mob, but it was not enough; they hoped for a republic. We have seen how the duchy was invaded by a body of Parisian propagandists, as M. Chenu details in his Memoirs,—an event which might have led to a break with France and a general war. A second insurrection occurred in September, under the leaders who had escaped in the first. Struvè, with eighty of his followers, was taken and shot. Hecker, another leader, escaped to raise another insurrection during 1849. When in that year the “rump” of the Frankfort Parliament removed, as has been seen, to Stutgardt, the Baden troops, in the fortress of Radstadt, rose on their officers, slew them, and declared for the parliament, and almost simultaneously a revolution broke out at Carlsruhe. The Grand Duke fled.

Under the lead of Hecker, and commanded by Mieralawski, the insurgents assaulted and bombarded Mannheim, and were for a considerable time in possession of the greater part of the duchy and a part of Bavaria. They were, however, in the course of a few weeks, attacked before Mannheim by the Prussians under General Peucker and the Prince of Prussia, and after a battle of seven hours, defeated and driven into the defiles of the Black Forest, and the insurrection was quelled. The Prussian troops then occupied the duchy; for Baden had concluded with Prussia a military convention, by virtue of which the two armies were incorporated; and the Baden troops, who could not be trusted, were sent to distant quarters in Prussia. Hence Prussia took an influential position with respect to the duchy, which followed the Prussian policy till the Hesse insurrection, when the Prussian troops were required elsewhere, and the Baden troops returned home. This intervention, had it occurred earlier, might have easily led to a war with France. The main results of these events were disordered finances, for the republican leaders had appropriated the public money without scruple.

Separately to go through all the small states and the revolutions which were perpetrated in Germany, or to describe which set of petty principalities took part with Prussia, or which with Austria, or which took the side of Bavaria and Wurtemberg, would be neither interesting nor instructive. Pushed into revolution or reform, they more or less became unmanageable, and were restored very much to their previous condition either by or previous to the Frankfort Diet in 1851. The prominent feature worthy of remark is, that in the smaller German states the reaction towards aristocracy has been more complete than in the larger ones. Neither Wurtemberg, Hanover, Saxony, nor Bavaria, have completely returned to their old regime in this respect, and Prussia still less; and of all the states, aristocratic influence has been most completely destroyed in the Austrian dominions. The reason is, that aristocracy is a check, and in Germany the only check, on absolutism. The larger the state, the more despotic the will of the prince, the more anxious he becomes to remove this check on his power. It may be further remarked, that in the smaller states there is more real liberty because they are poorer, and cannot pay so many functionaries, than in the greater One of the chief reasons why the German revolutions happened and failed is, that the German aristocracy is not a real one; it is neither of the people nor for the crown; it is a mere set of privileged, titled drones, who are alone anxious for their own preservation; it is a close corporation, perpetually deteriorating from the want of new blood, or even intermarriage with any other class. It is not privilege that makes an aristocracy, but influence; if it has influence with the people, it must be a check on the crown. Even in its debased condition, it is some check; hence the desire of the absolute to destroy it. It is partly the fault of the government that

ones.

it is what it is, but it is chiefly its own; at present it is only selfishly anxious to maintain its privileges, and not equal rights for all; whereas an aristocracy, to lead the people, must be constantly recruited by the best blood from among them. It must hold no exclusive prerogatives, it must be subject to the ordinary tribunals. Hence it will be its aim that the rights it claims should be the rights of the whole people. It ought to demand of the law no more than justice; it ought to see that the people have no less; if the ordinary laws administer justice, why not submit to them? Knowing from their fathers the value of freedom themselves, when the people share it, the aristocracy are its best defenders, sacrificing it neither to despot nor to demagogue. As to immunity from taxes, since they have practically a considerable share in imposing them, it is just as dishonest on their part to refuse to pay them as it is in the British ten-pounder, the great untaxed, to refuse to pay the imposts he lays on other people. The cases are precisely parallel; and in spite of aristocratic pretension, the one is no honester than the other. The ten-pounder may boast that he is as good a gentleman as the German noble, and the German noble may be proud to find himself on a par with the British shopkeeper.

THE

EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS OF 1848.

AUSTRIAN DOMINIONS.

HUNGARY, TRANSYLVANIA, AND CROATIA.

A. E. I. O. U.

66 AUSTRIÆ EST IMPERARE ORBEM UNIVERSUM."

"It was not merely the want of cordial co-operation among the princes of the empire that disabled the emperor from acting with vigour in the cause of his family then, nor has rendered the house of Austria a dead weight upon all her allies ever since. Bigotry and its inseparable companion cruelty, as well as the tyranny and avarice of the court of Vienna, created in those days, and has maintained in ours, almost a perpetual diversion of the imperial arms from all effectual opposition to France. I mean to speak of the troubles of Hungary. Whatever they became in their progress, they were caused originally by the usurpations and persecutions of the emperor; and when the Hungarians were called rebels first, they were called so for no other reason than this, that they would not be slaves."-BOLINGBROKE, vii. p. 397.

CHAPTER I.

AUSTRIA TO THE BOMBARDMENT OF VIENNA.

THE countries under the Austrian rule are inhabited by several distinct races of men-German, Hungarian, Sclave, Rouman, and Italian. Various passions actuated each. Those which moved the Germans they shared with all Germany. The Hungarian hopes were opposed to theirs.