, are known and appreciated by all who have watched our commercial progress in the last ten years. Great credit is also due to Mr. Somerset Beaumont for having originated the idea of a treaty with Austria, and for having paved the way for it, at the cost of infinite time and trouble — efforts which have as yet by no means been, in our opinion, sufficiently 'appreciated. These three gentlemen should divide between them most of the praise which accrues to England from this transaction, although other figures flitted across the negotiations, and were sometimes helpful enough. On the Austrian side all credit is due to Count Mensdorfif and Baron Wtillerstorf, especially to the former, whose conduct was loyal and honourable in the highest degree. The direct effects of the treaty in promoting trade between Austria and this country will not be very great or very im- mediate, although we need hardly say that the average of the new duties will be far below the maximum of 25 per cent. A very large trade between Austria and Switzerland, and Austria and Italy, may presently be expected to arise, and when any impulse is given to the general trade of Europe, we shall not be long without reaping great indirect advantage. The finances of Austria may be expected to improve under this judicious change of system, and we may trust that DIFFICULTIES OF AUSTRIA. 193 in twenty years the least advanced of Austrian economists will look back with astonishment on the fact which Count Larisch lately announced to the world, that the state lotteries brought into his coffers more than half as much again as the customs. Still we must not expect to see the fruit of all this late wisdom ripen too soon. Austria is terribly poor, and it will be long before she feels in all her members the vivifying influence of a just commercial legislation. It must not be forgotten that, even if the relations of the lands of the Hungarian crown to the rest of the empire were definitely settled, much tact and good sense would be required on the part of Hungarian statesmen to prevent the outbreak of those jealousies of nationality which proved so fatal to Hungarian aspirations in 1848 and 1849. Doubtless, the tyranny of the Bach period, by showing all the nationalities that they had a common enemy in the centralisers of Vienna, did a good deal to destroy the memory of old feuds. " The Croat," said a man in the neighbourhood of Agram to the writer, in 1851, "put down the Hungarian, but he will take uncommonly good care not to do it again." A very little manifestation, however, of the old ultra-Magyar spirit would soon make the Eoumans or the Euthenians more unwilling to take laws from Pesth than even from Vienna, if, indeed, the former will not be hostile to any Magyar ascendancy, however beneficent. Baron Eotvos, who shows in his recent pamphlet, Die Nationalitdten-Frage, that he thoroughly understands the force, while he does not estimate too highly the wisdom, of the nationality cry, takes a hopeful view of this subject, and thinks that many of the difiicidties which are involved in the question of Hungarian nationalities will be got over, if only the state will leave as much play as possible to individual 194 AUSTRIA. liberty ; and without pronouncing any opinion upon a ques- tion about which no one who has not lived long in the country, and transacted business in many parts of it, has a right to speak, we would fain accept the views of one who is at once a patriot and a man of enlightenment * The question of Venetia is extremely difficidt — far more difficult than it appears at first sight to most of our country- men. In the first place, The military reasons which have been so fully stated in England by Mr. Bonamy Price in favour of the retention of the Quadrilateral, deserve serious attention ; secondly, The pride of the Austrian army appears to be engaged in favour of not surrendering this piece of ItaKan soil without a struggle ; thirdly. The emperor is himself understood to feel very strongly on the subject ; fourthly, A very large number of persons in the Germanic provinces would consider the abandonment of Venetia as a heavy blow and a great dis- couragement ; fifthly. There is no evidence that the Hun- garians, if their own demands were satisfied, would not be willing to fight against Italy. To these various considerations we may reply, first, that if Italy becomes reasonably powerful, there is little chance of French armies repeating against Austria the tactics of IsTapo- leon's Italian campaigns, while it is hardly probable that the Italians, if once they have Venetia, will allow themselves to listen to those zealots who would teach them to clamour for Istria and other such rcvendications. The second and third objections are serious, and we confess we do not see how any- thing but the ultima ratio regum is likely to overcome them. * For a more formal statement of the views of Hungarian Liberals on this subject, see the translation of the Second Addi'ess of the Diet of 1861 in Mr. Home Payne's Collection of Documents illustrative of Hungarian history in that year. VENETIA. 195 To the fourth we answer that we do not believe the majority of persons in the Germanic provinces would allow, when it came to the point, their passions to overcome their interest in a matter which is capable of being translated into a ques- tion of figures. We have heard a prominent member of the most essentially German section of the Eeichsrath admit that the question of Venetia must one day be settled against Austria, although not without a war. To the fifth objection we hardly see what to reply, but trust that the argimient of the purse might, at the critical moment, not be without its influence on the other side of the Leitha. When we balance these considerations, we may well doubt whether Austria is at all likely to sell Venetia, but hold it to be more than probable that, if she does not do so, she will ere long lose it by war. Much depends on the course that things take in Italy. If the new kingdom becomes gradually con- solidated, if its miserable finances are put in order, if the brigandage which makes people almost long for the 'rule of the Dukes and the Bourbons is effectually put down, if the Eoman question is solved, and the country begins to be re- spected rather than patronised — public opinion in Europe, and common-sense at home, may possibly become too strong even for the pride of the House of Hapsburg-Lorraine, and the susceptibilities of that devoted army to which it owes so much. In one way or another, however, we cannot doubt that Italy must eventually possess Venetia, and that Austria must make up her mind to the loss, if loss indeed it be. The future position of Austria with regard to Northern and Central Germany is another question of even greater difficulty. The relations of Austria to Germany have been treated at great length in a very interesting work by Baron 196 AUSTRIA. Eotvos. His thesis is that the unity of Germany is necessary to the peace of Europe, and that the legislative separation of Hungary, and her connection with the rest of the empire by a merely personal union, is a necessary condition of German unity. Unlike Baron Eotvos, we should prefer to see Austria altogether divorced from her connection with the Bund, although we are, of course, not insensible to the grand features of the so-called Gross-Deutsch idea, and to the maimed and truncated appearance which Germany would present, if she lost all the fair and historic German-speaking lands which are politically connected with Austria. Looking, however, not to what is abstractedly desirable, but to what is not wholly impossible, we pronounce for the view which finds favour in Prussia. So vast, however, are the difficulties which lie in the way of any such solution of the German question, so much has the popular sentiment in the Middle States been damped by the succession of follies which have characterised the reign of the present king of Prussia, so fiercely will a hundred menaced interests fight each for their own hand against the Klein-deutsche solution of the problem, that, it may well be, several decades may pass before any revolution in Germany comes about. German patriots pray for sages on the throne of Prussia, and fools on all the minor thrones ; but as yet their prayers do not meet with any very satisfactory answer. There are some who say, and we can well believe them, that the Austrian dynasty will give up anytliing rather than its hold upon Germany. Venetia may go, Hungary may go, anything and everything, rather than the old recollections of Frankfort. Nothing is more natural than that the kaiser should think the felicity of reigning over any given number of Koumans, Bulgarians, or Bosnians, would be dearly bought by AUSTRIA AND TURKEY. 197 the loss of even a single German province ; and if we look at the latest information from Northern Turkey in Europe — the little work lately edited by Mr. H. Sandwith for two enter- prising English ladies — we shall see great reason to doubt whether the prospect of only exchanging Turkish for Austrian ride, would excite any particular enthusiasm on the southern side of the Save. If this be so, however, and if it be true, as we fear it is, that the Austrian occupation of the Principalities has left behind it more bitter recollections than either the Eussian or the Turkish, what is the idea of an Austria whose centre shall be Pesth, and which shall extend all down the Danube valley, but a pleasant dream? We say this with sorrow, and should like nothing better than that some one might prove to us that we are too desponding ; for since the resignation by the Emperor Erancis of the imperial German crown, with all its shadowy and sublime prerogatives, this has seemed the natural and logical solution of many of the great difficulties of Central Europe. We do not wonder, then, that the policy of the modern statesmen of Austria with regard to Turkey should be, and has been, a Conservative one. They have quarter-barbarians enough of their own to manage without the addition of a few million semi-barbarians from the spoils of Turkey ; and considering the powers of national deglutition and digestion which Eussia has shown, they may well fear that the death of the Sick Man would add far too largely to her inheritance. The views which any one will form about the Polish ques- tion in its bearings upon Austria, will of course depend upon his views of the far larger question as to the future of Poland, of which we have elsewhere spoken. Ever since the famous prophecy of Maria Theresa, Austria 198 AUSTRIA. has been more favourably disposed to tliat unhappy country than either of the two other partitioning powers ; and it is not surprising that she should have thought it far more important, at more than one period of her recent history, to have a strong barrier between herself and Eussia, than to possess the, after all, not very extensive territory which was her reward for the part she took in the evil transactions for which Europe has paid and will still pay so dearly. The hopeless and inextri- cable difficulties with which the Polish question is surrounded have, however, up to this time, wholly prevented anything definite being done. Some little-known details will be found in a recent article by M. Klaczko in the Revue des Deux Mondes. Wlien we remember how bitterly hated the Austrian government was in this country only a few years ago, it is satisfactory to see with how much good feeling our press has recognised the efforts which it has recently made to improve the institutions of the empire. There are, however, still per- sons among us who can only look at Austria through Italian spectacles, and who believe that out of her no good thing can come. We are, we need hardly say, of a very different opinion. There is no country of the Continent for whose prosperity we feel more anxious. This Europe in miniature — comprising in itself more contrasts of climate, of scenery, of race, of language, of religion, of civilisation, than any other region of equal ex- tent in this quarter of the globe — can hardly fail to excite the interest and conciliate the goodwill of every one who makes a study of her affairs. We cannot name any country which affords so many facilities for experiments of living, under unfamiliar but not unfavourable conditions. That out of lier disorder may come a many-sided order, that out of her THE FUTUKE. 199 discouragement may come cheerfulness, and out of her errors wisdom, is our fervent hope ; but as we close the review of her recent history — by no means the darkest portion of her annals — ^Ye cannot help counting up the sins of her rulers, and asking ourselves whether it is not but too possible that for those sins there may yet come a day of reckoning, even worse than that of 1848. How often, during the period through which we have been conducting our readers, must not the wisest observers of what was passing at Vienna have been tempted to exclaim with the poet, — " Aber sie treiben's toll ; Ich filrcht ? es breche ? Nicht jeden Wochenscliluss Macht Gott die Zeche." 5fC ^fZ ^f* T* The three agitated months ,that have passed since this paper was first printed have not, we think, veiy materially altered the situation in Austria. The negotiations between the Hungarians and the government still drag their slow length along, and impartial observers can hardly help fearing that in their desire to get as much as they can for themselves, each party runs the risk of putting off a settlement until some sudden event may force them to accept one, which may be anything but agreeable. Sometimes we even doubt whether they really wish to come to terms, and whether each does not hope more from the chapter of accidents than from their long- continued parley. Since w^e wrote, great clouds have gathered, both on the south and north of the empire, and the German and Italian questions have alike become threatening. If an appeal is made to force, no one can venture to say what may be the issue ; but if things are left to take their natural course, we do not, 200 AUSTRIA. on reconsideration, feel inclined to change much that we have said, although perhaps our view of the Hungarian question was a little too hopeful. It is hard to see how war, should it unfortunately break out, can materially alter the relations of Austria either to the Bund or to Italy, — always supposing that Austria continues to exist in anything like her present shape. Once let war break out, and even that becomes uncertain, for who can say what unforeseen circumstances may arise ? Whatever may be the strength of their armies, Prussia is a natural, Austria an artificial body. We have already said that it seems to us, in the necessity of things, that the German and Venetian questions must be eventually settled in accordance with the views of Berlin and Florence. Even if Austria were for a time signally victorious, it would make no very material dif- ference in the end. Should war not arise, it is possible that the discussions which have been and are taking place may, on the other hand, pave the way for us to arrive more speedily at a settlement of the aflairs of Central Europe, which may have some chance of being permanent. Of the internal events of the empire, not the least curious which has occurred within the last few weeks, is the fresh outbreak of Czechish agitation at Prague. Nothing could better illustrate the extraordinary and quite exceptional diffi- culties of Austria. CHAPTEE IV. PRUSSIA. The politics, no less than the scenery of North -eastern Germany, are by no means attractive. The interminable marshes of the Havel, the dreary sand-waste which surrounds the capital, the rich but unlovely plain of Magdeburg, have all their antitypes in the history of Prussia. From time to time some enterprising English newspaper sends a corre- spondent to Berlin ; but the editor soon discovers that not one reader in a thousand pays any attention to his let- ters, and the veil once more descends upon those confused struggles, of which, even more truly than of the pictures of Wouvermans, it may be said that it is difficult to make out " which is plaintiff and which defendant/' But Prussian politics have a meaning after all, and sometimes, as at this moment, very grave issues are depend- ing on the decisions of Prussian rulers and the good sense of the Prussian people. We propose, accordingly, to set down a few notes, which may save those who wish to have a toler- ably clear idea of what has of late been passing at Berlin, some trouble in turning over books and newspapers. In the recent history of Prussia it is easy to distinguish four well-marked periods. The first of these extends from the accession of Frederick AYilliam IV., in June 1840, to the opening of the " Vereinigte Landtag," in April 1847. 202 piiussiA. The second commences with that event, and terminates with the dissolution of the National Assembly and the pro- clamation of the new Constitution on December 5, 1849. The third begins with the proclamation of the new Con- stitution, and extends to the assumption of the regency by the prince of Prussia. The fourth opens with that occurrence, and is still in progress. To the three first of these periods we may with confidence assign the names of the period of expectation, the period of re- volution, and the period of reaction ; but he who could with confidence give a distinctive name to the fourth would know the secret of the future of Germany. In June 1840 Frederick William III. closed his long and chequered career. Tried by both extremes of fortune, he had shown few great qualities in either, and the numerous ex- pressions of regret which followed his decease, proved only the loyal sentiments of his deceived and long-suffering sub- jects. The advent of his successor was heralded by many hopes. The Crown Prince was not very well known ; but those who had been admitted to his society spoke highly of his accomplishments, his learning, and his liberal opinions. His good disposition had not, people said, been changed by his altered position. He had remarked, it was reported, to Alexander von Humboldt, that as Crown Prince he was necessarily the first noble of the realm, but that as king he was only the first citizen. The new reign opened with a series of gracious and popular acts. A general amnesty for political offences ; the recal to high office of Schon, the illustrious and beloved fellow-labourer of the deeply-venerated Stein ; the advancement of Boyen, who was FREDERICK WILLIAM IV. 203 regarded as the inheritor of the traditions of Scharnhorst and of Gneisenau, cheered the hearts of all enlightened and liberal Prussians, and excited no little alarm at Vienna and St. Petersburg. The morning which dawned so brightly was not, however, destined to be long unclouded. The first un- toward event was the answer given by the monarch to the states of East Prussia, when, on the occasion of the Homage ceremonial at Konigsberg, they ventured to express their hopes that the long-promised constitution would at last be- come a reality. Somewhat later an order in council appeared, which left no doubt on the minds of reflecting men as to the real intentions of the king. It was clear that the sort of change which he contemplated was not that which the nation wished. Some half middle-age, half lower-empire organisa- tion might take the place of the old order, but of a constitu- tion founded on the abstract ideas of what was right and just, or on the actual necessities of the nation, there was no chance whatever. The appointment of Eichhorn, a member of the ultra-pietistic and absolutist party, to the important ofiice of minister of public instruction, in the room of the wise Alten- stein, the one man of enlightenment who had contrived to the last to retain the favour of the old king, further increased the uneasiness of the public mind. The advancement of this mischievous tool* of obscurantism was the signal for a series of coercive and ill-conceived measures, many of them attributable to the king himself, which had their natural result in the antagonistic follies and excesses of 1848. The censorship grew ever stricter and stricter ; numerous press prosecutions took place, the most famous of which was that * Eichliorn was no worse than some of his colleagues, but the king took more interest, and did more mischief, in his department, than in any other. 204 PRUSSIA. of which Dr. Jacoby of Konigsberg was the victim, on ac- count of his pamphlet Vicr Fragen heantwortet von einem Ost-Preussen, and which ended in the acquittal of the accused by the High Court of Berlin, much to the disgust of the king and of the government. Eichhorn extended his mischievous activity into all departments. Students were encouraged to denounce the religious or political heresies of their professors ; the books in the libraries of schoolmasters were carefully in- spected ; the standard of elementary education was intention- ally lowered ; men were advanced in the various gymnasia and universities, not on account of their attainments, but on account of their attachment to the views of the pietists. The regime of the most literary of contemporary monarchs seemed destined to result in the same hostility to all real learning which was openly avowed by the Emperor Francis. It was, however, too late. In vain Hengstenberg and his crew tried to bring in a Prussian if not a Eoman popery ; in vain Eichhorn travelled from university to university, suspending here, denouncing there ; in vain successive ministers of the interior seconded him with all their power, ordering domiciliary visits, turning Liberals from other Ger- man states out of the country at two hours' notice, suppress- ing newspapers, and so forth. In vain the king himself, for seven long years, scolded now this city and now that — Breslau one day and Berlin another ; in vain he speechified and in vain he cajoled ; in vain he dismissed petition after petition, which the provincial state assemblies addressed to him ; in vain he tried to make the Prussian people content with a representation formed of an agglomeration of com- mittees, chosen from the different provincial state assemblies, and possessed merely of a deliberative voice. The pressure THE "historical" SCHOOL. 205 from without grew too strong, and at lengtli, after mature consultation with confidential advisers, the "patent" of Febru- ary 3, 1847, was given to the world. The king was a most ardent, as he was certainly a most influential, disciple of the " historical " school of publicists Lj and of jurists. It would be difficult to speak too highly of the merits of Savigny and his fellow-labourers, as long as they confined themselves to explaining the present by the past ; but unfortunately these same men, when they came to be minis- I ters of state, made an altogether improper use of their own researches. They were justly proud of having shown how baseless were the speculations by which their immediate pre- decessors had attempted to account for existing phenomena in the domain of politics. They hated the d jj't'iori verbiage which had been the cant of the day during the French Ee- volution, and they jumped to the conclusion, that all the state arrangements which were historically explicable, and which had once been reasonable, should still be kept unimpaired, or at most should be developed. They forgot that for more than half-a-century the people for whom they had to legislate had been sitting at the feet of those often-mistaken but still effective teachers against whom they had made war. The " Vereinigte Landtag," which was called into being by the " patent " of the 3d of February, was a masterpiece of learned reconstruction ; but it was not a body likely to be of much use in a world of hard realities."' It met on the 11th of April, and sat through a considerable part of the summer. The king had told it that the last thing in the world which he wished * This was not the fault of its members, many of whom showed great talent and most remarkable firmness ; but its position was an " impossible " one. 206 PRUSSIA. its members to do, was to represent the feelings of the people— " The role of so-called representatives of the people " was an object of supreme contempt to the royal savant. Neverthe- less, the one good result which it produced was to give vent to the popular uneasiness. Already the names of Vincke and others, who have since been famous for their advocacy of liberal opinions, began to make themselves familiar to the public ear. The king talked theocratic nonsense : " Never, never, will I allow a piece of written paper, like a second providence, to force its way between our Lord God in heaven and this land, to rule us with its paragraphs, and to supersede by them the old holy loyalty." No wonder, then, that he was embittered by the language held by some of the deputies, and that he closed the session in no good humour. It is difficult to say how long the farce might have lasted, if events had not occurred beyond the frontier which changed altogether the aspect of affairs. The news of the outbreak in Paris came to Berlin on one of those sunny February days which cheer the long cold spring of the great German plain. Groups were soon gathered on the Linden, and the exciting intelligence, passing from mouth to mouth, soon reached the remotest quarter of the city. The tidings of the flight of Louis Philippe, and of the fall of the monarchy of July, followed in quick succession. On the 6th of March the first public meeting took place in the Thier- garten. The events of the 13th at Vienna brought the re- volution nearer, and on the 18th Berlin was in full revolt. No little mystery still shrouds tlie occurrences of that day and of the one which followed it. Thus much is, however, clear : the impulse to actual violence came from abroad. Poles and Parisian builders of barricades were in the city by THE REVOLUTION OF 1848. 207 hundreds. In the palace the greatest indecision prevailed. The king lost his head, and his nearest relatives were more oc- cupied in intriguing for their own advantage than in taking measures to insure his triumph. At length, while the contest was still undecided, when the military were in full possession of the principal streets and squares, and the insurgents had fallen back into the side streets and suburbs, the order went forth from the highest authority that the troops should be withdrawn. Withdrawn they were, to the annoyance of many moderate Liberals, who felt that either the conflict should have been avoided altogether, or the insurrection should have been effectually crushed. With the withdrawal of the troops began eight uneasy months, in which no party, and hardly any public man, in Prussia, gathered any laurels. The first scene was the deep humiliation of the king, who was made to stand with uncovered head before the bodies of those who had fallen in defence of the barricades, while a hymn, composed by his ancestress, the wife of the great Elector, " Jesus meine Zuversicht," was sung by the immense crowd which had gathered under the win- dows of the palace. In the beginning of April the " Vereinigte Landtag " was called together, but merely for the purpose of preparing the way for the ISTational Assembly, which was to succeed it, and which was opened on the 22 d of May. This body, which ought to have fulfilled the functions of a con- stituent assembly, proved itself curiously incapable of useful work. The king, whose imaginative and excitable tempera- ment had been impressed by the " Grossartigkeit '' of the popular movement, seems really at first to have wished to deal honestly by his people ; but he was pushed further and further towards the reactionists, partly by the blunders of the 208 PRUSSIA. national representatives, and partly by the growing insolence and atrocity of the mob. The plundering of the arsenal on the night of the 15th of June — the outrageous attack on the hotel of the Liberal minister Auerswald in the month of August — the revolutionary harangues of such wretched dema- gogues as Held and Miiller of the Linden — the assaults which were made upon unpopular journalists, showed that the lower classes of the population as little understood the difference between liberty and licence as the reactionary coteries among the nobles, the clergy, and the military, understood the dis- tinction between order and servitude. The National Assembly was divided into unnumbered cliques and fractions of cliques ; but we may distinguish in it four very well marked shades of opinion. First, there was the " extreme left," the foremost names of which were AYal- deck and Jacoby ; the former an impetuous and able speaker, who united strong Eomanist religious sympathies with ex- treme popular opinions — the other, the author of that famous pamphlet of which we have spoken above, and which had been to the Prussian revolution wdiat the tract of the Abbe Sieyes on the Tiers Etat had been to that of France. This section leant to republican ideas. Next to it, but separated by a real though narrow division, stood the " left centre," which was led by Eodbertus, and was distinctly antirepublican, although determined to carry out to their fullest logical consequences the concessions made by the king in the month of March, and to turn the old absolutist Prussia into a limited monarchy, governed on advanced liberal principles. To this section also belonged Schultze-Delitzsch, of whom we shall have something to say hereafter. Tlie true " centre" was led by Von I^nruh, who was for THE YEAR OF REVOLUTIONS. 209 some time Speaker, and whose name was associated with the last adventures of the short-lived and unfortunate body over which he presided. The "right" numbered amongst its foremost names the gifted Catholic lawyer, A. Eeichensperger, well known as a passionate lover of Gothic architecture, and the celebrated Protestant preachers Jonas and Sydow, both names to be had in honour, and the last of whom is still closely con- nected with the liberal ProtestantiscJie Kirclien-Zeitung, and represents the traditions of Schleiermacher in the pulpit of Berlin. On the whole, however, there was less ability in the Assembly than might have been expected, and, above all, there was a deplorable want of political experience and tact. The successive ministries which had to deal with it were not ■ more skilful. The so-called " transition " ministry of Camp- hausen, which was called into existence on the 29th of March, gave way in the course of the summer to the Hansemann cabinet, which called itself, somewhat self- consciously, the " ministry of action." When the king had begun to despair of any good results being attained by the National Assembly, and had cast his eyes on Wrangel and his battalions, whom he regarded as the destined means of restoring the old state of things, the Hansemann ministry was succeeded by that of General von Pfuel, and that again in a few weeks by the ministry of Count Brandenburg, who on the 9th of November announced to the assembled deputies that their sittings were adjourned to the 27th, and that their next meeting was to be held, not at Berlin, but at Brandenburg. We need not follow the Assembly through its last inglorious days. On the 11th the National Guard was p 210 PRUSSIA. disbanded ; on the 12th the state of siege was proclaimed at Berlin ; and on the 5th of December the National Assembly- was dissolved, and the new constitution announced. Arrived at the end of the revolutionary and at the opening of the reactionary period, we may pause, and ask whether the Prussian people had gained anything by the agitations and losses of 1848. The answer must be in the afiirmative. The constitution of the 5th of December was not by any means perfect, and some of the modifications introduced into in the year which followed, were far from being improvements; but the step in advance was not the less great and real. It was more than worth the blood which had been shed, and the property which had been wasted. The dissolution of the National Assembly had been pronounced by M. Manteuffel ; and as it was his influence which was in the ascendant during the whole of the reaction, this is the proper place to say a few words about him. The Freiherr Otto von Manteuffel was born in Lusatia in 1805, and belongs to an ancient family. He entered the Prussian bureaucracy early in life, and rose rapidly through all its grades, giving ever new proofs of his diligence, his attorney- like acuteness, and his knowledge of administrative detail. In the Landtag of 1847 he defended the bureaucratic method of government against the advocates of the parliamentary system ; and when he came into power in the end of 1848 he lost no time in showing that he regarded himself simply as a servant of the crown, and that he was absolutely indifferent to the opinion of the parliamentary majority. Those who have read the Gcsprdche cms der Gegenwart of Eadowitz — whicli is, we may remark in passing, one of the best helps to understanding the state of things in Germany THE CONSTITUTION. 211 on the eve of 1848 — will remember the character of OEcler. M. Manteuffel was the spokesman of aU the (Eder class ; the bureaucrat ]}ar excellence. He is a man of few illusions and of no high aims. He was clear-sighted enough to understand that the Kreuz-Zeitung party was an anachronism, but he could not reconcile himself to an honest constitutional policy, His favourite weapon was intrigue, and his favourite depart- ment was the police. To keep his own place and to advance his own fortune was his first object ; to prevent sudden changes and to keep things quiet was his second aim. The first parliament elected under the new constitution assembled in the beginning of 1849 ; but the Second Chamber was dissolved in the month of April, chiefly on account of its vote against the maintenance of the state of siege. Before allowing the elections to proceed, a new electoral law was enacted by the simple process of a royal edict ; and the democratic party, seeing that it had no chance of success, retired from the contest, and brought forward no more candidates till 1861. When the new Chamber met in August, it was found that the ministers had not been mistaken in their calculations. The reactionists were in a decided majority, and immediately proceeded to revise the constitution in an anti-liberal sense. When their labours were finished, the revised constitution was laid before the king. In the first days of 1850 he I replied by a message, in which he asked for further conces- sions. The Chambers took the royal proposals into considera- \ tion, accepted some and rejected others. At last a com- promise was arrived at, and the king, with much solemnity, swore to the constitution in the palace at Berlin. In a speech which he delivered on the occasion he explained the reason 212 PRUSSIA. which had led him to proclaim the much more Hberal con- stitution of December 1848. He then thanked the Chambers for having revised his own work, and diminished its dangerous liberahsm. The " German question," in the meantime, grew ever more important. Prussia, which had definitively broken with the Frankfort Parliament, and had given up all hopes of obtaining the hegemony of the whole of Germany, had been trying plan after plan for a smaller federation, in which she might have the undisputed lead. Alliances quickly made and as quickly broken, a congress of princes and a college of their plenipotentiaries, a parliament at Erfurt, and what not, the affairs of the Germanic Confederacy in 1849 and 1850 are not a labyrinth into which our readers would thank us for conducting them unawares. Suffice it to say, that in December 1850 the question presented itself — thanks to the Hessian complication — in the form of submission to the dictates of Austria and peace, or adherence to the Germanic pretensions of Prussia and war. The conciliatory Branden- burg died. The more determined Eadowitz* was dismissed. Manteuffel was not the man to play double or quits ; he hurried to Olmlitz, and gave up everything. * The feelings at this period of this noble and highly-gifted man, whose mystical views and false political position cannot prevent our feeling a deep sympathy for him, are well shown in a letter addressed in the very first days of 1851 to Mr. Hay ward, and quoted by that gentleman in not the least pleasant and instructive of his many pleasant and instructive essays : — * * Ces reflexions avec lesquelles vous finissez votre article, sont a tr^s pen pres les memes qui se sont presentes h moi lors de la revue retrospective que j'ai faite le dernier jour de I'an. J'ai du en faire une application toute per- sonelle. ' Triste du mal que je prevois, impuissant pour le bien que je desire, je voudrais finir par un peu de repos une vie que je n'ai point epargnee, mais que j(! n'ai pu rendre utile.' Ces temps actuels sont dijfficiles — je dois dire plus, lis sont impossibles.'' THE MANTEUFFEL CABINET. 213 The disaster of Olmlitz soon led, by way of the Dresden Congress, to its natural result, — the re-establishment of the federal relations which had been overturned in 1848, and the revival of that ill-contrived body, the Frankfort Diet, which one of the most rising of German statesmen, M. de Eoggen- bach, has aptly called *' the contradiction of thirty-five wills." In internal as well as external affairs the party of reaction grew ever bolder. M. Manteuffel declared in so many words, in the first days of 1851, that the government meant to break finally with the revolution. M. von Westphalen, who repre- sented in the cabinet the feudal section of the Conservative party, called once more into life the old provincial assemblies, which all Europe had thought finally laid to rest by the legis- lation of the previous year. The journey of the king to meet the Emperor Nicholas at Warsaw added to the uneasiness of the Liberals, and the couiJ d'etat of the 2d of December in France encouraged the pamphleteers of M. Manteuffel to call loudly for a new revision of the constitution. The year 1852 brought no change for the better, except in so far as it showed more distinctly the diversity of opinion between the two halves of the dominant party; Manteuffel and the bureau- cratic Conservatives looking across the Ehine for a line of con- duct to imitate, and the Feudalists vehemently denouncing the French ruler, and reserving their sympathies for the emperor of Eussia, who visited Berlin in the month of May. The elections, which took place in the autumn, were so managed by the government that very few Liberals were re- turned ; and the power of the reactionists, from this time to the end of 1857, was modified only by their internal dissen- sions, and by the presence in the lower house of a powerful body of Catholic representatives, who frequently voted with 214 PRUSSIA. the opposition, to subserve the special interests of their co-religionists. The negotiations which preceded the Eussian war, and that war itself, diverted for a considerable period the attention of Prussian Liberals from their internal affair's. They had given up all hope of a speedy change for the better at home ; but they trusted that if the government could be forced into siding with the Western powers, a new turn would be given to the fancies of the king. The nation was soon divided into three parties, — the Liberals of all sliades desiring an alliance with France and England ; the feudal faction urging the government to assist Eussia ; and Manteuffel's adherents determined to uphold the neutrality of Prussia at any sacrifice. The name of the Kreuz-Zeitung party became now for the first time familiar to Europe. This name was given to the Feudalists in consequence of their having for their principal organ the newspaper started to assist the reaction, and called the Neue Preussische Zeitung, but which, in order to show its orthodoxy and patriotism, bore the Prussian Landwehr Cross of 1813 on its first page. The leaders of this party were Stalil and Gerlach. The former, who died in 1861, was originally a Jew, but changed his religion at seventeen. He was born in 1802 at Munich, and studied chiefly at the small Bavarian university of Erlangen. In time he became a professor there, and was summoned thence to Berlin in 1840 by Frederick William IV., for whom his biblico-juristical mysticism had a great fascination.* From first to last * Of the many things that liave been said and written with regard to Frederick William IV., nothing has, we think, so Avell hit the mark as the following observations which we extract from the extremely remarkable little book, which was published in 1862, by Dr. Strauss, upon H. S. Reimanis, who is now known to have been the author of the once mysterious and celebrated STAHL AND GERLACH. v^. 215/ Stahl's influence was simply mischievoui^, : Intolerant- ^nji // obscurantist, he would, if he had appeared earlier/ ot:x the' / .. scene, have been a most dangerous counsellor ; but the catv^e * Oy of religious liberty was virtually gained in Prussia before ^ ^ he arose. As it was, he and his friends did infinite evil. , '' The President von Gerlach, and his brother the general, Wolfenhlittel Fragments. Some of oiir readers may recollect tliat many years ago Dr. Strauss published a hrochure about the late king of Prussia, which, under the name of " Julian the Apostate, or the Eomanticist on the Throne of the Ceesars," was more talked about in England than German pamphlets usually are — as, indeed, it well deserved to be, *' Ein Berliner Pliilosoph hat neulich Friedrich Wilhelm IV. eiuen historischen Geist genannt. Mag ihm der Geist der Geschichte eine solche Lasterung vergeben ; aber so viel ist richtig, jener Fiii'st war recht eine Verkorperung dessen, was das neunzehnte Jahrhundert ist, sofern es das achtzehnte verleugnet. Ueberfluss an Geist, aber Mangel an Meuschenver- stand ; Gefiihl nur gar zu viel, aber Charakter doch gar zu wenig ; mehr Edelmuth als Rechtlichkeit ; Andacht ohne Ernst der Gesinnung ; vornehme geschichtliche Liebhaberei ohne gesunden geschichtlichen Trieb, ohne die Lust uud die Kraft, von dem Blattern in dem Biklerbuche der Vergangenheit hinweg einen mannlichen Schritt in die Zukiuift hinein zu thun. Und kann man denn einen Geist historisch nennen, der eben die nachstliegende Vergan- genheit aus dem Buche der Geschichte streichen mochte ? der zwar das Mittelalter zu verstehen und zu lieben meint, aber das Zeitalter Friedrich's und Josejjh's, der deutschen Vernunftkritik und der Franzosischen Staatsumwal- zung verkennt, ja selbst an einem Luther und Calvin eigentlich nur von ihrer riickwarts dem Mittelalter zugekehrten Seite sich angesprochen findet ? " Es gehort zu den unwillkiirlichen Verdiensten, deren der romantische Konig sich manche erworben, selbst der blodesten Fassungskraft thatsachlich gezeigt zu haben, wohin unser Jahrhundert mit solcher Verleugnung der Errungenschaften des achtzehnten kommt. Verdumpfung und begonnene Faulniss in alien Gebieten, in Staat and Kirche, Schule und Wissenschaft war das Erbe, welches die jetzige Regierung Preussens vor drei Jahren antrat. Und auch jetzt sind noch lange nicht genug Fenster dem freien Luftzuge geoffnet, noch lange nicht alle faulen Eeste der vorigen Wirthschaft beseitigt. Es gilt immer noch entschiedener an das Jahrhundert der Aufklarung und Humanitat, der Volks und Menschenrechte anzukniipfen, noch offener anzuer- kenuen, dass jeder Fortschritt liber dasselbe hinaus durch Aneignung seiner Ergebnisse, durch Weitergehen auf seinem Wege, nicht durch Umkehr von demselben bedingt ist. 216 PRUSSIA. were devoted to the same cause. The name of the latter was mixed up with the disgraceful intrigues by which the Kreuz- Zeitung faction tried to support their influence at court, and of which so much was said in the papers of the day, in connection with the names of the spies Lindenberg and Techen. The President von Gerlach is a man of great although misused ability. He was born in 1795, and is sprung from a respect- able family, but one which by no means belongs to the old gentry, whose cause he has always supported. He served in the war of independence, and after its conclusion entered the magistrature. Unlike Manteuffel, his nature is not bureaucratic. Nay, rather, he is the enemy of centralisation, the friend of local government. The government which he prefers is not, how- ever, self-government, but that of an infinite number of petty despots — a parish and county government, administered by squires and parsons. From the first he has been consistent. Already, more than forty years ago, he contributed to a news- paper which took for its motto, " iSTot counter-revolution, but the contrary of revolution ;" and before 1848 he got into great trouble with the bourgeoisie, for maintaining that only men of noble birth should be permitted to be officers in the army. He would have the nobles gathered into chapters, the citizens gathered into guilds, and all things as like the golden days of the German middle age as they well can be. He is a friend to England, but it is the old church-and-king England of which he thinks. He dislikes the autocratic system of Eussia, but leans to her as an exponent of the divine character of king- ship, and sympathised with her during the Crimean war. A ready and powerful debater, he was ever at the breach at- tacking the constitution, and holding aloft the banner of " Deutsches Eecht imd Evangelisches Christenthum." VINCKE. 217 The Liberals at this time were led by Vincke, one of whose speeches made a great sensation in England in 1854. The descendant of an old Westphalian house, the Freiherr von Vincke was born in 1811. His father and most of his ances- tors had been in the bureaucracy, and the young Vincke, after studying at Gottingen and elsewhere, pursued for some time the same career. Perhaps, however, his most valuable training was gained in the provincial assemblies, and when he appeared in the Vereinigte Landtag of 1847 he w^as already an orator. He spoke in favour of a real constitution, of the liberty of the press, of the Polish nationality, against the disabilities of Jews and Christian dissenters, and connected himself w^ith all the best movements of the time. In 1848 he sat on the right, and opposed revolution as strongly as he had opposed absolutism. So great w\as his influence over the Moderate Conservatives and Liberals at Frankfort, that the Club Milani, to w^hich Ptadowitz, Count Schwerin, and Bruck, who was afterwards finance-minister in Austria, belonged, w^as called *' The fortyfold-repeated voice of Vincke." He has since been accused of being sometimes too fond of fighting for his own hand, and preferring the fame of a daring guerrilla to that of a wise general. His oratory would seem to have something of the character of Mr. Bright's, but his political sympathies and his party connections are quite different. He is more of a Whig, or Liberal Conservative, than a Eadical ; though perliaps we can hardly use these terms in relation to Prussian affairs without giving rise to confusion and misun- derstanding. The most remarkable result of the differences of opinion about the Eussian war was the breach betw^een the prince of Prussia and the government. The heir to the throne had no 218 « PRUSSIA. great liking for the Emperor Nicholas, who was by no means over-cautious in his treatment of his Prussian relatives. Nor did he believe in the success of the imperial system of repres- sion. On one occasion, after Nicholas had been expressing himself with more than his wonted violence against coquetting with liberalism, the prince asked a Eussian who stood high in the favour of his master, whether he thought that revo- lutionary notions had been effectually kept out of Eussia. " So far am I from thinking so," was the answ^er, " that I do not believe my head, or the head of any of the emperor's advisers, is worth ten days' purchase after his eyes are closed." The prince represented the old Prussian military spirit, which never forgave the emperor for telling the officers of the royal guard at Berlin, as he had the want of tact to do, that they were his advanced posts ; and the feelings of the high- spirited soldier grew more and more bitter as Prussia sank lower and lower in the estimation of Europe. During these years, the various sections of the Conserva- tive party maintained their ascendancy in the internal politics of Prussia. The long-adjourned question of the definitive organisation of the Upper House was settled in October 1854 in a manner which, although it did not entirely meet the views of the Feudalists, was at least far more favourable to them than they had any right to expect. The provincial and communal legislation of 1850, which was redolent of the modern theories of 1848, was seriously modified in 1852, but rather in the sense of the bureaucratic than of the feudal faction.* This last, however, succeeded in giving the name of " Herrenhaus" * The local police was, however, restored to the landowners. Every pro- prietor of a Ritlergut is now, as before 1848, de jure his own head-constable. THE EEACTION CONTINUES. 219 to the First, and that of *'Abgeordneten-Haus" to the Second Chamber, a trifling matter which it had much at heart. The elections of October 1854 were extremely unfavourable to the Liberals, in spite of the strong support of the Catholic clergy, who, for reasons relating to their own church affairs, were opposed to the government, and more especially to the High Lutheran and Kreuz-Zeitung zealots who presided over the ministry of the interior and that of public instruction. Vincke, who had been the great orator of the constitutional opposition in the two preceding parliaments, declined to stand, and his friends in the Lower House were led by Count Schwerin and by M. Patow. The Kreuz-Zeitung faction was very strong, and was commanded as usual by Gerlach. As well without as within the walls of parliament, it asserted itself in a very offensive way, and the adherents of M. Manteuffel were almost forced into the position of Liberals. The bad feeling between the two Conservative factions reached its height in 1856, and was made notorious to all Europe by the duel between the bureaucratic Hinckeldey, the director-general of the police, and M. von Eochow, a young man of landed property, and a member of the Kreuz-Zeitung party in the Herrenhaus. So complete, indeed, was the reaction that many have wondered why the victorious party permitted even any traces of constitutionalism to continue, and have ascribed its for- bearance sometimes to fear of conscientious scruples on the part of the king, sometimes to his vacillation. There was a league of the bureaucracy, the orthodox clergy, and the small provincial noblesse, supported by a section of the proletariate, against all the intelligent classes in the nation. That a por- tion of the proletariate should have joined a party w^hose interests are so opposed to its own, is not surprising, when we 220 piiUSSiA. remember the gross political ignorance and the uncultivated condition in which the Prussian countryman lived in many districts before 1848. By the legislation of 1850 no less than twenty-four feudal obligations were swept away, wdiich had up to that time remained in vigour ; nor must it be forgotten that the grandfathers of the men who were ready to march with their flails against the democrats of the towns had some of them themselves been almost in the position of serfs. But how are we to reconcile this political ignorance and want of cultivation with all we have heard about the excel- lence of Prussian popular education ? The following sen- tences, quoted by Mr. Pattison in his report to the Educa- tion Commission which was presided over by the late Duke of Newcastle, from a work by Mr. Horace Mann, who travelled in 1843, may afford a satisfactory answer to this question : — " A proverb has obtained currency in Prussia which ex- plains the whole mystery of the relation between their schools and their life : * The school is good ; the world is bad.' The quiescence or torpidity of social life stifles the activity excited in the school-room. Whatever pernicious habits and customs exist in the community act as antagonistic forces against the moral training of the teacher. The power of the government presses upon tlie partially-developed faculties of the youth as with a mountain's weight. . . . When the children come out from the school they have little use either for the faculties that have been developed, or for the knowledge that has been acquired." We recommend this passage to the consideration of those who think that the reason why the Prussians do not make EDUCATION IN PEUSSIA. 221 greater exertions to obtain tlie management of their own affairs, is, that they have been over-educated by a too zealous government. That elementary instruction in Prussia is in an advanced state is indisputable. It is now said that of the recruits from the Saxon Province only 4 in 1000 are unable to read, write, and cipher ; but before 1848 the stagnation of the peasant's intelligence was indescribable. He did nothing with his ele- mentary instruction when he had got it — at least in many districts. In Prussia, as elsewhere, it was too little, not too much, light, that made the reaction possible, and the reactionary party well knew its enemy, for on no class did its hand fall more heavily than on newspaper- writers and men of letters ; nor would it be impossible to darken our pages by stories of their persecutions, which almost recal the atrocities of the ISTeapolitan Bourbons. No material change took place in the situation of parties until the king's illness in October 1857. It was clear that if the prince of Prussia should succeed to the regency, the days of the Manteuffel ministry were numbered. Nevertheless, the friends of the future ruler observed a wise silence, and made no sign. The Kreuz-Zeitung faction at court did what it could to prevent the heir-presumptive succeeding to the regency with full powers, as provided by the con- stitution. Their efforts were, however, in vain, and a royal ordinance of October 1858 put an end to the exceptional state of affairs, and conferred the regency upon the prince, who summoned the Chambers to meet him upon the 20th of that month. The first change was the retirement of the detested 222 PRUSSIA. Westphalen, who had been deeply concerned in all the in- trigues against his new master. On the 26th the regent swore to the constitution, and on the 6th of November the Manteuffel ministry was dismissed. The leading spirits of the new cabinet were the Prince of HohenzoUern-Sig- maringen, MM. von Schleinitz, Patow, Bethmann-Hollweg, and Auerswald. The prince of HohenzoUern, the head of the new cabinet, was, up to 1849, an independent prince. In that year he con- cluded a treaty with Prussia, by which he surrendered all his sovereign rights, retaining only the title of Hoheit and the position of a younger son of the royal house. His mother was a niece of Murat, and one of his daughters married the late king of Portugal. He is a Catholic ; and his appoint- ment had a good effect upon the Ehenish populations. For the rest, he is a man of wide political knowledge, and of moderate and enlightened ideas, while his practical ad- hesion to the views of those who think that the position of the smaller princes is becoming impossible makes him acceptable to all who desire the reform of the Germanic Con- federation. The Freiherr Alexander von Schleinitz was born in 1807, and belongs to the Brunswick branch of his family. He has been employed chiefly in the home and foreign departments of the diplomatic service, and owes his political importance principally to the friendship of the prince regent, whom he had sheltered on the memorable night of the 19th March 1848, when the life of the unpopular heir to the throne was in con- siderable danger. He is said to be too fond of pleasure, and though not without ability, he made only an indifferent minister for foreign affairs. THE REGENCY. 223 The FreiheiT von Patow was born in 1807. Possessed of considerable property, and in the position of an English country gentleman, he has spent nearly his whole life in the bureaucracy, and up to 1848 was understood to belong to the " OEder " section of administrators, to which we have alluded above. Summoned to take the place of minister of commerce and public works in the Camphausen cabinet, he had the sense to recognise the signs of the times, and has ever since been a good constitutionalist. His qualifications for the post which was given him in the Hohenzollern cabinet — that, viz., of finance minister — are unquestionably very great. A far more interesting, though not more useful personage, is M. Bethmann-HoUweg, to whom was assigned the delicate task of inaugurating the new system in the management of religious and educational matters. He was born in 1795 at Frankfort, and was the son of a M. HoUweg, who married a daughter of the wealthy house of Bethmann. His private tutor was the great geographer Karl Piitter, and his early education — conducted partly at home and partly at the Frankfort gymnasium, where Schlosser and Matthiee then taught — was as careful and thorough as admirable manage- ment and large means could make it. He became professor of jurisprudence at Berlin after a distinguished university career. Thence he went to Bonn, where he held a similar position. In 1840 he entered the service of the government, and has ever since been an important public character in Prussia. Like the late king, he has been influenced very strongly by the romanticists ; but he possesses a better head and a deeper culture. In church matters, to which he has ever given great attention, he belongs to the ''mediation" school ; and his tall figure and grave countenance might some 224 PRUSSIA. years ago often be remarked at Nitzsch's sermons. He is a great patron of the Evangelical Alliance, which has at least the merit of being bitterly hated by the zealots who follow Hengstenberg, and which should hardly be judged by the names of the persons who are connected with it in this country. M. Bethmann-HoUweg is the much-to-be-envied proprietor of Eheineck, which he has restored with great splendour. Eudolf von Auerswald was one of several brothers belong- ing to an excellent family at Konigsberg, who were brought up in close intimacy with the present and the last king during the residence of the royal house in East Prussia. All of them had the good sense not to wish for the position of court favourites, but worked, each his own way, by surer although slower methods. The eldest, a distinguished officer, was murdered with Prince Lichnowsky at Frankfort. The youngest sat in the Camp- hausen cabinet, and the second in that which followed it. It was he who again appeared as an important actor in 1858. He was for some time in the army, but his chief training was that of a county magnate and a provincial administrator. All the Auerswalds belonged to the school of East- Prussian Liberals, of which Schon was so great an ornament, and in which the influence of Kant, and the hated neighbourhood of Eussia, tempered the old aristocratic and exclusive tradi- tions. Conservative influences were not entirely unrepresented in the cabinet. Von der Heydt kept his place as minister of commerce, and M. Simons remained for a time as minister of justice. Later, too, General von Eoon superseded the Liberal General von Benin. riottwell, who took for a time the department of the in- THE REGENCY. 225 terior, is an enlightened bureaucrat, who had been much em- ployed under Schon, and Count Schwerin, who soon suc- ceeded him, is a strong constitutionalist, who belongs to the family of the celebrated general of Frederick the Great, and has, as the son-in-law of Sclileiermacher, always taken a strong part on the liberal side in Prussian ecclesiastical affairs. Perhaps he is most in his place as president of an assembly. The regent lost no time in issuing a manifesto, in which, while making many reserves, he acknowledged the necessity of amending the communal legislation — much altered, as we have seen, since 1850 — and pronounced strongly against the mixing up religion with politics, which had been so character- istic of his brother's rule. The new elections completely changed the balance of parties. The Feudalists who, thanks to the zeal of M. de Westphalen, had been so successful in 1852 and 1854, were reduced to 62 ; while the ministerial Liberals counted 236 — 38 Catholics and 18 Poles made up the Assembly. It may be asked by those who remember 1848, how it was that the accession of the prince of Prussia to the regency excited the hopes of the Liberals, and was followed by the ad- vent of a Liberal ministry. In that year it is notorious that the absence of the heir-presumptive from Berlin was considered necessary to his personal safety ; and if we turn to the poli- tical writings of the time, or even to so impartial an authority as the remarkable article on Prussia in the Bevue des Detcx f Mondes of October 1847, we shall see that he was regarded as anything but a friend to popular rights. The answer to this question will throw some light on the occurrences of the last few years. The prince of Prussia Q 226 PRUSSIA. was in one respect radically different from the king. He had not a particle of his religious mysticism ; nay, rather his " Haiisbackener Eationalismns" was revolted by the maudlin follies of his brother's court. When, then, the reactionary party began to be all-powerful, and such advisers as General von Gerlach ruled the day, the prince made no secret of his annoyance and disgust. The attitude of Prussia during the Eussian war, as we have seen, irritated him excessively, and led to something very like a breach between him and his brother's ministers. The influence of his wife, a woman of talent, the granddaughter of Karl August, was exerted in a liberal direction, as well from choice as from policy ; and, above all, his experience of Kreuz-Zeitung rule in the Ehine- land, and his personal quarrel with E^eist-Eetzow — a pro- minent member of the feudal party, who occupied part of the same palace at Coblentz — tended effectually to open his eyes. Subsequent events have shown that his liberalism did not go very deep. The first mistake of the new reign was the coronation at Konigsberg. That unlucky ceremonial was not even his- torical, for nothing of the sort had taken place since, in 1701, the elector of Brandenburg first turned himself into a king. It was a compromise between the Liberal ministers who thought that quite enough had been done, when the king had, in presence of the Houses, taken the oath to the constitution, and the Junker or feudal party, which claimed the right for a portion of the noblesse, or rather squirearchy, to do homage after the old feudal fashion. In so far as this celebration refreshed in the mind of the king those divine right fancies which he had naturally imbibed from his absolutist educa- tion, it did of course some harm ; but the harm would not THE MILITARY QUESTION. 227 have been abiding if the military question had not soon come to make a gulf between the well-meaning monarch and his people. The Prussian military organisation, which had served its purpose for some time extremely well, and was popular with the nation from the recollections of 1813, had in 1850 and 1856 given signs of breaking down, and when the Italian war of 1859 again required the Landwehr to be put on a war footing, the symptoms became still more alarming. The king, who had all his life made a study of military matters, and looked at everything from an adjutant's point of view, saw clearly all the defects of the old system and not a little underrated the sacri- fices which the changing it would impose upon the country. Fully supported then by those military counsellors in whom he most trusted, he devised a new and very large scheme, the object of which was, in one word, immensely to increase the strength of the regular army and to diminish proportionately the importance of the Landwehr. The king had, no doubt, only one purpose, and that was the good of the country, but some of his advisers may well be suspected of ha\dng had other views. The officers of the regular army have always been very closely connected with the Junker party, and that party knew that if the number of officers was multiplied its power would be largely reinforced. The Liberal ministry, unwilling to offend the king, persuaded that he was to a great extent right from a military point of view, but fearing, also, to throw on the shoulders of a poor country a burden of taxation greater than it could easily bear — knowing too that the great mass of the people was wedded to the old system— 'attempted, as was their wont, a compromise. How far they might have succeeded if no tliird party had come upon the 228 PRUSSIA. scene, it is difficult to say ; but things did not so turn out. The so-called democratic or advanced-liberal section, which had disappeared from practical politics, as we have seen, in 1849, feeling that it had now a large portion of the popula- tion behind it, once more put forth a programme, relying pai-tly upon its opinions on internal matters, and partly on the vast impulse that had been given to national feeling in Germany by the Italian war of 1859. Very wisely, however, it now changed its name, and called itseK the " German party of Progress," to show that it desired at once internal reforms and the settlement of the German question. The principal aims of the Fortschritts Partei, as set forth in its address, were as follows : — 1. Eeform of the Upper House. 2. A liberal system, conscientiously carried out in all the details of the administration, with a view to avoidiDg the scandals now of frequent occurrence, when an obstinate or bigoted official sets at defiance the liberal initiations of the government, trusting to backstairs influence. 3. Ministerial responsibility. 4. An easy method of bringing to justice guilty officials, who are at present, as in France, in all conflicts with simple citizens, like men armed cap-a-jpic fighting with the defenceless. 5. The abolition of all disqualifications on account of religious opinion. 6. An improved system of national education, which has, since the victory of the reactionists, been deliberately, and of malice prejpcnse, lowered and corrupted, with the express purpose of subjecting the minds of the young to the yoke of the feudal and fanatical party. THE PARTY OF PROGRESS. 229 7. The abolition of certain privileges of the landowners, such as the appointment of their own police, 8. A revision, in a liberal sense, of the laws relating to trade. 9. Economy in the management of the army, main- tenance of the Landwehr, physical training of the youth of the country. 10. The adoption of a firm line of policy, with a view to place Prussia at the head of a united Germany. Parliament met on January 14th, 1862. The Lower House was constituted pretty nearly as follows : — Ministerialists ...... 156 Party of Progress and Fraction Harkort 100 Koman Cathofics ..... 50 Poles 18 Feudahsts ...... 16 Doubtful ........ 12 352 The cry which the party of progress had raised most loudly at the elections was the cry of economy. In the former parliament the ministry had brought forward a pro- posal, to which it was understood the king attached the greatest possible importance, relative to the organisation of the army. Of this we shall presently give some account ; but before doing so it may be well to state a few particu- lars as to the principal persons who had seats in the new Chamber. The leading man of the Fortschritt party was perhaps AValdeck, surnamed the Bauern-Konig, from his constant advocacy of the cause of the Westphalian peasants. His tall commanding figure and striking countenance do not 230 PKUSSIA. bear so many traces of political persecution as might have been expected in one who suffered so much at the hands of the reactionaries. Close beside this white-haired leader, but differing from him on several points, notably on the German question, is Schultze, called from his birth-place Schultze- Delitszch, a man still in the prime of life, who is best known as the apostle of cooperative associations in Germany, but is also honourably distinguished as an orator, a poet, and a magistrate. Waldeck is " Grossdeutsch ; " that is, he wishes for a united Germany including Austria. Schultze wishes for a narrower confederacy, exclusive of Austria ; he is, in other words, " Kleindeutsch." Virchow, a most eminent medical pro- fessor at Berlin, was another active member of the Fortschritt party, and soon achieved considerable success in debate, in spite of a certain dryness of expression and perhaps a touch of pedantry. We have reckoned along with the Fortschritt party the section known as the Fraction Harkort ; so called from M. Harkort, an old man who was wounded at Ligny, and has since led a most active and useful life, promoting the material prosperity of his native Westphalia and other districts, — advocating railways and steam-navigation, enlightening the peasantry, and fighting in Berlin, now the mob and now the reaction. The chief persons of the less advanced Liberal party were : — Grabow, who was chosen president, and Simson, an ex- professor of jurisprudence at Konigsberg, who is celebrated in Prussia as one of the ablest of her orators and as a model president. His imprudently over-loyal behaviour at the time of the coronation festivities lost him his old seat, and he was returned for a small place too Lite to be chosen president, THE NEW MINISTRY. 231 although he was thought to be better fitted for that office than the excellent Grabow, who is somewhat deaf. Vincke declined to stand, and remained watching events. The great point at issue was of course the military question, and that grew ever more and more embittered. The king was determined not to yield ; the moderate Liberals were no longer masters either in the Court or in the Lower House. The Fortschritt deputies were numerous and uncompro- mising, and ere long a motion brought forward by one of their number led to the resignation of the ministry and the dissolution of the second branch of the legislature. In May the elections took place, and in the same month the deputies found themselves* again in Berlin. Things looked worse for the king than ever, for the Fortschritt party had gained considerably. The new ministry was very inferior to the old. Its more prominent members, in addition to Von der Heydt, were — M. von Jagow, a man much hated for his annoying and arbitrary measures when he was director of police ; Prince Hohenlohe, a member of one of the less violent sections of the Kreuz-Zeitung party ; M. Miihler, who, as the author of the excellent Bacchanalian song " Grad' aus dem Wirthshaus," deserved some reward, but for whom a place more suitable than that of Minister of Instruction and Public Worship might possibly have been found. He is said too, by his enemies, to atone for the merriment of his youth by the fanaticism of his age. Von Eoon kept his place, and Bern- storff, well known in England. These were not the men to meet and manage such an assembly as that with which they had to deal. Most of the leading Fortschritt politicians had come back fiercer than ever ; and the moderate Liberals, although they tried 232 PRUSSIA. to prevent the last extremities, were not by any means friendly. The principal speakers of the moderate Liberal party in the new parliament were Vincke, who again appeared on the scene, and Professor von Sybel, the well-known and popular historian. Heinrich von Sybel was born at Dusseldorf in 1817. He studied at Berlin, and became a passionate admirer of Eanke, whose method he has adopted, and his most important historical works relate to the Crusades and to the French Eevolution. He was the youngest member of the Parlia- ment at Erfurt, by which Prussian statesmen hoped to arrive at some satisfactory settlement of the German question ; and, in a speech which excited great attention, he urged Prussia to fulfil her great mission, and to raise up anew a German empire. His ideas on this subject did not prevent his being called to Munich by King Maximilian ; and he remained there in great favour till the events of 1859 resuscitated the hopes of the Gotha party, which had slumbered since the disaster of Olmutz. Munich then became too hot to hold him, and he accepted the chair at the university of Bonn, left vacant by the death of Dahlmann. He was elected in 1861, but was prevented by illness from taking his seat. In 1862 he was again returned, and became from the first one of the most important figures in the left-centre, or Bockum-Dolffs party, which included far the largest portion of the moderate Liberals. The recognition of the kingdom of Italy brought some goodwill to the government, and they carried the ratification of the commercial treaty with France by a large majority ; but the fatal question of the military expenditure could at last M. BISMARK. 233 no longer be postponed, and an unusually fierce debate ended, on the 20th of September, by the absolute rejection, of the demands of the government, with regard to the money re- quired for the reorganisation of the army. Bernstorff and Yon der Heydt had the wisdom to retire, and IM. von Bismarck- Schonhausen took the unenviable post of president of the council.* His first act was to withdraw the budget of 1863, which was about to meet the fate of its predecessor ; his second, to send to the Herrenhaus the budget of 1862, and to have the military part of it, which had been eliminated by the representatives of the tax-payers, reintroduced and authorised by that imprudent assembly ; his third was to prorogue the Second Chamber, which had protested against the unconstitutional proceedings of the other House, until January 1863. But who was this new minister, then so little known, now so notorious? M. von Bismarck-Schonhausen was born at Brandenburg in 1813. Already as a very young man he con- nected himself closely with the ultra-conservative party in the district assembly of the Saxon province of Prussia, in which he has property, and in 1848 he pursued the same course at Berlin, making himself particularly conspicuous, when the German national enthusiasm for the first Schleswig-Holstein war was at its height, by speaking of the Prussian interven- tion in that struggle as — " Ein hochst ungerechtes frivoles und verderbliches Unternehmen zur Unterstutzung einer ganz unmotivirten Ptevolution." He was a member of the * We all cheat liim of liis full designation, and very often of one letter of his name. Let it stand here in full for once— Otto von Bismarck auf Schon- hausen und auf Kniephof ! ! AVhy has no one translated the exhaustive article about him in the eighth volume of Unsere Zeit ? 234 PRUSSIA. assembly of tlie Conservative party to which the name of the Junker-Parlament was given, and was one of the founders of the Kreuz-Zeitung. He was present at Erfurt, and was a secretary of the assembly, getting there also into a quarrel with the press by way of prelude to more serious attacks upon it in after years. His good services to the reactionary party gained for him in 1851 the post of First Secretary of Legation at Frankfort, an appointment which was all the more remark- able because he had never before been in the diplomatic service. Three months afterwards, however, he was promoted to the first place as Prussian representative to the Diet, and this post he occupied until he was succeeded by a much better man, Baron von Usedom. This was in the early days of the present king ; before his failure to obtain the approval of the people for his scheme of army organisation had driven him from the right path — the happy time which German Liberals too hastily called the Neue uEra. In that happy time M. Bismark was sent off to St. Petersburg, and it is indeed unfortunate that he did not remain in a country for which he is far better suited than his own. The destinies, however, had other work in store for him ; for, after a short period of duty in Eussia and France, he was summoned to Berlin, and in September 1862, on the very day, as it hap- pened, upon which Lord Ptusseirs famous Gotha dispatch began a new x^hase of the Schleswig-Holstein question, he became first minister. The time has not yet come for attempting to pass judg- ment upon a man who is still in the midst of his career ; but it is not too much to say that his action upon the affairs of Europe has hitherto been simply evil. His worst enemies do not deny that he has great readiness, a strong THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION. 235 will, and audacity almost amounting to genius. The ground- tone of his character, it has been truly said, is i^ft/c, but that uISpic, which takes in public life so offensive a form, does not seem incompatible in his case with much geniality in private life, and it would not be difficult to cite instances of the ease with which he obtains influence over persons who are brought across him. Many stories are current which show that his conservatism does not go really so deep as ' that of many men who make less parade of their anti-liberal views ; and we think it far from impossible that as the drama of German politics unfolds itself we may be destined to see this unscrupulous politician in more than one unfamiliar character. That, however, is a matter of speculation ; for the present we have before us a sort of composite being — half French- Imperialist, half disciple of M. Gerlach — " making," to use his own expression, " Junker-Politik " in the face of an angry but powerless nation. The new session of the Lower House was opened on the l-Jrth of January 1863, by a very decided and manly speech from President Grabow, but the real fighting did not com- mence till the 27th, when the address came on for discussion. All fractions were represented on this occasion, but the majority of the deputies supported the draft address, to which the names of Dr. Virchow and M. Carlowitz, asking for a return to a constitutional state of things, were attached. Of the former of these we have already spoken. The latter, a Saxon by birth, and long a member of the Dresden Chambers, as also of the short-lived Erfurt Assembly, has in recent years bought property in Prussia, and become an active Liberal politician in that country. One of the incidents of the 236 PRUSSIA. debate was a telling speech by M. Waldeck against tlie new- president of the council. To this the latter replied very vigorously, contesting the right of the Lower House to exercise a paramount control over the budget, as well as accusing that body of a desire to take from the House of Hohenzollern its constitutional rights, and to transfer them to a Parliamentary majority. The views of the Liberals were supported after a long discussion by 255 votes to 60. The secret convention with Eussia, which was concluded on the 8th of February, afforded a further ground of quarrel ; the Lower House insisting upon absolute neutrality, while the government, supported by the Upper House, wished to play into the hands of the Czar, The hostile feeling of the ministers and the representatives of the people went on increasing, till at last, on the 11th of May, they came to an open rupture. The immediate cause of this was the refusal of M. von Eoon,* the Minister for War, to recognise the authority of the chair ; a proceeding which would in this country be simply impossible, but in which he was supported, not only by his colleagues, but by the king, who, finding the House determined not to yield, prorogued it on the 27th of JNIay. Five days after this, M. Bismark, being now more at * General von Roon, whose name is probably chiefly known to those of our readers who glance at the news from Germany, as a rough, coarse soldier, is really a man of more merit than his doings in the Chamber would lead people to believe. Like all his class, he was brought uj) in one of the cadet- schools ; but his abilities were sufficient to entitle him in very early life to be made an instructor there, and he was an enthusiastic admirer and follower of the great geographer Karl Hitter. His own works are chiefly upon geography, especially as seen from a soldier's point of view, and their success has been such as to entitle him to take a respectable rank amongst the pupils of his illustrious master. THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION. 237 his ease, persuaded the king to issue an illegal ordinance restraining the liberty of the press, an act against which not o;ily the principal newspapers of the capital protested, but which was condemned in the strongest terms by the heir to the crown, in a speech delivered on the 5th of June at Danzig. The high-handed proceedings of M. Bismark with regard to the press were very naturally resented by the municipality of Berlin, which presently sent an address to the Crown, remonstrating with it for such an abuse of power. The example of the capital was followed in various provincial towns ; and it is not impossible that, if the municipalities throughout the country had stood firm, they might have so bombarded the king with addresses, as to make him sacrifice his obnoxious minister. The Prussians, however, as a people, showed on this occasion a certain want of that political tact which tells those nations which possess it when to fight and when to give way, just as their Liberal leaders have shown a certain want of statesmanship. The government threatened, and in many places the municipalities allowed themselves to be intimidated. The victory of this passage of arms remained, not with right, but with might. The summer passed on, without in any respect changing the state of affairs, but in the autumn the king dissolved Parliament, in the hope of finding himself better supported by the nation at large than by the authorised exponents of its wishes. The demands of the Liberal party, as set forth in the Fort- schritt address, which was issued on this occasion, were : — 1. Freedom of the press, and the setting aside of the press ordinances of the 1st of June. 238 PRUSSIA. 2. The passing of a law of ministerial responsibility, as promised by the Constitution. 3. Acknowledgment in fact of the control of the Lower House over expenditure. 4 Eeform of the Upper House. 5. An army on a popular basis with two years' service. 6. A German Parliament, freely elected by the people. These demands were supported by a majority of the electors. M. Bismark had misunderstood the situation, for while the most moderate or Vincke section of the Liberals lost, the party of progress and the left-centre or Bockum- Dolffs party — so called from their leader, a Westphalian gentleman of considerable property, much independence, and great power of work — were largely recruited. The Kreuz- Zeitung, however, gained a little, counting in the new House 37 as ao'ainst 11 in the old one. The new Parliament was opened on the 9th of November, and the true colour of the Lower House was soon apparent, even to the sanguine minister. M. Grabow was re-elected president, and M. von Unruh and Bockum-Dolfts vice-presidents. M. von der Heydt, who was supported by the government as theii' candidate for the presidential chair, was beaten by 224 to 37. A more friendly House than that which had been collected would have been provoked by the proposal which the govern- ment soon made, that, for the future, in cases where the ministry and the Lower Chamber could not agree about the budget, the last budget voted should be considered as the legal budget for the ensuing year. The formidable turn which Avas given by the death of Frederick VII. of Denmark to tlie Schleswig-Holstein ques- THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION. 239 tiou, was a new embarrassment to ministers, and brought out new points of dissension between them and their opponents. It would be unprofitable to attempt to foUoAv their skirmish- ings in detail ; but we may safely say that the end of the year 1863 saw the contending parties no nearer a reconciliation than they were at its commencement. They did not, indeed, long remain in presence of each other, for a fresh prorogation took place before the end of January 1864 ; not, however, till M. Bismark had defined in the- most offensive manner the position of the Prussian government with regard to the Bund, by stating that " pohtical questions were questions not of law and right but of might ; that Prussia could not allow herself to be out-voted by a majority in the Diet, which might only represent some two millions, and that the two German great powers acted as a greenhouse in protecting the Bund from the cold blasts of the winds of Europe." Not less offensive was his attitude with regard to the Parliamentary opposition as set forth in the speech by which he closed the session in the name of the king ; for he accused it of a desire to increase the importance of the Lower House, at the expense of the other bodies of the state, condemned its dealings with the budget, its opposition to the army organisation, and contrasted with its hostility the loyal and friendly behaviour of the Upper House. A week or two after, 'the resolution of the government to govern with- out a budget was openly announced, and a detailed explana- tion was given of the course which it proposed to adopt in dealing with the public expenditure.* The whole real interest * Unfortunately it must be admitted that the present detestable govern- ment of Prussia manages the finances extremely well. Nothing makes the action of the Liberal party against abuses so difficult as this. 240 PRUSSIA. of Prussian history for the last eleven months of the year 1864 centres in the Danish war, or the negotiations which sprang out of it ; and the general course of what occurred is in the recollection of all. It would be unfair to deny that the large land and the scanty sea forces engaged on the part of Prussia behaved with considerable spirit, and that oflBlcers and men acquitted themselves very creditably. The raptures into which the good Prussians went over their victories may well make Englishmen smile ; but then we are hardly ever without a war going on in some portion of our donainions, while to the Prussian of 1864 a real war was quite a new excitement. Nor must it be forgotten that the Prussian army is recruited from all ranks of society, and the interest with which the tidings from Duppel were looked for, was more of the kind which we should expect if a large number of our volunteer regiments were engaged in foreign service, than any- thing with which we are familiar. Upon internal politics the result of the war was utterly mischievous. It gained a certain amount of prestige for M. Bismark, and it roused to such an extent the passion for territorial aggrandisement that before the end of the year nearly all the principal newspapers of Prussia had declared in favour, either of the annexation of the Duchies to their own country, or at least of a very excep- tionally close union between it and them. Meantime, the Prussian government proceeded to injure the state in the most fatal way that could have been devised. They set to work every means to influence the tribunals in all political trials, thus striking a blow at a system of administration of justice, which had been for many years reputed to be singu- larly pure and upright. No advance of much importance was made by either THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION. 241 party with regard to the constitutional question in 1865. The conduct of M. Bismark was more defiant and outrageous than ever ; but the general features of the situation remained unchanged. Prussia gained a kind of triumph over her great rival by the terms of the convention of Gastein, and acquired amongst the unthinking a certain amount of prestige ; but the violent and illegal proceedings which filled the long recess only stored up new difficulties, so that the session of 1866 opened under even gloomier auspices than its immediate predecessors. The stopping of the Cologne banquet in the summer, the high-handed proceedings with respect to Lauen- burg, and the decree which a section of the Supreme Court at Berlin, carefully packed for the purpose, had pronounced in limitation of the liberty of speech guaranteed to all deputies by the constitution, had embittered men's minds to a great degree. These events, and the dealings of the government with the Cologne and Minden Eailway, were the principal subjects of discussion during the short and agitated session which was closed before the end of February, on the pretext that the Lower House was acting unconstitutionally. The speeches during this session appear to have been of a very high order of excellence ; and that of Dr. Gneist, on its last day, of very exceptional merit. It is difficult to see how even the form of constitutional government can be kept up if the present ministry remains in power ; and the leader of the Kreuz-Zeitung party avowed, in answer to Dr. Gneist, that what he and his friends were aiming at was the alteration of the constitution. Meanwhile, in spite of the deep disapproval with which the conduct of the government is viewed, public order has nowhere been disturbed ; and in consequence no excuse has been given to 242 PRUSSIA. M. Bisniark — now, by the way, raised to the rank of a Count — to tell the king that violent measures are necessary. The sneers which are constantly directed by a portion of our press against the Prussian Liberals for not resorting to those methods of resistance by which our English liberties were preserved during the seventeenth century, betray either the strangest misconception of the present state of Europe, or a spirit of the most reckless mischief The task which was performed by Hampden, Cromwell, and the other heroes of the great rebellion, was mere child's play in comparison with the task to which many English journalists invite the people of Prussia. In the seventeenth century the central government was extremely weak, and any robust countryman or citizen was speedily turned into a soldier quite as good as any whom the king could oppose to him. In our days all governments are indefinitely stronger than they were, as long as the armed force remains true to them ; and in no country can the government more implicitly reckon upon the armed force than it can in Prussia. The reason of this is to be sought in the national history and in the geographical position of the land. The Prussians feel that for them a large and powerful armed force is absolutely necessary. That is a point upon which all parties are agreed. The difference between the king and the people turns upon the character of the armed force to be kept up, not upon the question as to whether Prussia should or should not be preeminently a military state. Whatever glory she has to boast, other than that which accrues to her from a certain number of learned men, is military glory. In Prussia every man has been a soldier for a part of his life, and he retains, with some of the virtues, also some of THE FEUDAL PARTY. 243 tlie weaknesses of the military character. The officers be- longing, for the most part, to a class hostile to the great body of their fellow-citizens, use every endeavour to instil into the minds of their privates a contempt for eveiy one who does not wear uniform, and with this view they are not only per- mitted but encouraged to use their arms in case of any quarrel with the civilians. Similar efforts are made to cause the men to attach an altogether absurd importance to the military oath, which they are carefully trained to consider a far more sacred bond than that which engages them as citizens to uphold the constitution. That there are far more officers in the Prussian army who take liberal and reasonable views than is generally believed, we well know to be the case ; but still they form so small a minority and are so carefully watched, that little can be hoped from them. There are few things more melancholy than to talk to an average Prussian officer, and to see how little his thoughts have travelled beyond his narrow, old- fashioned, poverty-stricken, little world. Indeed, it is this same poverty that meets one at every turn in dealing with Prussian affairs. If the class from which the officers are re- cruited were a real aristocracy, with wealth and wide-reaching European connections, their sons could not be half so wedded as they are to antiquated pretensions at which their foreign associates would only smile. The Junker or feudal class, out of which the Prussian army is principally officered, corresponds to nothing which exists in this country. It can by no means compare in wealth or cultivation with our landed gentry, while it advances claims which are not advanced by our nobility. Some names there are in it which go far back in German history ; many more which are connected with the short, though creditable 244 PRUSSIA. military annals of Prussia ; but a large portion of it can boast no historical illustration at all. An aristocracy might be a very good thing in Prussia, as in other countries, if it had existed for a long time ; but to patch up a bran-new aristocracy out of a handful of media- tised princes, whose recollections, if they have any, are Ger- man-Imperial, not specifically Prussian recollections, reinforced by proprietors of estates which have remained a hundred years in their family, was a hopeless design, and like too many other proceedings of the romanticist Frederick WilKam rV. has much of gingerbread Gothic about it. The Herren- haus of 1854 is not, we may be sure, destined for long duration, even as improved by the first ministry of the pre- sent king. There seems no particular reason why the media- tised princes of whom we have spoken should not continue to sit in it, although there is really none why they should ; and the nominated life members might be a valuable element ; but, on the whole, the Belgian senate forms perhaps the best model of a Second Chamber for such a country as Prussia. The result of the measures which the Kreuz-Zeitung party would fain introduce is well shown in Mecklenburg, which has long enjoyed the unenviable distinction of being the worst governed district in Germany, and is managed to this day upon strict Kreuz-Zeitung principles. There the landed proprietors, after 1848, did everything in their power to encourage emigration, hoping to get rid entirely of the unruly spirits who chafed against the truly mediaeval order of things which they kept up upon their estates. Now, however, the tables are turned ; emigration has gone so far that their own personal interests are grievously threatened ; and they are making convulsive, but perfectly ineffectual efforts to throw THE FEUDAL PARTY. 245 difficulties in the way of their people leaving the country, or trpng by foolish little palliatives to make their native land less intolerable to them. There are to be found, we think, in this Mecklenburg affair, some hints for people nearer home ; and we much wish that some Englishman who has eyes, ears, and a good knowledge of German, would turn his tourist steps towards that little-visited region, and tell us something about the doings of the Schack-Basthorsts, and Pentz-Gremmelins, and the Klockmann-Hoppenrades, and all the rest of them. This kind of folly is only possible in an out-of-the-way country which has little communication with its neighbours. When any institutions come directly in contact with the spirit of the time, they may resist for five years, or ten, or twenty, but down they must go in the end. And so we can afford to contemplate the position of Prussia at this moment with tolerable equanimity, and share to the full the indig- nant confidence of a recent speaker at Berlin, who said, with reference to the tampering with the courts of justice : " For a time even the impossible is possible, but only for a time." Nothing would more complicate the situation than the resort of the Liberal party, under the advice of half-informed sympa- thisers, to anything like violence. One French writer at least, we mean M. Forcade, under- stands the state of the case much better than some of our instructors ; and we find in the Bevue des deux Mondes, for February 1, 1865, amidst much judicious praise of the con- duct of the Lower House at Berlin in the beginning of last year, the following remarks, which are worth quoting as showing that the good example of the Prussians gives com- fort to their less fortunate brethren on the other side of the Rhine. After commenting on the dignified speech of Presi- 246 PRUSSIA. dent Grabow at the opening of the session, M. Forcade says : " Les peuples europeens ont de notre temps une faculty merveilleuse ; ils ont I'air de dormir, ils dorment meme solidement, et ils se reveillent, comma la belle au bois dormant, sans avoir rien perdu de leur jeunesse. Nous retrouvous la cbambre Prussienne comme nous I'avons laiss(^e, et nous nous figurons que le jour ou la France couronnera I'^difice, on la retrouvera aussi liberale qu'il y a vingt ans, et qu'il n'y aura de vieux, de laid et de decrepit parmi nous que les absolutistes." The simplest and most satisfactory, but, alas ! the least probable solution of the present difficulty would be the king's abdication. Public opinion forced Louis of Bavaria to resign, and placed the Austrian diadem on the head, not of the rightful heir, but of his son the young Francis Joseph. There is everything to be said for, and nothing to be said against, this plan. William I., junior to his brother by only seventeen months, was an ensign at ten years old, and never till comparatively lately contemplated his accession to the throne as a probable event. He is simply incapable of com- prehending the position of a monarch with a real constitution. His views are analogous to those of an old French legitimist duke who remarked to Niebuhr, when asked whether he had not had a hand in framing the Charte : " Oh, yes, I had ; but, good God ! do you suppose I ever imagined that the king was not to do what he liked in spite of it V In the event of his abdication, his son would be able gracefully to retire from an untenable position, and the state-machine might at length be got into good working order. We only fear that such a course is too wise a one to have any chance of being adopted. True it is that the THE FUTURE. 247 brood of " court theologians, missionary deaconesses," and the like, who enraged Alexander von Humboldt, no longer flit about the palace. The king is in the hands of a militaiy clique — of the " Ungeist in uniform" as the Berliners say ; and the policy which it is likely to recommend will hardly be one of concession. What, then, is to.be the remedy? Much, v/e think, may l^e hoped from a new reign, which, in the nature of things, cannot be very far distant. It will be said that this is a hope which always rises up in Prussia, and is always disappointed. We do not think that that statement is quite fair. The advance made from reign to reign has not been so great as was expected, but still there has been an advance ; and the Prussia of 1866, unfortunate as its condition is, need not envy the Prussia of 1820. Un- doubtedly the present Crown Prince has, to say nothing of his English marriage, been brought up under infinitely better influences than his uncle, whose mediaeval dreams ruined, for the practical purposes of life, a very fine intelli- gence, and all Germany looks with great confidence to his succession. At the same time it cannot be doubted that the influences brought to bear in an opposite direction will be very powerful ; and the proceedings of the Fortschritt party during the earlier part of the present king's reign do not lead us to expect any extraordinary development of political tact upon its part. However this may be, we look with absolute I confidence to the gradual spread of enlightenment even amongst the Prussian Junkers, and above all to the increase of the wealth and position of the middle class. If any one were to take a list of the Prussian Lower House at present, and to run through the names with the aid of some one who \ knew well the circumstances of the persons included in it, he 248 PRUSSIA. would be surprised to find upon how many of tliem the government can put a very serious pressure. These men are, however, the most spirited of their order ; and for one who ventures to come forward boldly to back, his opinion, there may well be ten who do not do so. Every day, however, the power of the middle class is growing ; if, indeed, we might not almost say that a new upper class is rising up which may push the present conventional upper class out of its place by the sheer weight of greater real importance. It is reserved, perhaps, for the sons of the men who are now making fortunes to build up on a thoroughly satisfactory basis the edifice of Prussian freedom. When Germans tell us, as they often do, that their country is only just recovering the ravages of the Thirty Years' War, we are at first tempted to smile ; but if we examine into the matter closely, we shall find that their statement is literally and perfectly correct. It is only in this century that Prussia has become anything more than a court, an army, and a bureaucracy. The real wonder is, not that she is so far back, but that she has made so much progress. Those who would realise what the Thirty Years' War really was, and who cannot turn to M. Preytag's Sketches, may look at a useful little book, Gustavus Adolplms, partly founded on them, by the archbishop of Dublin, which wiU explain to them very clearly how the effects of that great struggle have been so lasting ; and it need hardly be said that the wars of the Great Frederick and of Napoleon, although comparatively slight visitations, helped very much to retard the natural progress of the country. Sooner or later, we do not in the least doubt that the existing confederation must break up, and that a large part of the middle states must, in one form or another, be grouped THE FUTURE. 249 round Prussia ; and as well for the tranquillity of Europe as for the internal progress of Germany, we think it desirable that it should be so. But this may be done in two ways : either, as M. Bismark and his friends desire, by fraud and force — that is, by the old methods of " II Principe," — or by a natural but slower process. The feeling in favour of German unity had been gi'owing so powerful for many years previously to the accession of the present king of Prussia, that if he had adopted a frankly constitutional and progressive course, being content to be king in the sense in which Leopold was king in Belgium, or Her Majesty is queen in England, the force of attraction which would have been exerted by Prussia, over all the smaller states, would have been so great that we cannot doubt that for all diplomatic and military purposes they would in a few years have become mere provinces of Prussia. Now, however, Count Bismark has succeeded in bringing about so great a reaction that everything has again become uncertain, and the satisfactory solution of the German question seems indefinitely postponed. Those who, like the writer, were in Prussia just before and soon after the conclusion of the Schles wig-Hoist ein war, can- not have failed to perceive that a very disagreeable change had taken place in the views of a large portion even of the Liberal party. Before the struggle, they were content to look at the Schleswig-Holstein question from the point of view which was maintained by the Diet through the whole of 1863. After it they had allowed themselves to be seduced by the prospect of direct advantage to Prussia, and talked of nothing but annexation, thus drawing a broad line of demarcation between the internal and external policy of Count Bismark. We are far from saying that all the Prussian Liberals thus 250 PRUSSIA. bowed the knee to Baal, but the number which did so was far too great. Many Englishmen, irritated by the conduct of Prussia in the Danish war, so far forgot themselves as to desire that France should avenge Denmark by seizing the Khine. That there is, even amongst highly-intelligent and well-informed French politicians, an ardent desire for the frontier of the Khine we know too well, but a wilder dream never entered into the imagination. Any attempt to realise it would bring about such a union of Germany as few have ever hoped for. Those who, in answer to this, would point to the French feeling which existed for some years after 1815, in the Ehineland, probably forget what was the condition of things to which the French domination there put an end. If so, they will find the real state of the case extremely well summed up in an address delivered last summer at Bonn, by Professor von Sybel ; but they may rest assured that, in spite of M. Bismark, the Ehinelanders have no desire whatever to return to the imperial fold. The conclusion which we have formed, and which we should wish our readers to form, from a study of the last twenty-five years of Prussian history, is this : Through aU that time the country has been steadily advancing. It is on the whole well governed and prosperous, nor are there any ele- ments out of which a really reactionary system of policy can be created. M. Bismark himself has a liberal side — as, for instance, in commercial matters — and admitted, in so many words, the other day in the Lower House that, sooner or later, a Liberal ministry must come into power. The present situa- tion is only temporary, and a Liberal party, composed of the best of the landowners and the best of the bourgeoisie, will have it all its own way in the end. It may be a question of THE FUTUKE. 251 one decade or two, or even of a generation, tliougli we do not expect it to be nearly so long : but tlie " Ungeist" in uniform, wMcli rules the present king, no less than the '' Ungeist " in priestly garb, which ruled the late king, are both doomed to give way. CHAPTEE V. THE GEKIVIANIC DIET. Amongst the states of which the European political system is composed, there are three which, although having, as regards their fellows, all the attributes of individual political existences, are really groups of two or more states connected mechanically, but not, so to speak, chemically united. These are : — 1. Norway and Sweden ; 2, Switzerland ; 3. Germany. The first-mentioned is a unique example of a confederation with a common hereditary sovereign ; the second is collected under an elective president, and is ruled by a Federal Council of seven, which forms the executive, by a States-Council or Senate of forty-four (two for each canton), and by a National Council or Lower House, in which each member represents a certain amount of population. It forms thus an organisatiofi closely akin to that of the United States of America, and is a perfect example of what German political writers mean by a Bundes-Staat or Federative State. The third is the much looser political organisation of which we propose to give in this paper a somewhat detailed account, and with regard to which we wish, first and foremost, to impress upon our readers that it is emphatically not a Bundes-Staat, but a Staaten-Bund ; or, in other words, not a federative state, but a confederation of states. The Holy Koman Empire, powerful once, but always much more dignified than powerful, invested as it was with THE CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE. 253 certain vague attributes wliich had descended from the days when there really were Csesars,* had come in the eighteenth century to be a shadow of its former self, and to deserve the taunt of Voltaire, that it was neither " Holy, nor Eoman, nor even an Empire." It is not by organisations of this kind that powerful shocks from without are successfully resisted ; and so in 1806 it crumbled to pieces.t The Emperor Francis assumed the title of Emperor of Austria, surrendering his infinitely more dignified position ; and in the room of the old order Europe saw a chaos of unequal, unconnected states, and the Confederation of the Ehine. That body, more celebrated than honoured, was called into existence in the month of July 1806, by the document styled " L'Acte de la Confederation du Ehin, ou traite entre sa majeste I'Empereur des Eran9ais Eoi d'ltalie, et les membres de I'Empire Germanique denommes dans ce traite." It consisted at first of sixteen members, varying in importance from the king of Bavaria down to the Prince von der Leyen. Within the next three years, however, twenty-three other members adhered to it, so that in the beginning of the year 1810 it comprised a population of fourteen and a half millions, although this number was soon after diminished. It was a purely international union. The central authority of the Confederation had nothing whatever to do with the internal * :Mr. Bryce, of Oriel College, Oxford, has lately traced for English readers the history of this wonderful institution, in an extremely interesting work. His treatise grew out of an essay written for the Arnold prize — a fact wliich makes us sigh to think how much might be effected for learning in this country, if only our great universities would devote a larger portion of their revenues to the encouragement of manly as distinguished from boyish studies. t The best authority on the present constitution and recent history of the Confederation is Kaltenborn. 254 THE GER^IANIC DIET. regulations of the various states of which it was composed. Napoleon was its hereditary protector, and reserved to himself the power of summoning the Federal Assembly ; of initiating all discussions in it through its prince-president, the duke of Dalberg ; the right of naming the prince-president, and the right of commanding it to make war or peace. The Federal Assembly was composed of ambassadors accredited by each state, and was divided into two colleges — the Eoyal Grand Ducal and the Princely. The Confederation of the Ehine had hardly time to develop itself, or to show what were likely to be the results of French influence acting upon a German body-politic ; but its tendencies, so far as they showed themselves, were unfavourable to individual and local liberties — despotic and bureaucratic. The fortunes, however, of the Confederation of the Ehine were destined to be " of hasty growth and blight." Germany, which had been at first paralysed by the success of the French arms, gradually recovered her consciousness, and began to plan a rising when a suitable occasion should present itself. Ere long the disasters of the Great Captain in Spain and in Eussia, the successes of Kutusoff and of Wellington, made Leipzig possible, and the allied armies of Central and Eastern Europe rolled across the Ehine. Paris fell, and with it the prestige of the conqueror. The Confederation of the Ehine did not even wait for the final decision of the struggle to dissolve itself ; nay, it did not even die by any formal diplo- matic act. It melted gradually away, one member after another falling off, and joining the victorious march of the avenging hosts. Germany was now utterly disintegrated. The Holy Eoman Empire had ceased to exist ; the Confederation of the Ehine THE NEGOTIATIONS OF 1814. 255 had followed it ; and from the Black Forest to the Enssian frontier there was nothing but angry ambitions, vengeances, and fears. If there was ever to be peace again in all these wide regions, it was clearlj necessary to create something new. What was to be created was a far more difficult ques- tion ; but already, on the BOth of jNfay 1814, the powers had come to some sort of understanding, if not with regard to the means to be pursued, at least with regard to the end to be attained. In the Treaty of Paris we find these words : '' Les etats de I'Allemagne seront independants et unis par un lien federatif " But how w^as this to be effected ? There were some who wished the Holy Ptoman Empire to be restored. This was naturally enough the view which found favour with most of the mediatised princes ; and many individual thinkers, whose interests were not affected, had come to the same conclusion. Of course neither Prussia, Bavaria, nor Wurtemberg, could look kindly upon a plan so obviously un- favourable to them ; but not even Austria really wished it, and indeed it had few powerful friends. Then there was a project of a North and South Germany, with the Maine for boundary ; but this was very much the reverse of acceptable to the minor princes, who had no idea of being grouped like so many satellites, some around Austria and some around Prussia. Next came a plan of reconstruction by circles, the effect of which would have been to have thrown all the power of Germany into the hands of a few of the larger states. To this all the smaller independent states were bitterly opposed, and it broke down, although supported by the great authority of Stein, as well as by Gagern. If Germany had been in a later phase of political development, public opinion would perhaps have forced the sovereigns to consent to the forma- 256 THE GERMANIC DIET, tion of a really united Fatherland with a powerful executive and a national parliament — but the time for that had not arrived. Whsit was the opposition of a few hundred clear- sighted men with their few thousand followers, that it should prevail over the masters of so many legions ? What these potentates cared most about were their sovereign rights, and the dream of German unity was very readily sacrificed to the determination of each of them to be, as far as he possibly could, absolute master in his own dominions. Therefore it was that it soon became evident that the results of the de- liberation on the future of Germany would be, not a federa- tive state, but a confederation of states — a Staaten-Bund, not a Bundes-Staat. There is no doubt, however, that much mis- chief might have been avoided if all the stronger powers had worked conscientiously together to give this Staaten-Bund as national a character as possible ; to gratify as far as they could the natural desire of most active-minded Germans, that their country, which covers so large a space on the map of Europe, should play a part in Europe somewhat commen- surate with its vast extent ; and that the internal arrange- ments of the different states should, as regards commerce, justice, postal communications, and many other matters, be one and the same. Prussia was really honestly desirous to effect something of this kind, and Stein, Hardenberg, William von Humboldt, Count Miinster, and other statesmen, laboured hard to bring it about. Austria, on the other hand, aided by Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden, did all she could to oppose such projects. Things would perhaps have been settled better than they ultimately were, if the return of Napoleon from Elba had not frightened all Europe from its propriety, and turned the attention of the sovereigns towards warlike pre- THE FEDERAL ACT. 257 paratious. Tt was perfectly natural that the labour necessary to perfect the new machine should be grudged when all men's thoughts were directed towards the new struggle which had commenced. The document by which the Germanic Confederation is created is of so much importance that we may say a word about the various stages through which it passed. First, then, it appears as a paper drawn up by Stein in March 1814, and submitted to Hardenberg, Count Miinster, and the Em- peror Alexander. Next, in the month of September, it took the form of an official plan, handed by Hardenberg to Met- ternich, and consisting of forty-one articles. This plan con- templated the creation of a confederation which should have the character rather of a Bundes-Staat than of a Staaten- Bund ; but it went to pieces in consequence of the difficulties which we have noticed above, and out of it, and of ten other official proposals, twelve articles were sublimated by the rival chemistry of Hardenberg and Metternich. Upon these twelve articles the representatives of Austria, Prussia, Hanover, and Wurtemberg, deliberated. Their sittings were cut short partly by the ominous appearance which was presented in the autumn of 1814 by the Saxon and Polish questions, and partly by the difficulties from the side of Bavaria and Wurtemberg, which we have already noticed. The spring brought a project of the Austrian statesman Wessenberg, who proposed a Staaten-Bund rather than a Bundes-Staat ; and ' out of this and a new Prussian project drawn up by W. von Humboldt, grew the last sketch, which was submitted on the 23d of May 1815 to the general conference of the plenipo- tentiaries of all Germany. They made short work of it at the last, and the Federal- Act (Bundes-Acte) bears date June S 258 THE GERMANIC DIET. 8th, 1815. This is the document which is incorporated in the principal act of the Congress of Vienna, and placed under the guarantee of eight European powers, including France and England. Wurtemberg, Baden, and Hesse-Homburg, did not form part of the Confederation for some little time — the latter not till 1817 ; but after they were added to the powers at first consenting, the number of the sovereign states in the Con- federation was altogether thirty-nine. The outward and visible sign of their unity was the presence in Frankfort of representatives from each state forming the Diet, of whose powers and method of conducting business we shall have more to say when we have traced the history of the Con- federation to our owm times, but which, we may obser^^e in passing, has always been thoroughly inefficient for any good purpose. The following are the chief stipulations of the Federal Act. The object of the Confederation is the external and internal security of Germany, and the independence and inviolability of the confederate states. A diete federative (Bundes-Versammlung) is to be created, and its attributions are sketched. The Diet is, as soon as possible, to draw up the fundamental laws of the Confederation, l^o state is to make war with another on any pretence. All federal terri- tories are mutually guaranteed. There is to be in each state a " Landstandische Verfassung" — " il y aura des assemblees d'etats dans tons les pays de la Confederation." Art. 14 re- serves many rights to the mediatised princes. Equal civil and political rights are guaranteed to all Christians in all German States, and stipulations are made in favour of the Jews. The Diet did not actually assemble before the 5th of No- THE FINAL ACT. 259 vember 1816. Its first measures, and, above all, its first words, were not unpopular. The Holy Allies, however, pressed with each succeeding month more heavily upon Germany, and got at last the control of the Confederation entirely into their hands. The chief epochs in this sad history were the Congress of Carlsbad, 1819 — the resolutions of which against the freedom of the press were pronounced by Gentz to be a victory more glorious than Leipzig ; the mini- sterial conferences which immediately succeeded it at Vienna ; and the adoption by the Diet of the Final Act (Schluss Acte) of the Confederation on the 8th of June 1820. The following are the chief stipulations of the Final Act : — The Confederation is indissoluble. No new member can be admitted without the unanimous consent of all the states, and no federal territory can be ceded to a foreign power without their permission. The regulations for the conduct of business by the Diet are amplified and more carefully defined. All quarrels between members of the Confederation are to be stopped before recourse is had to violence. The Diet may interfere to keep order in a state where the government of that state is notoriously incapable of doing so. Federal execution is provided for in case any government resists the authority of the Diet. Other articles declare the right of the Confederation to make war and peace as a body, to guard the rights of each separate state from injury, to take into consideration the dif- ferences between its members and foreign nations, to mediate between them, to maintain the neutrality of its territory, to make war when a state belonging to the Confederation is attacked in its non-federal territory if the attack seems likely to endanger Germany. The constitutions of the respective 260 THE GERMANIC DIET. states are made expressly as little inconvenient to the sovereigns as possible : " der Souveran kann durch eine lands tandische Verfassung nur in der Auslibung bestimmter Eechte an die Mitwirkung der Stande gebunden werden." The liberty of the press is restrained. No very material event in the history of the Confedera- tion between 1820 and 1834, when there were again mini- sterial conferences at Vienna, in consequence of the revolu- tionary agitation which had been called forth by the fall of the elder branch of the Bourbons. Frederick William IV. of Prussia was really anxious for a change in the constitution of the Confederation, and many plans were agitated, but nothing came of them. On the 1st of January 1848, Prince Metternich assembled the diplomatists who were then in Vienna, and made, accord- ing to his usual custom, a statement with regard to the posi- tion of public affairs. With a sagacity truly worthy of him- self and of the school of statesmen to which he belonged — a school unfortunately not yet extinct — he assured his listeners that never was Austria so tranquil, nor the peace of Europe more assured. Within three months he was on his way to the frontier, and Vienna and Berlin were in insurrection. The news of the Paris revolution worked not less powerfully in the valley of the Ehine than on the Danube and the Spree. Before the first symptoms of insubordination had been ob- served in either of the two great capitals, upon the 5th of March, fifty-one political writers, professors, and other per- sons of importance, had assembled in Heidelberg, and had summoned all who were or had been members of German constitutional assemblies to meet in Frankfort. Many re- sponded to their call, and the body thus got together, which THE FEANKFORT PARLIAMENT. 261 was called the Vorparlament, and the committee which suc- ceeded it devised the electoral law under which the assembly of the German people was presently convoked. The sove- reigns neither did nor could attempt to resist the movement, and very soon the deputies of Austria, Prussia, and the minor states had gathered in the Paul's Kirche. On the 12 th of July the Diet formally resigned its powers into the hands of the Eeichsverweser or Vicar of the Empire, the Archduke John, and the laborious work of the diplomatists of 1814 and 1815 seemed to have finally disappeared. Already, however, there had risen in the minds of the Frankfort legislators the terrible question. What is this Germany for which we are to devise a constitution ? and very soon the assembly fell into two bitterly hostile sections. These were the since celebrated Klein-deutsche and Gross-deutsche parties. The first of these wished to exclude Austria from the Confederation, and to group the smaller states around Prussia. The second desired to retain in the Confederation all the German provinces of Austria, and to throw the hegemony into her hands. The former party was embraced by the most thoughtful and truly constitutional deputies, and was supported as a matter of course by the great bulk of the Prussian people. The latter was strong in Southern Germany, strong in the support of the ultra-democrats, who saw, in the constitutional leanings of their adversaries, a most dangerous obstacle to their designs, and was aided by all the power and prestige of the Haps- burgs. The opponents were well matched. The struggle was long and doubtful, but in the end of 1848 the Klein-deutsche party prevailed. Heinrich von Gagern, the son of the man whose name we have mentioned in connection with the first conferences about the Federal Act, succeeded M. Schnierling ; 262 THE GERMANIC DIET. and on March 28tli, 1849, the crown of the resuscitated Ger- man Empire was decreed to Frederick William of Prussia. The feeble monarch after some hesitation declined it, making, as an English publicist of that day remarked, "ilgran rifiuto" of our times. He wrote to Arndt, the author of the famous song, " Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland ?" in these char- acteristic words : " Is this offspring of the revolution of 1848 really a crown ? It has no cross on it. It does not mark on the brow of him who wears it, the seal of the grace of God. It is the iron collar which would reduce to the position of a slave the descendant of twenty-four electors and kings, the chief of sixteen millions of men, and of the bravest and most devoted army in the world." The refusal of Frederick William was a death-blow to the Frankfort Parliament. It lingered some time longer, but at last transferred itself to Stuttgardt, where it was dispersed by the police — a fate akin to that of the great river of the Fatherland, " which streams forth from the glaciers of the Adula, and ends in the sluices of Katwyk." The king of Prussia had too little courage, or perhaps too tender a conscience, to " play at the gold table ; " but the advice of some of his best friends, his own ideas of what was right, and his personal ambition, combined to make him put himself, on the 26th of May 1849, at the head of the so-called ''League of the Three Kings," his colleagues being the rulers of Hanover and Saxony. Eound these three were grouped twenty-four minor states ; and the whole was formed into the body known for some time to the politicians of Germany as the "Union," or the "Engere Bundes-Staat" (restricted confederation). After reading the explanation of Eadowitz, it is difficult not to believe that the king of Prussia was THE "UNION." 263 really anxious to meet to some extent the aspirations of the people. ISTot so their majesties of Hanover and Saxony. They merely bowed to events. The real supporters of the "Union" were the men of the "party of Gotha" — so named from the assembly which took place in that town in June 1849 ; and their ranks included many of the best patriots in Germany. Of course, this Sonderhund was anything but agreeable to Austria. She, however, in May 1849, w^as too hard pressed to make an effectual resistance. She "bided her time," and had not to bide long. The first advantage which she gained was the treaty of the 30th September 1849. By it Austria and Prussia arranged for an interim management of the affairs of the Confederation in the room of the Eeich- sverweser, who was about to abdicate ; and henceforward two Austrian and two Prussian plenipotentiaries sat at Frankfort. The reaction, however, was growing ever stronger and stronger. In the month of August the surrender of the Hungarian army at Vilagos materially improved the position and prospects of Austria. No sooner had this occurred than Saxony and Hanover began to draw off from their close union with Prussia and to gravitate towards her rival. They had associated themselves, they maintained, with their northern neighbour, not because they liked her projects for a reconsti- tution of Germany, but because they, equally with the reac- tionary party in Prussia, cared above all things for the sup- pression of revolution in their respective territories. Prussia, however, unwilling to sacrifice the advantage which she had gained from the temporary weakness of Austria, insisted upon holdinof them to the alliance of the three kings, and to the re- 264 THE GEKMANIC DIET. stricted confederation. Hanover broke away before the end of 1 849. Saxony showed an unmistakeable intention of doing so; but even in the spring of 1850, when she opened the assembly of Erfurt, Prussia affected to regard them as still bound to her. A significant answer to the Prussian summons to Erfurt was given, only a few days before the assembly met, by the king of Wurtemberg, who made a speech, in which he withstood the pretensions of Prussia from the point of view of the so-called league of the four kings — Saxony, Bavaria, Hanover, and Wurtemberg — who naturally enough inclined to the opinion of those who thought the future constitution of Germany should be based upon a parliament, to which Austria, Prussia, and the united smaller states should each send a hundred members ; and a directory of seven, in which Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, and Wurtemberg should each have a voice, while Electoral and Grand-ducal Hesse had each half a voice. The Prussian star was evi- dently not in the ascendant when Eadowitz first addressed, in the name of his sovereign, the great council of the re- stricted confederation, the Assembly of Erfurt.* The project of a reconstituted Germany, with a less democratic constitu- tion than that which had been elaborated at Frankfort, which he laid before that assembly, was adopted in its entirety, after much discussion. Nothing more embarrassing to Prussia could have occurred ; for even that project was a great deal * We have called attention on a former page to the first series of Gesprdche mis der Gegemvart. "Wliat it is to the period before 1847, that the second series is to the years 1848, 1849, and 1850. To the general reader the second work will be less interesting than the first ; but to those who wish to under- stand the politics of Germany it is even more important, because Eadowitz, the Waldhoim of the conversations, was an actor of first-rate importance thiough the whole of the revolutionary period. _, THE CRISIS OF 1850. 265 more democratic than what her rulers really wished for. The Duke of Coburg came to their assistance with a proposal for a congress of princes. The congress met, not in Gotha, but in Berlin, and was composed of the states most favourable to Prussia. The majority of these unfortunately were only of a third or fourth rate importance, and neither it nor the college of plenipotentiaries, from these various princes, which followed it, came to any result. The game, however, now became more exciting. Austria replied by convoking the old Plenum at Prankfort ; and before the autumn was out the kings of Bavaria and Wurtemberg had met Francis Joseph at Bregentz and exchanged toasts and promises of the most warlike character. AVhere so many causes of estrangement existed, it was easy to find a pretext for quarrel. That pretext was furnished by the affairs of the most t^^ically misgoverned of German countries. Electoral Hesse. We need not go into the details of the constitutional struggle in that ill-starred district : sufi&ce it to say, that the Elector appealed to Prankfort and to Vienna ; the people appealed to the restricted confederation and to Berlin. Troops marched from north and south. Shots were exchanged between the Austrian and the Prussian outposts. The situation was almost precisely what it was in the first days of April 1866. In 1850, however, the Emperor Mcholas was at the height of his power. He had poured, in 1849, a vast force into Hungar)% and had apparently, with the greatest ease, restored that country to the House of Hapsburg. He had kept revolution far away from his own borders, and in the intoxication of success he almost believed himself some- thing more than a man. Strong in his yet unbroken prestige, strong in the personal ascendancy which he had established over the court of Berlin, he threw his whole influence into 266 THE GERMANIC DIET. the scale of peace — not because lie disliked war, but because he identified the cause of Austria with the cause of order. Other influences, and above all the temper of the king, made the position of Eadowitz untenable. He was, as we have seen in the preceding article, driven from power, and with him went down with a crash the whole fabric of the "Union." With him too passed away for a time all hopes of Prussian hegemony. Deep was the humiliation and bitter the wrath of all the best men in Germany, but on that we must not dwell. So elated with his victory was Prince Schwartzenberg, that at the Dresden conferences which presently assembled he had actually the assurance to propose that Austria should enter into the Germanic Confederation with all her non-Germanic provinces. Luckily France, England, and Eussia came to the rescue. Baron Brenier, in a remarkable dispatch, pointed out that this was altogether inadmissible, and perfectly opposed to the views of the three great non-Germanic powers who had guaranteed the order established in 1815. So Prussia had, after all, a sort of poor little triumph wherewith to console herself for the disgrace of Olmiitz ; and, in less than three years after its disappearance, back came the old Frankfort Diet again, with all its lumbering and unsatisfactory machinery, and German hopes and aspirations once more slumbered, if they did not sleep. What, then, is the constitution of this most unloved assembly ? We have seen that the Confederation originally consisted of thirty-nine sovereign states. Of these, six have ceased to exist. Gotha has been divided between Coburg and Meiningen ; Anhalt-Cothen has merged in Anhalt-Dessau ; so, within the last few years, has Anhalt-Bernburg ; while the THE CONFEDERATION AS IT IS. 267 two HohenzoUerns — Hecliingen and Sigmaringen — have been ceded to Prussia, and only a month or two ago Hesse-Homburg fell to the grand-duke of Darmstadt.* There are now, therefore, only thirty-three states included in the Germanic Confederation. These are — 1, Austria ; 2, Prussia ; 3, Ba- I varia ; 4, Saxony ; 5, Hanover ; 6> Wurtemberg ; 7, Baden ; 8, Hesse-Cassel ; 9, Hesse-Darmstadt ; 10, Schleswig-Hol- stein ; 11, Luxemburg and Limburg ; 12, Brunswick ; 13, Mecklenburg-Schwerin ; 14, Nassau ; 15, Weimar ; 16, Meiningen ; 17, Altenburg; 18, Coburg-Gotha ; 19, Meck- lenburg-Strelitz ; 20, Oldenburg ; 21, Anhalt ; 22, Schwarz- burg-Sondershausen ; 23, Schwarzburg-Ptudolstadt ; 24, Lich- tenstein ; 25, Waldeck ; 26, Eeuss-Greiz ; 27, Eeuss-Schleiz ; 28, Schaumburg-Lippe ; 29, Lippe-Detmold and the four free towms ; 30, Lilbeck ; 31, Prankfort ; 32, Bremen ; and 33, Hamburg. Of these states the 1st is ruled by an emperor ; the 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th, by kings ; the 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 19th, and 20th, by grand-dukes ; the 8th by an elector ; the 10th is in an exceptional position ; the 12th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 21st, are ruled by dukes ; from the 22d up to the 29th inclusive, the rulers are princes ; and the four others are small republics. The executive power of the Confederation, and its legis- lative power, in so far as any such exists, are vested in the body which is popularly called the Diet (Bundes-Versamm- lung), so styled from dies, as meeting from day to day. That name, however, although accurately applied to the old assembly of the empire, has no such fitness when applied to the existing directory of the Confederation. This directory appears in two * This potentate has now become Grossherzog von Hessen imd bei Ehein uud Souveraner Laudgraf zu Homburg ! 268 THE GERMANS IC DIET. forms — 1, as a Plenum, or extraordinary convention ; 2, as a committee (Engere Eath, or Conseil Eestreint). In tlie former of these assemblies each of the thirty-three states has at least one vote, while Austria and the kingdoms have four ; Baden, the two Hesses, Luxemburg and Limburg, each, three ; Bruns- wick, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and ISTassau, each, two. In the smaller assembly all the estates which have three or four voices in the larger, have one ; while all the rest have only fractions of a voice, being classed together for this purpose in " curie," or colleges, whence the distinction between virile and curial voices. The sixteenth college is composed of no less than six small states; those namely, which are marked above from 24 to 29 in- clusive. As a general rule, all matters not specially withdrawn by the Federal and Final Acts from the control of the Engere Eath are decided by it, and by a simple majority. In the Plenum, on the other hand, a majority of two-thirds at least is always necessary. To the Plenum are referred — 1. Questions about changes in fundamental laws ; 2. Questions about changes in organic institutions ; 3. Proposals as to the admission of new members ; 4. Affairs of religion. No discussion takes place in the Plenum ; but in the Engere Eath every subject may be fully discussed. When it is proposed to change a funda- mental law, a unanimous vote must be first taken in the Plenum in favour of entertaining the question, after which the details are worked out in the Engere Eath. Decisions about the admission of a new member also require unanimity. It is obvious that in the larger assembly the influence of the smaller states is much greater than in the other. Everything which is within the purview of the Federal and Final Acts is within the competence of the Diet. For greater clearness m e may give the following summary : — 1. It THE CONFEDERATION AS IT IS. 269 watches over the international relations of Germany, the maintenance of internal peace, and of all the fundamental laws which regulate the existence of the Confederation. 2. It settles all quarrels between members of the Confederation, either by mediation or by a complicated judicial process, known as un jugemcnt cmstregal, from Austrag, a decision (a subject on which a perfect literature has accumulated in half- a-century). 3. To it belongs the settlement of disputes be- tween sovereigns and their subjects, when all constitutional methods have failed. (We need hardly say that this power has been frequently abused.) 4 The duty of taking care that each state in the Confederation should have, in accordance with the Federal Act, a " Landstandische Verfassung," was originally imposed upon the Diet, and it was also directed to provide that no constitution once given should be modified except by constitutional means. Further, it was directed to prevent any constitution being so worked as to make it impossible for the state in which it existed to fulfil its Federal obligations. (Here was a field opened for infinite oppression, and under this head the action of the Diet has always been very unsatis- factory.) 5. The Diet watches over the rights of the medi- atised princes, and of private individuals who may have a locus standi to appeal to it. 6. The Diet receives ambassadors, and has the power of sending them if it pleases. 7. It regu- lates all things relative to the military force of the Confedera- tion. All the resolutions of the Diet which have an executive character, and are taken constitutionally, become at once valid for all purposes. Not so decisions which have a legislative character. These must be first approved by the respective Chambers of the confederated states. 270 THE GERMANIC DIET. The Engere Rath meets every Thursday, but may adjourn for not more than four months after concluding its discussion on any subject. It has no power over its members, who are only responsible to the governments which they represent. A decree of the 8th of March 1860 permitted the publication of its proceedings. Eight committees — permanent or renewable — attend each to some specified department, and report to the Engere Eath on finance, general political affairs, commerce, military matters, the publication of its proceedings, upon the 14tli article of the Federal Act, which relates to the affairs of the medi- atised princes, upon cases which arise for federal execution, and upon petitions. The funds of the Confederation are under two different systems of management, according as they are applicable to mere routine matters — such as the support of the Federal chancery ; or to great enterprises — such as war, and enforcement of Federal authority. The Federal army con- sists of 503,072 men, of which Austria contributes 158,037, Prussia 133,769, and the small states all the rest. Five great fortresses — Landau, Luxemburg, Mayence, Eastadt, and Ulm — are garrisoned by Federal troops. Austria has the largest area in square miles protected by the Confederation and controlled by the Diet, but Prussia has the largest amount of population in the same position : Austria having 75,822 square miles to 71,698 of Prussia, and Prussia having 14,138,804 inhabitants to 12,802,944 of Austria, according to the census of 1861. More than twenty- two millions of Austrian subjects are not under the protec- tion of the Confederation, which extends only to the arch- duchy of Austria, Bohemia, Styria, T}to1, Moravia, and part of Illyria ; whereas little more than four millions of Prussians THE CONFEDEEATION AS IT IS. 27l are beyond its limits. 6,860,000 Austrians protected by the Confederation are not Germans, and 825,000 Prussians. Lichtenstein, with 64 square miles, is the smallest of the sovereign states ; and Frankfort, with 43 square miles of territory, is the least considerable in extent of the free cities ; its population is, however, much larger than that of Lubeck, which rules over a district nearly three times as large.* * A few words as to the political life of some of tlie German States, con- sidered not in tlieir corporate but in their individual capacity, may not be out of place here. The ];)ati'onage bestowed upon artists by King Louis of Bavaria has diverted attention from the narrow-minded and bigoted character of his rule. No similar consideration detracts from the credit due to the efforts of his son to collect round him men of letters and enlightenment. Possessed of good but not brilliant abilities, he played no remarkable role in Germany; but he steadily carried out what he thought right, and kept faith with his people. The character of the present king is probably stillnmmature, and is criticised in the most opposite ways. The kingdom to which he has succeeded is the only member of the Germanic Confederation — except the leviathans of the south and north — which could ever do more than dream of playing an independent part. Internally, it is fairly prosperous and contented ; and the Bavarian has rather to complain of a teazing care for his welfare on the part of the government than of any intentional oppression. In the last three chapters of Mr. Wilberforce's Social Life in Munich will be found a clear account of the infinite leading-strings which shackle him, more especially of the restraints on marriage and upon trade, both of which produce the most disastrous results, "Wurtemberg lost in her late sovereign a man who, if he had been the prime minister of a large state, not the king of a small one, would have left in all probability a great name to history ; but the chief importance of this part of Germany, in our generation, has been theological rather than political. The university of Tiibingen was the university of Strauss, the publication of ■whose Lehen Jesu in 1832 is the epoch with which the history of recent theological movements in Germany commences. Here, too, a few years ago, died F. C. Baur, whose scholars, scattered over all German-reading countries, have given to the Tiibingen school so great a renown. Saxony has fallen from her high estate, and her capital is now far more remarkable for its collections of art than for its political significance or the resort to it of learned men ; but the industrial life of some Saxon districts 272 THE GERMANIC DIET. Among the seventeen plenipotentiaries who form the ordinary council of the Bund, there is only at this moment one man of very great eminence. He is the representative of is unusually active, and trade has been freed \^itllin the last five years from many antiquated shackles. The accident of the royal family being attached to a very rigid school of Catholicism is an iinfortunate circumstance, but has had more influence upon the foreign than the internal politics of the country. The king is a highly-cultivated man, has translated the Divina Commedia, and is, strange to say, a very excellent jurist. A natural distrust of Prussia, and perhaps the personal ambition of M. von Beust, has made the Saxon government very active in trying to raise up a third power in Germany ; and during the Schleswig-Holstein controversy these same influences — aided, it is said, by the personal convictions of the king — have had the good efl"ect of keeping this little state thoroughly true to the German, as distinguished from the Austrian or Prussian, view of the question. The Hanoverian government has adhered with but too much persistence to the evil course which was given to its politics by our own notorious Duke of Cumberland. Obliged to yield for a time to popular demands in 1848, it felt itself strong enough to make a long step backward in 1855 ; and although the king is not personally unpopular, his advisers have rarely shared his good fortune. In 1862 the attempt to substitute a catechism strongly tinged with neo-Lutheran views, in the place of the comparatively reasonable one which had been in use for some seventy years, brought about disturbances which might easily have taken a serious turn ; and it is characteristic of the state of chronic opposition in which the bulk of the population lives, that the idea of the National Verein should have been first developed in the brain of the leader of the Liberal party in Hanover, M. von Bennigsen. The peaceful laisser faire of Brunswick contrasts advantageously with the efforts which are made by antiquated parties in the neighbouring states to maintain a power which events have undermined. Both here and in Olden- burg the rulers are decidedly popular ; and in those two districts, as well as in Weimar and Coburg-Gotha, the year of revolutions was followed by no re- action. The Grand-duchy of "Weimar, containing only about 270,000 inhabitants, and not quite so large as Sussex, has attracted to itself a greater amount of attention than many much larger countries. AVhat is still better, it contrives to be extremely happy. The present ruler is a grandson of Karl August, and has inherited much of his love for art, and other good qualities. In the pre- sent circumstances of Germany it would be impossible even if any Gothes or Schillers were to be found, to connect them with a small court after the fashion of the great days of "Weimar. The pleasant little town, however, has been ROBERT VOX MOHL. 273 Baden, Eobert von Mohl, one of that family of distingnished brothers, amongst whom M. Jules Mohl, the professor of Per- sian at the College de France, is probably the best known in chosen as a place of residence by several men of letters and painters of some distinction. Nowhere has the practical morality which was inculcated by Rohr and his school produced better results than amongst the poor but honest population of the Grand-duchy, and in no country have the principles of re- ligious toleration been better carried out. The Grand-duke of Hesse-Darmstadt has thrown his influence very deci- dedly into the scale of the Middle State policy, a proceeding which is natural enough on his part, but has by no means tended to increase the popularity of his family, which has been at various times involved in disagreeable discus- sions with the representatives of the people about the Civil List. Hesse- Darmstadt, though by no means a model state, shows to gi*eat advantage by the side of Electoral Hesse, where for two generations the ruled and the rulers have been in a state of war. Their cjuarrel, which from time to time has seemed on the point of setting all Germany in a blaze, has made itself but little talked of since 1862 ; but when so wayward a personage as the Elector Frederick "William is in the case we shall never be surprised at hearing that it has broken out again with more violence than ever. It is gratifying to turn from Hesse-Cassel to a country in every respect^ its antithesis — to the Grand-duchy of Baden, which, under the rule of an enlightened prince, may fairly be said to lead the Liberal movement in Ger- many. "Whether we look at its constitution, at its ecclesiastical condition, or at the line which it takes in the affairs of the Confederation, we shall see much that is satisfactory. Post lucem tenehrce. — The two Mecklenburgs, ruled by sovereigns of Scla- vonic race, of which Mecklenburg-Schwerin is about five times larger than the other, although the titles of their rulers are the same, are the most backward states of the Confederation. There are no disti'icts in which the life of Germany, as Germany was before the Napoleonic wars, could be better studied. The Grand-duke of Oldenburg rules over three small patches of territory : Oldenburg proper, the principality of Liibeck, and Birkenfeld. The former lies between Hanover and Holland, and is a flat unlovely strip cut out of the great northern plain, very similar in character to the adjoining province of Friesland. The second is surrounded by Holstein, and the third lies in the hilly region along the Nahe, on the left bank of the Rhine ; Oberstein, so famous for its agate-cutting, is the best known spot in it. The Grand-duke is a man of high cultivation and good abilities. Up to 1848, his territories were under one of the least liberal governments in Germany ; but the reverse is now the case. He is nearly connected with the imperial family of Russia, and T 274 THE GERMANIC DIET. England. The other two, Hugo and Moritz, have made them- selves famous, the one as a microscopic botanist, and the other as a very active member of the parliament of Wurtemberg. has been accused of being too friendly to the European policy of his powerful relatives. The dukedom of Anhalt-Dessau, which has now swallowed up its kindred dukedoms of Zerbst, Cothen, and Bernburg, is remarkable chiefly for its fertility. The revolutionary shock of 1848 was felt here with unusual inten- sity, and the reaction was proportionably greater than in most parts of Germany. Hence the reigning house is very far from popular. The two small principalities of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and Schwarz- burg-Kudolstadt divide unequally between them the highland district called the *' Upper County," amid the Thuringian hills, and the "Lower County," which lies considerably to the north of the other, within the edge of the great northern plain. The former contains 318, and the latter about 340 square miles, Lichtenstein is situated on the left bank of the Khine, between Switzerland and the T3nrol, Its capital is the little town of Vaduz, over which rises the old castle, which is the " Stammhaus " of its princes. The ruler of Lichten- stein, although the least of sovereigns, now that Kniphausen is merged in Oldenburg, is one of the greatest of nobles, possessing estates in Austria thirty-four times larger than his principality. He draws no revenue from Lichtenstein, and the only grievance of which his subjects have recently com- plained is his absenteeism. Even this is now remedied, for he has agreed to spend a portion of every year at Vaduz. "Waldeck contains in all 466 square miles, of which 32 belong to Pyrmont, and the rest to Waldeck proper. The latter, a picturesque and hilly country, lies out of the path of tourists, and is very rarely visited, although not far from the town of Cassel, which is upon one of the great lines of communication. The well-known mineral springs, and the usual attractions of a watering-place, make Pyrmont, which is separated from Waldeck proper, and considerably to the north of it, much better known. The reigning prince, George Victor, was born in 1831, and came to the throne, after a long minority, in 1852. This small country has given in very recent years three names to Germany, without which her contemporary annals would be much poorer. These are Ranch the sculptor, Kaulbach the painter, and Bunsen, to whom not Prussia only, but also England, owes so much. Since 1848 the system of government in every department has been remodelled, and although great questions — such as one about the price of firewood — sometimes shake it to its centre, and call forth the sternest patriotic resistance in its parliament ROBERT VOX MOIIL. 275 Eobert von Mohl was born in 1799. He studied at Tubingen, and was afterwards professor of political science in that uni- versity. He w^as then for some time a member of the Cham- of fifteen members, it must be pronounced to be one of the best governed por- tions of the Fatherland ; and it will be a happy day for the Prussians when they enjoy la liherte comme en WaldccJc. It appears, indeed, to suffer under no evils except those which are necessarily incidental to so tiny a state — Aaz. a superabundance of public functionaries and a superfluity of public establish- ments — the former badly paid, and the latter poorly kept up. Then there is, of course, an absence of all object for ambition — a want of many institutions for w^hich large means are indispensable, and a relaxed, sleepy mode of life. "Wliat we say of the evils of Waldeck holds equally true of all the German states below those of the second rank, if indeed we might not include those of the second rank also. The elder or Greitz branch of the ancient house of Eeuss niles over a terri- tory which is smaller than the county of Eutland ; but the younger or Schleitz branch has succeeded to the possessions of the now extinct lines of Gera, Lobenstein, and Ebersdorf, and possesses a district more than three times as large as its rival. The scattered patches which belong to them lie partly in the Thuringian uplands, partly in the Erzgebirge and the richer lowlands of Saxony. The family custom of calling each succeeding head of the house by the name of Henry, and distinguishing him by some number between one and a hundred, is well known. The present sovereign of Eeuss-Greitz is Henry XXII. , and of Eeuss-Schleitz, Henry LXVII. The elder branch counts up to one hundred ; the younger begins a new reckoning with the century. The little principality of Lippe-Detmold lies close to PjTmont, and is about the size of "Waldeck. It contains about 445 square miles ; or, in other words, is about three times the size of the Isle of "Wight. It is a rugged and much-wooded country, and is sav^ed from insignificance by the fact that it witnessed that famous defeat of the Eomans under Yarns, which Arnold, per- haps not unjustly, considered to be one of the turning-points of history. A statue of Arminius, the Hermann of the Germans, has been erected at Det- mold, the town which is the residence of the prince. Schaumburg-Lippe, which is close to the other, is not quite half so large, and in every way unimportant. The fate of Schleswig-Holstein still trembles in the balance ; nor can we consider, in the face of the opposition of the Prussian Lower House, that the statijbs of Lauenburg is definitely settled. Luxemburg and Limburg belong to the king of the Netherlands. The old Orand-duchy of Luxemburg, which was part of the possessions of the House of Austria, in the Low Countries, was joined to the Germanic Confederation at 2*76 THE GERMANIC DIET. ber, but in 1847 was called as professor to Heidelberg. He took a conspicuous part in the proceedings of the Vorparla- ment, was closely associated with the policy of Heinrich von Gagern through the eventful years of 1848 and 1849, and is a partisan of the Prussian or Klein-deutsche theory of German reconstruction. This article would be even more incomplete than the diffi- culty of compressing so large a subject into narrow limits renders almost necessary, if we were not to give a brief account of the various plans which have recently been sug- gested for the reconstruction of the Germanic Confederation. The present system has been condemned by all parties. Its extreme complication, the opportunities for obstruction which it affords, and the fact, that as long as it exists Germany can never really take its place as a great power beside France and England, irritate beyond all bearing a people which, Satisfied with its achievements in literature and science, is passionately desirous of political renown. The years which immediately succeeded the revolutionary period of 1848, 1849, and 1850, were marked in Germany rather by the successful prosecution of industrial enterprises than by political combinations. The reaction had triumphed the Congress of Vienna, but nearly the whole of it revolted in 1830 ; and it was only in 1839, after the Dutch had made up their minds to accept the basis of the treaty of the Twenty-four Articles, that about half the country was handed back to its old allegiance. So violent was the feeling in Belgium at this time that M. Gendebien, in voting against the surrender, said: "No! 380, 000 'times No! for the 380,000 Belgians whom you are sacrificing to fear," and resigned his seat then and there. That Avas one side of the ques- tion, but on the other the king of Holland thought that half Luxemburg was a poor exchange to offer to the Germanic Confederation for the whole of it, so he added Limburg, which became thus, de jure, Federal territory. It has never, however, become so dc facto ; and thus, perhaps, room is left open for a querelle Allcmande on some future day. PLANS OF REFOKM. 277 ill Prussia, and it soon became clear that nothing could be done so long as Frederick William IV. dragged on his un- happy life. The commencement of the reign of his successor brought some glimmerings of hope, soon to be overcast ; but, on the whole, things went on at Frankfort very much in the old way imtil the Italian war of 1859. jSTo sooner had it broken out than all Germany went mad with fear of France, and the results were similar to those which were observed in 1813, 1840, and 1848. A violent desire for German union became once more developed. In some parts of the country the people would have hailed with delight a declaration of war, and were quite ready to subscribe to the marvellous doctrine that the Mincio is the true frontier of Germany. In Bavaria, more especially, the warlike excitement was intense. In Prussia and the north, although there was a strong war party, the passions of the nation were, so to speak, driven in- ward, and the result was the formation of the great society called the National Verein, which adopts the ideas which found favour at Frankfort and Gotha ten years before. To this same impulse from without was owing, in a great measure, as we have seen in the previous article, the renewed activity of the democratic party at Berlin. The most conspicuous names which are connected with the National Verein are those of politicians who belong to the Fortschritt section in the Prussian Chamber. We should per- haps make an exception in favour of one remarkable man, who seemed inclined for a time to cast in his lot with that « section, and may very probably do so again. We allude of course to the brother of the late Prince Consort. The names of the twin duchies of Coburg and Gotha are more familiar to En<^lish readers than those of most of the small states of 278 THE GERMANIC DIET. Germany, and will one day probably be even better known than tbey are now, as Prince Alfred is heir-presumptive to both of them. The two together are but little larger than Worcestershire, and have a population of about 160,000 ; nevertheless, they are governed by separate Chambers, which, however, combine for the transaction of common affairs every second year. The duke resides part of the year in each, but his establishment in Coburg is the more important of the two which he maintains. His relations to his subjects have not always been of the happiest, owing rather to the old-w^orld notions of the ruled than to the shortcomings of the ruler. Few stranger political pamphlets have appeared in recent years than that which, under the title of Der Herzog von Cdbiirg-Gotha tend sei7i VolJc, was put forth in 1861 by Ernest II. Amongst all the minor princes of Germany, he is the most conspicuous figure ; his character presents a striking con- trast to that of his brother — the one is as impetuous as the other was prudent. He has been well described by one of his intimate friends as a Husaren-Natur, and he was in some sort for a brief period the leader of the Liberal party in Germany. Within the last few years his politics have been Prussian, Austrian, and Middle State ; so that, thanks rather to circumstances than to any change of ultimate aim on his own part, he has boxed the compass of opinion upon the affairs of the Fatherland. His range of accomplishments and information is very great, and his position as head of that fortunate family which has arrived at such great destinies in Portugal, Belgium, and England, has mixed him up with the grande politique to a very great extent. His life, passed under the shadow of his ancestral fortress, which rises over Coburg, or in his cheerful capital on the other side of the Thuringian PLANS OF REFOKM. 279 range, varied by frequent journeys, and enlivened by a con- stant stream of society, is about as pleasant as the life of a potentate without real power can be ; yet he obviously thirsts for a larger, if less dignified, sphere of action, and incarnates the vain longing for more real national life, which is felt by the subjects of all the dukelets and princelets within the limits of the Confederation. The most important official steps which have been taken for the reform of the Confederation since 1859 have been : — 1. The proposals of the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, in 1860, for a personal interview of the sovereigns, with the view to arrange the establishment of a directory of three, in which one member, elected by the smaller states, should sit by the side of the representatives of Austria and Prussia. 2. The declaration of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1861, made formally in the Diet, that if the monarchical principle was not to be sacrificed, German unity could only be brought about by an individual will, resting on a general representation of the German people. 3. The proposal of M. de Beust, the Saxon minister, in October and November 1861, the chief features of which were the retention of the Engere Bath as it now stands, but with the proviso that it should sit one month in the year in North Germany, under the presidency of Prussia, and one month in the year in South Germany, under the presidency of Austria ; that in the intervals the affairs of the Confederation should be managed by a directory of three, on the Meiningen plan ; and that from time to time the Engere Path should be assisted by an assembly of 128 delegates, selected from the several German Parliaments. 4. The proposal of M. Bernstorff, in the name of Prussia, 280 THE GERMANIC DIET. which had in view the creation of a smaller Prussian Con- federation within the great Confederation, of which Austria formed part. 5. The project brought before the assembled princes of Frankfort, in the month of August 1863, by the great Kaiser himself He proposed that Germany should henceforth be governed : a. By an executive directory of five — that is, by Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, and two representatives elected by the minor states ; h. By a Federal Council, which was to consist of twenty-one representatives, and which was to have very considerable powers ; c. By a Chamber composed of the princes, who were to have the right of accepting, rejecting, or modifying all the proposals which were brought before them. cl. A General Assembly of 300, of whom 200 were to be elected by the Lower, and 100 by the Upper Houses of the Confederation. Austria was to send 75 members ; Prussia, 75 ; Bavaria, 27 ; Hanover, Saxony, and Wurtemberg, 15 each ; and the smaller states from 1 to 12 each. The effect of this plan would have been to throw the preponderance into the scale of Austria, and to have formed the princes into a sort of league of mutual assurance against their subjects. Its warmest supporter was the king of Saxony. The first of these projects was overthrown, chiefly by the opposition of Bavaria, because it might well have happened that its sovereign should not have been the third member of the directory. The Duke of Coburg's proposal coincided with the desires of the great mass of the German people, but was eminently distasteful to most of the sovereigns, and was used by his enemies to give colour to the report that he aspired to be emperor of Germany. The idea of Baron Beust was strongly opposed by Prussia and by Baden : while that of Count Berns- / , COUNT BISMAKK'S PROPOSALS. ' / /, 281 torff brought half the Confederation abput nii^ "years, andf > threatened another Olmlitz. Prussia had hefr^^i'eyeng'e'most /" amply in 1863 at Frankfort ; putting, so to sp eat/a i'spoke in/ the wheel of her old enemy with eminent success. ''', V ^ ^ As these sheets are going through the press, we learn that* Count Bismark has proposed to checkmate Austria by calling together at Frankfort a German Parliament elected by uni- versal suffrage. Up to the time at which we write, little favour has been shown to this proposal, a fact which is not to be wondered at when we knoAv that as far back as the 22d of August 1862, it was announced by the Grentzboten, before, it will be observed, Count Bismark had become minister, that one of his plans was to win over the democracy by summon- ing a German Parliament ; to get rid of that German Parlia- ment when it had done as much work for Prussia as Count Bismark desired ; next to reintroduce the absolute regime at Berlin, and to extend it by military demonstrations to all the states which had accepted Prussian hegemony. " Surely in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird." No feasible scheme for the reconstruction of the Con- federation has yet been presented to the world. Are we, therefore, to join in the cry which is so often heard, that Germany is incapable of reasonable political action ? This would, we think, be most unjust. !N'o political sagacity which has ever yet been exhibited in this planet, would be sufficient to bring order out of the chaos of German politics, as long as the throne of Prussia is occupied by a weak or unworthy man. Cavour himself could have done nothing if his lot had been cast in Modena. All the plans which have been suggested have been modi- fications of three ideas. The largest and most imposing (for 282 THE GERMANIC DIET. we leave the idea of Austria's entering the Bund with all her non-Germanic provinces on one side as being utterly out of the question) would be the union in one confederation, like the Swiss Confederation, of all really German lands. That is the Gross-deutsche Idee, far the most striking, most poetical, and least political of all. To it there are two great objections — objections so great that all the smaller ones fall into the shade. First, it is impossible that Prussia should ever consent to subordinate herself to Austria in the way which would be necessary, if this idea were to be carried out. Secondly, such a Germany as would thus be created would have no internal principle of cohesion. The most unobservant traveller can hardly fail to remark the difference of Northern and Southern Germany. The scenery, the vegetation, the climate, the mode of life — every- thing but the language of the middle or upper classes is dissimilar ; and a Bavarian transplanted from Munich to Berlin, or a Suabian banished to Bonn, is very apt to feel like a fish out of water. Hence a vague dislike, which some- times almost passes into antipathy, and does not go for nothing amongst the influences which make a close union of Germany, in its widest sense, nothing better than " a pious wish." Of even greater importance is the difference of religion. There are, of course, wide Protestant districts in Southern Germany, and wide Catholic districts in Northern Germany ; but speaking broadly and generally, the first is distinctly Catholic, and the second as distinctly Protestant. There can be no doubt that the dogmatic decomposition which is going on alike amongst the Lutherans, the Eeformed, and the ad- I GERMAN UNITY. 283 lierents of the old religion, will at some distant period unite the vast majority of those who are now kept asunder by dis- tinctions of creed in attachment to the same ideas ; but the process which is bringing this about is a very slow one, and no political results will flow from it in our days. Nay, for all calculations as to the near future of Germany, it is more needful to regard the tendencies which are adverse to this tendency towards unity. The philosopher may think of the bigotry of Maintz, and its allied phenomena, as mere back-waters which tell nothing about the set' of the main current, but to the politician they are of great moment. During the last few years the distinctions between Catholics and Protestants have been drawn sharper in many districts, and men never meet each other, whose fathers were accustomed to live together in the same clubs altogether oblivious of con- fessional differences * Next come plans, founded on the so-called Trias-Id^e, which contemplate the reform of the Confederation by raising up a third power out of the middle states to balance Austria and Prussia. Against these we think that the same objections may be brought which are urged against the * To those wlio wisli to know as much of the history of modern theological movements in Protestant Germany as is necessary to a clear understanding of Prussian and German politics, we recommend with gi-eat confidence the last edition of the GescMclite cler Neuesteii Theologie, by Dr. Carl Schwartz, Court preacher at Gotha. We say emphatically the last edition, because, in the interval between the publication of the second in 1856 and the thii'd in 1864, the whole aspect of Germany altered. The reaction had done its worst, and the tide of liberal opinion flowed again. Much valuable information upon Catholic as well as Protestant aflairs in the most recent times is also to be found in the fifth volume of F. C. Baur's Church History, but we cannot say that it is conveyed to the reader in so agreeable a manner. Dr. Schwartz is one of the best prose writers in Ger- man v. 284 THE GERMANIC DIET. present Confederation. We do not see any device by which the real strength of the smaller states could be made equal to that of either of the two German great powers ; and as long as this is so, any such arrangement would want all real guarantees of stability. Last, and least poetical, but most political, is the humbler Klein-deutsche Idee, which merely contemplates something like the " Union" of 1849 around Prussia, a union which it might be hoped would gradually grow closer and closer until the minor princes became merely great German nobles, and all Northern and Central Germany was gradually fused into one country. If this came about in our time, and if Austria became more and more an Ost-Eeich, or Empire of the East, finding her centre of gravity not in Vienna but in Pesth, there is no reason why such a Germany might not attract to itself all German lands ; but that is a mere matter of speculation. Nothing of the sort could now be brought about except by force, and Prussia has nothing like the force necessary to bring it about, to say nothing of other difficulties which we have pointed out elsewhere. If a war were to break out now between Austria and her, the very best that could happen would be that at the end we might see, by evil and violent means, some such a fusion of Northern and Central Germany in Prussia, or of Prussia in Northern and Central Germany, as can, we believe, be arrived at by patience and fair means ; but a war would put everything on the hazard of the die, and no information exists anywhere, to enable the acutest statesman to guess when and how such a war would end ; because, even if we knew with the utmost accuracy the exact distribu- tion of forces in Germany, no one can form even a guess GERMAN UNITY. 285 as to the views and intentions of more than one non-German power. The problem of German unity would be sufficiently difficult, if, in order to solve it, . it were only necessary to compel the wavering wills of the people, and to break the obstinate wills of some of the sovereigns. Even for this a revolutionary period is a necessary condition. There are, however, other influences to be taken into consideration, and above all the opposition of France. It is perfectly natural that no French statesman of any political party should par- ticularly approve the creation of a vast new power beyond the Ehine, more especially as that new power, although for the most part pacifically inclined, would be uncomfortably desirous to rectify its frontiers. One thing, however, is certain, and that is, that German unity has no terrors for this country. We may not be very enthusiastic for it; we may feel to the full what Montalembert has so well insisted on — the superiority of small and happy little states, like Weimar, to a few centralised despotisms ; we may ac- knowledge all that Pai'ticularismus has done for mankind — the vast intellectual treasures which have been accumulated in the universities of Germany^ the works of genius which have been produced under the enlightened patronage of her too-much-reviled princes : — Still the Germans know what is best for themselves ; their hearts are set upon more real political life, and the hopes of nations, "like all strongest hopes," generally fulfil themselves. How they will be fulfilled no one can venture to prophesy ; but the most favourable conditions for their fulfilment would, as it appears to us, be the coincidence of some sudden agita- tion, like that of 1859, with the occupation of the Prussian 286 THE GERMANIC DIET. throne by a thoroughly constitutional, English-minded ruler, who, not desiring to injure his small brother-potentates more than was necessary, nevertheless fully recognised the truth that kings and princes exist only for their people. All beyond this must, we think, be little better than guess-work. Very striking are the words with which Eadowitz, speaking in the character of Waldheim, closes the second series of his Con- mrsations : — " What, you get angry at an idea which others only find silly ! My dear old friend, as once at the turning-point of the world's history it befel the everlasting verity that some thought it foolishness and others a stumbling-block, so it is now with an earthly verity. That the German nation should desire to rise out of its confusion and abasement to a true corporate existence ; that by this means, and only by this means, can the revolution be ended ; — this to some is foolishness, and to some a stumbling-block ; but ' fata viam invenient :' farewell — ' the rest is silence.' It is unfortunate that a natural sympathy for the weaker party has combined with much ignorance of the real merits of the question, to create during the last few years in England a very strong feeling in favour of Denmark in her quarrel with Germany. There are many persons in this country at present, who would willingly see Austria and Prussia fall out, to the desolation of half the Continent, merely to gratify their feel- ings, which were wounded so deeply by the events of 1864. We, who have been all along strongly opposed to the conduct of these two states, and partisans of the German, as dis- tinguished from the Austro-Prussian view of the question, may be permitted to remind these unwise friends of Denmark that if our view of the matter had prevailed — if a strong THE SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN IMBROGLIO. 287 pressure had been brought to bear in time upon the Danes, causing them to give up Holstein and Southern Schleswig, and uniting these two districts into a separate state under the much-abused Augustenburg, but in the closest union with Prussia compatible with the rights of their inhabitants — not only would the demands of justice have been fulfilled, but much blood, treasure, and heart-burning would have been saved to Europe. Far from having the slightest vestige of dislike to Den- mark, we have the greatest respect and admiration for that country ; and we only wish that the Tory party here, which took up its cause so eagerly, would advocate some of its in- stitutions. If we suffered ourselves to be guided merely by feeling, we should have been decidedly in favour of leaving everything as it w^as before 1846 ; but feeling has nothing to do with the matter. We are far from denying that a great deal of absurdity has been mixed up with the contests of the rival languages and nationalities in the Cimbric peninsula ; but, after all, who have so good a right to go mad upon the question of nation- alities as those very peoxDle of Holstein, amongst whom was bred the man who first originated the nationality mania — the illustrious, but not, as we venture to think, politically-sagacious Kiebuhr ? The question having been once stirred between Denmark and Germany — legal right being, as we venture to tliink, on the side of Germany, the enormous superiority of material force being also on the side of Germany ; the modern passion for nationality — the desire, as has been said, " that those who re- semhle should assemhle,'' pointing to a division of Schleswig into two parts — we cannot understand why all statesmen 288 THE GERMANIC DIET. who were biassed neither by Eider-Dane nor Schleswig- Hol stein sympathies should not have combined to force upon both parties a solution so conformable to common-sense. However this may be, the results of the Schleswig-Holstein war have left England and Germany, who ought to be united in the bonds of the closest friendship, somewhat estranged from each other. All this, however, is merely temporary. Increased knowledge of each other's language, and increased personal intercourse, must continue to draw closer and closer two countries whose interests can never clash, and who are peculiarly fitted to act and react upon each other with infinite advantage to the development of each. tJ&il CHAPTEE VI. HOLLAND. Ten hours' sail from the mouth of the Thames lies a long low line of coast — *'a bare strand of hillocks, heaped from ever-shifting sand." These— more desolate than the Lido, and beat by a wilder sea than the Adriatic — are the famous Dunes of Holland. Behind them stretches to the frontier of Germany on the east, to the hills which border the upper and middle valleys of the Mouse, upon the south-east and south, a country which is one of the least inviting and most remarkable on the globe. It comprises the whole of what we now call Holland, and the northern or Flemish part of Belgium. "The ocean there," says a Eoman author, "pours in its vast tides twice every day, and makes it a matter of uncer- tainty whether the country is to be considered a part of the land or of the sea. The miserable inhabitants establish them- selves upon such slightly-raised pieces of ground as they can find, or in huts built upon piles, so as to be out of the reach of the highest tides. When the waters advance, they look like navigators at sea ; when these recede they seem as if they were shipwrecked. And yet," he goes on a little later to tell us, " these people, if they fall under the dominion of Eome, com- plain of their hard fate, and speak of being reduced to servitude." Could Pliny revisit now the country which he thus de- scribed, he would see strange changes. The wretched huts u 290 HOLLAND. of which he speaks have grown into stately houses, and mul- tiplied into great cities. An immense network of canals connects the most remote villages with the centres of trade and civilisation ; huge dykes prevent the overflowing of the rivers ; others, even more gigantic, keep out the sea. Nowhere has labour encountered such difficulties, and nowhere has it ob- tained such triumphs ; lakes have been turned into rich pasture- fields, and wastes of sand have become provinces of gardens. The children of those miserable fishermen who starved upon their mud-banks, but clung nevertheless to their un- happy independence, have earned themselves a name which history will not willingly let die. They have fought, not un- successfully, with three great empires — they have won and lost wide possessions from which they are separated by half the world — they have sailed far into the Arctic Sea — they have colonised Southern Africa — they have opened a com- merce with Japan and the islands of the Indian Ocean. They have numbered amongst them, scholars and jurists, statesmen and warriors, theologians and philosophers. They have filled their country with works of art — pictures and painted glass, noble organs and noble churches. But Holland has quite another side. Indeed Europe has been laughing at the Dutch for the last three centuries. One English writer says — " They built their watery Babel far more high To reach the sea, than those to scale the sky ; Yet still his claim the injured ocean laid, And oft at leapfrog o'er their steeples played ; The fish ofttimes the burgher dispossessed, And sat not as a meat, but as a guest." Another tells us — " In Holland the laws of nature seem to be reversed ; the i BOOKS ON HOLLAND. 291 sea is higher than the land ; the lowest ground in the coiuitr}^ is 24 feet below highest water-mark, and v/hen the tide is driven high by the wind, 30 feet ! In no other country do the keels of the ships float above the chimneys of the houses, and nowhere else does the frog croaking from among the bul- rushes look down upon the swallow on the house-top." These and similar jests, duly reproduced by Murray, remain in our memories, and are not wholly without their influence on our mental attitude when we enter Holland. We go thither expecting to find the quaint and unusual, and we are apt to come away after we have run through the usual list of sights and oddities without discovering that there is anything worthy of our attention in the social or political life of the people. That is perhaps one of the reasons why there are so few links of connection between Dutch and English society. Let any one, after a long experience of London, count up how many Dutchmen unconnected with the diplomatic service he has met here, and the number, we suspect, will not be very great. Our countrymen, again, after a glance at the canals and the pictures, hurry on to Ger- many and the Ehine, disgusted with the badness of the hotels, the expense of living, and the harshness of the language. Till lately, there have been no good books about Holland in any of the widely-read languages of Europe. Now, how- ever, there are two, from either of which a great deal is to be learned. The first of these is La Neerlande et la Vie Holland- aise, by that same M. Alphonse Esquiros who has done so much to make England better understood in France. It con- sists of only two small volumes, is most agreeably written, and in every respect to be recommended. The second is a somewhat larger work, entitled Die Nicderlande, Hire Vergan^ genheit imd Gegemoart, by Dr. Albert Wild, constructed mainly 292 HOLLAND. on the basis of Esquiros and Baedeker, but with some ad- ditional information derived from personal knowledge. It is a vulgar and unpleasant, but certainly a useful, guide. Referring to these works for a vast amount of miscellaneous information about Holland, and to the agreeable volume recently published by M. Emile de Laveleye upon its agri- culture, which has become of late years so extremely remark- able, we propose to confine ourselves to some observations upon the politics, the ecclesiastical affairs, and the education of the country. The earlier history of Holland has, thanks to the labours of Mr. Motley, become familiar in many English and American households, but of its recent history few of us know anything, and we were not surprised to be told some years ago, by a Dutch gentleman at the Hague, that a person of some position in London had asked him the name of the present stadtholder. The modern life of Holland dates from the French Revo- lution. In 1795, Pichegru entered Amsterdam with his mob of gallant and ragged followers. William V. sailed for Eng- land. The friends of the old order escaped as well as they could over the frontier, and the Batavian Republic was pro- claimed. The constitution of 1*795 lasted till 1801, but was changed in that year, and again in 1805. In 1806 Louis Bonaparte, the father of the present emperor of the French, was made king, and bore rule for four years, not without many rebukes from his domineering brother for his too great attachment to the special interests of the people over whom he had been made satrap. In 1810 a celebrated and charac- teristic proclamation announced the incorporation of Holland with the French empire; but in 1813 "the wheel had come full circle," and the son of the fugitive stadtholder, returning amidst the acclamations of his partizans, once more estab- I RECENT HISTORY OF HOLLAND. 293 lished himself in the possessions of his ancient house, and having received, by the will of united Europe, the fair pro- vinces which lay between them and the French frontier, as- sumed in 1815 the title of King of the United Netherlands. Since that date Dutch history falls into four very well marked divisions. The first extended to 1830, and was entirely occupied by attempts, sometimes judicious, but oftener the reverse, to weld together into one state the countries which we now know as Holland and Belgium. The motto of the second may be said to have been " Perseverance." It extended to the final negotiations with Belgium, and to the accession, in 1840, of the late king, who was so well known in England as Prince of Orange. This period was characterised chiefly by the obstinate determination of the court to recover the territory which had been lost — a determination which was at first seconded by great zeal on the part of the nation, but which, during its later stages, was not looked upon with the same favour by public opinion. The third period extended from 1840 to 1848, and was chiefly occupied by preparations for the great, peaceful, and eminently salutary change which took place in the last-named year. The fourth period has been illustrated by carrying out in every department of national life the maxims which influenced that mighty reform. The reign of the present king falls entirely within the last of our four periods, having commenced on the 17th of March 1849. He has kept faith with his people, and has been re- warded by their loyal attachment — an attachment which Avas much increased some years ago by his courage and self-sac- rifice in one of the great inundations. He married Sophie, the daughter of the late king of Wurtemberg, who, as we have 294 HOLLAND. elsewhere said, would probably, if lie bad been placed in a less brilliant and more really influential position, have left a great name in European liistor}^ The same fate seems to attend his descendants; for if anything shall prevent the present queen of Holland being remembered with the most remarkable of those women who shed a lustre over the great days of French society, it will only be the accident of her royal birth. When the history of this great period comes to be written, one name will be found peculiarly prominent, the name of a personage whose lot it has been to be a great statesman in a small country, in a time which has been singularly prolific of small statesmen in great countries. The fame of M. Thor- becke has reached, we suspect, but few persons amongst us. He was born in the year 1796 at Zwolle — the home of one whose work in the world, though not less noble, was strangely different — the home of Thomas-a-Kempis, once believed to have written, but now more generally thought to have first made widely known to Europe, the Imitation of Christ!^ * ^I. lleiican, in his Etudes cVHistoire Rcligieuse, decides in favour of Ger- sen, abbot of St. Stephen's at Vercelli. The reader will hardly blame us for reminding him of one passage in M. Renan's paper which is worthy to be treasured as a companion picture to Mr. Euskin's Era Angelico or to the St. Jerome in the National Gallery : — " II ne sortit jamais de sa cellule de Verceil. II ne lut d'Aristote que la premiere ligne, omnis homo naturalitcr scire desiderat, et il ferma le livi'8 tout scandalise : * A quoi sert, dit-il, do savoir des choses sur lesquelles nous ne serous point examines au jour du jugement?' (liv. i. ch. ii. iii.) C'est par la qu'il est incomplet, mais c'est par Ih aussi qu'il nous charme. Que je vou- drais etre peintre pour le montrer tel que je le concois, doux et rccueilli, assis en son fauteuil de chene, dans le beau costume des benedictins du Mont-Cassin ! Par le treillis de sa fenetre, on vcrrait le monde revetu d'une teinte d'azur, comme dans les miniatures du XIV® siecle : au premier plan, une campagne parsemee d'arbres legers, a la maniere du Perugin ; a I'horizon, les sommets des Alpes converts de ueige. . . . Ainsi je me le figurais a Verceil meme, en feuilletant les manuscrits maintenant deposes au D&me, et dont plusieurs pcut-etre ont passes par ses mains." M. THORBECKE. 295 M. Thorbecke graduated at Ley den in 1820, then passed two years in Germany, applying himself chiefly to the study of philosophy. When he returned to his own country he found that he was thought not "practical" enough for Holland, and so, for a time, he went back to the land of students, and lectured as "privat-docent" at Giessen and Gottingen. Eventually he was named professor of history, statistics, and political economy at Ghent ; became, in fact, one of those too-liberal Dutchmen whose intrusion into the hallowed seats of supersti- tion was so hateful to the Belgian episcopate, and had so much to do with the revolution. Driven over the frontier by that event, he obtained a chair at Leyden, where he gave lec- tures, first on Eoman and commercial law, and later on the history and constitution of his country. He entered the Chamber in 1844 as deputy for the provincial estates of South Holland. The effect of his vigorous mind and strong politi- cal convictions was soon visible ; and on the 10th of December 1844 he took a leading part in submitting, in common with some other members, a detailed project for the reform of the constitution. The movement, then begun, resulted in the constitution of the 3d of November 1848, by which the Upper House became substantially what the Lower House had been before — a representation of the wealthiest and most highly- taxed portion of the community, while the Lower became a true popular assembly. M. Thorbecke has twice for a considerable period been at the head of affairs, and even when not in the cabinet, as at present, he exercises great influence. If he at all resembles any English statesman, it is the late Sir George Lewis. Perhaps if jNIr. Mill had entered the House of Commons twenty years ago, he might have been the Eoglish 296 HOLLAND. Thorbecke. Perhaps, on the other hand, the forces of evil are still so strong in this country, that no Englishman of our gener- ation, even if he had had all the gifts and more than the oppor- tunities of the illustrious member for Westminster, could have been to England what Thorbecke has been to his native land. Since 1848 not a year has passed without bringing to Hol- land some new good law or wise alteration of an old one. The provincial and communal legislation was presently remodelled according to the spirit of the constitution, and the antiquated state of things in which Old Dutch, French imperial, and post-revolutionary Dutch arrangements struggled for the mastery, was superseded by a system instinct with the modern spirit. Trade soon felt the benefit of the new impulse. The navigation laws fell in 1850, and improvements were rapidly made in taxation and the tariff ; railways were pushed for- ward, a geological survey of the whole country was made, and the judicial system was reorganised. In 1853 a storm suddenly gathered in a clear sky. The Vatican, following up the same policy which led to our Eccle- siastical Titles Bill, converted Holland, which had been hither- to a mission, into a country regularly provided with an episco- pate. This it had, no doubt, a perfect right to do, for in modern Holland the state has nothing to say to the internal arrange- ments of the various churches which it recognises and pa} s. It was not surprising, however, that a people whose history was so deeply coloured by hatred of Kome should have taken alarm at such an exercise of power, and there was nothing about the manner of the proceeding to make the matter of it more palatable. The ministry itself, while it could not take exception to what had been done, was justly provoked by the way in which it was done. M. Thorbecke, however, did not RAPID POLITICAL ADVANCE. 29*7 think himself justified in throwing himself into the first ranks of the agitation against this papal aggression. The tide, never- theless, of popular feeling was too strong for him, and, deserted by the king, he and several of his colleagues left the cabinet. The issue of this agitation — the April movement, as it was called — was a bill regulating the relations of the state and the religious communities, which obtained the support of the more moderate Liberals, and the storm passed by without doing any serious damage to the free institutions of Holland. The terrible inundations of 1855, and the anxieties which a small neutral state not unnaturally felt during the Eussian war, checked for a little the political advance, but did not pre- vent the Dutch manufacturers showing at the Paris exhibi- tion that they had made most remarkable progress in the four years that had elapsed since they contended in London. The next great question that came on for solution was that of primary education, which was settled, we trust finally, in 1857. How it was settled we shall have occasion presently to state. This done, the next subject which was taken in hand by the reformers was that of West Indian slavery, which was soon satisfactorily disposed of by a measure of emancipation. Then the completion of the network of railways became for a time the matter which was uppermost in the public mind ; and now, again, it is the reform of the system under which the Dutch possessions in the Eastern Archipelago are managed, which is the all-absorbing topic of the day. We have said enough to show that, since the great change of 1848, Holland has been adopting one after another all those steps which have made the glory of our own legislation during the last five-and-thirty years. In some of these reforms she 298 HOLLAND. has followed in our wake ; but there are two departments of national life in which, thanks not least to Thorbecke, she is far in advance of ourselves, as of every other European nation. These are — 1. Her ecclesiastical system ; and 2. Her element- ary education. Into both these subjects we must enter at some length. The waters of Dutch theology, which had been violently agitated by the storms of the sixteenth century, congealed in the first quarter of the seventeenth into an orthodoxy as icy as that which about the same time overspread North Ger- many. There was this difference, however : the orthodoxy of Holland was Calvinist, while that of her eastern neighbour was Lutheran. The indigenous form of Protestantism, best represented in the Netherlands by Wessel Gansfoort of Gron- in^en, but which has also left its traces in the life aM writ- ings of the great and of late too-much-decried Erasmus, failed to hold its own against the sterner system which, taking its rise in the northern provinces of France, and counting as its chief apostle the fierce and resolute Calvin, was brought into Holland by the Walloon immigrants, and was eagerly embraced by men who were engaged in a death-struggle with the old religion. It was then not unnatural that the narrow theology of Gomarus should be preferred by the uneducated masses to the doctrines of the more liberal Arminius. In 1610 the fol- lowers of the latter presented their celebrated remonstrance to the States of Holland. In November 1618 the Synod of Dort assembled after years of debate and trouble ; and on the 29th May 1619 it rose, having condemned in toto the Arminian opinions. The unscrupulous Maurice of Nassau, who cared as little for counter-remonstrants as for their opponents, saw clearly that the fanaticism of tlie masses was his best means THEOLOGY IN HOLLA.ND. 299 of combating tlie aristocratic party, which leant to the Ar- minian teaching ; and the judicial murder of Olden-Barneveld, as well as the persecution of Grotius, had his full and entire sanction. Science fled the field, and fanaticism was victorious along the whole line. About the middle of the century the influence of the Cartesian philosophy began to show itseK in the writings of theologians ; and Balthasar Bekker, who died at the age of sixty- four in 1698, maintained in his Enchanted World opinions in some points analogous to those afterwards defended by the famous Semler. It was Cocceius, however, a professor at Leyden, who had the honour to give his name to the Liberal party of his day ; while Voet of Utrecht, his opponent, became the idol of all those who thought that religion was most honoured by a morose exterior and an intolerant spirit. Friends to Greek and Oriental studies, though misled by false principles of exegesis, the Cocceians were, as may readily be guessed, attached to the aristocratic or republican party ; while their enemies, who thought that all truth was summed up in the canons of Dort, and hated biblical criticism as the mother of novelties, relied on the stadtholder and the mob. In 1677 their disputes had become so fierce that the magistrates of Amsterdam were obliged to interfere and to force them to agree to a com- promise, by which each party was to have a right to an equal number of representatives in the city pulpits. This happy device was imitated elsewhere ; and when a third school — that of the Lampians, which may be defined as a reform of the Cocceians — came to add itself to the older factions, it took its place quite naturally by their side, and enjoyed its share of church accommodation. Lampe, who 300 HOLLAND. gave Ms name to this section, was a professor at Utrecht, and died in 1729. Contemporary with him were Vitringa, whose harmonious Frisian name is, we should imagine, more familiar to the present generation than even his work qn Isaiah, but who was really a man of eminence ; and AVitsius, who took for his motto, " In necessariis unitas, in minus necessariis libertas ; in omnibus sapientia et charitas." Through the efforts of such writers as these, the old asperities of Cocceian and Voetian theology were worn down, and practical religion was naturally a gainer. The person who has the credit of having finally laid their differences to sleep was a clergyman of eighty years of age, who bore the, to our ears, appropriately soporific name of Mommers. The work by which he effected this excellent object appeared in 1736. When the violence of debate had calmed, theologians began to devote themselves to studies really more congenial to their profession, although perhaps less exciting than those which had been too long in vogue ; and the names of Venema and of Albert Schultens became famous throughout Pro- testant Christendom. It was not till about 1790 that the Latin language began to yield to the vernacular as a medium for theological exposition — a change which, while it contri- buted to the fame of Dutch writers in their own country, sadly diminished it abroad. The Voltairian ideas never had any great influence in the Netherlands, although even to this day individuals may be found amongst those advanced in years, whose religious notions are of the Ferney type. The writings of the early rationalisers of Germany, and of the Rationalists, properly so called, had a wider influence ; but the tendency which found most favour in the beginning of this century was perhaps that which bears the clumsy but BILDEKDYK. 301 expressive name of rational-supernaturalism, and which, in its Dutch variety, is best represented by the writings of Van der Palm (1762-1838), whose translation of the Bible, with notes and introductions to the several books, has long enjoyed an immense reputation in the Netherlands, and has formed the basis of the religious life of a large portion of the community. The same wave of reaction which brought about the con- versions of r. Schlegel and the Stolbergs, and which showed itself in our own country, first in the religious excesses of Methodism, then in the Clapham school, and at length in the more graceful pietism of the Oxford movement, early extended itself to Holland, and had as its leading champion the poet Bilderdyk. This remarkable man was born in 1756, and was educated for the bar, which, however, lie soon abandoned, in order to devote himself to science and literature. He followed the last stadtholder into exile, and passed some time in England as well as in Germany, but returned to his own country dur- ing the reign of Louis Bonaparte, and was received with much favour. When, however, Napoleon thought proper to put an end to his brother's rule, Bilderdyk lost his pension, and was once more obliged to live by literature. The restoration of the House of Orange was hailed by him with all the eagerness of one who had a personal as well as a political quarrel with France, and he it was who invented, or at least revived, the Orangiolatry which forms so remarkable a feature in the modern ultra-conservatism of Holland. His religious views were in conformity with his political prepossessions, and he used all the resources of his vast knowledge and of his great poetical genius in trying to turn back the current of the times. Bilder- dyk died in 1831, but his work was continued by two remark- 302 HOLLAND. able men — M. da Costa, and M. Groen van Prinsterer. M. da Costa, who died very recently, was the son of a wealthy Portuguese Jew, and was converted to Christianity under the influence of Bilderdyk. The form of our religion which he adopted, or rather constructed for himself, was a very strange one. The present dispensation was only, in his eyes, the church of the Gentiles, and would ultimately give way to a new order of things, in which the chosen people should be re- stored to more than their old pre-eminence. Some of M. da Costa's historical and theological writings have been translated into English, and have no doubt done their part in spreading the wild ideas about the past and future of Israel which pre- vail among certain religious cliques in this country. M. da Costa owed his influence in Holland partly to his poetical power and partly to his undoubted eloquence, the remem- brance of which is cherished by many who detest his ideas, and think but little of his written prose. M. Groen van Prinsterer is a man who, if providence had assigned to him a wider stage, would perhaps have been no less famous than De Maistre. As it is, we dare venture to guess, that of those who will read these lines, not one in ten has ever heard of him. Neither in the English work called Men of the Time^ nor in the German Manner der Zeit, nor in the huge French Dictionnairc des ContemjJorains,* do we find him alluded to. In his own country, however, his name is as much a household word as that of Lord Derby is in England. His enemies usually speak of him as the Stahl of Holland, and to a certain extent they are justified in doing so. That remarkable person was, however, too much of an adventurer. The Bavarian Jew was too oddly out of place as the leader of * His name does not appear even in the new edition of this useful book. M. GROEN VAN PEINSTERER. 303 the squires of the Mark, the teacher and spokesman of the ultra-Lutheran fanatics who chistered round the late kino- of o Prussia, to form a good ^pendant to the Dutch statesman. Shall we be intelligible to our readers if we call him a Stahl- de-Bonald — half-professor and half-cavalier ? If we are not, we must refer them to a pamphlet by M. Groen himself which gives a very full and clear account of the views of the party which he leads and inspires. Le Parti Anti-Revolutionnaire et Confessionel dans VEglise Beformee des Pays-has is an elaborate reply to some strictures passed upon the conduct of the religious and political connec- tion to which M. Groen belongs, by a writer whose point of view was that of M. Yinet. It is divided into three chapters, of which the first explains the character, objects, and tenden- cies of the confessional party, and points out that it is not strictly correct to say that it represents exactly the theolo- gians of Dort ; nay, rather that the influence of modern foreign writers, and of the Methodist movement, which is spoken of in France, Switzerland, and elsewhere, as the Eeveil, have had much to do in shaping its course. In the second chapter he explains at great length what he means by " Ze princi^e anti-revolutionnairer The revolution, he says — " C'est dans sa source et ses resultats, la doctrine qui, lib- rement developpee, detruit I'Eglise et I'Etat, la societe et la famille, produit le desordre sans jamais fonder la liberte ou retablir I'ordre moral, et, en matiere de religion, conduit im- manquablement ses consciencieux adeptes k I'atheisme et au desespoir. Le principe anti-revolutionnaire, c'est le contraire de la revolution ; c'est I'Evangile et I'llistoire qui resistent k I'anarchie, au nom de la religion, du droit, du progres, et de la liberte." 304 HOLLAND. M. Groen's opinions were formed as far back as 1831, in which year he published a sketch of the course of events since 1789. There is nothing very original in his political views. Haller is apparently one of his favourite teachers ; but he has affinities with ^lontalembert, with Guizot, with Burke, and with Mallet du Pan — in so far, at least, as these writers are the enemies of the Eevolution. In one respect his ideas are diametrically opposed to those of the first-named poli- tician, for M. Groen thinks that Catholicism is unable to cope with the tendencies of 1789, and that the churches of the Eeformation have alone that power : — " On parle souvent des analogies de la Eevolution et la Eeforme ; tachons de les resumer. La Eevolution part de la souverainete de I'homme ; la Eeforme de la souverainete de Dieu. L'une fait juger la revelation par la raison ; Tautre soumet la raison aux verites revelees. L'une debride les opinions individuelles ; I'autre amene I'unite de la foi. L'une relache les liens sociaux et jusqu'aux relations domes- tiques ; I'autre les reserre et les sanctifie. Celle-ci triomphe par les martyres, celle-la se maintient par les massacres. L'une sort de I'abime et I'autre descend du ciel." M. Groen is no absolutist : — " Personne n'a mieux que moi desire les realit^s du gouvernement representatif, developpe- ments naturels de la glorieuse histoire de mon pays ;" but he feels towards the Dutch constitution of 1848 as Stahl felt towards the Prussian constitution of 1850, and would gladly change it by all legal means. In the third and concluding chapter of his pamphlet he details the very spirited struggle of himself and his handful of friends against the Liberals and the Liberal Conservatives — efforts which received a heavy blow and great discouragement when, in 1857, the excellent I M. GROEN VAN PRINSTERER. 305 Dutch school law of 1806 was still further amended, and all sectarian influences were banished from the schools supported by the state. M. Groen is not only a very able political leader, and a most eloquent speaker, but a very voluminous and much admired historian. Many think that it would have been well for his fame if when, in 1833, he stepped back for a time from the political scene, he had remained for the rest of his life occupied in the tranquil investigation of past ages. Any one who glances at the notes to Mr. Motley's works, will see under what heavy contributions he has been laid by that popular writer. M. Groen, however, was thinking of the politics of the nineteenth century while he was writing the annals of two hundred years ago, and was trying to undermine the liberalism of the Netherlands, by exalting the party of the House of Orange and decrying the party of the States. The religious and political opinions of this excellent man are not shared in their entirety by any very considerable number of his countrymen. His following is chiefly drawn from two very different strata of society — from a portion of the higher class, and from amongst the uneducated masses. It seems hardly probable that his ideas are destined to be largely repre- sented in the ensuing generation. The theology of one who, like M. Groen, believes that Christianity and the anti-revolutionary principle are identical, is of course of the narrowest description. All the wealth which modern biblical criticism and the enlightened study of ecclesiastical antiquity have brought to the religious inquirer, is to him of no avail. He is a Protestant Christian, not of the nineteenth, but of the sixteenth century, although we have heard it whispered that even he would be judged unsound on X 306 HOLLAND. the question of predestination, if he stood before the bar of Professor Gomarus. Amidst the motley company which poetry, politics, and the influence of the Eeveil have collected under the banners of the past, M. Groen is the most distinguished ; and some very eminent politicians share his religious views. The party is not, however, strong in theologians. M. Oosterzee, who was some years ago transferred from a parochial charge at Eotterdam to a professor's chair at Utrecht, is famous for his eloquence, which gives pleasure even to those who most dissent from the principles which he seeks to en- force ; but he is not remarkable for learning. Professor Doedes, a very erudite biblical critic and expositor, belongs to the extreme left of the party ; and so does M. Beets, the poet and novelist. Separated from the orthodox fraction by a very distinct line of demarcation, but sympathising with it to a considerable extent, are the friends of the late M. Trottet, and of M. Chantepie de la Saussaye. Both these writers have given, in French, an account of their relations to the school of M. Groen van Prinsterer, and of the condition of Protestantism in tlie Netherlands. M. Chantepie de la Saussaye was till recently a pastor attached to the Walloon churches, of which we shall speak hereafter ; but he is now connected with the Dutch Church proper, and is settled at Eotterdam, where his great talents as a preacher make him extremely popular. No one who has sufficient interest in the subject of which we write to care to pursue it beyond the limits of this paper should fail to read his pamphlet — La Crise Beligieuse en Hol- lands (Leyden, 1860). He looks at the situation from the point of view of a disciple of Vinet, which is not ours ; but he expresses himself with great moderation, and puts his ideas be- THE GRONINGEN SCHOOL. 307 fore the reader in a very attractive way. He has not escaped, at the hands of his opponents, the criticism to which the great professor of Lausanne, no less than his followers, is by many considered to have laid himself open — that, viz., of want of clearness. Of the once very important and still much-followed school to which we must next call attention, M. Chantepie de la Saussaye observes : " L'ecole de Groningue a fait son temps. Elle ne fait plus d' adept es. On pent en dire de bien, sans craindre de se voir enrole sous sa banniere." Some people would hardly agree with him, if we may judge by a work which now lies before us — Die Groningtr Theologen, dargestellt, von Dr, P. Hofstede de Groot {cms dcm HolldndiscJien uber- setzt), Gotha, 1863. This brochure, which forms a goodly volume of two hun- dred pages, gives at great length, and with a minuteness and rigour of arrangement which might be called pedantic if it were not so perfectly in place, the fullest possible account of the mental history, the labours, and the aspirations of its author and his associates. Most earnestly, and with obvious sin- cerity, does he disclaim the wish to be the leader of a party or to form a school. Van Heusde, of Utrecht, celebrated as one of the most enthusiastic modern followers of Plato, was the person who, acting first on his pupils at Utrecht, and then indirectly upon a contemporary circle of thoughtful students at Groningen, gave the impulse to the new way of thinking. He did this not only by his Platonic lectures, but also by his constant re- ference to the old history of the Netherlands, to the stirring of religious thought in Wessel Gansfoort, and in the " Bretli- ren of the Common Life." To this was added the influence of 308 HOLLAND. Schleiermaclier and other German writers. C. L. Nitszcli, the father of the well-known ecclesiastic at Berlin, would appear to have arrived, by an independent route, at much the same con- clusion as the Groningen theologians ; and more recently the "mediation" divines of Germany, more especially Ullman, have exercised great influence over them. Of their own number — in addition to Hofstede de Groot — Pareau, Muurling, and Van Oordt, are perhaps the most famous. Their leading and all-pervading idea is that the most important feature of Christianity is the " revelation and education " which, in the words of their apologist and leader, " God has given to us in Jesus Christ, to make us more and more like unto God." This notion of the education of the human race by God recurs in almost every page of Professor Hofstede de Groot's work, and is, of course, not original — nay, is as old as Lessing ; but we are not aware that it has ever before formed the keystone of a whole system of theology. The Groningen doctors deny the equality of the Father and the Son, or, in the words of our author, "Wir halten den Sohn fur den Sohn, nicht aber fur den Bruder Gottes." Again, with regard to the Third Person of the Trinity : " Der Heilige Geist ist uns, der Geist, das Leben, die Wirksamkeit und Kraft Gottes, die von Gott durch Christum der Menschheit mitgetheilt wurde ; " and in opposi- tion to the comparatively modern doctrine which has been widely accepted in Christendom, they attach as much import- ance to the life and teaching as to the death of Christ. They have ever taken a peculiarly active share in the charitable works so characteristic of the Netherlands. Their learning, although obscured by various prepossessions, is respectable for Holland, and would be eminent in England. Above all, their whole way of looking at things is remarkable for its extreme THE SCHOOL OF LEYDEN. 309 amiability and gentleness. The last few pages of Dr. Hofstede de Groot's pamphlet upon the future of the work in store for himself and his followers, are beyond all praise — full of wide sympathy, apostolic fervour, and forgetfulness of self in the advancement of those objects in which all religious men are agreed. An account of the views of the Groningen doctors, in a very agreeable form, will be found in the Pastor of Vliethuizen (Trubner, London), a novel which has been trans- lated into English by M. Marquard, the editor of a Dutch liberal newspaper at the Cape of Good Hope, which does very good work in that colony. We may, it will be seen, characterise the Groningen school, very roughly and generally, as Unitarians, without any of that hardness which has been often attributed to the followers of that sect in this country ; and as mystics, without any of that contempt for learning which has often characterised the mystical writers, as well of Protestant as of Catholic Christen- dom, The doctrines of Groningen, although well calculated to form a bridge between the easy-going biblicalism of Van der Palm, and the system which will satisfy an age which does not shrink from raising questions, were evidently not fitted for a long existence. The reader will not, therefore, be surprised to find that, like the widely different views which began to be current in England about the same date, they have ceased to influence the majority of younger men. We have heard it said that even in Groningen many of the students are more acted upon by other teachers than by those of their own university. The school which is now in the ascendant is more philosophic in its method, more deeply learned, and more ready to break with the forms of the past, while retaining what was good in its spirit. The teachers of the school of 310 HOLLAm). Leyden have had the advantage of the years of theological debate which have taken place in Germany, since the daring private tutor of Tubingen threw his sword into the scale. They have studied not only the destructive process of Strauss, and of those who thought to equal his fame by surpassing his audacity, but have entered into the labours of Baur and his numerous pupils. Last, but not least, between the rise of the school of Groningen and of its successor was interposed that great political change which has given to Holland a lead- ing position amongst free and constitutional states. The head of the school of Leyden is Professor Scholten, a man who may be now about sixty years of age. He has laboured chiefly in the field of dogma, and has attempted to form a system which shall be as strict and logical as the old system of Dort, without in any way shocking the reason or the feelings of enlightened men.* Professor Kuenen, whose domain is exegesis, is an author whose writings are perhaps more adapted to the wants of the English mind at the present conjuncture, f Professor Ptawenhoff, who is still a very young man, and teaches ecclesiastical history, is also likely to sustain the credit of the school of Leyden, and the other actmg professor. Dr. Prins, holds similar views. The aged Van Hengel, now " Emeritus," was famous in his day for his labours on the text and grammar of the New Testament ; and stiU, on the extreme verge of life, is full of encouragement to those of the younger generation who are serving the cause of sound learning and true religion with other arms. The whole faculty of theology, in * Professor Scliolten's History of Ecligion and Philosoj^hy has been trans- lated into French, and published by Treuttel and "Wurtz of Strasburg. + The whole of Professor Kuenen's great work on the Old Testament has now (18CG) been translated into French, and a part of it has appeared in English. THE "MODERN THEOLOGY." 311 sliort, in the noble and ancient university, wliicli is perhaps the grandest memorial of the rise of the liepublic and the overthrow of the Eoman Church in the Netherlands, is thoroughly pervaded with the liberal spirit, and sends the " fresh blood from it year by year," into the remotest districts of the country, even into those sleepy and old-world corners which are described in the novel lately translated, called The Manse of Mastland, The theologians of Leyden hardly form the extreme left of the Dutch Church. Beyond them is ranged a group of men who are ordinarily spoken of as the followers of the '' modern theology ;" but the distinction is not very clear, and perhaps something too much has been made of it. It is against the dogmatic theology of Professor Scholten that the movement may be considered as directed, but the amount of agreement is, after all, very much greater than the amount of divergence. This ''modern theology" counts its most distinguished champions in the ranks of the Walloon churches. These communities, which are to be found in all the principal cities of Holland, form one of the most interesting portions of the Dutch Church. They date from the end of the sixteenth century — from the days of William the Silent, and of his friend Marnix de St. Aldegonde, who carried that restless energy which is immortalised in his famous motto, " Eepos ailleurs,'' as well into the theological and literary, as into the military and political arena. In 1685 they were largely reinforced from France by the refugees who left that country when the edict of Nantes was revoked. To this day they have their own synod and manage their internal affairs, although they have the same confession of faith as the much larger division of the church 312 HOLLAND. wliicli carries on public worship in Dutch, and they take part in the general synod. The service in the Walloon churches has many points of resemblance with that which is usual amongst French Protestants. • They have always been remarkable for the excellence of their preachers ; and the names of Jurieu, Saurin, and Basnage will not be strange to any eye. These Walloon churches form the principal link between the Protestants of France and those of the Netherlands. In the year 1855 the commission which regulates their affairs put forth a report upon the state of their own body and of Dutch Protestantism generally, which is a perfect model of good sense, moderation, and christian charity, and which we most strongly recommend. Its full title is, Expose liistorique de Vetat cle Veglise reformat des Pays Bas, joour Stre presente de la part de la Reunion Wallonne aux Eglises reformhs etrangeres, spicialement aux Eglises de la Finance et de la Suisse Fran^aise, This admirable paper is perhaps rather too long for the general reader, and might possibly escape the atten- tion of those whose interest in the subject had not been already excited. It was then a fortunate circumstance for the Protestants of the Netherlands that, thanks to the organisation of the Walloon churches, they chanced to num- ber in their ranks a Frenchman whose general literary ability was such as to entitle him to become connected with the Eevue des Deux Moiides, and through it to speak in their name to all educated Europe. The appearance of M. Albert Eeville's article in 1860, upon La TMologie Contemporaine en Hollande, revealed to many the existence of a powerful liberal movement in the Dutch Church, and gratified to a certain extent the curiosity which had been excited in others by the brief notices of Dutch ecclesiastical affairs in those charm- / M. E^VILLE. ,/ ^ A. 315'. ing volumes of M. Esquiros which we have already men- -/ / ^ tioued. ^ / 'A' ^i M. Eeville was born at Dieppe, and was brought u;^bv ' his father, who shared the moderate opinions which were s6- ^ ■ common among French Protestants before the Beveil His. -<^ progress, however, to a clearer and higher view of theology was brought-about chiefly by German influences. Although he is for the present established in Holland, he keeps his eye stedfastly fixed upon France, and labours, by his numerous writings, to awaken in that country an interest in biblical studies and in religious thought. His chief organs of com- munication with the public are the Bevue de Strasbourg, which is edited by Colani, and ought to be better known in this country, and, as we have already seen, the Revue des Deux Mondes. A number of his contributions to various periodicals have been collected into a volume, and are pub- lished under the title of Essais de Critique Eeligieuse (Paris, Cherbuliez, 1860). The excellent paper on Nero as Anti- christ will give to those who have not time to read the whole book a sufficient idea of M. E^ville's manner,* and of the direction in which his influence is exerted. . A little to the left and on the extreme limits of thcologiccd as distinguished from philosophic liberalism,'^ is M. Busken Huet, of Haarlem, a member of the Protestant branch of the family which gave to the see of Avranches its most famous and learned occupant. M. Busken Huet has written Letters on the Bible, and is considered to be a master of Dutch prose. His style does not appear to be conciliatory ; and M. de la Saussaye describes him as " le veritable bouc Azazel de la * In 1863 M. Reville published a very interesting Manuel d' Instruction Eeligieuse: Cherbuliez, Paris. 314 HOLLAND. theologie positive." He himself, however, while entirely dis- agreeing with the views of M. Huet, speaks of his abilities and of his character with great respect. To such of our readers as are acquainted with modern German theology, we may perhaps best convey a clear idea of the tendencies of the school to which M. Eeville and M. Huet belong by mentioning that their views are very analogous to those which are maintained in the Geschichte der Ne^testeii Theologie, by Dr. Karl Schwartz of Gotha, court preacher to the elder brother of the late Prince Consort, and the hardly less interesting w^ork of Lang, Bin Gang durch die Christliche Welt In classing M. Eeville and M. Busken Huet together, and separating them from the school of Leyden, we rather mean to point out that they form part of a sort of group, connected by their relation to the Walloon churches, than to draw any strong line between them and the followers of Scholten. All of them would speak of that great divine with profound respect, and would acknowledge the greatest obligations to him. All of them would acknowledge having felt the influence of another teacher, who starts from a point very different from that whence M. Scholten starts, and has at various times come into collision with the great doctor of Leyden. This remarkable man is not a professional theologian, but a philosopher, and he speaks from Utrecht,* where the pinched but not unpleasant features of old Voetius must meet his eye whenever he enters the council-room of the professors. M. Opzoomer has been formed by Comte or J. S. * Utrecht is now mucli tamed. Her tlieology is, says Eeville, of the Whatclcian cast. M. OPZOOMER. 315 Mill ; shall we not add, to some extent by Eenan ? His system is defined by Eeville as " spiritual empiricism." He rejects the a 'priori reasoning of the Hegelian school ; and, commencing with facts, observes, classifies, criticises them; thus drawing the materials of his system from every science. The great influence which he exerts is owing, not to any body of doctrines which he teaches, but to his method. He thinks that the empirico-critical investigation of Christianity is the chief business of the theologian, and considers that the system pursued by the great masters of physical science is that which the student of divine things ought also to follow. In addition to the three forms of liberal opinion which we have been characterising, it must be remembered that the school which we have connected with the name of Van der Palm has still very numerous adherents amongst the older clergy, but they are divided into various groups, according as they have been most influenced by Groniagen or Leyden, or by the modern theology. Nay, some of them would appear to be, in their dislike to recent innovations, more inclined to fraternise with the "confessional" section than with any of the newer forms of liberalism. If we take all shades of this party together, we shall perhaps be not very wrong in saying that they stand to the more active and stirring fractions of the church, as our own High and Dry do to our Tractarians, Broad Churchmen, or Evangelicals. Vinke of Utrecht, who died a few years ago, was perhaps the most eminent representative of the views of the respect- able but rather arrieres theologians of whom we are speaking ; and as his chair has, as we have seen, been filled by a professor who has grown up under other influences, it is 316 HOLLAND. improbable that they will be further represented in the Dutch universities. Some readers will doubtless be surprised that we have not, in speaking of Dutch theology, found it necessary ere this to introduce the great name of Spinoza. The truth is, however, that he produced no appreciable effect upon the course of religious thought within the Dutch Church. He came far too early. Men were in his day occupied, as we have seen, in disputing about the inferences to be drawn from certain premises which they never dreamt of disputing. They were far from being prepared to listen to the still small voice which asked if these premises were indeed themselves indisputable. The Dutch intellect, to say the truth, is not very much inclined to philosophy proper. In this respect, perhaps, it stands about half-way between the Scotch and the English, but nearer, we should say, to the latter. A word or two as to the various sects of Holland which are not connected with the Eeformed Church. Of these the Eoman Catholics are far the most numerous, amounting to about thirty-eight per cent of the population, and forming a political power which has exercised a great influence on the recent history of the country. The small Eoman Catholic community called "the Old Church," and sometimes improperly, the " Jansenist Church " of Holland, ought to be better known than we suspect it is in England. Mr. Neale has written an account of it, and a still more accurate one has been lately published in Latin by M. Gerth van Wyk. The Protestants number amongst them Lutherans, who are largely recruited from Germany ; Mennonites, the peaceable and well-to-do descendants of the once fierce Anabaptists; about 5000 Eemonstrants, now less liberal than the Calvinist THE SECTS OF HOLLAND. 317 Church, from which they seceded ; a few Moravians, and a rather large body of Dissenters, who broke off from the Eeformed Church some thirty years ago, and belong to a deeper shade of Calvinism than even the most extreme section which remains within its pale, but are, as may be sup- posed, without social or intellectual importance. The largest of these sects is the Lutheran. In most of them there is some movement of mind — chiefly, perhaps, amongst the Lutherans and Memionites. The Jews number about 65,000, but there is not amongst them any theological school which calls for remark. About fifty-four per cent of the population belong to the Eeformed Church, which consists, according to the most re- cent statistics we have seen, of considerably more than 1,800,000 adherents, and, speaking roughly, about 1500 clergy- men. Of these perhaps three-fourths belong to one or other of the four liberal sections which we have mentioned, and of the remaining foicrth, which will fall to the "■ orthodox,'^ not a few would pass for Broad Churchmen in England. Up to the revolution of 1795, the Eeformed Church was established and dominant. Since that date it has ceased to have an exclusive pre-eminence, although its clergy, like those of all the other denominations, which do not object to state aid, are paid by the government. Its organisation is on the old Presbyterian model which prevailed in France before the revocation of the edict of Nantes, but it has been much modi- fied during the present century, especially in 1816 and 1851. The clergy are supposed to be elected by their flocks, but as a matter of fact the election is really in the hands of the con- sistories — bodies closely resembling the Scotch kirk-sessions. This variation between the theory of the ecclesiastical consti- f 318 HOLLAND. tutioD and the actual practice causes a certain amount of dis- cussion. The salary of a clergyman in the country is very small, say about £70 a-year. In the large towns it ranges from £150 to £200, but these small figures are augmented by various funds, though they never rise beyond a very modest amount. The more credit does a church deserve whose pastors surpass so generally in theological learning their wealthier brethren in this country. When thirty years have passed away, we may trust that some forms of opinion which we have described may have nearly ceased to exist, and a more general community of ob- ject may be attained. Peace is, we fear, not the lot of this generation. In the admirable words of the writer of a paper on Dutch ecclesiastical affairs, which is worthy to be put by the side of M. Eeville's, and is to be found in Geltzer's Protes- iantische MonatsUdtter for June 1861 : — "With regard to all differences, in all times and in all places, one truth holds good, that to every form of opinion, even the most highly praised and celebrated, is that saying of Hase's applicable — ' It is but an attempt to grasp the Infinite, which is revealed to us as a secret.' " Every theologian now alive who loves truth will at tlie end of his career have to apply to himself the words of De Wette — Icli fiel in cine wirre Zeit, Die Glanbens-Eintraclit war veriiiclitet ; Ich mischte mich mit in den streit, Umsonst, icli liab'ihn niclit geschlichtet. But even strife and trouble are better than a sleepy acqui- escence in falsehood, and we are not without hope that some of those who are fighting the battle of religious freedom in this country may be cheered by the report which we have broudit back from the other side of the North Sea. When REPLY OF THE GENERAL SYNOD. 319 shall we be able to say that three-fourths of the English clergy belong to some shade of liberal opinion ? * * * * * People in this country are, it would seem, just beginning to find out that a battle is being fought in Holland which well deser\^es to attract the attention of the whole Protestant world, and we see from time to time in various periodicals accounts of Dutch books or notices of Dutch ecclesiastical affairs. In an article of the Contemporary Revieiv we find the following wise and noble reply made by the General Synod to some zealots who asked it to interfere after the good old persecuting fashion : — " It is clear that the true source of the — in many respects —distressing and confused condition of our church lies in a scientific strife. The amazing progress of the natural sciences, and the rich discoveries of history, have given rise to a con- templation of the universe which is at variance with the hitherto accepted theology. If that contemplation of the world is w^hoUy in the right, the theology which has been prevalent liitherto will fall altogether. If it is altogether in the wrong, theology wiU overthrow it. If truth and right side only in part with it, it will conquer as far as that part is concerned, and theology will by the strife change much, but also become purified and sanctified, and after some time blossom more brightly than before. But whatever may be the result, that result will only be possible through the free development of science. If science has inflicted w^ounds * Since these notes, gathered for tlie most part during a visit to Holland in the winter of 1862, were published by the author in Fncscr's Magazine for March 1863, an extremely interesting paper upon the same subject, from the pen of M. Eeville, appeared in the Theological Eeviciu of July 1864. To it we would refer, more especially for a clear outline of the system of M. Scholten. 320 HOLLAND. upon the church, those wounds, if curable, can only be cured by science itself. Dogmatisms, condemnations, and suspicions are of no use here. On the contrary, they make the matter worse. " In former centuries it was believed — though, as has been shown by experience, unjustly — that the Eeformed Church had the power of preserving a certain strictly-defined and fenced-in doctrine through church authority. This belief can- not be maintained any longer. The liberty of science, the public discussion about all the questions concerning philosophy and theology, render that authority powerless in the present. " If, consequently, anything is to be done for the preser- vation of the Eeformed Church and its doctrine, that order may rise out of the confusion, it can, in our opinion, only be done through the above-mentioned means, and particularly through the last-mentioned — science. We do not say, through scholarship, but through science, through one's own independ- ent, thorough, unprejudiced, and coherent insight, based upon inquiry and meditation, which insight is obtainable also by those who continue strangers to scholarship, though they may not be able to do without the guidance of the scholars." Surely it is no small thing for the friends of well-ordered democracy to be able to point to these glorious words and to say — " This was the answer of the governing body of a small little-considered Presbyterian Church, delivered at a time when the bishops of the mighty Anglican establishment, * rich,' when compared with their brethren in Holland, ' beyond the dreams of avarice,' surrounded by all worldly pomp, and possessed of all prestige except that which is given by transcendent personal merit, could do notliing better than ape, amidst the sneers of the laity, the worn-out methods of the Vatican." EDUCATION. 321 The state of education in the Netherlands has, at various times and for various reasons, excited considerable interest in Great Britain. It was no very uncommon thing, during the last century, for English or Scotch families to send one of their number to study at Utrecht or at Leyden. The revo- lutionary war put an end to this practice, but when the cessa- tion of that struggle at length left us time to improve our con- stitution, and to spy out the dark places of our social state, we soon listened to those who told us that the Datch had been making great changes in primary education, and began to think that we might possibly do well to imitate them. The French of the Empire were the first to make known to Europe the success of their then fellow-citizens. In 1811 the great naturalist Cuvier was sent, surely not without a certain malice, to investigate the educational methods of the Amphihia, and he brought back a report in which he gave them the highest possible praise. We were then too busy to think much of education, but five-and-twenty years later, M. Victor Cousin was despatched on a similar errand, and to him we gave heed. His book was, in great part, translated by Mr. Leonard Horner, and presently afterwards Mr. William Cham- bers visited Holland, and published in a very cheap and popular form the results of his personal investigations. The educational commissioners of 1858, in their turn, sent an envoy to examine and report, so that we have reliable accounts of the working of the Dutch school law almost from the period of its first coming into operation. The educational commis- sioners were fortunate in their choice. They selected Mr. Matthew Arnold, a man who could not only see clearly, but could embody what he saw in a form so graceful as to have a permanent literary value. His report is not so long as that Y 322 HOLLAND. of M. Cousin, and he does not think it fitting to describe the galleries of pictures which he visited, nor to collect, apropos des hottes, hitherto inedited letters of Descartes ; but, pace the salons, there is nothing so good in M. Cousin's book as Mr. Arnold's concluding pages. The author of Ohermann and of the Gh^ande Chartreuse contrives to give to everything, even to the paragraphs of a blue-book, that elevation of tone which he insists upon in others. The imi)roved primary education of Holland dates from the year 1784 — that is, from the foundation of the celebrated " Society for the Public Good." It was not, however, till 1806, till the administration of the Grand Pensionary Schimmelpenninck, that the law was passed which made the primary schools of Holland what Cuvier found them. How they prospered under the direction of M. Van den Ende, the author of that law, may be read at much length in M. Cousin's report. The state of things, which he describes, continued until 1857,'',when, as we have seen, a series of debates took place, which resulted in a modification of the school law of 1806. The origin of these debates was the dissatisfaction that was felt by the High Tory party with the strict enforce- ment of the law of 1806, which they had tolerated as long as the education given was practically though not theoretically more or less strongly tinged by their own religious views. After 1848, however, the Eoman Catholics began to complain loudly, and to say that the word *' Christian" in the school law of 1806 had been throughout interpreted to mean " Pro- testant." With them sided the advanced Liberals, who held that the state had no business to meddle with the religious instruction of' the people. A long and careful analysis of these debates was published at Ghent, in 1858, in French, by THE LAW OF 1857. 323 M. i^mile de Laveleye. Mr. Arnold has recorded the strongly- favourable impression made upon his mind by reading them, and we agree with every word of the following passage, which we quote from M. de Laveleye : — " Quand on etudie ces debats des Cliambres Hollandaises dont nous avons essaye de donner une idee, on ne pent se defendre d'un sentiment d'adniiration pour ce bon sens pratique, pour cet instinct de hberte uni au sentiment du droit, qui ont fait la gloire de ce peuple dans le passe et qui le rendent de nos jours, si digne de Fatten tion et de la sym- patbie de I'etranger. Ce qui distingue la discussion, c'est d'abord une urbanite extreme, une deference reciproque des orateurs les uns pour les autres, un ton de courtoisie qui vient, non de I'affectation d'une etiquette ofl&cielle, mais du respect que cbacun ressent pour la dignite dont ses collegues sont revetus. Au plus fort de la lutte, aucune parole acerbe n'est prononcee, nulle allusion mechante n'est hasardee. Cbacun, en parlant, semble obeir a sa conscience et il admet volontiers que ses adversaires en exprimant des convictions opposes, cbercbent egalement le bien de la patrie. Quant au fond meme du debat, ce qui le caracter- ise c'est un sentiment rehgieux tres sincere, tres profond, mais tres eclaire, une certaine nuance theologique, mais en general nulle bigoterie hypocrite ou persecutrice. Tons les orateurs, sans exception, semblent penetres de I'importance des questions religieuses et de la necessite de donner pour mobile au progres de civilisation la morale et la religion. Mais sauf un tres petit nombre de protestants et de catbohques exageres, tons aussi manifestent une repugnance sans homes pour les envahissements d'une dogmatique etroite et intolerante. Ce qu'ils appellent I'esprit de secte leur cause un effroi qu'ils ne cbercbe pas a cacher." The party which was really triumphant was that of the advanced Liberals, but all the many sections of the Dutch Church, except that which is identified with M. Groen van Prinsterer, were consenting parties to the new order of things. Since 1857 the Dutch primary schools are, in so far as they are supported by the government, entirely unsectarian, but the school buildings are put at the disposal of the pastors of the different denominations for the purpose of instructing 324 HOLLAND. those members of their flocks whose parents desire them to have this advantage. The partisans of M. Groen have naturally done what they could to promote the establishment of primary schools, more in accordance with their own ideas of what is right. They have not succeeded generally, and they will not succeed, for their views are not those of the enlightened classes in Holland. That country has distinctly cast in its lot with the ideas of the new time. Others may go to it, but it will not return to them. ■ " La Hollande qui a devance les aiitres peuples de rEurope sous tant d'autres rapports, est aussi la premiere nation de I'ancien monde, qui applique jusque sur le terrain de I'enseignment primaire, la separa- tion de Teghse et de I'etat." Tlie principles of the governmental schools were formu- lised by the Home Minister of the day, in the debates of 1857 :— 1. The culture of the Social and Christian virtues. 2. No dogmatic teaching given by the master of the school. 3. Eespect for all beliefs, and a spirit of tolerance and charity. The excitement of the dispute of 1857 has not yet quite died away, and the Groenist party is apt to claim exclusively for its own schools the title of Christian ; but this is obviously one of the usual exaggerations which flow from the odmm theologmom. It would be fairer to say, that while the Groenist schools are founded on those principles on which all the Protestant confessions are agreed, the governmental schools are founded upon that portion of Christianity which has in- terpenetrated and leavened our modern civilisation — that Christianity which, as M. Thorbecke observed in the debates THE LAW OF 1857. 325 to wliich we have alluded, is above tlie different cLiirches, as humanity is above the different peoples which it comprehends «— that Christianity which is the sum itself of which the dif- ferent Christian confessions are only the divergent rays. It would be a mistake to suppose that absolute unanimity pre- vails amongst the supporters of the governmental schools as to the interpretation to be put on the law of 1857. Some years ago a rather serious difference of opinion manifested itself, which has for its exponent no less a personage than Professor Hofstede de Groot, who thinks that the exclusion of the reli- gious element has been more absolute in practice than the law intended. Into this question our space forbids us to enter, but it is obvious that in the working of an education law much de- pends on the character of the master. A man who is at once able and religious will give a religious tone to a school where no dogma is ever alluded to, while a man of a different turn of mind will fail to do so although he is allowed the fullest liberty in expanding his doctrinal views. The law of 1857 applied only to primary education, and was, as we have seen, the development of an existing, not the construction of a new system. It was otherwise with the law which regulated secondary education. Cuvier and Cousin both reported unfavourably of Dutch secondary edu- cation ; but in a country so enlightened as Holland now is, it could not escape notice that in this latter half of the nine- teenth century a knowledge of the facts of the universe is becoming every day a more important element of national strength. The lowest class is debarred by its poverty from giving the time necessary to obtain any real scientific know- ledge, and the highest class may, if it pleases, repose in bliss- ful ignorance, or, as in England, learn cricket while pretending 326 HOLLAND. to learn the art of writing Latin verses. But for the middle class this will not any longer answer. The Dutch govern- ment and the Dutch people came to a clear understanding on this head some time ago, and so in 1863 a law was passed creating an admirable system of secondary education through- out the country. We doubt not that full details, with regard to it, will appear in the forthcoming report of our own com- missioners for middle-class education, who have, we know, applied for information to a person well capable of giving it. The best, however, to which we in England can look for- ward is some wretched compromise between mediaeval and modern views. In the Netherlands the state could not, unhappily, fall back upon endowments, like those which in England were the glory of the generation that founded them, and are now the shame of an age that seems unable to use them. It did, how- ever, all that was wanted, and created four classes of schools. The first, a school with a two years' course for those who were to live by some handicraft trade, or by agriculture, taking up their education at the point where the primary school stops. The second, a school for boys who desire a good but not a learned education. In this class are two divisions : — a. The school with a three years' course. h. The school with a five years' course. The third, or polytechnic school, which is intended for those who mean to devote themselves to the higher walks of manufactures — engineering, architecture, and the like. The fourth, or agricultural school, intended for those who desire a thorough knowledge of that science, which, since the decline of Dutch commerce in the last centurv, has made THE LAW OF 1863. 327 immense progress in Holland, and is, now that Dutch com- merce is reviving under the happy influence of free trade, advancing alongside of it to new victories in the wide heaths which occupy so much of the soil of the Netherlands, and contrast so painfully with the riches of those districts of the country with which travellers are most familiar. All these various schools are strictly superintended by the government, and — enthusiastically supported by an intelligent people — are working admirably. We need hardly add that the whole system found bitter opponents in the same section which is opposed to religious and to political progress, nor need we mention that no attempt is made to discourage private efforts for the establishment of other secondary schools on other principles. As a matter of fact, many such exist, though few of them, we believe, have much merit. It is only just to say that the staunchest and most celebrated Conservatives in the Netherlands speak, as we know from personal experience, with good-natured pity of the antique and barbarous system wliich still disgraces our most famous schools. The universities are now in a much more flourishing state than they were, either at the period of M. Cuvier's or M. Cousin's visits. Two old seats of learning — Franeker and Harderwyk — were abolished in consequence of M. Cuvier's report, and the higher education was concentrated in Leyden, Utrecht, and Groningen, aided by two establisliments called Athenseums — and which are really universities on a small scale, without the power of conferring degrees — at Amsterdam and Deventer. Ley den, Groningen, and Utrecht each boasts a Protestant faculty of theology, and each, as we have seen, differs entirely in its theological colour from the two others. Peerl- 328 HOLLAND. kamp, whose name is so well known in connection with Horace, has retired ; but Professor Cobet is still engaged in teaching, and worthily maintains the honour of that kind of scholarship for which England was famous in the days of Elmsley and Porson. Professor Dozy * of Leyden is one of the best living Arabic scholars, and one of the persons best entitled to com- plain of the niggardliness wdth which the University of Oxford refuses to allow her manuscript treasures to be con- sulted anywhere, except within her own precincts. Utrecht has two medical professors of considerable note. The most learned historian in the Netherlands, who is lately dead — M. Bakhuyzen van den Brink — was keeper of the archives at the Hague, and never occupied a position at the universities ; but Professor Fruin of Levden ranked next to him : and the chairs of law and political economy are in general respectably filled. Professor Goudsmid of Leyden is one of the very first authorities of the day upon Eoman law, and excites among his pupils enthusiasm for that study.f The use of Latin has been of late years in great measure discontinued ; but the tourist may still be struck with the gracefully-turned phrases of the programmes of study which he will see fixed iipon the gates of the university buildings, and may smile when he observes the notice " Cubicula Locanda " at intervals along * His Israelites at Mecca has lately created a great sensation amongst Orien- talists and biblical scholars. t An English barrister, lately called to high judicial office in India, who, believing that the present system, or rather no-system, of the Inns of Court, with regard to legal education, is producing very disastrous effects, has given great attention to the courses of law study enforced by foreign governments, lately visited Holland ; and we extract the following facts from the notes which he has kindly placed at our disposal : — " The course of instruction is fixed by law, so far as relates to the subjects of the lectures and examinations. In other respects the professors are entirely uncontrolled. THE DUTCH UNIVERSITIES. 329 the streets. Esquiros mentions that he somewhere saw a fencing-master described as " qui elegantem gladii artem docet." Most of the professors still write Latin with great facility, and there are few, perhaps, who have not composed something in that language. An eminent professor of juris- prudence, travelling some years ago in England, and wishing to hear the debates in the House of Commons, found it the most natural thing in the world to write a Latin letter to the Speaker, who immediately sent him, with his usual courtesy, some orders for his gallery. The ridiculous brawls, dignified by the name of duels, " No person can hold any judicial appointment, or practise as a barrister, unless lie has obtained the degree of doctor of law at one of the universities. " Any person who can pass the examinations, and perform the necessary exercises, can claim a degree from a university. " Before commencing the law course the student must pass an examination in Latin, Greek, Koman Antiquities, and Dutch and Universal History. " The course of law lectures occupies /oz^r years, but the whole course with the examinations generally covers five. " These examinations are two in number — 1. Pro gradu caindidati; 2. Pro gradu doctoris. The subjects of examination for the second are — I. Jus Civile Hodiernum. II. Jus Criminale, III. Explication of a text of the Pandects. IV. Explication of a text of the Jus Civile Hodiernum, or the Jus Criminale. " Before obtaining the degree of doctor, the student must also write and Xiublish either a Dissertatio Juridica Inauguralis upon some thesis, or defend (privately) some thirty or forty loci disputahiles. " If the student has not passed three years at a university when he applies for the degree of doctor, he must both write the dissertation, and defend the loci disputabiles in public." It is strange that a course like this should be necessary on one side of the German Ocean, when we find that on the other a man is enabled to discharge precisely the same functions, by eating a certain number of dinners, and at- tending two courses of lectures, or paying £100 to a ban'ister, in whose cham- bers he is supposed to pass a year ; and this in spite of the protests of all our best jurists, of the report of a Select Committee of the House of Commons, and of a Koyal Commission. 330 HOLLAND. which are happily not so common now as they once were in the German universities, are unknown among the Dutch students ; and the style of living, at least amongst the wealthier of them, recalls Oxford rather than Heidelberg. It would, indeed, be a dark day for Holland if the light of these great institutions were ever to be put out ; but the whole tendency of the times is in an opposite direction. The organisation of secondary education mainly on a scientific basis, so far from being in any way hostile to them, will have quite an opposite effect ; for if that reorganisation is really to prove a success, the universities will constantly be called upon for a supply of men, thoroughly grounded in theory, to keep the secondary education up to the requirements of the day, while the highest walks of professional or public life will always require university training. To some Englishmen the colonial empire of Holland is much more familiar than Holland itself, but to many others it is so little known that perhaps not a few very intelligent readers will need to be reminded that Holland is, next to England, absolutely the greatest colonial power in the world, and that, relatively to the size of the mother-countiy, her colonies are as extensive as our own. So important are her colonial relations, so much does the East Indian group of her dependencies, and more particularly Java, influence the whole of the politics and life of Holland, that at any time but the present we should have attemped — looking alternately through the English spectacles of Crawford or Eaffles, and the Dutch spectacles of Temminck and Money — to say something of those wide dominions whose centre is Batavia. This would however, be a peculiarly unfortunate moment for doing so, because, under the auspices of M. Franssen van de Putte, the COLONIAL REFORMS. 331 present very able Colonial Minister, the whole question of the management of Java has been opened up, and is, while we write, under discussion. The proposal of the government is strongly opposed by the Conservative party, who are all for the maintenance of the old state of things, with its forced labour, exclusiveness, oppression of the natives, and large yearly surplus. On the other hand, the more advanced Liberals do not think that the government measure goes far enough in its conces- sions to modern views. AVliatever may be the fate of the project now before the House — which to a great extent depends, not upon its own merits, but on the line which may be taken by the Eoman Catholic deputies, who, as in Ireland, are dis- satisfied with mixed education — it is quite certain that the tendency of opinion in Holland is towards a wiser and juster colonial policy. Much has been done, but much remains to do ; and we trust and believe that when all that is desired by the best colonial reformers has been carried out, it will have added to the material prosperity as well as to the fame of a country, upon whose scutcheon a certain narrowness in dealing with her possessions beyond the sea, is the one remaining blot, and which in so many other respects deserves to be revered and imitated by more powerful and fortunate lands. CHAPTEK VII. BELGIUM. Events, in these our times, crowd so rapidly upon each other, that we are already far away from that week of the early winter, when nearly all the newspapers in England were dis- cussing, with many prophecies of coming ill, the life and character of the aged monarch who had just breathed his last at Laeken. We trust, however, that it is not even yet too late to ask some few readers to accompany us, while we retrace the events of his reign, inquire in what state he left his adopted country, and estimate the chances of that country m the im- mediate future. The diplomatists of Vienna showed, in the arrangements which they made for the advantage of Holland, the same want of foresight for which they have been justly reproached in so many other instances. That they should have failed to ap- preciate the importance of the desire for national life which was beginning to be felt in so many small European communities, was not, perhaps, extraordinary ; but it was extraordinary that in dealing with a country which had, like the Netherlands, been the scene of such fierce religious struggles, they should have overlooked the strength of the religious antipathy of Catliolic and Protestant. Overlook it, however, they did ; and thinking only of the importance of erecting a barrier against French ambition, they gave the provinces, which we now know as Belgium, " comme un accroissement de territoire," to that DISAFFECTION. 333 very Holland which had but a few years before been annexed to France, on the plea that it had been formed by the " allu- vium of French rivers." This ill-assorted marriage lasted little more than fifteen years. Great benefits ^vere, during its continuance, conferred upon the lower classes in Belgium ; for the wide colonial possessions of Holland offered to them a noble market for their industry. This was the reason why the lower classes v/ere the last to join in the revolt ; and if they had not been so much under aristocratical and priestly influence, it may well be doubted whether they would have joined in it at all. While, however, the Dutch merchants felt towards the Belgians, who had been admitted to share the advantages of their long-established commercial prosperity, pretty much as the English felt tow^ards the Scotch in the days of Darien, the middle and higher ranks in Belgium were thoroughly hostile to Dutch ascendancy. First, there was a religious grievance ; for the clergy distrusted a Pro- testant king, and abhorred a constitution which treated all religions alike. Then Belgium returned only one member to the States-General for every 61,000 of its inhabitants ; while Holland returned one member for every 37,000. Not less irritating was the preponderance which was given to the Dutch language in the transaction of business, and the un- lucky arrangements which had been adopted for raising and distributing the taxes. To these great causes were added many smaller ones ; such as annoyance at the abolition of the jury, political prosecutions, the greater favour accorded in the army to Dutch officers, the transference of the supreme court to the Hague, and the suspicions which the king brought upon himseK by his habit of stock-jobbing. These and other grievances, which had been long fer- 334 BELGIUM. meriting in the public mind, led in 1828 to the formation of a party which took the name of " The Union," the character of which was at first rather reforming than revolutionary, but which paved the way for the overthrow of the Dutch government. Eeform would, perhaps, have been longer in passing into revolution if it had not been for the three days in Paris, and the fall of the elder Bourbons. These events excited the passions of the people of Brussels. In August 1830 disturb- ances began ; and in Sej)tember they had their " four glorious days." The Dutch troops retreated after some hard fighting, and an extempore Provisional Government had to decide on the future of the land. Then ensued a period of anxious negotiation, of intrigues and counter-intrigues ; but the upshot of all was, that on the 7th of February 1831, the Provisional Government retired from office, and M. Surlet de Chokier — a man of advanced years and high personal character — assumed the conduct of affairs as regent. M. Hymans truly says, speaking of the Provisional Government : — " Lorsque, le 26 Septembre, ils ouvrirent leiir premiere seance a I'hotel de ville, an bruit dii tocsin et de la fusillade, ils avaient pour tout mobilier une table de bois blanc, prise dans un corps de garde, et deux bouteilles vides, surmontees chacune d'une cliandelle. Leurs seules ressources consistaient dans la somme de fr. 21 "9 6, que renfer- mait la caisse communale. Lorsqu'ils se retirerent, le 24 Fevrier, la dissolution du royaume des Pays-Bas etait proclaniee par la Conference de Londres, et la Belgique, a la veille d'etre reconnue par les monarques de la sainte-alliance, avait une armee, ime adminstration, un tresor, un pouvoir r^gulier, une assemblee constituante, et la charte la plus libdrale de I'Europe." In doing this great work they were assisted by a congress consisting of 200 members, which, in little more than two THE REVOLUTIONARY AVAR. 335 months, elaborated a constitution containing, amongst other well-known and excellent provisions, one which had not liitherto made its way into legislation — the complete separa- tion of the church and state. A hundred and eleven mem- bers, as against fifty-nine, voted for this — a fact which shows, if we remember the intolerant spirit which was manifested in the appeal of the Belgian bishops to the Congress of Vienna against a Protestant king, that the principles of Lamennais had made no inconsiderable progress among the Belgian Catholics. To detail the events of the next few months would be un- necessarily to inflict upon our readers the history of one of the most complicated negotiations, and one of the least in- teresting wars, which have taken place in modern times. They shall hear nothing of the London Conference and its many protocols. Suffice it to say that on the 21st of July 1831, Leopold, sixth son of Francis of Saxe-Coburg, became first king of the Belgians ; that the king of Holland showed alike in diplomacy and in war all the characteristic obstinacy of his race, even threatening at one time to follow the example of Van Speyk, the young officer who blew up his gunboat rather than let it fall into the hands of the enemy ; that the arms of Leopold, at first unsuccessful, were strengthened by French, to say nothing of English aid ; and that the French evacuated the soil of Belgium in the month of January 1833, after having crushed Chasse at Antwerp just before the end of 1832. Of all the changes and chances of the time none was more auspicious for Belgium than that which transferred the Seals of the Foreign Ofiice from Lord Aberdeen to Lord Palmerston. " Qu'il me soit permis '* (says General Goblet, an active negotiator 336 BELGIUM. in those days, in his Memoirs^ quoted by M. Hymans) " de rendre hom- mage k ce ministre illustre. La Belgique a toujours trouve en lui le defenseur le plus devoue ; et si la reconnaissance doit egaler les ser- vices rendus, la notre doit etre sans homes envers rhomme qui, a juste titre, regarde le nouveau royaume comme I'une de ses creations." Testimonies of this kind to the real worth of Lord Pal- merston may be consolatory to some of those who followed him through the last two parliaments, and had often to ask themselves whether one, known personally to younger poli- ticians, chiefly as a dexterous manager of the House of Com- mons, was indeed the great man they would fain have believed him to be. Long before the conclusion of the war with Holland, the political life of the new nation was developing itself in a steady and regular manner. The congress was dissolved in July 1831, immediately after the inauguration of the king, and in September a House of Eepresentatives consisting of 102, and a Senate consisting of 51 members, were already assembled. Questions relating to the army and to foreign affairs were those which excited most attention in the first two sessions, but as early as 1831 the adverse parties of Liberals and Clericals were in presence of each other, and the breach be- tween them was widened by the Encyclical Letter of Gregory XVI. in August 1832, which was directed against the consti- tutional liberties of Belgium. Useful measures were not, however, neglected amidst the strife of parties, and before the settlement with Holland in 1839 had definitively fixed the boundaries of the new king- dom, the army had been remodelled, the tribunals had been regulated, the great railway from Antwerp to the Prussian frontier had been decreed and partially completed, the pro- SETTLEMENT WITH HOLLAND. 337 vincial and communal institutions of the country had been settled. A Catholic university had been founded at Malines and transferred to Louvain. A Liberal university had been founded at Brussels, while the two state universities of Liege and Ghent, together with the system of examination for de- grees, had been reorganised. Most of these matters gave occasion to sharp debates, more especially the law of the communes, which occupied more than 100 sittings of the Senate and House of Eepresentatives. The final arrangements with Holland, which put an end to all danger from without, at the expense of the sacrifice of a population of 380,000 in Luxemburg-Limburg, who passed once more under Dutch rule, had naturally the effect of turning the attention of Belgian politicians to those internal questions, upon which they were divided in opinion. The society called the " Union," which paved, as we have seen, the way for the revolution, was composed indifferently of Catholics and Liberals, who were welded as closely together by hatred of the House of Nassau, as our churchmen and dissenters were in 1688. The elections to the Congress were likewise made without any reference to the religious opinions of the deputies. The same may be said of the first cabinets of the king ; but the cabinet of 1834, at the head of which was M. de Theux, was distinctly intended to be a mixed cabinet, representing, as equally as might be, both the parties which divided the state. When, however, all fear of aggres- sion from abroad was for the present at an end, a very general impression grew up that it was time to allow free play to party views, and that Belgium would, like other constitutional states, find it most to her advantage to be ruled by each of her parties in turn, as each from time to time secured a z 338 BELGIUM. majority in the electoral body. Effective expression was given to these views in an article by M. Devaux, which appeared about this time in the Bemie Nationale, and is generally spoken of as marking a turning-point in Belgian politics. Strangely enough, it was this same M. Devaux who first submitted the name of Leopold to the Congress. The Liberals made the first move, and overthrew the government of M» de Theux in 1840, substituting for it a cabinet whose leader was M. Eogier. Their adversaries soon returned the blow by prevailing upon the Senate to adopt, in 1841, an address to the Crown of more than doubtful legality, depre- cating the system of government by party, and asking for a mixed cabinet. The king hesitated for three weeks, then yielded, and dismissed M. Eogier and his colleagues. The head of the new government was M. Nothomb, a man of liberal inclinations, but so much afraid of being considered to lean too much to either side, as to be quite unable to give to his policy any decided character. The one important measure which marked his four years' tenure of power was the law regulating primary education, a subject upon which com- promise was natural. Few ministers have been more fiercely attacked from both sides of a legislative assembly, and on one occasion he was supported by no follower out of his own cabinet. His government, which had been completely re- modelled since it came into power in 1841, fell immediately after the general elections of 1845, which had shown that if the Liberals were not in a majority amongst the electors, they at least had on their side the vast preponderance of ability and energy, and a powerful following amongst the masses of the towns. Two acts which passed under the regime of M. No- thomb were much criticised at the time, and being nicknamed M. NOTHOMB — M. VAN DE WEYER. 339 the " reactionary laws," attached to it disagreeable recollec- tions in the minds of the people. The one limited to some extent the rights of the com7nune, to the advantage of the cen- tral authority ; the other broke up the larger communes into electoral sections, with a view — which turned out to be any- thing but prophetic — of causing the elections to turn, not upon great party questions, but upon trifling local ones. The resignation of the Nothomb ministry in 1845 put the Idng in a difficult position. He sent for M. Eogier, but M. Rogier could not undertake the government without having the right of dissolving, because his cabinet would otherwise have merely existed on sufferance. The king, always in- clined to moderate counsels, shrank from dissolving the Chamber which had only just been called into life, and sum- moned to his aid M. Van de Weyer, whose long absence from Belgium, as minister in England, had given to him a position outside and above her parties. Of the liberalism of a man so wise and so cultivated as M. Van de Weyer there could, of course, be not a shadow^ of doubt, but it was not precisely of a colour to suit that of his co-religionists at home. Their liberalism was militant and aggressive, his philosophical and conciliatory. The ministry of M. Van de Weyer lasted only eight months, and the king once more appealed to M. Rogier, who explained in a long letter the conditions upon which he was willinorto take the helm of affairs. Two of these conditions — that, viz., M. Rogier should be at liberty to dismiss public functionaries who embarrassed his government, and should have the power of dissolving the Chambers if he could not govern with them — were objected to by the king, and M. de Theux w^as again sent for. He came in with a purely clerical 340 BELGIUM. cabinet, and maintained himself in place for sixteen months, passing, in the meantime, some useful measures. The Liberal minority in the Chambers was, however, enthusiastically sup- ported out of doors, and the country grew ever more and more indisposed to the rule of the Clericals. At last, the par- tial elections of 1847 having turned out decidedly unfavour- able, the ministry resigned, and power passed into the hands of their opponents. In waging war against the ministry of M. de Theux, the Liberals had availed themselves of their undoubted constitu- tional rights, to hold a great political gathering in the Hotel de Ville at Brussels. After the fall of the July monarchy, a letter from Louis Philippe was found and published in the Bevue Betrospective, in which he expatiated to his son-in-law on the danger of permitting so revolutionary a proceeding, and assured him that France would be ready to support him against popular agitation. Invida fatorum series, summisque negatum Stare diu ! M. Eogier came into power on the 12th of August 1847, and amongst his colleagues was a " novus homoJ' M. Frere- Orban, the new Minister of Public Works, then five-and- thirty, had only just been elected, for the first time, a repre- sentative of the people, but he had been known as a distin- guished advocate in his native town of Liege, and as a member of the Association Liberale. Born in very humble circumstances, he had married the daughter of a rich man, M. Orban, and had taken her name, which he has now made distinguished. Since 1847 he has been one of the most con- spicuous figures in Belgian politics. He is the ablest of her financiers, and the soul of the present cabinet. Clear, ardent. M. FRi:RE-ORBAN. 341 and incisive, his speaking is of a very high order, and the Clerical party fears no one so much, although some of the best of the younger Liberals sometimes find fault with him for not moving fast enough. The publication of his principal work, " La Main-morte!' formed an important episode in the struggle which culminated in the year 1857, and of which we shall hereafter have to speak. The new ministers immediately put forth a programme of policy. Their whole system rested upon two principles : — 1. The state is a lay institution, absolutely independent of clerical influence. 2. All religions should be respected, and their ministers protected, as long as they keep within the circle of their duties. They announced further that they were all agreed on the expediency of — 1. Reforming the body by which university degrees were conferred. 2. Abolishing the law by which the coinmunes were broken up for electoral purposes. 3. Eestricting the appointment of burgomasters by the central authority, to those cases in which such a method of appointment was recommended by the permanent committee of the provincial councils. 4. Adding " ca'padUs" to the electoral lists (a sort of fancy franchise). The session was in full course. The new cabinet was busily engaged in working out its programme, when suddenly, while all the society of Brussels was gathered, as thirty-three years before, at a ball, news arrived of the outbreak of the February revolution in Paris. 342 BELGIUM. The first emotion was one of fear, but it was a wise and salutary fear, wliicli M. Eogier and his colleagues translated in a few weeks into a number of wise and popular measures, some of which they had not ventured to put into their pro- gramme, and some of which they had not even wished to put into it. In the first days of March the two "reactionary laws" of 1843 were swept away. On the 12th the franchise was lowered as far as the constitution permitted, and much further than the Liberal gathering in Brussels, which so much alarmed Louis Philippe, had proposed. On the 8th of May a national guard was created ; on the 25th the newspaper stamp was abolished, and on the 26th officials, with the excep- tion of ministers, were forbidden to sit in the Chambers. On the 27th of May Parliament was dissolved, and the Liberals had in the elections for the House of Eepresentatives a majority of 62, the numbers being 85 to 23. The new Parliament met on the 26th of June, the very day on which the archbishop of Paris was killed. The good sense of the king, the wise foresight of the Liberal ministers, and the prudent reserve of the Clerical party, had enabled Belgium to pass unscathed through a most dangerous crisis. One deputy alone had raised his voice in favour of a republic : — " The principles of the French Eevolution," said M. Castiau, " are destined to make the tour of the world." M. Delfosse spoke the sentiments of the immense majority of his countrymen when he said in reply : — " In order to make the tour of the world the ideas of the French Eevolu- tion need not take us on their way. We have already in Belgium the great principles of liberty and equality. They are inscribed in our constitution, as they are engraved upon our hearts." 18^8 IN BELGIUM. 343 This was iu the spring, but the festival of September, on occasion of the eighteenth anniversary of the Four Days of 1830, with its shouts of " Vive le Boi" showed that after all that anxious summer, the masses were still monarchical, as indeed they had good reason to be. King and people had shown themselves worthy of each other, and we recommend the study of these six months of Belgian history to those journalists who are so very much afraid that Belgian parties will fight with such Corcyrean animosity as to require the intervention of France. All through the session of 1848-49, the liberal reforms went on. The duty on foreign corn was reduced ; the govern- ment was empowered to allow cattle to be introduced without any duty ; postage was diminished, and other measures taken in the interest of the poorer classes. But the truce, which the alarms of 1848 had established between the two great parties, was, as might have been expected, not of long duration. Their dissensions broke out again during the consideration of the bill which modified the regulations which had existed since 1835, with regard to the bodies to w^hich were entrusted the examinations for degrees, * les Jurys Universitaires,' in the com- position of which there was always great difficulty in adjusting the rival claims of the state and of the clergy — substantially, we may observe, in passing, the question which is giving so much trouble to our government with regard to the Queen's University in Ireland. It was, however, upon the long-vexed subject of secondary education that the old passions were fully revived. The bishops protested against the ministerial measure, and the pope pronounced an allocution against it. Yet the proposals of the cabinet were perfectly moderate : ministers only asked the right to establish ten Eoyal Athen- 344 BELGIUM. seums, certain ^coles moyennes (institutions like the German " Keal Schulen "), the right of refusing subsidies to the com- munal schools unless they would accept their programme of studies, and the right of forbidding the communes to sup- port adventure-schools unless they permitted the visits of the government inspector. What more especially offended the Clericals was that the government only invited the clergy to give or superintend the religious instruction, without making its assistance absolutely necessary. In spite, however, of all opposition, the bill became law. In the partial elections of 1850 the Clericals had some successes, and the Liberals were further weakened by dissen- sions amongst themselves, chiefly about financial questions. Defeated upon one of these, the ministry resigned, but as none of the persons to whom the long applied would undertake to make a government, they presently resumed their portfolios. M. Frere-Orban, the finance minister, then slightly modified his propositions, succeeded in the House of Eepresentatives, but had the mortification of seeing his proposal for a new form of succession-duty rejected by the large proprietors of the Senate, led by the Prince de Ligne and other members of the Liberal party. The Senate was immediately dissolved, and a modified form of succession-duty was agreed to by the new House. This episode, however, sadly disorganised the Liberal party, and the spirits of their opponents were further raised by the coup d^etat in Paris, and by the tone of the French press, which seemed to make the safety of Belgium depend upon the overthrow of the Eogier ministry. Weakened in the election of June 1852, and further weakened by the letinement of M. Frere-Orban, the cabinet received a severe check on the question of the election of the president of the M. DE BROUCKERE. 345 House of Eepresentatives, and on the 31st of October 1852 M. Henri de Brouckere took the reins of power. This was just the moment for a ministry of conciliation, and he was just the man to be at the head of one. The period of his power may be considered as a sort of armistice, although his own opinions were distinctly Liberal. Before he retired he had succeeded in settling the long controversy with France about the piratical reprinting of French books in Brussels ; in passing an act more expedient than altogether defensible against attacks by Belgian subjects upon foreign sovereigns, which is known by the name of his colleague, M. Faider ; in getting Belgium officially recognised by Kussia, and in making a sort of treaty with the archbishop of Malines, with regard to the interference of the clergy in secondary education, which is called by Belgian writers the " Convention of Antwerp." Nevertheless, things did not go altogether well with him. Slight checks in the Chamber were frequent, the expulsion of Colonel Charras was unpopular ; the Kussian war then raging made many fear, without perhaps much reason, that Belgium would be obliged to renounce the neutrality which is the foundation of her political existence. Above all, the great question of benevolent foundations, which in 1857 almost over- turned public order, began to excite the minds of men. Har- assed by many difficulties, and not least by those we have mentioned, M. de Brouckere and his moderate Liberals sur- rendered the government in 1855 into the hands of a moderate clerical government, presided over by M. Vilain xiiii. and M. de Decker. As the names of those politicians, eminent in their own country, are but little known in England, we may say a word or two about them. Charles Vicomte Vilain xiiii. — by no means xiv. as it is 346 BELGIUM. often written — is descended from a family of substantial burghers, one of whom was ennobled in 1758 by Maria Theresa. The xiiii. which so much puzzles people, is a medieeval rebus which expresses the family motto ' veertien in hop ' — ' earn in hope,^ expressed by the device of xiiii. surrounded by a wreath of the hop-plant. He was born in 1803, and was brought up by the Jesuits, who, however, although they did not succeed, as they have so often done, in making their pupil the bitter enemy of Catholicism, failed also to injure his noble and generous nature. He studied at the university of Liege, married a woman of large property, took some part as a jour- nalist in preparing the way for the revolution, and became an active and distinguished member of the Congress. A decided but by no means bigoted Catholic, he has always been the foe of centralisation and the friend of an almost boundless liberty for his opponents as well as for his friends ; nor would it be difficult to gather from his speeches many passages which are worthy to stand by the side of the noblest sentiments which were expressed by M. de Montalembert at the Congress of Malines in the autumn of 1863. His colleague, M. Pierre de Decker, was born in East Flanders in 1812, and was, before he entered into j)olitical life, a well-known journalist and man of letters. His shade of political opinion is much the same as that of Vilain xiiii., whom he resembles in high honour and unblemished integrity. He, however, arrived at his political opinions by a different road. Vilain xiiii. was a conciliatory minister, because he recognised the right of his opponents to absolute freedom, believing, as he did fully, that what he conceived to be truth must conquer in the end. M. de Decker was, if we under- stand him right, a conciliatory minister, partly because his I M. DE DECKEK. 347 temper was conciliatory, and partly because he was pro- p foundly impressed with the idea that behind and beneath the parties which divide Belgium, there was another i)arty which was likely to be dangerous to both, — the party which was crushed for a time at Paris in the days of June 1848. It was this last prepossession that made him so ardent an advocate of the law of charity by which his government was wrecked in 1857 ; and it was his conciliatory, or, as it has been called, synthetic turn of mind, which won for him the bitter hatred of the real leaders of the Clerical party, who stood in somewhat the same relation to him as Dr. Cullen and his immediate allies do to such politicians as Mr. Monsell. We need not then be surprised to learn that in a country where the lines of political demarcation are drawn so distinctly as in Belgium, his high personal character has not succeeded in securing liim any great amount of public confidence. He is, it has been said, "a gun with two barrels, which goes off of itself ; the contents of the one barrel strike down his friends, and those of the other his enemies." It was during this admini- stration that Coimt Walewski brought the transgressions of the Belgian press before the Congress of Paris, on which occasion the plenipotentiaries, those of them even who re- served the principle of the liberty of the press, passed a severe censure upon some newsj)a]Ders which appeared in Belgium. The censure was by no means undeserved, but the incident was calculated to offend national susceptibilities, and M. Orts put a question about it in the Chamber. We give the account of what followed in the words of M. Hymans : — L'honorable M. Orts (repondit M. Vilain xiiii.) desire savoir si I'lm des gouvemements representes an Congres a demande an gouveriiement beige quek_[ue modificatioii a la constitution. — Aucune ! — L'honorable M. Orts me demande si le cabinet, dans le cas oil iiue pareille de- 348 BELGIUM. mande lui serait faite, serait dispose k proposer a la chambre quelque changement a la constitution. — Jamais ! The spirited reply of tlie Foreign Minister gained for the government no little credit, although it was afterwards ex- plained by the official journal that ministers by no means pledged themselves, while upholding the constitution, not to introduce some changes in the Imus relating to the press. A series of unfortunate incidents, soon, however, destroyed this popularity. One of these was the bringing in of a sort of conspiracy bill, to take away all political character from pro- jects of assassinating a foreign sovereign, thereby reducing them to the level of ordinary crime, for which the constitution permitted extradition. The session of 1856 was not an event- ful one, and the same might perhaps have been the case with its successor, if the ultramontane press and the Belgian epis- copate had not been foolish enough to think that the time had arrived for commencing a new campaign against free inquiry. The bishop of Ghent began the fray by publishing a violent invective against state education. His lead was fol- lowed presently by the bishop of Bruges, and the deliverances of those ecclesiastics gave the tone to the language of the whole of their party. The free university of Brussels and the state university of Ghent were the chief objects of attack, and the name which drew upon itself most abuse was that of Professor Laurent, the author of Etudes sur VHistoire de riimnanite, and numerous other works. M. de Decker bore himself in the mel4e with great dignity. He altogether dis- avowed the violent teachings of his party, spoke with con- tempt of the Index, declared with regard to a publication in the nature of the Index, which had appeared at Brussels, that those who followed such guidance would prepare for Belgium CRISIS OF 1857. 349 a generation of cretins, and lamented in striking words the gust of intolerance which was passing over the land. When the Chambers met in the autumn there was a serious discus- sion with regard to the liberty to be allowed to professors in explaining their opinions upon questions which might affect religion. The amendment of the Liberals upon the clause of the address, which related to this matter, was defeated ; and when men's minds were in the irritable state which such dis- cussions tend to produce, the Minister of Justice, M. A. Nothomb, had the unfortunate idea of introducing a bill with regard to charitable foundations, which was highly favourable to clerical pretensions. If this bill had passed into law, a royal ordinance would have been enough to authorise the establishment of private foundations, exempt from the control of the state — its inspectors and superintendents. Founders would have been able to reserve for themselves and for third persons the administration of their foundations, and they might even have created family trustees or have attached the control of their foundations to the successive occupants of civil or ecclesiastical offices. This would have been to restore mortmain in a form suitable to modern exigencies, and would enormously have increased the power of the 800 religious associations which exist in Belgium, and which count already about 12,000 members. Hence the bill got the name of the " Loi des Convents," and very soon the cry was raised for the " Abolition des Convents.'* The Liberal party asked for an inquiry into pauperism, which was refused, and the debates went on getting fiercer and fiercer for twenty-seven days. As the spring advanced the whole country became extremely agitated, and on the 27th of May 1857 the multi- tude assembled in front of the House of Eepresentatives ap- 350 BELGIUM. plauded the Liberals and hissed the Clericals as they came out, proceeding the next day to break windows, and to com- mit other insubordinate acts. Similar scenes were enacted in most of the large towns, but the only really dangerous out- break took place in the commune of Jemappes, where an establishment belonging to the Freres de la Doctrine Chre- tienne was sacked by the mob. It had now, however, become quite clear that it would be madness to go on, and the bill was withdrawn. The Chambers were then adjourned, and on the 14th of June the official journal published a decree closing the session, a letter from the ministers to the king, and the answer addressed by him to M. de Decker. A portion of the letter may be cited as illustrative of the moderating influence which the king exercised over Belgian party contentions : — " Vous avez agi avec la plus grande loyaute et la plus entiere bonne foi. Vous etes fermement persuade que le projet de loi, mis a execu- tion, ne produirait pas les consequences faclieuses que Ton y a attri- buees. Je ne porterai point de jugenient sur le projet ; je n'aurais jamais consenti a donner place dans notre legislation k nne loi qui aurait pu avoir les funestes effets qu'on redoute, mais, sans me livrer a I'examen de la loi en elle-meme, je tiens compte, comme vous, d'une impression qui s'est produite, a cette occasion, cliez une partie con- siderable de la population. II y a, dans les pays qui s'occupent eux- memes de leurs affaires, de ces emotions rapides, contagieuses, se propageantavec une intensite qui se constate plus facilement qu'elle ne s'explique et avec lesquelles il est plus sage de transiger que de raisonner. " Les libres institutions de la Belgique ont ete pratiquees, pend- ant vingt-six ans, avec une admirable regularite. Que faut-il pour qu'elles continuent a fonctionner dans I'avenir avec le meme ordre, le meme succes ? Je n'hesite pas a le dire, il faut chez les partis de la moderation et de la reserve ; je crois que nous devons nous abstenir d'agiter toute question qui pent allumer la guerre dans les esprits. Je suis convaincu que la Belgique pent vivre heureuse et respectee, en suivant les voies de la moderation ; mais je suis egale- THE king's letter. 351 ment convaincu, et je le dis a tout le monde, que toute mesure qui pent etre interxiretee comme tendant a fixer la siiprematie d'une opinion sur I'autre, qivune telle mesure est un danger. La liberte ne nous manque pas, et notre constitution, sagement et moderement pratiquee, presente un heureux equilibre." Thus ended a crisis whicli might have been a very serious one, in a country less influenced by the maxims of common sense. In the whole transaction the persons most to blame were the Belgian bishops, who, without rest, though not without haste, have ever since 1830 used their liberty as an instrument to obtain power. We fully acquit M. de Decker of any desire to play into their hands, but the measure intro- duced by his colleague would undoubtedly have been turned to evil uses ; and although we cannot approve of the violence which was exhibited by some of the Liberal party, tinged as it was by much of that narrowness and intolerance which they reproached in their adversaries, they were in the main right. The agitations were foUowed by loud demands for the resignation of ministers, and a serious difference of opinion arose in the cabinet as to whether or not these demands should be complied with. M. de Decker and M. Vilain xiiii., who represented, as we have seen, the moderate section of Catholic opinion, were in favour of retiring, but M. A. jN'othomb and others were opposed to it. The views of the violent sec- tion at first triumphed, but ere long the pressure from without became too strong ; the ministry resigned, and the king sent once more for M. Henri de Brouckere. A Brouckere cabinet, however, was no longer possible. The period of coalitions was, at least for a time, over, and the Belgian Liberals insisted upon having a government which should be distinctly of their own colour, whereas M. de Brouckere stood in the same re- 352 BELGIUM. lations to them as M. de Decker did to the Clerical party. M. Eogier accordingly took the reins of power, and the ministry which then (9th October 1857) came in is substanti- ally the same as that which governs Belgium at the present hour. The new government dissolved the House of Eepre- sentatives, and both parties exerted themselves to the utmost at the elections, which took place early in December. The result was a complete triumph for the Liberals, the numbers being 70 to 38. Tlie ministers, however, did not, in the ses- sion of 1858, give as much satisfaction to their more zealous supporters as might have been expected. They were, perhaps wisely, extremely cautious, and thought more of securing the victory, which they had gained, than of pushing it further. There is a strong resemblance between Lord Palmerston's last government and that of M. Eogier. Perhaps the only just reproach that can be addressed to either is, that they were both led by chiefs who had done so much public service that it was not in the nature of things that they could retain the force and verve which would be expected in men who were not worn out. In Belgium, accordingly, just as in England, a party of " Young Liberals " has grown up, which will, no doubt, when it in its turn attains to power, attempt to realise in practice, somewhat more quickly than its predecessors, the conclusions of our best theoretical guides. The Clerical party, during the session of 1858, being well aware of the tendency to disunion amongst their opponents, tried to aggravate it, by a systematic silence during the de- bates. Their tactics were well defined by one of their num- ber, who said, "Nous leur donnerons si peu de cl(5rical a manger qu'ils finiront par s'entre-devorer." They did not, however, obtain by this any real party advantage, and the PARTY STRUGGLES. 353 Liberals held their own at the beginning as at the end of the session. Its two principal events were — first, an alteration in the law of 1852 with respect to attacks made by the Belgian press upon foreign sovereigns, which grew out of the same circumstances that led to our '' conspiracy bill," and was op- posed for similar reasons by a small number of deputies ; and secondly, the failure of the ministerial proposal with respect to the fortification of Antwerp. In the session of 1858 and 1859, the Clerical party refused to take part in the discussion of the address, in consequence of some words which the majority had inserted in it, and throughout its course they adhered for the most part to their policy of silence. They opposed, however, as might have been expected, the somewhat severe provisions which the Liberals, in revising the criminal code, wished to re-enact, or rather to maintain in a modified foym, for the purpose of re- straining those priests who turned their pulpits into tribunes from which to fulminate against the government. The Journal des Bebats did at this time good service to the Belgian Liberals, by calling their attention to a proposal which the government, acting doubtless under Imperialist influence, had made for increasing its control over the press. Thanks to a vigorous resistance, the attempt altogether failed. New questions began now to be agitated by the " Young Liberals ;" amongst them compulsory education, the rights of the Flemish population to more consideration for their lan- guage, and the liberty of combination amongst workmen. A proposal for altering the method in which the votes were taken at elections, which would have had the effect of mixing the voters from town and country together, and so withdraw- ing the latter at the decisive moment from the influence of the 2 A 354 BELGIUM. cure, was fiercely opposed by the Clericals, but accepted in principle by the majority of the House of Representatives ; while an enactment, further restraining the rights of private foundations, became the law of the land. The partial elections of June 1859 were favourable to the government. In 1860 it was able to commence a series of financial reforms by abolishing the Octroi,* and substituting for it taxes less oppressive to industry. The removal of the hateful harrieres, which all travellers remember but too well, took place on the 21st of July, on the 29th anniversary of the king's accession. The affair of Savoy and Nice naturally revived amongst large classes of Frenchmen a desire to annex Belgium, and that desire was more emphatically than courteously expressed in many French newspapers. The result was a great outburst of anti-Gallican feeling, and a reaction in favour of the Dutch, which, after increasing for many months, culminated on the occasion of the visit of the king of the Netherlands to Liege. In the great hall of the noble and ancient pile which once was the episcopal palace, William III. and Leopold showed them- selves at the window to the assembled multitudes, who, poli- * Mr. Barron, in his report, dated March 26, 1864, speaks as follows : — " Of all these taxes the most profitable, but also the most objectionable, were the octroi duties. Seventy-eight communes, containing a population of 1,223,000, were privileged to levy duties on the import of certain articles, mostly liquors, food, forage, and fuel. The tariffs included seventy-six taxable articles, but the list of rates varied in every town. These towns were fenced round with walls, palisades, ditches, etc. , were entered by a limited number of gates, and were defended by seventy-eight armies. The brewers and dis- tillers were watched by two sets of officials, — those of the state and those of the town. Then there was often a system of drawbacks on the export of goods made of taxed materials. All these tariffs were framed on good old protec- tionist principles, so as to favour local and personal interests. The towns even indulged in little tariff wars with each other. Such is still the condition of almost all the rest of the Continent. " COMMERCIAL TREATY WITH FRANCE. 355 tically disjoined from Holland, have now no feelings of ani- mosity to that country, which regards them with equal good- will. The chief events of the year 1861 were the conclusion of a commercial treaty with France, the natural result of our treaty of the previous year with that country, and the recog- nition of Italy. By the latter measure, tone, so to speak, was restored to the Liberal party, in the ranks of which dissatis- faction had been steadily increasing. During a portion of the summer and autumn the ministry lacked the powerful aid of M. Frere, who retired as soon as the commercial treaty with France was concluded, early in the month of June, in consequence of a motion adverse to his financial policy, which had been carried against him in April by M. Dumortier, a member of the Clerical opposition, and a con- sistent advocate of traditional errors, — political, economical, and religious. Before the autumn was over, however, he returned to power. The debate on the recognition of Italy was a very lively one, and the views of the majority were well summed up in the remark of M. Orts : " Belgiu.m, which only exists by the will of the nation, should respect national will wherever it is displayed." The union, which was to some extent re-established in the Liberal party by this wise step, was soon rudely broken by the question of the fortifications of Antwerp, which came to a head in 1862. For many years- it had been evident that this great fortress required to be very much altered and im- proved, if it was to serve as the last refuge of Belgian inde- pendence in case of a French invasion. After long consider- ation, a plan was elaborated, of wliich the inhabitants of 356 BELGIUM. Antwerp cordially approved. The area included in the fortifications was to be enlarged about sixfold ; the wharf and dock accommodation was to be greatly increased and better protected, while every effort was to be made to conciliate, as far as was possible, the interests of commerce and defence. The Antwerpians had looked at first only on the bright side of the picture ; but by degrees the notion of being bombarded at all, even at the most respectful distance, grew extremely horrible to them, and they began to object to every detail of the government plan, as well as to make demands for com- pensation, which could not be listened to. A deputation which they sent to the king was very coldly received ; and his majesty read a paper which set forth extremely clearly the grounds upon which the government proceeded. Antwerp soon avenged itself by sending to the House of Eepresenta- tives the bitterest possible opponents of the ministry. One of these was ^I. Hayez, who had had a personal quarrel with the Minister of War ; and another was M. Delaet, whose duel with that functionary was the tragi-comedy of the session of 1865. Any one who happened to be at Antwerp towards the end of 1862, will remember how much of the conversation in public places was engrossed by the servitudes militaires and other features of the great fortification question. We need hardly say that the Clerical party used the Antwerp agitation as a weapon, because in Belgium, as elsewhere, it neglects no weapon which can in any way injure its opponents. A commercial treaty with England was concluded in 1862, not, however, without some murmurs, on the part of our government, at what Lord Eussell considered to be an unnecessary and unfriendly delay. Some concessions were made in the treaty to the earnest representations FISCAL IMPllOVEMENTS. 357 of Ghent, the last citadel of Belgian protectionism * 1863 saw the abolition of the Scheldt dues, a great benefit to Belgian commerce, aod an advantage to that of the whole world. The partial elections of June 1863, which soon followed, and some by-elections wliich took place later, were not favourable to the Liberals ; and in the beginning of 1864 the ministers found their majority so reduced, as to make it seem desirable to resign. This they did, but their clerical adver- saries wholly failed in making a government, and after one of the longest cabinet crises upon record, during which every imaginable combination had been essayed by the king — a Brouckere cabinet, a Dechamps and De Theux cabinet, a * Mr. Barron tells us, in his report of February 26, 1865 : — " Tlie Suim-ior Council of Industry and Commerce was created by royal Arrete of the 27th of March 1859. It is composed of two delegates from each of the Chambers of Commerce of Antwerp, Brussels, Charleroi, Ghent, Liege, and Mons ; of one from each of the other eighteen Chambers ; and of eight nominees of the Crown — in all thirty-eight members. Its attributions are to give advice on proposals emanating from the government, from Chambers of Commerce, or from individual members. Its opinions, therefore, may be quoted as the highest authority on all commercial questions. *' With reference to the tariff, their resolutions of 1864 are that it should cease forthwith to be anything but a means of collecting revenue ; that machines and raw materials must first be expunged from it, and then gradually all other articles which produce trifling sums ; that taxation should be con- centrated on a small number of articles, the customs and excise duties being always kept in harmony ; that, as the absolute suppression of the custom- house would act more energetically on the development of public wealth than any mere reduction, it is expedient that the government should constantly tend to attain that end, and seek for a practical solution of the financial difii- culties of the question ; that it would be unjust to augment the taxes on real property for the sole purpose of suppressing customs and excise duties ; that the conventional ' regime ' should be at once extended to the world at large ; that the government should negotiate for the purpose of suppressing the vexatious certificate of origin ; that the customs' officers shall abstain as often as they safely can from searching passengers' luggage." 358 ' BELGIUM. Faider cabinet, a Nothomb cabinet, a cabinet with the Prince de Ligne for its head — every combination was found impos- sible, and the old ministers once more accepted the power and the responsibilities which circumstances had absolutely forced upon them. On the 31st of May M. Eogier explained the circumstances of the ministerial interregnum, and the policy which he meant to pursue. Much of the discussion which followed, and was continued for fifteen days, turned upon the merits of a programme which had been laid before the king by M. Dechamps. M. Dechamps, who is the recognised leader of that section of Belgian Catholics which adopts the views of M. de Monta- lembert — a party which, be it remembered, is only strong enough to exist by the sufferance of the more violent Clericals, — was born in 1807, studied at Brussels, and adopted, like so many of his contemporaries, the views of Lamennais. When, however, it came to a parting between that remarkable man and his friends, his Belgian disciple followed Lacordaire and submitted to Eome. A distinguished journalist, M. Dechamps was elected in 1834, and made himself conspicuous, as well by his speeches upon education and communal organisation, as by taking an active part in promoting railways and other material improvements. He had a seat in the De Theux, Van de Weyer, and Nothomb cabinets, of which last he was an unruly member. After 1847 he naturally fell somewhat into the background, but rose again into great importance in the period preceding the ministerial crisis of 1864, during the course of which he submitted to the king the programme of policy to which we have alluded. It is too long to quote, and would require a commentary, but the ideas which pre- sided over its composition were : — THE "DECHAMPS" PKOGRAMME. 359 1. To turn away the attention of the people from the distinction between Liberals and Clericals. 2. To lower the provincial and communal franchise, vnth a vieiv to increase the power of the clergy and the aristocracy. 3. To decent! aiise, iKtrtlyj lue 2^resume, with the sccrae view, but chiefly hecause the country tvishes it. 4. To propose some minor changes, which might either conciliate particular interests or give popularity to the party. M. Nothomb, the last Clerical orator who spoke, proposed a vote of want of confidence. A division was taken, and the numbers were — for the government 57, against it 56. Three members — two Liberals and one Clerical — were absent. On the 30th of the same month, M. Orts, one of the represen- tatives of Brussels, proposed, with a view to strengthen his party, that in consequence of the increase of population since 1859, when the number of representatives had been last increased, the numbers of the Lower House should be raised from 116 to 122, and those of the Upper from 58 to 61. Hereupon the Clerical party declared that if the government supported this proposition, they would retire from the Cham- ber, and thus make it impossible to vote the estimates for public works, which were then being discussed. In this unconstitutional proceeding they persisted, until the king, seeing no other way out of the difficulty, dissolved the House of Eepresentatives on the 16th of July. The elections returned, as might have been expected, a Liberal majority, and M. Dechamps, the head of the party which had disgraced itself by a manoeuvre so damaging to Liberal institutions, was himself defeated for Charleroi, and obliged to employ his mischievous activity in the production of a long article and a long pamphlet, the latter of which has seriously injured his 360 BELGIUM. country by misleading the English press as to its real position and tendencies. In the autumn session of 1864, the dangers which Belgium might possibly incur from her connection with Mexico were discussed in an unnecessarily alarmist tone, but no very important event occurred before the end of the year. The pope's Encyclical of the 8th December, with its exag- gerated pretensions and old-world dreams, was a sad blow to the moderate Catholics, and the controversies which it raised were an important element in the political activity of 1865. These discussions were more interesting and more im- portant than the encounters of parties on corrupt practices or ministerial responsibility during a somewhat sterile session, but all other events of the year 1865 in Belgium were cast into the shade by the death of the good and wise king who had for so many years presided over her councils. The secret of Leopold's success was, that he had early the sagacity to perceive that the age of kings, in the old sense of the term, was passing away for ever, and that such a country as Belgium could only be happy if it were treated as a republic under monarchical forms. When the secret history of the last generation is ^^aitten, we shall know how much the king of the Belgians, not less than our own queen, owed to one whose name, when he passed away from the scene, was hardly mentioned by a single English paper — we mean the late Baron Stockmar, of whom Lord Palmerston said to the late Baron Bunsen : — '' He is simply the greatest statesman I have ev^r known." That Leopold I. was an intelligent man and a sensible man there can be no doubt, and he was, both before and after his marriage with the heiress of England, put in a position which in the mind of any one who had no illusions as to the direc- LEOPOLD L — HIS CHARACTER. 361 tion in whicli the world was slowly moving, could not fail to develop good sense and intelligence into the highest of all political qualities — wisdom. That he was gifted with any- brilliant or remarkable abilities we do not in the least believe, and in spite of the shrieks of alarm which we heard on all sides when it was clear that the sceptre was passing from his hands, we have never met with the slightest evidence that the present king is at all less likely than his father to play well the part which destiny has assigned to him. It has been constantly repeated in the English pa]3ers that he is in the hands of the ultramontane party. That notion is founded on the simple fact that he was brought up as a Eoman Catholic, which of course it was inevitable that he should be. If the first ideas of his youth were not coloured to some extent by the religious views of his instructors, tJiey must have been preternaturally inefiicient, or lie must have been singularly wanting in some of those qualities out of which grows the sort of character which is least susceptible of ultramontane influences. Since his early youth he has travelled very widely, and unless we are much misinformed, has travelled with an open mind. Nor in his alliance with an Austrian archduchess do we see anything to fear. Whatever may have been the case while the Archduchess Sophia was still a person of primary importance, it does not appear that the Austrian imperial family of to-day carries its private religious opinions into politics ; and on the only occasion on which the present queen of the Belgians has played any conspicuous part — namely, at the deathbed of her father-in-law — while we thoroughly appreciate the dignified and stoical behaviour of the old king, we think that her conduct, as related by those who had the best means of knowing exactly what passed, was 362 BELGIUM. as worthy of her position as Leopold's was of his. Founded it was, no doubt, upon a different theory of life, but one which is held by millions whom it would be absurd to accuse of being under priestly influence, and who have not even the faintest sympathy with that form of Christianity which is generally professed in Belgium.* We have traced in rapid outline the leading events of the reign of Leopold I. We have now to ask — In what condition did he leave his adopted country ? On the whole, we answer, in a very satisfactory one. True it is that her parties are closely balanced, and that the Liberals only hold their own by a moderate majority. But before he began to reign, it was quite doubtful whether the Liberals would be able to make head at all against their opponents. There were, we have seen, many causes at work in producing the breach with Holland, yet of all these causes the most potent was the hatred of the priests against the free-thinking Protestant house of Nassau. For some years after Belgium became inde- pendent, the Liberals, as we have seen, were satisfied to maintain the status quo, and made no important attempt to improve the institutions of the country. Since 1847 they have generally been in power, and their tone with each suc- cessive year becomes more confident. \ If we turn from the moral to the material condition of the country, as it was when the old king died, and as it still con- tinues, we see agriculture flourishing ; manufactures recovering from the depression of the American war ; education in an improved if not yet quite satisfactory state ; the tariff, which * The Belgian Protestants are unhappily not numerous. One of thera, M. Bost, pastor at Vervicrs, but belonging, we believe, to a Swiss family, has lately obtained distinction by a work entitled Le Protestantisme Liberal RECENT WORKS ON BELGIUM. 363 was till recently extremely illiberal, now one of the best in Europe ; large foreign transactions, carried on indeed almost without a national marine ; Antwerp becoming a second Gibraltar ; an army, burdensome no doubt to the resources of the land, and likely, we hope, to be one day somewhat reduced, but maintained more inexpensively than almost any other ; cheap and easy communication everywhere established by rail and telegraph; deep peace with Holland, undisturbed relations with France, diminished jealousy of England, and general, if languid, goodwill from all the world. AVe must supplement these general observations by a few particulars before we say a little about the last point on wliich we proposed to touch — the near future of Belgium. Not that we need go into any details as to the Belgian con- stitution, or the general statistics of the country. They may be found in well-known works of reference. The article on Belgium in Block's Dictionnaire General de la Politique, wliich ought to be oftener found than it is in English libraries, is by M. Heuschling, an eminent statistical authority at Brussels, where statistics are attended to more carefully than in any other capital. Much information about the country is also agreeably summarised in a paper wliich appeared in the Quarterly in 1862 ; and Mr. Barron's reports, especially that of 1864, are most valuable. To these authorities we refer our readers, adding only a few facts taken from sources less easily accessible. The writer in the Quarterly, who devotes much space to agriculture, does not seem to have had under his eye the Essai sur Viconomie rurale, by M. £mile de Laveleye, which was perhaps not then published, but which is written with all the clearness and vivacity for which the readers of the Bevue des Deux Mondes so often feel obliged to that clear 364 BELGIUM. and well-inforined writer, who at present occupies the position of a professor in the university of Liege. In a linguistic point of view, Belgium consists of two populations, one speaking French or Walloon, and the other speaking Flemish. French is, of course, understood and habitually used by all educated persons in the country, but of late years there has been a very serious Flemish literary re- vival, an interesting account of which will be found in the Aiimiaire des Deux Mondes for 1851-52. Quite recently attem]Dts have been made to give to this movement a political character, in the interest sometimes of Germany and some- times of Holland. The impulse in the former direction is purely artificial and without any real importance, but the im- pulse in the latter direction comes from within, and is the natural reaction against the essentially Walloon revolution of 1830. No political importance could attach to it, unless French schemes of annexation were revived, and Holland would receive most unwillingly any accession to the already troublesome masses of her Catholic subjects. The only Flemish litterateur whose name has become known to Europe is the novelist Henri Conscience, but their number would appear to be considerable. The resuscitation of the Walloon, as a literary language, is due to a society whose head-quarters are at Liege, and some poems of considerable merit have recently been published in it ; but, overshadowed by its stronger sister, the " French of Paris," it has no chance of rising out of a subordinate position. So far as French literature is concerned, it cannot be denied that Belgian literary efforts have never shaken off a certain provincial character, and they are most successful in local and provincial history — the very department in which alone there is some CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE. 365 literary activity in French provincial towns. In this depart- ment the name of J. B. Nothomb, the first of the two minis- ters of that name whom we have mentioned, occupies a dis- tinguished place as the author of a valuable essay on the Belgian revolution ; M. Kerv^-n de Lettenhove, a respected member of the Clerical party in the House of Eepresentatives, has written an elaborate history of Flanders ; and M. Juste has laboured upon kindred subjects. M. Gachard, whose name stands so high for his original researches in the history of the sixteenth century, was born in France, but has become a naturalised Belgian, and is archivist of the realm. A writer of a .very different stamp and of a quite opposite order of merit is M. Laurent, the professor at Ghent, to whom we have already alluded, and who is so cordially detested by the clergy ; a detestation which it must be admitted he cordially reciprocates. His Etudes sur VHistoire de VHumanite have been compared to the work of Mr. Buckle, but the Belgian far exceeds in learning his English rival, although he is per- haps inferior to him in affluence of ideas. The life, by M. Brialmont, of the Duke of Wellington has made his name better known in England than those of M. Thonissen and Van den Peereboom, who have Avritten important works on the parliamentary history of their country from a Clerical and Liberal point of view respectively ; but the charming Oimsoules of M. Van de "Weyer, and the useful Literary Histoiy of M. Delepierre, have had many readers in this country. Amongst Belsjian economists, the name of M. de Molinari deserves mention, as well for his importance in his own land as for his connection with Mr. Cobden, and for his attempts to extend a knowledge of free-trade principles in Kussia. M. Quetelet, who was at one. time the instructor of 366 BELGIUM. the late Prince Consort, and has long been at the head of the Observatory in Brussels, holds a distinguished place, alike as an astronomer and a statistician. Amongst painters, the names of Leys, Gallait, and Verboeckhoven are known to all ; and amongst musicians, De Beriot and Vieuxtemps have also a respectable place. These names, which we might supplement by those of geologists, botanists, and persons fairly distinguished in many other departments of intellectual labour, will show that the kingdom of 1830 has not been idle. Thirty-five years are a very short space in the history of a nation, and we have no doubt that the Belgians will yet do far more than they, have done. The generation which made the revolution is only just passing away, and that .which first inherited the full benefit of its labours is only coming upon the scene. Political life and the good ordering of social arrangements have occu- pied hitherto the chief energies of the people. Intelligence and information, rather than genius or learning, have hitherto been characteristic of Belgium. It is the chosen land of lec- tures and scientific congresses — of associations for the further- ance of all good things. The paper of the extreme right is the Bien Puhlic of Ghent, which upholds the views of the Monde and the Givita Gattolica, and is written with considerable vigour and ability. The less acharn4 section af the party is represented by the Journal de Bruxelles and its satellite the Emanci'pation ; to some extent also by La PaiXy which is, however, the organ of M. Coomans, who is apt to fight for his own hand, and is more especially devoted to the interest of the Peace party. The governmental section of the Liberal party has for its principal exponent in the press the Eclio du Farlement, which POPULATION AND PAUPERISM. 367 is understood to be inspired by M. Fr^re-Orban himself, and the Journal de Liege, one of the oldest papers in Belgium, which has been, ever since its foundation a himdred and one years ago, in the family of its present proprietor, M. Desoer. The influence of LI. Frere-Orban, who is connected with Liege and with the Desoer family, is very perceptible in its pages also. Further to the left is the Independance, with which every one is familiar, and which is at present edited by a man of remarkable intelligence, M. Berardi. The Indei^end- ance is, however, more European than strictly Belgian. The most consequent section of the Liberals has an able organ in the Bevue Trimestrielle ; the Clericals a respectable one in the Revue Generale, to which Ducpetiaux and other well- known names contribute. The name of that great statistician reminds us that we have omitted one subject on which a few words may be ex- pected. We shall not be very far T\Tong in stating the present population, in round numbers, at about 5,000,000. This is a very dense population for an area which is only equal in size to about one-third of Ireland. From 1840 to 1850 the alarm caused by the amount of pauperism was very great, and during the last three years of that period two out of five amongst the operative classes are said to have received relief, while the w^hole number of assisted paupers rose during the ten years from 401,000 to 901,000. It is not, then, to be wondered at that in 1848 the government voted a sum of about £20,000 for transporting a body of emigrants to the United States. In 1856, 13,861 emigrated, but in 1860 — thanks, we may hope, to the improvement of the times — the number had fallen to 9339. It should not be forgotten that the years from 1847 to 1857 saw the death-struggles of agri- 368 BELGIUM. cultural protection, and that in Belgium, as amongst ourselves, tlie failure of the potato caused at first an extraordinary amount of distress. More recently the American war inflicted much misery upon the working class in Ghent and other manufac- turing towns ; but some of the accounts which then reached England were greatly exaggerated. Pauperism, however, con- tinues, and is likely, we fear, long to continue, a subject of serious anxiety as well to the Belgian as to the Dutch and the English legislature. Unlike this country and Holland, Belgium is, however, very lightly taxed ; the average amount payable by the Belgian citizen to the state being only twenty-six francs, to which three may be added for provincial and com- munal assessments. The corresponding amount payable by the English citizen is said to be about seventy francs, and that of the French citizen over sixty francs. In Belgium er fas ct nefas. The adversary is strong from the ignorance of the masses in the country districts, from the hold which the priests have still over the women in all ranks, from the prejudice which connects in the minds of large classes of the population the old usages of Catholicism with the first principles of morality. He is supported by a large and powerful section of the aristocracy, by great wealth, by the ever-increasing religious associations, by the family diplomacy in arranging marriages and the like, which has been reduced to a science by the Eomish clergy in all lands, by an unrivalled organisation, and last, not least, by the many virtues which are bound up with the farrago of superstitions which forms the stock-in-trade of the party. The Liberals, inferior in many points to their opponents, have on their side that one great force which is stronger than all the others put together — the modern spirit, the example of all progressive countries, the nature of things. One weapon which the Clericals are largely using will have to be wrested from them by the strong hand of a parliamentary majority — tliat is, the power of creating, by evasions of the law, religious institutions which become pos- sessed of vast amounts of propert}^, and are corporations in all but name. • At the foundation of such institutions, a strong CLERICALS xVND LIBERALS. 373 state may wink, but they are altogether contrary to public policy ; and sooner or later, as they become troublesome, experience has shown us that, even in the most Catholic countries, the rough hand of power falls upon them and pro- claims that when religion, stepping out of its own sphere, becomes a rival of the powers of the earth, she must expect to meet from them the same treatment which they give to each other. The pamphlet published by M. Dechamps, entitled La France et V Allemagiie, which appeared some months after the article to which we have called attention, is a production of very inferior merit, although it excited much more attention beyond the limits of Belgium. The leading idea is the same — that, namely, the dissensions of Belgian parties are dangerous to the independence of the state ; but the sketch of the general politics of Europe, upon which it is founded, betrays a very imperfect knowledge and radically false ideas upon many important points. A very different and infinitely more valuable hrochure is that which was published by M. Van de Weyer, under the title of Richard Cohden, Boi des Beiges. We may regret the altogether too depreciatory tone in which the eminent diplo- matist speaks of a man who, if he held, as we ' think he did, erroneous views, not only with regard to Belgium, but with regard to several other matters of foreign politics, was very far indeed from being an authority merely upon free trade. When Mr. Cobden's ^vritings are collected, as we trust they may ere very long be, by some competent hand, his general political reputation will, we suspect, rise considerably, and his body, so to speak, of doctrine, if not exempt from heresy, will be found far more wide-reaching and complete than it is usually thought to be. Putting aside, however, all his reflec- 374 BELGIUM. tions upon Mr. Cobdeii, and making some allowance for the irritated national feelincj of one who saw what was to some extent his own work threatened, we think that M. Van de Weyer's answer is complete. The neutrality of Belgium, to be good for anything, must be an armed and powerful neutrality, sufficient to prevent the guaranteeing powers being tempted to accept the subjugation of Belgium as an accomplished fact. The personal individual interest of England in the independ- ence of Belgium may easily be over-rated. We doubt whether the interest of whatever is good in France in the independence of Belgium can possibly be over-rated. Of course a time may come when France is perfectly different from what it is now ; when Chauvinism is as dead as Druidism ; when the revolu- tionary period has fairly come to an end, and Belgium and France are separated not by a huge political chasm, but by a mere imaginary line. The politician has, however, little to do with such far-off speculations. For the present, and for any time to which we can look forward, it is of essential importance to the weal of France herself, that Belgium should go on work- ing out her own problem in her own way. M. Dechamps' pamphlet and the newspaper discussions to which it gave rise, did no good. They roused the slumbering spirit of the annexationist party in France; they excited un- easiness in the minds of many Belgians who, only desiring to be let alone, would have nevertheless, if they saw annexation coming, desired to set their house in order and make the best of it ; and they gave occasion to persons on both sides of the channel to misrepresent the policy of England by declaring that we should " abandon " Belgium as we " abandoned " Denmark. Let our English critics and foreign detractors take comfort. The very men in the House of Commons who would FRANCE AND BELGIUM. 375 have strained every nerve to throw out the government which they had supported for years, if it had dared to take one more step in favour of Denmark, and whose intended defection, in- timated to Lord Palmerston at a critical moment, did much to prevent that crowning folly, would be the first to urge armed intervention in favour of Belgium, if she were at present threatened. The case of Denmark, in her relations to Schles- wig-Holstein in 1864, is closely analogous to that of Holland in its relations to Belgium in 1830. In reading the history of that time, we sympathise nearly as much with Holland as with Belgium ; in living through the events of 1864, we sympa- thised nearly as much with Denmark as with Germany ; but sympathy and antipathy have no right to govern political action. Taking a broad view of the question of 1830, it was right to throw the influence of England into the scale of Belgium ; taking a broad view of the question of 1864, it would have been right to throw the influence of England into the scale of the Diet, thus obtaining far better terms for Denmark, and taking away from the Prussian government the temptation to play before high Heaven those pranks in which it has lately been indulging itself. Conscious of no jealousy towards France, but desirous on the other hand of seeing her increasingly prosperous, free, and powerful — nay even content to see her, if she once more returns to a parliamentary system of government, taking the pas of us in Europe, while we fall back upon our unquestioned cosmo- politan hegemony — we should nevertheless rather incur the great calamity of a war with her, than allow her to annex Belgium by force or fraud. If, on the other hand, it could be proved that Belgium ardently desired to be united to France, we should not think ourselves justified in attempting to forbid 376 BELGIUM. the banns. As we have already hinted, we think it not in the least improbable that our children's children may live to see that day arrive. It is true, no doubt, that as long as France is under an absolute government, not Belgium only, but every state in this part of Europe is continually in danger, for a fit of ill-temper on the part of the occupant of the Tuilleries may at any moment put an end to the general peace. This state of things is, how- ever, we all trust and believe, only temporary, and it is only simple justice to the emperor of the French to say that we do not believe that he has the remotest intention or desire to in- terfere with his northern neighbour. He might be driven to attempt to annex Belgium, as he might be driven to attack England or Germany, but it would only be, as long as he con- tinued in his sane mind, if he saw that the popular desire in France for such an enterprise was so great as to make him tremble for his own position if he did not yield to it. Every year that has passed over us since 1858 has made his personal position stronger and has diminished the influence of the " old parties," although it has fortunately not diminished the desire on the part of the best minds in the nation for free institu- tions. That there is a large class in France which would hail with delight an attack upon Belgium we do not doubt. We know but too well by how many the most hazardous and un- provoked attack upon England would be hailed with satisfac- tion ; but for the opinions of the most intelligent French politicians, on this subject, we would refer the reader to the admirable remarks of M. Forcade,inthe Bevue des Dfiux Mondes of the 15th of December 1865. If a free government is once more re-established in France, these are the views which we should expect to prevail in a majority of the legislative body ; THE FUTURE. 377 and as long as the existing system lasts, we trust to tlie good sense of the Emperor, to his wide knowledge of European politics, as well as to his love of ease and his desire to keep his dynasty on the throne of France. If the malignant mis- chief-making of Count Bismark, the unwisdom of the Austrian gOA^ernment, or the madness of the Italian people, should plunge Europe into war, it is far from improbable that his '' complete liberty of action " will be used ere that war ends for the aggrandisement of France, but nothing seems less probable than that he should meddle with Belgium. INDEX. Aberdeen, Lord, 335 Administration of Spain, 30 et seq. Adrianople, treaty of, 145 Africa, places on northern and western coasts of, belonging to Spain, 28 Agricultural serfs of Russia, division of, into two great classes, 80 Aksakoff, M., a Russian journalist, 110, 117 Albaida, Marquis of. See Orense Alcala, the famous university of, 51 Alcaldes (mayors), Spanish, 30, 32, 33 Alexander I. of Russia, 66, 79 ; unfortu- nate policy into which he was led, 67 ; the Holy Alliance, 67-69 ; the Poles, 88 Alexander II., his accession to the throne, 71 ; results since achieved, 131, 132. See Russia Alicante, 35 Altenstein, a Prussian statesman, 203. Amador de los Rios, a Spanish author, 49 Amat, Rico y, his work on Spain, 3 American war, effect of, in Belgium, 362, 368 Amsterdam, Athenaeum at, 327 Andalusia, attempts at colonisation in, 38 Anglican and Eastern Churches, union of, 101 Angouleme, Due d', 5 Anhalt-Bemburg, 266 Anhalt-Cothen, 266 Anhalt-Dessau, dukedom of, 267, 274. Annabon, an island in the Gulf of Guinea, siibject to Spain, 28 Annexationist party in France, 354, 374 Anmucire cles Deux Mondes, valualjle articles on Spain in the, 4 Antwerp, 353 ; citadel of, surrendered by Chasse to the French, 335 ; " con- vention" of, 345 AraktcheiefF, a favourite of Alexander I., 67 Aranjuez, 19 Ai'guelles, a Spanish statesman, 8 Aristocracy in Prussia, 244 Armero, General, 21 Arminius, 298 Army of Spain, 43 ; of Prussia, 227, 243 ; of the Germanic Confederation, 270 Arndt, Ernst Moritz, a German pro- fessor, 262 Arnold, Matthew, 321 Arragon, 9 ; Carlist rising in, 1 9 Art and music of the Russian Church, 97 Asia, Russian aggrandisement in, 102, 103 Assis, Don Francisco de, husband of Isa- bella II. of Spain, 16 Athemeums, Dutch, 327 Attache at Madrid, a work on Spain, professedly from the diary of a Ger- man diplomatist, 3, 33 Attorney, the Spanish, 31, et seq. Auersperg, Count (Anastasius Griin), 159 Auerswald, a Prussian statesman, 208 ; becomes a member of the Hohenzol- lern cabinet, 224 Austria, modern history of, 135 ; recent writers upon, 136 ; Joseph II., his plans of reform, and the forces opposed to them, 136-138 ; regard for tra- ditional rights in Hungary, 138 ; Leo- pold II. and his policy, 139 ; the inaciionary system, 140 ; the two dominatmg men during this state of things : the Emjieror Francis and Prince Metteniich, 140-144 ; the Greek insurrection of 1821 and the policy of Mettemich — its influence on Hungarv, 144-149 ; the Polish struggle of 1831, 148, 149 ; the triumvirate imder Ferdinand, 150-152 ; course of events in Hungary from 1836 to 1848, 153-158 ; Croatia, 155 ; the nobles and the system, 159 ; seizure of Cra- cow, and the Galician massacres, 160, 380 INDEX. 161 ; effects of the February revolu- tion in Paris, 162 ; flight of Metter- nich, 163; Kossuth, 158, 163; the revolutionary pei'iod of 1848-49, 164- 166 ; the reaction, — Schwartzenberg, 166 ; Bach and his system, 167-170 ; xuipopularity of Austria at this time in France and England, 170 ; influ- ence of the Russian war on her internal politics ; fall of M. Bach, 172, 173 ; system inaugurated by the October Dijiloma (of 1860), 174, 175 ; session of the " strengthened Council of the Empire," 175, 176 ; Bach's successor, M. Schmerling, 177 ; his policy and administration, 178-182, 185 ; the manifesto of September 1865 announc- ing the overthrow of the Schmerling policy, and its results, 186-189 ; diffi- culties with which Austria has to contend, 189-193 ; the commercial treaty with England, 191-193; the question of Venetia, 194 ; relations to Germany, 195, 196 ; to Turkey, 197 ; the Polish question, 197, 198 ; Aus- tria's future, 199, 200 Ayacuchos, an epithet given to Espar- tero's party, 12 Ayuntamientos, Spanish, 32 Bach, Alexander, an Austrian states- man, 167 ; the Bach system, 168- 170; fall of, 172, 173 Baden, Grand-duchy of, 267, 273 Bader, a German philosopher, 67 Balearic Isles, 22, 28 Balmez, 52 Baltic provinces of Russia, serfs of the, 81, 83 Banking, Spanish, 37 Barca, Calderon de la, 17 Barcelona rises in rebellion, 10 ; demo- cratic agitations at, 12 ; university of, 52 Barzanallana, M., a Spanish statesman, 27, 40 Batavian Republic, proclamation of, 292 Batthyani, Count Louis, president of the Hungarian ministry in 1848, 184 Bavaria, 253, 271 ; Louis of, 246, 271 Baur, Ferdinand Christian, founder of the new Tubingen school of theology, 271, 283 Beasain, 1. Bekker, Balthasar, 299 Bclcredi, Coimt, Austrian Minister of Interior, 185 Belgian press, transgressions of, brought before the Congress of Paris by Count V/alewski, 347 Belgium : united \nth Holland by the Congress of Vienna (1815), 332; grievances of the Belgians arising from this union, 333 ; the " four glorious days" of Septeinber 1830, and forma- tion of a provisional government, 334 ; the revolutionary Avar, 335 ; inaugura- tion of the king, Leopold I., 336 ; settlement with Holland, 337 ; atten- tion turned to internal questions, 337 ; ministry of De Theux overthrown, 338 ; ministry of Rogier, Nothomb, and Van de Weyer, 339 ; De Theux again in power, and again succeeded by Rogier, 340 ; M. Frere-Orban, 340, 341 ; ministerial programme, 341 ; eff"ect of the news of the February re- volution (1848) of Paris, 342 ; liberal reforms, 343 ; dissensions on educa- tional questions, 343, 344 ; dissolution of the Senate ; Rogier succeeded by De Brouckere, 345, and he by a moder- ate clerical government — Charles Vi- comte Vilain xiiii., 345, 346, and Pierre de Decker, 346, 347 ; the Belgian press censured by the plenipotentiaries in the Congress of Paris, 347, 348 ; the crisis of 1857, 348-350 ; letter of the king, 350, 351 ; the ministry re- sign, 351, and Rogier is recalled, 352 ; party struggles, 353 ; effect on the Belgians of the cession of Savoy and Nice to France, 354 ; commercial treaty with France ; debate on the recognition of Italy ; question of the fortiflcations of Antwerp, 355, 356 ; commercial treaty with England, 356 ; fiscal improvements, 357 ; ministerial interregnum, 357, 358 ; M. Dechamps, 358, and his programme, 359 ; disso- lution of tlie House of Representatives, and the return of a Liberal majority, 359 ; the Encyclical of December 1864, and the controversies it raised, 360 ; death of Leopold, 360 ; his char- acter, 361 ; condition in which he left his adopted country, 362 ; recent works on Belgium, 363 ; the French (Walloon) and Flemish dialects, 364 ; contemporary literature, 365 ; names distinguished in other departments of intellectual labour, 365, 366 ; journal- ism, 366, 367 ; population and pauper- ism, 367 ; parties in Belgiiim, Cleri- cals and Liberals, 368-374 ; France and Belgium, 374-376 ; the future, 377 INDEX. 381 Belgium and Holland, attempts to weld into one state, 293 Benedek, Lndwig von, an Austrian general, 160 Benevolent fomidations of Belgium, 345, 349 Bergasse, ^7 Berlin, on the receipt of the news of the February revolution in Paris, 206 ; state of siege iDroelaimed, 210 ; muni- cipality of, remonstrates against Bis- luark's proceedings Avith regard to the press, 237 Bernmdez, Zea, 6 Bernard, Dr., 4 Bernstorff, M., a Prussian statesman, 231, 233 ; his proposals for the reform of the Germanic Confederation, 279 Bethmann-Holhveg, M., a Prussian pro- fessor, and member of the Hohenzol- lern cabinet, 223 Beust, M, von, Saxon minister m the Germanic Diet, 272, 279 BibikolF, General, of Kussia, 81 Bidassoa, the, 1, 5 Bilbao pronoimces for Don Carlos as pre- tender in SiDain, 5 Bilderdyk, a Dutch poet, 301 Bismark, Coimt, 167, 233-235, 377 ; his proceedings "with regard to the press, 237 ; treatment of Liberal demands, 238 ; the Sclileswig-Holstem question, \ 238, 239 ; his ofiensive attitude to- wards Parliament, 239 ; the Danish war, 240 ; the reaction brought about by him, 249 ; his proposals for the reform of the Germanic Confederation, 281 Blaser, Spanish General, 17 Bludoff, Count, 81 Bockum-Dolffs' party in Prussia, 232, 238 Bohemia, influence of the Polish struggle of 1831 on the public mind there, 148, 158 Bondholders, Spanish, 41 Boner's " Transylvania" referred to, 133, 135, ISO, 190 Boniu, General von, 224 Books on Spain, 2 ; on Poland, 92, 93 ; on Russia, 115-117 ; on Holland, 291 ; on Belgium, 373 Borrow, Mr., author of Bible in Spcdn, 7, 33, 50 ; his expedition a perfect failure, 57 Bost, M., a Belgian preacher, 362 Brandenburg, Count, 209, 212 Bravo, Gonsalez, a Spanish statesman, 14, 25, 29 Brenier, Baron, 266 British interest in the regeneration of Spain, 64 Brouckere, Henri de, government of, in Belgiimi, 345, 351 Bruck, an Austrian cabinet minister, 171, 173, 217 Brunswick, 267, 272 Brussels, Belgian revolution of 1830 commenced at, 334 ; Liberal uni- versity of, 337, 348 ; Liberal gather- ing in, 340, 342 Bryce, James, B.A, of Oxford, on the Holy Roman Empire, 253 Buckle, Mr. Henry T., his opinion of Spain and the Spaniards, 1, 2, 28, 59 Buda and Pesth, j^roposal to unite by a chain-bridge, 153 Bull-fight, the, in Spain, 62 Caballero, Fernan, 50 Cadiz, Constitution of, 4, 5 Calderon, 59 Cahinism in Holland, 298 Camphausen, "transition" ministry of, 209 Canary Islands, 28 Carcel del Corte, the, in Madrid, 33 Carlists of Spain, 46, 47 Carlos (Don), his pretensions to the Spanish throne, 5 ; the interests he represented, -6 Carlowitz, M., a Prussian Liberal, 235 Carlsbad, Congress of, 259 Cartesian philosophy, influence of, on Dutch theology, 299 Castelar, Emilio, of the imiversity of Madrid, 26, 47 Catherine II. and Russian serfdom, SO ; commission called bv her. 111 Chambers, William, 321 ChamiakofF, a Russian poet, 101, 106 Charles III. of Spain, 43, 49 Charles IV., 48 Charles, Archduke of Austria, and bro- ther of Francis I., 140 Charras, Colonel, his expulsion from Belgium, 345 Chasse, General, siirrendered the citadel of Antwerp to the French, 335 Cheremetieflf, the Russian family of, 81 Chokier, M. Surlet de, regent in Bel- gium in 1831, 334 Christina of Spain : her proceedings as regent during the minority of her daughter Isabella II., 6 ; yields to the mutineers of La Granja, 8 ; at Barcelona, 10 ; resigns the regency, 11 ; military revolt in 1841 in her 382 INDEX. interest, 12 ; her quarrel with Nar- vaez, 17 Church, the Russian, 95-102 ; its clergy of high rank and its ordinary priests to be distinguished, 98 ; the Dissidents, 99, 100 ; idea of union between the Eastern Church and the Anglican communion talked of by Russian priests, 101 Circassia, 109. Civil wars of Spain, 42 Clarke's (Dr.) travels in Russia, 65, 73 Clergy of the Russian Church, 97, 98 Clerical and Liberal parties in Belgium, and their contests, 3-36 et seq., 368- 374 Clerical interference with education in Belgium, 343, 345, 348 Club, Milani, the, 217 Cobden, Richard, 365, 373, 374 Coburg and Gotha, twin duchies of, 277 Cocceius, Johannes, theological professor at Leyden, 299 Collin, General, 160 Colonies of Spain, 28, 44-46, 62, 63 Cologne banquet, stopping of the, 241 Colonial empire of Holland, 330, 331 Comines, Philip de, 101 Commerce, Spanish, 38 Commercial treaty between England and Austria, 191-193 ; between Bel- gium and France (1861), 355 ; be- tween Belgium and England (1862), 356 Communes in Belgium, law of the, 337, 339, 350 Commune in Russia, or "the Mir," 77 et seq. Concordat with Spain of 1852, 17 ; of 1860, 24 ; with Austria in 1855, 168 Confederation of the Rhine, 253-255 Congresses, European, 68, 171, 258, 259 Conscience, Henri, a Flemish novelist, 364 Constantine, Grand-duke, of Russia, 81, 109 Constantinople, have we reason to fear Russian designs upon ? 104 Constituent Cortes of 1837 in Spain, 8 ; of 1840, 10 ; of 1854, 18, 19 ; of 1855 — debate on religious toleration, 56 Constitutionalists, Spanish, 46, 47 Constitutional question, the, in Prussia, 235-242 Constitution (Spanish) of Cadiz, 4 ; the EsUituto Real, 6 ; that of 1837, 8 ; of 1845, 15 ; the constitution now in force, 29 "Convention" of Vergara, 9; of Gas- teiii, 214 ; of Antwei'p, 345 Convention (secret) of Prussia with Russia, 236 Cortes of Cadiz, its constitution of 1812, 4 ; overthro\\'n by Ferdinand VII. in 1814, 5 Cortes, Donoso, — De Mazade's article on, in the Remie des Deux Mondes, 4 Cossacks, the, of Russia, 72, 73, 83 Coup d'etat of 2d December 1851 in Paris, 213 Courses in Dutch universities, 329 Cousin, Victor, 321, 327 Cracow, seizure of, by Austria, in 1846, 161 Crimean war, 70, 71 ; results of, in Russia, 107, 131 ; attitude of Austria during, 171-173 ; Prussia, during pre- ceding negotiations, 214, 217 Criminal law in Spain, Z\ et seq. Croatia, 155 Cuba, 27 ; filibustering expeditions to, 44 ; slavery in, 45 Cumberland, Duke of. King of Hanover, 263, 272 Cuvier, 321, 327 Czartoryski, Prince Adam, 88 Czechs, the, of Prague, 155 ; recent agi- tation amongst them, 200 Da Costa, M,, a Dutch theologian, 302 Dalberg, duke of, 254 Danish war, the, 238-240, 250, 286- 288, 374, 375 Deak, Francis, an eminent Hungarian patriot, 181, 184 Death, punishment of, in Spain, 31 Dechamjis, M., leader of a section of Bel- gian Catholics, 358; "programme" of his policy, 359 ; his political pamph- lets after being defeated when candi- date for Charleroi, 368 et seq. De Decker, an eminent Belgian politician, 345-348, 351 Delfosse, M,, a Belgian politician, 342 Democratic party in Spain, 47 ; demo- cratic organisation in Russia, 113 Denmark, 238, 250 De Theux, ministry of, in Belgium, 337 et seq. Devaux, M., important article by, in the Rexme Nationale, 338 Deventer Athenteum, 327 De Wette, 318 Diet {Bundes-Versammlung) of Ger- many, why so called, 267 ; legisla- tive and executive powers of the Con- federation vested in, 267 ,* constitu- INDEX. 383 tioii of, 268 ; summary of what is within the competence of, 268, 269 Diet of Frankfort, 258 ; its hostile sections, 261 ; resigns its powers to Archduke John of Austria as Vicar of the Empire, 261 ; transfers its sittings to Stuttgardt, 262 Disaffection in Belgium during the imion with Holland, 333 Dissidents, the, in Eussia, 99 ; their divisions and subdivisions, 100 Doblado's Letters on the religious state of Spain, 54 Dolgoroukoff, Prince, 81, 110. Don, Cossacks of the, 73 Dort, Synod of, 298 Douro, river, 39 Dresden Conferences, 266 Drought, next to misgovernment, the great curse of Spain, 38 Dulce, Spanish general, 17 Dunes of Holland, 289 Diippel, 240 Dutch and English Society, few links of connection between, 291 Dutch Reformed Church, 306 et seq. ; reply of its General Synod to the re- quest of some zealots, 319, 320 East Prussia, states of, 203 Ebro, river, 39. Ecclesiastical system in Holland, 298 Echo de la Presse Russe, 124, 125 ; passage quoted from, on the foreign politics of Russia, 108 Education in Spain, 48-54 ; in Russia, 118, 119 ; in Prussia, 221 ; in the Netherlands, 297, 321 :— schools, 322- 327 ; universities, 327-330 Edwards, Mr. Sutherland, on the Polish insurrection, 92 ; miisic in the Russian Church, 97 ; his " Russians at home," 116, 117 Eichhorn, unpopularity of his appoint- ment as Minister of Public Instruction in Prussia, 203, 204 Emancipation of serfs in Russia, 81 ; state of feeling prevalent between the amiouncement of the intention of Government and the production of its plan, 82 ; the extent of emancipation, and proclamation of enfrancliisement, 83 ; actual and probable results, 86, 87 Ende, M. Van den, author of the law as to the primary schools of Holland, 322 English ideas about Russia, 65, 66 ; are our interests in Asia likely to clash? 102, 103 ; misapprehension by English journalists of the situation in Prussia, 242, 286-288 ; the English press misled as to the real position and tendencies of Belgium in 1864 by the writings of M. Dechamps, 360 Enzinas family in Spain, 58 Ecitvos, Baron Joseph, leader of a Hun- garian party, 157 ; his " Village Notary," 180 ; his pamphlet hie Natioimlitdten-Frage, 1 93 Erasmus, 298 Erfurt Parliament, 232, 235, 264 Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and King of Hanover, 263, 272 Ernest II., Duke of Coburg and Gotha, brother of Albert, Prince Consort of the Queen of Great Britain, 277-279 Escosura, a Spanish politician, 20 Escribano (notary), the Spanish, 31, 32 Espartero, Spanish commander-in-chief, 9 ; becomes regent, 11 ; his govern- ment attacked, 12 j its fall, 13 ; sailed for England, 13 ; again in power, 18-20 ; his property near Logroflo, 38 Esquiros, Alphonse, his work on Hol- land, 291, 329 Estatuto Real, the, a constitution jiro- mulgated by Christina of Spain, 6 Esterhazy, Count Maurice, an Austrian statesman, 185 Exports, Spanish, 38 February 1848, events of, 16, 162, 206, 260, 293, 297, 341 Fedei-al Act, the, by which the Germanic Confederation is created, — stages through which it passed, 257, 258 Ferdinand VII. of Spain, 5, 63. Feudal party, and its leaders, in Prussia, 214 et seq., 243-245 " Filioque," feud of the, 95 Final Act of the Germanic Confederation, 259 Finance, Spanish, miuistiy of, 39-42 ; financial disorder in Russia, 109 Finland, 108 Fire insurance in Spain, 37 Fires in Russia, in 1864, and the causes to which they are attributable, 122, 123 Fiume, an Adriatic port, 155 Flaquer, Mane y, a Spanish journalist, 47 Flottwell, a Prussian statesman, 224. Fomento (Public Welfare), department of, in Spain, 34-39 Forcade, M., a French writer, on the Prussian situation, 245, 376 384 INDEX. Ford's Handbook for S2xcin, 5, 29, 33, 38, 62 Foreign Affairs, Spanish Minister of — the policy he should follow, 46 Foreign politics of Russia, 107, 108 Fortresses, great, of Germany, 270 Fortschritts Partei of Prussia, its princi- pal aims, 228, 229, 231 ; address embodying the demands of the Liberal party, 237, 238 France and Belgium, 374-376 Francis I, of Austria, as a man and a ruler, 141, 142 Francis Josejih, emperor of Austria, and his advisers, 166, 246 Frankfort Parliament of 1848, 212 ; the Diet, 258, 268 et seq. Fraser, article in, on Spain, quoted, 28, 48 ; article on Circassia, 109 Free-trade party in Eussia, 1 09 Frederick William III. of Prussia, 202 Frederick William IV. of Prussia, 201 ; popular acts at the opening of his reign, 202, 203 ; desirous of a change in the constitution of the Germanic Confederation, 260 ; offered the crown of the resuscitated German Empire, but declines, 262 ; humiliation, 207 ; goes to Warsaw to meet Nicholas, 213 ; his illness, 221 ; regency of his brother, the Prince of Prussia, and changes in policy, 221-225 Frederick William, Crown-Prince of Prussia, 247 Frederick VII. of Denmark, his death gives a formidable turn to the Schles- wig-HoLstein question, 238 Frederick the Great, 248 French books reprinted in Bnissels, con- troversy between France and Belgium regarding, 345 French government, assistance of, to Christina of Spain, 12 Frere-Orban, an eminent Belgian states- man, 340, 341, 344, 368 Fi-eytag, M., on the Thirty Years' War, 248 Future of Russia, 119-122 ; of Austria, 199, 200 ; of Prussia, 247-251 ; of Belgium, 377 Gagern, Heinrich von, a German states- man, 261, 276 ; his father, 255 Gai, Louis, a journalist in Croatia, 155 Galiano, a Spanish statesman, 7 Galicia, massacres in, 160, 161 Gansfoort, Wessel, of Groningen, 298 Garcia, Sergeant, 8 Garibaldi at Maisala, 173 Garrido, Fernando, his work on Spain, 3, 4, 31, 38, 44, 45 Gastem, convention of, 241 George Victor, Prince of Waldeck, 274 Gerlach, the President von, a leader of the Feudalists in Prussia, 215 et seq. " German party of Progress," the, 228 German question, the, in Austria, 170, 195, 197 ; in Prussia, 212, 249 German unity, problem of, 282-286 Germanic Diet, the ; desirability of its disruption, 248, 249 ; political organ- isation of, 252 ■; Confederation of the Rhine, 253 ; disintegration of Ger- many consequent on the breaking-up of the Confederation, 254 ; negotia- tions of 1814, 255, 256 ; the Federal Act : various stages through which it passed, 257 ; its chief stipulations, 258 ; the Final Act, 259 ; ministerial conferences at Vienna in 1834 conse- quent on the revolutionary agitation which had been called forth by the fall of the elder branch of the Bourbons, 260 ; the Frankfort parliament of 1848, and its hostile sections, 261 ; Frederick William of Prussia is offered the crown of the resuscitated German Empire, but declines it, 262 ; the "Union," 263 ; the reaction, 263, 264 ; the crisis of 1850, 265 ; states in- cluded in the Confederation, 267 ; the Diet and its assemblies, 268 ; summary of what is within the competence of the Diet, 268, 269 ; its departmental committees, funds, army, etc., 270 ; extent and population of the various states, 270, 271 ; remarks on the poli- tical life of some of these, in their in- dividual capacity : — Bavaria, Wiirtem- berg, Saxony, 271 ; Hanover, Brims- wick, Weimar, 272 ; Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Cassel, Baden, the two Mecklen- burgs, Oldenburg, 273 ; Anhalt-Des- sau, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and Schwarzburg - Rudolstadt, Lichten- stein and Waldeck, 274 ; Reuss-Greitz and Reuss-Schleitz, Lippe - Detmold, Schaumburg - Lippe, Schleswig - Hol- stein, Luxemburg and Limburg, 275 ; Robert von Mold, 273-276 ; plans sug- gested for the reconstruction of the Con- federation, 276-281 ; Count Bismai-k's proi)osals, 281; objections to theGross- deutsche idea, 282 ; difference in various respects between Northern and Southern Germany, 282 ; problem of Gei-man unity, 283-286 ; the Schles- wig-Holstein imbroglio, 286-288 INDEX. 385 Germany, diflerence betweeu Novtheru and Southern, 2S2, 283 Ghent, state university of, 348 Gibraltar, British possession of, 63 Gneist, Dr., 241 Goherimcion (Minister of). See Interior Goblet, General, cited, 335, 336 Godunoff, Boris, a Russian usurper, 80 Goluchowski, Count, of Austria, 172, 175 Goniarus, a Dutch theologian, 298 Gomez, the famous Carlist leader, 9, 25 Gotha despatch of Lord Russell, 234 Gotha, party of, supporters of the " Union," 263 Grabow, M., a Prussian Liberal, 230, 235, 238 ; his speech at the opening of the session of 1865, 246 Granja (La), mutiny of, 7, 9 Greek Church, the, 96 Greek insurrection in 1821, and Metter- nich's policy, 144, 145 Gregory XVL, Pope, encyclical letter of, and its eifects on parties in Belgium, in 1832, 336 Groen (van Prinsterer), M., an eminent statesman and historian in Holland, 303 et seq., 323 et seq., 369 Groningen school of theology, 307-309 Groningen, imiversity of, 327 Groot, Hofstede de, a Dutch professor, 307, 308, 325 Grotius, 299 Griin, Anastasius (Count Auersperg), 159 Gucifdia Civil, the, 33 Hague, the, 333 Hallischen Jahrhlicher, the, 4 Hanover, 267, 272 ; king of, 263 Hansemann cabinet in Prussia, 209 Harbours, Spanish, 41 Hardenberg, Karl August, a Prussian statesman, 256 et seq. Harkort, M., and the section of the party of progress known as the Fraction Harkort, 230 Havel, marshes of the, 201 Haxthausen, a Avi'iter on Russia, referred to, 65, 72, 78, 106 Haynau, General, 176 Hayward, Mr., 212 Heidelberg, the Vorparlaament of, 260, 261 Hengstenberg, E. W., a German theolo- gian, 204, 224 " Herrenhaus," 218, 244 Herzen, M., a -writer on Russia, quoted and referred to, 78, 79, 102 9 Hesse-Cassel, or Electoral Hesse, mis- government of, 265, 267, 273 Hesse-Darmstadt, 2 67, 273 Hesse-Homburg, 267 Heydt, Von der, a Prussian statesman, 224, 231, 233, 238 Hinckeldey, director-general of police iu Prussia, 219 "Historical" school of publicists and of jurists iu Prussia, 204 Hohenlohe, Prince, 231 Hohenzollerns, the two, Hechingen and Sigmaringen, 267 Hohenzollern, Prince of, and his cabinet, 222-225 Holland as described by Pliny, 289 ; changes since his time, 290 ; books on, 291 ; earlier and more recent history, 292, 293 ; rapid political advance since 1848, 293-297 ; ecclesiastical system, 298-320 ; schools of theology, 306-315 ; education : schools, 321- 327 ; universities, 327-330 ; her colo- nial empire, 330, 331 HoUweg, M., 223. See Bethmami-Holl- weg Holstein, people of, 287. See Schleswig- Holstein Holy Alliance, the, 67 et seq., 145, 259 Holy Roman Empire, 252, 254 Horner, Leonard, 321 House of Commons, British, debates on Poland, 95 Hiibner, M. de, Austrian Minister of Police, 172 Huet, M. Busken, a Dutch theologian, 313, 314 Humboldt, Alexander von, 202, 247 Humboldt, William von, 255 Hungary, books on, 134-136 ; changes introduced by Joseph II. 137, 138 ; influence of the Greek revolution of 1820, 146-148 ; and of Polish insurrec- tion of 1831, 148, 149 ; debates in the Diet 1832-1836, 152, 158 ; com-se of events down to 1848, 153-158 ; Hun- garian parties, 157, 158 ; Kossuth, 158, 163, 172 ; the laws of 1848, 163, 164 ; Bach aud the Hungarian magnates, 172 ; Vay, the leader of the Hungarian Protestants, summoned to Vienna, 176 ; policy of Schmerling, 177 et seq.; Diet of 1861, 178; re- sistance to Austrian policy from the dissolution of the Diet till the Patent of September 1865, 180 ; the " Old Conservatives," 181 ; programme of the Liberals, 182 ; the letters from 2 C 386 INDEX. Pesth, and the chief pomts laid down in them, 182-184 Hymans, M., cited on provisional go- vermnent in Belgivun in 1831, 334, 836 Industries of Spain, 38 Interior (ministry of), in Spain, S2 et seq. Isabella II. of Spain, her accession to the throne, 5 ; pretensions of Don Carlos, 5-9 ; her marriage, 16 ; discussion of the question in the Cortes as to whether she was to be kept on the throne, 19 ; makes over to the nation the patrimony of the CroAvn, 26 ; extent of her do- minion, 28 Isturiz, a Spanish statesman, 7, 21 Italian war of 1859, the impulse given to national feeling in Prussia by, 228 Italy, kingdom of, recognised by Spain, 27 ; by Prussia, 232 ; debate on, hi the Belgian Chambers, 355, 356 Jacoby, Dr., of Konigsberg, prosecuted on account of a pamphlet, 204, 208 Jagow, M. von, a Prussian statesman, 231 Jemappes, outbreak in the commune of, 350 Jews in Germany, 258 John, Archduke, of Austria, elected Vicar of the empire, 261 Jonas, M., a Prussian Protestant preacher, 209 Joseph II. of Austria ; his plans of re- form and the forces opposed to them, 136, 137 ; his policy in Hungary, 138 Journalism in Spain, 47, 48 ; in Russia, 115-117, 124, 125 ; in Priissia, 237 ; in Belgium, 366, 367 Junkers, or Feudal party, in Prussia, 226, 243 e^ seq. Kaltenbobn, an authority on the con- stitution and history of the Confeder- ation of the Rhine, 253 Kant, Immanuel, 224 Karamsine, N. M., the Russian his- torian, 110 KatkofF, a Russian journalist, 116, 123, 125 Kisseleff, Count, 81 Klaczko, M., his article on Poland, 198 Klebelsberg, an Austrian statesman, 1 49 Kleist-Retzow, a Prussian Feudalist, 226 Koloomzine, M., on Russian universities, ^17, 118 Kolowrat, Count, a member of the tri- umvirate in Austria under Ferdinand, 150, 151 Kossuth, 153 ; his memorable words in March 1848, and their results, 158, 163 ; in the Italian campaign of 1859, 172 Kremlin, the, at Moscow, 96 Kremsier, Austrian National Assembly removed to, during the revolutionary period of 1848-49, 165 Ki-euz-Zeitung party in Prussia, 214 et seq., 221, 238; its principles dominant in Mecklenburg, 244, 245 Krtidener, Madame de, 66 et seq. Kutusoff, Russian field-marshal, 254 Lathente's history of Spain, 49 Lamennais, 358 Lampe, Professor at Utrecht, 299, 300 Land-question in Poland, 126-130 Lands belonging to Spanish clergy, sale of — its effect on the material revival of Spain, 35 ; waste lands, 38 Larisch, Count, an Austrian statesmen, 185 Larra, inscription suggested by, to be over the gate of the Madrid Exchange, 39 Larra, De Mazade's article on, in the Revue des Deux Mondes, 4 Laurent, Professor, a Belgian writer, 348, 370 ■ Laveleye, M. de, cited, 323 Law, Russian, 115 " League of the Three Kings," 262-264 Leiningen, Count, his mission to Con- stantinople, 170 Leitha, the, 158, 175 Leon, General, 12 Leopold L, chosen king of the Belgians, 335 ; letter of, illustrative of his moderating influence over party dis- putes, 350 ; his death, 360 ; his char- acter, and secret of his success, 360, 361 Leopold II. of Belgium, 361 Leopold II. of Austria, 139 Lerida, 31 Lewis, Sir George, 295 Leyden school of theology, 310, 311 Leyden, university of, 327 Leyen, Prince von der, 253 Liberalism in Russia, 109-112; in Prussia, 228-230, 249 Lichtenstein, principality of, 267, 274 Liege, state university at, 337 Lighthouses, Spanish, 41 Ligne, Prince de, 344 Lippe-Detmold, principality of, 267, 275 INDEX. 387 Literature of Spain, 47-52 ; of Russia, 115-117 ; of Belgium, 364 etseq^. Llorente, M., a Spanish statesman, 26 " Loi des Convents," a bill in the Belgian Chambers so called, 349 Loja, socialist rising at, 23 Lopez, ministry of, 13 Louis, Archduke, of Austria, 150, 151 Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland, 301 Louis Napoleon, 170 Louis of Bavaria, 246, 271 Louis Philippe, 32 ; his fall and flight, 206 ; letter to Leopold on the political gathering at Brussels, 340, 342 Louvain, Catholic university at, 337 Ltibeck, 267 Lucena, Count of. 8ee O'Donnell Luchana, Count of. See Espartero Lunatic asylums of Spain, 33 Lutherans in Holland, 316, 317 Luxemburg and Limburg, 267, 275, 276 ; transferred from Belgium to Holland, 337 Maager, M., 174 Madoz, Don Pascual, a Spanish states- man and statistician, 23, 49 Madrid, university of, 51-53 Magdeburg, 201 Magyars, the, 15i et seq. See Hungary Majlath, George von, chancellor of Hun- gary, 185. Malaga, 23 Malines, Catholic university at, trans- ferred to Louvain, 337 Mancha (La), 9 Mann, Horace, on education in Prussia, 220 Manteuffel, Freiherr Otto von, ministry of, 210 et seq., 221, 222. Manufactures, Spanish, 38 Margall, Pi y, a Spanish journalist, 47 Maria Theresa, 165 Maroto, a lieutenant of Don Carlos, 9 Marsh's Man and Nature quoted, 93 Matamoros, and the religious movement in Spain to which his name is attached, 57 Material revival in Spain, progress of, and field for, 34-39. Matthi^, 223 Maurice of Nassau, 298 Maximilian, king of Bavaria, 232 Mazade, M. C. de, papers on Spain and Russia in the Revue des Deux Mondes, 4, 27, 125 Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the worst go- verned district in Germany, 244, 245, 273 Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 267, 273 Meudizabal, ministry of, in Spain, 7 Mennonites in Holland, 316, 317 Metternich, Prince, 67 et seq., 140 ; his baneful influence on the foreign policy of Austria, 143, 144 ; takes part in the negotiations of 1814 as to the Ger- manic Confederation, 257 ; misappre- hended by the mob of Viemia in 1343, 150 ; his opposition to all reform, 151 ; flight of, 163 Military question, the, in Prussia, 226, 231 Mill, John Stuart, 295, 315 Milutine, M., his pamphlet on the emancipation of the Russian serfs, 83-85, 94, 127 Minister io del relavipago, the, 16 Ministry, the Spanish, departments of, 30 Mines, Spanish, 34 Minutoli's work on Spain referred to, 2, 33, 42, 51 Miraflores, Marquis of, succeeds O'Don- nell as President m. 1863, 24, and is succeeded by Narvaez, 25 Moderado party in Spain, 6, 10-12, seq. " Modern theology," school of, in Hol- land, 311-315 Mohl, M. Jules, professor of Persian at the College de France, 273 Mohl, Robert von, representative of Baden in the Germanic Diet, 273-276 Molinari, M. de, a Belgian economist, .365 Molins, Marquis of. See Togores Mommers, a Dutch clergyman, 300 Mon cabinet (Spain), 24 Montalembert, M. de, 90, 346, 358, 371 Montalvan, M., rector of the university 01 Madrid, 26 Montemolin, Conde de, 22 Montenegro, 170 Montesinos, Colonel, governor of the prison at Valencia, 33 Montesinos, a Spanish politician, 56 Morocco, Avar between Spain and, 22 Moscow, 117 Motley, J. L., author of the Rise of the Dutch RepiMic, 292 Mouravieff", a Russian general, 94, 132 Miihler, M. a Prussian minister, 231 Munich, 232 Miinster, Count, 255 Murillo, Bravo, 17 Napoleon, 67, 68, 248 ; hereditary pro- tector of the Confederation of the Rhine, 254 ; return from Elba, 256 Narvaez (Duke of Valencia), 13, 15, 16, 388 INDEX. 25 ; implicated in tlie conspiracy of June 1854, 18 ; succeeds to power for a short time, 21 ; is recalled in 1864, 25 ; superseded in June 1865 by O'Domiell, 27 National Assembly of Prussia in 1848, 207 et seq. National Verein, the, 277 Navarino, battle of, 145 NavaiTe, war of, 9 Navy, Spanish, 43, 44 Negotiations of 1814 as to a Germanic Confederation, 255 Neo-Catholicism, Spanish, 46, 47 Netherlands. See Belgium, Holland Neutrality in Belgium the foundation of her political existence, 345 Newspaper stamp abolished in Belgium, 342 Nicholas of Russia, 150, 265 ; charac- teristics of his reign, 69 ; his foreign policy, 70 ; change on Russian society consequent on his death, 71 ; intrusted to Speranski the codification of Rus- sian law, 115 ; a return to his system would be political niin, 119, 131 Nicholas (Czarewitch), hereditary Grand- duke of Russia, his death, 123 Niebuhr, 287 Nitzsch, C. L., similarity of his views with those of the Groningen school, 308 ; he is the father of Nitzsch, Karl I. , a distinguished German theologian, 224 Nobility, Russian, 113, 114 Nocedal, a Spanish jDolitician, 21 Norway and Sweden, a confederation wdth a common hereditary sovereign, 252 Nothomb, M., government of, in Bel- gium, 338, 339, 349, 351, 359 Novara, battle of, 170 Obermayer, 33 Oca, Montes de, 12 Ochoa's collection of extracts from Spanish writers, 49 Octroi, Spanish, 40 O'Donnell (Duke of Tetuan), his in- trigues against Espartei'o, 12 ; heads a military revolt in 1854, 18, 20 ; division in the cabinet between him and Espartero in 1856, 20 ; again in power for three moutlis, being suc- ceeded by Narvaez, and was once more called by the queen, 21 ; hostilities with Morocco, 22 ; succeeded in the ministry by tlie Marquis of Miraflores, 24 ; supersedes the Narvaez govern- ment, 27 (Eder, and the CEder class, 211, 223 Ofalia, a Spanish statesman, 9 Officers of Pnissian army belong chiefly to the Junker or Feudal party, 227, 243 Ogareflf, his Lettres a icn Anglais worthy of study, 80 Olazagutia, 1 " Old Church," the, or Jansenist ChiU'ch, in Holland, 316 Olden-Barneveld, judicial murder of, 299 Oldenburg, Grand-duchy of, 267, 273 Olmiitz, 212, 213, 232, 266 Olozaga, a Spanish statesman, 4, 14, 15, 23 ; his flight to Lisbon, 15 Oosterzee, M., a Dutch professor, 306 Opzoomer, M., a Dutch theologian, 314, 315 Orange, Princes of, 292, 293 Orense, Marquis of Albaida, his work on Spain, 3, 37 Organ in worship, dislike of the Russian peasantry to, 97 Ortega, captain-general of the Balearic Isles, 22 Orts, M., a Belgian politician, 355, 359 O'Shea's Guide to Spain, 28, 29 Oviedo, 24 Paget, Mr., author of Hungary and Transyhxmia, 134 Palm, Van der, his translations of the Bible into Dutch, 301, 309 Palmer, Mr. WUliam, 101 Palmerston, Lord, and Belgium, 335, 336 ; his last government, 352 ; his opinion of Baron Stockmar, 360 Pamplona, military revolt at, 12 Pansclavism, 105-107 Papal aggression in the Netherlands in 1853, 296, 297 Paris, congress of, 171 ; fall of, 254 Paris to Madrid by railway, 1 Parties in Spain at present, 46 " Patent," Prussian, of February 1847, 205 Raton's works referred to, 135, 190 Patow, M,, a Prussian statesman, 219, 223 Patrocinio (Nun), 23 Peasantry, Russian, not all serfs, 72 ; natural characteristics of, 96 ; recent introduction of a ten-itorial an-ange- ment highly favourable to them, 94 Pedro v., Dom, late king of Portugal, 222 Peninsula, tlie, travellers to, 1 ; war in, 42 INDEX. 389 Personal serfs of Russia, 81 Peru, conflict with Spain, 24 Pesth, 153 Peter the Great, 78, 80, 111 Pfuel, General von, 209 Philip II. of Spain, 30 Philip III. 38 Pichegru, Charles, a French general, 292 Pidal, Marquis of, 50 Pius IX., Pope, his encyclical letter of December 1864, and its results in Belgium, 360, 370 Pliny's description of Holland, 289 Poland, insurrection of, in 1831, and its influence on Austria, 148, 149 ; dis- turbances in 1846, and the Galician massacres, 160, 161 ; Austria more favoui'ably disposed to Poland than either of the two other partitioning powers, 198 ; insuiTection of 1861, 87 ; the Poles in the reigns of Alex- ander^I. and Nicholas, 88, 89 ; tenden- cies manifested in the early years of Alexander II. 's reign, 89 ; policy of the Zamoyski and the Wielopolski parties, 89-92 ; books on Poland, 92, 93 ; the future of, 93, 94 ; laud-question in, 126-130 Police, Spanish, 33 Population and pauperism in Belgium, 367 Porte, the ; hostilities mth Russia, 145 Portugal and Spain, 63 Posen, 160 Post-ofiice management in Spain, 33, 34 Poverty, evidences of, in Spain, 34 Prague, recent Czechish agitation at, 208 Presburg, the Diet of, 155, 156 ; events of March 1848, 163 Press (Spanish), regulation of, in the hands of Minister of Interior, 34 ; prosecutions in Prussia, 203, 204 ; Bismark's high-handed proceedings with regard to, 237 ; resolutions against freedom of, at the Congress of Carlsbad, 259 Priestcraft and free thought, 371 Priests of the Russian Church, 97, 98 Prim, exiled by the Mon cabinet, 24 Prisons and prisoners in Spain, 31-33 Professors, Belgian, discussions in the Chambers as to the liberty to be al- lowed them in explaining their opinions on questions affecting religion, 349 Progressista party in Spain, 10, 47 ; in favour of a regency of three, 11 Prussia : four well-marked periods of its recent history, 201 ; Frederick William III., 202'; Frederick William IV., 203 ; early events of his reign ; unpopularity of the appointment of Eichhom as Minister of Public In- struction, 203, 204; the "patent" of February 1847: the "historical" school of publicists and jurists, 205 ; opening of the " Vereinigte Landtag," 205, 206 ; the revolution of 1848, 206, 207 ; the National Assembly and its cliques, 207-209 ; dissolution of the Assembly, and announcement of new constitution, 210 ; the first parliament, 211; the Manteuff"el cabinet, 213; the Kreuz-Zeitung party, and its leaders, 214-216; the Freiherr von Vincke, 217 ; breach between the Prmce of Prussia and the government in consequence of differences of opinion about the Russian war, 217-220 ; education, 220, 221 ; the Prince be- comes regent : conseqiient changes, 221-225 ; political parties, 225 ; coro- nation of WiUiam I., 226 ; the military question, 227 ; programme of the Fortschritts Partei, or party of Pro- gress, 228, 230 ; the new ministry (May 1862), 231 ; M. von Bismarck- Schonhausen becomes President of the Council, 233-225 ; the constitutional question, 235-241 ; the Danish war, 240 ; the British press on Pnissian policy, 242 ; the Feudal party, 243- 246 ; present difficulties, 246 ; the future of Prussia, 247-251 ; the dis- ruption of the Confederation desirable, 248, 249. Public Welfare, ministry of, in Spain, 34-39 Putiatine, Admiral, 118 QuETELET, M., a distinguished astronomer and statistician in Belgium, 365, 366 Radowitz, Joseph von, Prussian genera and statesman, 210, 212, 217, 266 Railways, development of, in Spain, 35, 36 ; in HoUand, 297 Ranke, 232 Rationalism, German, — Dutch variety of, 300, 301 Rechberg, Count, Austrian Foreign Min- ister in 1859, 172 Reconstruction of the Gennanic Confe- deration, plans suggested for, 276- 281 Reformed tenets, opposition to, in Spain, a chief cause of its decline, 56 Reforms necessary in the Prussian Church, 97 390 INDEX. Reichensperger, A., an eminent Catholic lawyer in Prussia, 209 Reichsrath, Austrian, 173 ei seq., 180 Reimanis, H. S., author of the '* Wolfen- biittel Fragments," 214 Religious struggles in the Netherlands, 332 Religious toleration in Spain, 8, 19, 38 ; state of religion, 54-59 Remonstrants, a religious section in Hol- land, 316 Renan, Ernest, on the authorship of the "Imitation of Christ," 294, 315 Representative government in Russia, 110, 111 Reprinting of French books in Brussels, controversy as to, 345 Reuss-Greiz and Reuss-Schleiz, princi- pahties of, 267, 275 Revenue of Spain, 40 R^ville, M. Albert, a Dutch theologian, 312, 313 Revue des Deux Mondes, Spanish papers in, 4, 44 ; article on Portugal, 63 ; articles on Russia, 80, 125 ; papers on Poland, 92, 198 ; on Prussia, 245, 246 ; on Belgium, by llmile de La- veleye, 369 Rhine, Confederation of the, 253-255 Rhineland, Kreuz-Zeitung rule in, 226, 245, 250. See Mecklenburg Riego, revolt of, 5 Ritter, Karl, Professor Extraordinarius of Geography at Berlin University, 223, 236 Rivers, Spanish, 39 Roads in Spain, 33, 36 Rochow, M. von, a member of the Prus- sian Feudal party, 219 Rodbertus, 208 Roggenbach, M. de, a German states- man, 213 Rogier, M., a Belgian statesman, 338. See Belgium Roman Catholic religion, and Spanish constitutions, 8 Romanism, form of, prevalent in Spain, 58 Roon, Von, a Prussian general and statesman, 231-236 Rosa, Martinez de la, called to the councils of Christina of Spain, 6 ' Rosas, Rios y, a Spanish statesman, 20, 23 Ross, Mr. Owen : his pamphlet on Spain and Morocco, 41 Royalists of Isabella II., 46, 47.j Ruge, Arnold, 4 Russell, Earl, 356 ; his famous Gotha dispatch, 234 Russia : English ideas about, 65, ^^ ; Alexander I., 66 ; the Holy Alliance, ^1, 68 ; reign of Nicholas, 69, 70 ; the Crimean war, 70, 71 ; accession of Alexander II., 71 ; classes of pea- santry not serfs, 72-75 ; the com- mune, and communal institutions, 77-80 ; serfdom, 80 ; working out of the idea of emancipation, 81, 82 ; the proclamation of enfranchisement, 83 ; its probable results, 84 ; the Polish insurrection of 1861, 87-95 ; the Rus- sian Cliurch, 95-102 ; question of the Dissidents, 99, 100 ; Russian aggrand- isement in Asia, 102, 103 ; Pansclav- ism, 105, 106 ; foreign politics of, 107, 108 ; financial disorder, 109 ; liberalism and its different sections, 109-112; the nobility, 113, 114; Russian law, 115, 116; journalism, 116, 117; education: universities, 117-119 ; future of Russia, 120-122 ; death of the heir to the crown, 123 ; results of the present reign, 131, 132 Russian war. See Crimean war Russophobia, 102 Ruthenian peasantry of Galicia, 160-162 Salamanca, university of, 52 Sand-deserts in Poland, 93 San-Domingo, conflict with Spain, 24, 25 Santones, an epithet applied to Espar- tero's party, 12 Saragossa, university of, 52 Sartorius, Count of San Luis, 3, 16, 17 Saussaye, M. Chantepie de la, a popular preacher in Rotterdam, 306, 307 Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Duke of, 277-279 Saxe-Meiningen, duke of, 279 Saxony, 267, 271 ; king of, 263 Schaumburg-Lippe, principality of, 267, 275 Schedo-Ferroti {nom de plume of a well- informed writer on Russia), 96, 97 ; quoted, 99 ; his journal, L'JScho de la Presse Russe, 124, 125 Scheldt dues, the, 357 Schimmelpenninck, 322 Schlegel, 301 Schleiermacher, 209 Schleinitz, the Freiherr Alexander von, member of the HohenzoUern cabinet, 222 Schleswig-Holstein question, 234, 249, 267, 275, 286-288 ; new phasis on the death of Frederick VII. of Denmark, 238 Schlosser, 223 Schmerling, M., an Austrian statesman, INDEX. 391 176 ; succeeds Bach in the ministry, 177 ; his policy and administration, 173-182 ; his retirement and its re- sults, 185-189, 261 Schnitzler's works on Russia, 115 Scholten, Professor, of Leyden, 310, 319 Schools in Spain, 50 ; in Russia, 118 ; in Prussia, 221 ; in Holland, 321 et seq. ; in Belgium, 343 Schou recalled to office by Frederick William IV., 202, 225 Schultens, Albert, 300 Schultze-Delitzsch, 208, 230 Schwab's (Dr. Erasmus), work on Hun- gary referred to, 135 Schwartz, Dr. Carl, ; Court preacher at Gotha, 283 Schwartzenberg, Prince of Austria, 166, 167, 177, 1S4, 266 Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, principality of, 267, 274 Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, principality of, 267, 271 Schwerin, Count, 21 7, 225 Sclaves, or Sclavacks of north-western Hungary, 155 Sects, the, of Holland, Z1& et seq. Semler, 299 Serfs in Russia ; exceptional classes of the peasantry not coming under that denomination, 72, seq. ; writers giWug a faithful picture of the working of serfdom, 76 ; origin of serfdom, 80 ; the communal institutions, 77-80 ; emancipation, 81-83 Siberia, serfs of, 83 Sieyes, Abbe, 208 Simson, M., a Prussian statesman, 230 Slave-trade, the, and the Spanish go- vernment, 45 Slavery in the West Indies, measure of emancipation adopted in Holland, 297 Small proprietors, or odnodvortzi, a class of Russian peasantry, 72 Sobieski, John, a Sclavonic hero, 147 Soldier, the Spanish, 42 Spain : prevalent en'oneous notions about, 2 ; books on, 2 ; worthlessness of most of the modem English books of Spanish travel, 4 : ignorance of Englishmen of her recent history, 4 ; events in, during the minority of Isabella II., 5-16 ; crisis of June 1854, 18-20 ; reaction of 1857, 21 ; patri- mony of the Crown made over to the nation by the queen, 26 ; the nine ministers of the government, 30 ; ad- ministration of justice in, 31 et seq. ; material revival, 34-38 ; finance de- partment, 39-42 ; war department, 42- 44 ; colonial department, 44-46 ; mi- nistry of foreign affairs, 46 ; parties in Spain at present, 46-48 ; literature and education in, 49-54 ; religious state of, 54-59 ; question of the dyn- asty, and difficulties to be contended with, 59-62 ; true policy of, 62-64 Speranski an eminent Russian jurist, 115 Speyk, Van, a young Dutch officer, 335 Spinoza, 316 Springer, Professor, of Bonn, his work on Austria, 134, 163 St. Petersburg, disturbances at the uni- versity of, 118 Stahl, a leader of the Feudal faction in Prussia, 214, 215 Stanley, Dean, his lectures on Russia, 95, 98 States of the Germanic Confederation, 266-276 Stein, a Prussian statesman, 202, 255 Stockmar, Baron, 360 Stolberg, 301 Strauss, Dr., his observations on the late king of Prussia, 214, 215 Stuttgardt, the Frankfort Parliament transfers its sittings to, 262 SuvaroflF, a Russian statesman, 117 S\vitzerland, a Federative State (Bvmdes- Staat) 252 Sybel, Professor von, 232, 250 Sydow, M., a Priassian Protestant preacher, 209 " System, the," in Austria, 140, 158, 159 ; received its last blow in conse- quence of the Galician massacres of 1846, 160 Szechenji, Count Stephen, 153, 157 ; his proposal to unite the two halves of the Hungarian capital by a chain-bridge, 153 Tagus, the, 39 Tchinovniks, Russian, their venality and incapacity, 114 Tariff, Spanish, 40 Tetuan, Duke of. See O'Donnell Theology, schools of, in Holland, 298, 299 Thirty Years' War, the, Prussia just recovering from, 248 Thomas-a-Kempis, 294 Thorbecke, M., an eminent Dutch states- man, 294-296, 324 Thun, Count Leo, as Austrian statesman, 168, 169 Ticknor, 48, 49 Togores, Roca di. Marquis of Molins, Spanish minister in London, 17, 44 392 INDEX. Toledo, cathedral of, 59 Toreno, a Spanish statesman, 6 Tonrgueneff, M, Ivan, a Russian novelist, 76 Tonrgneneff, M. N,, a AATiter on Russia, 72, 75 ; quotations from an unpub- lished work by, on the land-question in Poland, 127-130 Trafalgar, 43 Transylvania, Magyar popidation of, 154 Treaty of Vienna (1809), 140 ; of Paris (1814) as to the German States, 255; treaty between Austria and Prussia as to an interim management of the aflFau's of the Confederation, 263 Trieste, 22 Triumvirate in Austria under Ferdinand, 150, 151 Troitza, the, 96, 98 Trueba, Don Antonio de, a Spanish poet, 50 Tubingen University, 271 Turkey, jjolicy of Austria A\'ith regard to, 197 Tyrol, clergy of the, 151 "Ungeist" in uniform, the, 247, 251 " Union, The," a society in Belgium, which paved the way for the revolu- tion of 1830, 334 ; its composition, 337 " Union, The," 262 ; withdrawal of Hanover, 264 Union-Liberals of Spain, 47 Unruh, Von, 208, 238 Universities of Spain, 51-53 ; of Russia, 117, 118 ; of Holland, 327-330 Usedom, Baron von, 234 Utrecht imiversity, 314, 315, 327 Valdez, General, and slavery in Cuba, 45 Valencia, 9, 33, 37 ; Duke of, see Nar- vaez Valladolid, university of, 52 Vambery, M., 102 Vay, Baron Nicholas, leader of the Hun- garian Protestants, 176 Venema, 300 Venetia, the question of, a difficult one for Austria, 194, 195 Vergara, Convention of, 9 Vereinigte Landtag, the, of Prussia, 205 et seq. Ve'^sels, Spanish, coasting and for foreign trade, 37 Vicalvaro, 18 Vicalvarist, a name given to the followers of O'DonneU, 18, 48 Victory, Duke of, 12, 13 Vienna, disturbances in, consequent on the news of the February revolution in Paris, 163 ; taking of, by Prince Windischgratz, 165 ; congress of, 258 Vilagos, surrender of the Hungarian army at, in 1849, 263 Vilain xiiii., Charles Vicomte, an emi- nent Belgian politician, 345, 346, 351. See Belgi\im Vincke, the Freiherr von, a leader of the Prussian Liberals, 206, 217, 232 Virchow, Dr., medical professor at Ber- lin, 230, 235 Vinke of Utrecht, 315 Vitringa, 300 Vittoria, 12 Voet, of Utrecht, 299 Voltaire, 253 ; religious ideas of, in the Netherlands, 300 Vorparlaament, the, of Heidelberg, 260, 261 Waldeck, principality of, 267, 274 Waldeck, an eminent member of the Prussian National Assembly, 208, 229 Walewski, Count, and the Belgian press, 347 Wallis's work on Spain, 3, 30, 31, 44 Walloon churches, the, of Holland, 306, 311, 312 Walloon immigrations into Holland, 298 Walouieft", a Russian statesman, 117, 122 War Department, Spanish, 42-44 Warsaw, 90, 160 Water-supply of Spain, 38 Weimar, 267, 272 Wellington, Duke of, 254 Wesselemgi, leader of the patriotic movement in Transylvania, in 1834, 154 Wessenberg, an Austrian statesman, 257 Westminster Revieio, article in, on the " situation in Austria," quoted, 187, 188 Westphalen, M. von, 213, 222, 225 Westphalia, peasantry of, 229 Weyer, M. Van de, a Belgian statesman, 339 Widdrington, Captain, his works on Spain, 4, 57 Wielopolski, Marquis, his views as to Poland, 89 et seq. Wild, Dr Albert, his Avork on Holland, 291 William, Prince of Prussia ; breach be- INDEX. 393 tween him and the government on the question of the Russian war, 217- 220 ; becomes regent : consequent changes, 221-225 ; coronation as Wil- liam I. at Kiinigsberg, 226 ; his ab- dication would be the most satisfactory but least probable solution of j^resent difficulties, 246, 247 William I., king of the Netherlands, his system of stock-jobbing a source of annoyance to the Belgians, 333 William I., king of Wiirtemberg, 264 William III., kmg of the Netherlands, 293 William V., Prince of Orange, 292 Windischgriitz, Prince, of Austria, 165, 184 Wine, the most important of Spanish exports, 38 Witsius, 300 Wittenagemote at Kieif, a.d. 997, 110 " Wolfenbiittel Fragments," the, 215 Wolowski, M., a wi-iter on the financial disorder of Russia, 109 Wouvermans, 201 Wiirtemberg, 267, 271 ; king of, 264 XiMENES, Cardinal, 51 Ypsilanti, 148 Zamoyski, Count Andre, his views as to Poland, 89, 90 Zillerthal, Protestants of the, 152 THE END. Printed by R. Clark, Edinhiirg, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. e Veiled- , ... cfeniso: OCT 1947 APfi 18 li)48 6^ll& 566B V\u-='- 10BS2 tB r67-5PM LOAN DEPT. r: -ccr.-r D JUL2 4i95e' A^ Hf^9^' tO'Rw'S'' DEC 4 1968 ^ 66 -6 PM \961^^ () '73 2 1973 3 6 LD 2l-100m-12,'46(A20l2sl6)4120 .iS'asWy MAR 4 1973 \ 5 " ■^>. 1 ■♦■ ■ 'I t w .\ UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY • ,