From The Liberation Of Germany To The Year 1848

(1814--1848.)



Napoleon's Retreat. --Halting Course of the Allies. --The Treaty of

Paris. --The Congress of Vienna. --Napoleon's Return to France.

--New Alliance. --Napoleon, Wellington and Bluecher. --Battles of

Ligney and Quatrebras. --Battle of Waterloo. --New Treaty with

France. --European Changes. --Reconstruction of Germany.

--Metternich arranges a Confederation. --Its Character. -The Holy

Alliance. --Reaction among the Princes. --Movement of the Students.

--Conference at Carlsbad. --Returning Despotism. --Condition of

Germany. --Changes in 1830. --The Zollverein. --Death of Francis

II. and Frederick William III. --Frederick William IV. as King.

--The German-Catholic Movement in 1844. --General Dissatisfaction.





[Sidenote: 1814. NAPOLEON'S DEFENSE.]



Napoleon's genius was never more brilliantly manifested than during the

slow advance of the Allies from the Rhine to Paris, in the first three

months of the year 1814. He had not expected an invasion before the

spring, and was taken by surprise; but with all the courage and

intrepidity of his younger years, he collected an army of 100,000 men,

and marched against Bluecher, who had already reached Brienne. In a

battle on the 29th of January he was victorious, but a second on the 1st

of February compelled him to retreat. Instead of following up this

advantage, the three monarchs began to consult: they rejected Bluecher's

demand for a union of the armies and an immediate march on Paris, and

ordered him to follow the river Marne in four divisions, while

Schwarzenberg advanced by a more southerly route. This was just what

Napoleon wanted. He hurled himself upon the divided Prussian forces, and

in five successive battles, from the 10th to the 14th of February,

defeated and drove them back. Then, rapidly turning southward, he

defeated a part of Schwarzenberg's army at Montereau on the 18th, and

compelled the latter to retreat.



[Sidenote: 1814.]



The Allies now offered peace, granting to France the boundaries of

1792, which included Savoy, Lorraine and Alsatia. The history of their

negotiations during the campaign shows how reluctantly they prosecuted

the war, and what little right they have to its final success, which is

wholly due to Stein, Bluecher, and the bravery of the German soldiers.

Napoleon was so elated by his victories that he rejected the offer; and

then, at last, the union of the allied armies and their march on Paris

was permitted. Battle after battle followed: Napoleon disputed every

inch of ground with the most marvellous energy, but even his victories

were disasters, for he had no means of replacing the troops he lost. The

last fight took place at the gates of Paris, on the 30th of March, and

the next day, at noon, the three sovereigns made their triumphal

entrance into the city.



Not until then did the latter determine to dethrone Napoleon and restore

the Bourbon dynasty. They compelled the act of abdication, which

Napoleon signed at Fontainebleau on the 11th of April, installed the

Count d'Artois (afterwards Charles X.) as head of a temporary

government, and gave to France the boundaries of 1792. Napoleon was

limited to the little island of Elba, Maria Louisa received the Duchy of

Parma, and the other Bonapartes were allowed to retain the title of

Prince, with an income of 2,500,000 francs. One million francs was given

to the Ex-Empress Josephine, who died the same year. No indemnity was

exacted from France; not even the works of art, stolen from the

galleries of Italy and Germany for the adornment of Paris, were

reclaimed! After enduring ten years of humiliation and outrage, the

Allies were as tenderly considerate as if their invasion of France had

been a wrong, for which they must atone by all possible concessions.



In Southern Germany, where very little national sentiment existed, the

treaty was quietly accepted, but it provoked great indignation among the

people in the North. Their rejoicings over the downfall of Napoleon, the

deliverance of Germany, and (as they believed) the foundation of a

liberal government for themselves, were disturbed by this manifestation

of weakness on the part of their leaders. The European Congress, which

was opened on the 1st of November, 1814, at Vienna, was not calculated

to restore their confidence. Francis II. and Alexander I. were the

leading figures; other nations were represented by their best

statesmen; the former priestly rulers, all the petty princes, and

hundreds of the "Imperial" nobility whose privileges had been taken away

from them, attended in the hope of recovering something from the general

chaos. A series of splendid entertainments was given to the members of

the Congress, and it soon became evident to the world that Europe, and

especially Germany, was to be reconstructed according to the will of the

individual rulers, without reference to principle or people.



[Sidenote: 1815. NAPOLEON'S RETURN TO FRANCE.]



France was represented in the Congress by Talleyrand, who was greatly

the superior of the other members in the arts of diplomacy. Before the

winter was over, he persuaded Austria and England to join France in an

alliance against Russia and Prussia, and another European war would

probably have broken out, but for the startling news of Napoleon's

landing in France on the 1st of March, 1815. Then, all were compelled to

suspend their jealousies and unite against their common foe. On the 25th

of March a new alliance was concluded between Austria, Russia, Prussia

and England: the first three agreed to furnish 150,000 men each, while

the last contributed a lesser number of soldiers and 5,000,000 pounds

sterling. All the smaller German States joined in the movement, and the

people were still so full of courage and patriotic hope that a much

larger force than was needed was soon under arms.



Napoleon reached Paris on the 20th of March, and instantly commenced the

organization of a new army, while offering peace to all the powers of

Europe, on the basis of the treaty of Paris. This time, he received no

answer: the terror of his name had passed away, and the allied

sovereigns acted with promptness and courage. Though he held France,

Napoleon's position was not strong, even there. The land had suffered

terribly, and the people desired peace, which they had never enjoyed

under his rule. He raised nearly half a million of soldiers, but was

obliged to use the greater portion in preventing outbreaks among the

population; then, selecting the best, he marched towards Belgium with an

army of 120,000, in order to meet Wellington and Bluecher by turns,

before they could unite. The former had 100,000 men, most of them Dutch

and Germans, under his command: the latter, with 115,000, was rapidly

approaching from the East. By this time--the beginning of June--neither

the Austrians nor Russians had entered France.



[Sidenote: 1815.]



On the 16th of June two battles occurred. Napoleon fought Bluecher at

Ligny, while Marshal Ney, with 40,000 men, attacked Wellington at

Quatrebras. Thus neither of the allies was able to help the other.

Bluecher defended himself desperately, but his horse was shot under him

and the French cavalry almost rode over him as he lay upon the ground.

He was rescued with difficulty, and then compelled to fall back. The

battle between Ney and Wellington was hotly contested; the gallant Duke

of Brunswick was slain in a cavalry charge, and the losses on both sides

were very great, but neither could claim a decided advantage. Wellington

retired to Waterloo the next day, to be nearer Bluecher, and then



Napoleon, uniting with Ney, marched against him with 75,000 men, while

Grouchy was sent with 36,000 to engage Bluecher. Wellington had 68,000

men, so the disproportion in numbers was not very great, but Napoleon

was much stronger in cavalry and artillery.



The great battle of Waterloo began on the morning of the 18th of June.

Wellington was attacked again and again, and the utmost courage and

endurance of his soldiers barely enabled them to hold their ground: the

charges of the French were met by an equally determined resistance, but

the fate of the battle depended on Bluecher's arrival. The latter left a

few corps at Wavre, his former position, in order to deceive Grouchy,

and pushed forward through rain and across a marshy country to

Wellington's relief. At four o'clock in the afternoon Napoleon made a

tremendous effort to break the English centre: the endurance of his

enemy began to fail, and there were signs of wavering along the English

lines when the cry was heard: "The Prussians are coming!" Buelow's corps

soon appeared on the French flank, Bluecher's army closed in shortly

afterwards, and by eight o'clock the French were flying from the field.

There were no allied monarchs on hand to arrest the pursuit: Bluecher and

Wellington followed so rapidly that they stood before Paris within ten

days, and Napoleon was left without any alternative but instant

surrender. The losses at Waterloo, on both sides, were 50,000 killed and

wounded.



This was the end of Napoleon's interference in the history of Europe.

All his offers were rejected, he was deserted by the French, and a

fortnight afterwards, failing in his plan of escaping to America, he

surrendered to the captain of an English frigate off the port of

Rochefort. From that moment until his death at St. Helena on the 5th of

May, 1821, he was a prisoner and an exile. A new treaty was made between

the allied monarchs and the Bourbon dynasty of France: this time the

treasures of art and learning were restored to Italy and Germany, an

indemnity of 700,000,000 francs was exacted, Savoy was given back to

Sardinia, and a little strip of territory, including the fortresses of

Saarbrueck, Saarlouis and Landau, added to Germany. The attempt of

Austria and Prussia to acquire Lorraine and Alsatia was defeated by the

cunning of Talleyrand and the opposition of Alexander I. of Russia.



[Sidenote: 1815. THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA.]



The jealousies and dissensions in the Congress of Vienna were hastily

arranged during the excitement occasioned by Napoleon's return from

Elba, and the members patched together, within three months, a new

political map of Europe. There was no talk of restoring the lost kingdom

of Poland; Prussia's claim to Saxony (which the king, Frederick

Augustus, had fairly forfeited) was defeated by Austria and England; and

then, after each of the principal powers had secured whatever was

possible, they combined to regulate the affairs of the helpless smaller

States. Holland and Belgium were added together, called the Kingdom of

the Netherlands, and given to the house of Orange: Switzerland, which

had joined the Allies against France, was allowed to remain a republic

and received some slight increase of territory; and Lorraine and Alsatia

were lost to Germany.



Austria received Lombardy and Venetia, Illyria, Dalmatia, the Tyrol,

Salzburg, Galicia and whatever other territory she formerly possessed.

Prussia gave up Warsaw to Russia, but kept Posen, recovered Westphalia

and the territory on the Lower Rhine, and was enlarged by the annexation

of Swedish Pomerania, part of Saxony, and the former archbishoprics of

Mayence, Treves and Cologne. East-Friesland was taken from Prussia and

given to Hannover, which was made a kingdom: Weimar, Oldenburg and the

two Mecklenburgs were made Grand-Duchies, and Bavaria received a new

slice of Franconia, including the cities of Wuerzburg and Bayreuth, as

well as all of the former Palatinate lying west of the Rhine. Frankfort,

Bremen, Hamburg and Luebeck were allowed to remain free cities: the other

smaller States were favored in various ways, and only Saxony suffered by

the loss of nearly half her territory. Fortunately the priestly rulers

were not restored, and the privileges of the free nobles of the Middle

Ages not reestablished. Napoleon, far more justly than Attila, had been

"the Scourge of God" to Germany. In crushing rights, he had also crushed

a thousand abuses, and although the monarchs who ruled the Congress of

Vienna were thoroughly reactionary in their sentiments, they could not

help decreeing that what was dead in the political constitution of

Germany should remain dead.



[Sidenote: 1815.]



All the German States, however, felt that some form of union was

necessary. The people dreamed of a Nation, of a renewal of the old

Empire in some better and stronger form; but this was mostly a vague

desire on their part, without any practical ideas as to how it should be

accomplished. The German ministers at Vienna were divided in their

views; and Metternich took advantage of their impatience and excitement

to propose a scheme of Confederation which introduced as few changes as

possible into the existing state of affairs. It was so drawn up that

while it presented the appearance of an organization, it secured the

supremacy of Austria, and only united the German States in mutual

defence against a foreign foe and in mutual suppression of internal

progress. This scheme, hastily prepared, was hastily adopted on the 10th

of June, 1815 (before the battle of Waterloo), and controlled the

destinies of Germany for nearly fifty years afterwards.



The new Confederation was composed of the Austrian Empire, the Kingdoms

of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Wuertemberg and Hannover, the Grand-Duchies

of Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Strelitz,

Saxe-Weimar and Oldenburg; the Electorate of Hesse-Cassel; the Duchies

of Brunswick, Nassau, Saxe-Gotha, Coburg, Meiningen and Hildburghausen,

Anhalt-Dessau, Bernburg and Koethen; Denmark, on account of Holstein; the

Netherlands, on account of Luxemburg; the four Free Cities; and eleven

small principalities,--making a total of thirty-nine States. The Act of

Union assured to them equal rights, independent sovereignty, the

peaceful settlement of disputes between them, and representation in a

General Diet, which was to be held at Frankfort, under the presidency of

Austria. All together were required to support a permanent army of

300,000 men for their common defence. One article required each State to

introduce a representative form of government. All religions were made

equal before the law, the right of emigration was conceded to the

people, the navigation of the Rhine was released from taxes, and freedom

of the Press was permitted.



[Sidenote: 1816. THE HOLY ALLIANCE.]



Of course, the carrying of these provisions into effect was left

entirely to the rulers of the States: the people were not recognized as

possessing any political power. Even the "representative government"

which was assured did not include the right of suffrage; the King, or

Duke, might appoint a legislative body which represented only a class or

party, and not the whole population. Moreover, the Diet was prohibited

from adopting any new measure, or making any change in the form of the

Confederation, except by a unanimous vote. The whole scheme was a

remarkable specimen of promise to the ears of the German People, and of

disappointment to their hearts and minds.



The Congress of Vienna was followed by an event of quite an original

character. Alexander I. of Russia persuaded Francis II. and Frederick

William III. to unite with him in a "Holy Alliance," which all the other

monarchs of Europe were invited to join. It was simply a declaration,

not a political act. The document set forth that its signers pledged

themselves to treat each other with brotherly love, to consider all

nations as members of one Christian family, to rule their lands with

justice and kindness, and to be tender fathers to their subjects. No

forms were prescribed, and each monarch was left free to choose his own

manner of Christian rule. A great noise was made about the Holy Alliance

at the time, because it seemed to guarantee peace to Europe, and peace

was most welcome after such terrible wars. All other reigning Kings and

Princes, except George IV. of England, Louis XVIII. of France, and the

Pope, added their signatures, but not one of them manifested any more

brotherly or fatherly love after the act than before.



The new German Confederation having given the separate States a fresh

lease of life, after all their convulsions, the rulers set about

establishing themselves firmly on their repaired thrones. Only the most

intelligent among them felt that the days of despotism, however

"enlightened," were over; others avoided the liberal provisions of the

Act of Union, abolished many political reforms which had been introduced

by Napoleon, and oppressed the common people even more than his

satellites had done. The Elector of Hesse-Cassel made his soldiers wear

powdered queues, as in the last century; the King of Wuertemberg

court-martialled and cashiered the general who had gone over with his

troops to the German side at the battle of Leipzig; and in Mecklenburg

the liberated people were declared serfs. The introduction of a

legislative assembly was delayed, in some States even wholly

disregarded. Baden and Bavaria adopted a Constitution in 1818,

Wuertemberg and Hesse-Darmstadt in 1819, but in Prussia an imperfect form

of representative government for the provinces was not arranged until

1823. Austria, meanwhile, had restored some ancient privileges of the

same kind, of little practical value, because not adapted to the

conditions of the age; the people were obliged to be content with them,

for they received no more.



[Sidenote: 1817.]



No class of Germans were so bitterly disappointed in the results of

their victory and deliverance as the young men, especially the thousands

who had fought in the ranks in 1813 and 1815. At all the Universities

the students formed societies which were inspired by two ideas--Union

and Freedom: fiery speeches were made, songs were sung, and free

expression was given to their distrust of the governments under which

they lived. On the 18th of October, 1817, they held a grand Convention

at the Wartburg--the castle near Eisenach, where Luther lay

concealed,--and this event occasioned great alarm among the reactionary

class. The students were very hostile to the influence of Russia, and

many persons who were suspected of being her secret agents became

specially obnoxious to them. One of the latter was the dramatic author,

Kotzebue, who was assassinated in March, 1819, by a young student named

Sand. There is not the least evidence that this deed was the result of a

widespread conspiracy; but almost every reigning prince thereupon

imagined that his life was in danger.



A Congress of Ministers was held at Carlsbad the same summer, and the

most despotic measures against the so-called "Revolution" were adopted.

Freedom of the Press was abolished; a severe censorship enforced; the

formation of societies among the students and turners was prohibited,

the Universities were placed under the immediate supervision of

government, and even Commissioners were appointed to hear what the

Professors said in their lectures! Many of the best men in Germany,

among them the old teacher, Jahn, and the poet Arndt, were deprived of

their situations, and placed under a form of espionage. Hundreds of

young men, who had perpetrated no single act of resistance, were thrown

into prison for years, others forced to fly from the country, and every

manifestation of interest in political subjects became an offence. The

effort of the German States, now, was to counteract the popular rights,

guaranteed by the Confederation, by establishing an arbitrary and savage

police system; and there were few parts of the country where the people

retained as much genuine liberty as they had enjoyed a hundred years

before.



[Sidenote: 1830. REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS.]



The History of Germany, during the thirty years of peace which followed,

is marked by very few events of importance. It was a season of gradual

reaction on the part of the rulers, and of increasing impatience and

enmity on the part of the people. Instead of becoming loving families,

as the Holy Alliance designed, the States (except some of the little

principalities) were divided into two hostile classes. There was

material growth everywhere: the wounds left by war and foreign

occupation were gradually healed; there was order, security for all who

abstained from politics, and a comfortable repose for such as were

indifferent to the future. But it was a sad and disheartening period for

the men who were able to see clearly how Germany, with all the elements

of a freer and stronger life existing in her people, was falling behind

the political development of other countries.



The three Days' Revolution of 1830, which placed Louis Philippe on the

throne of France, was followed by popular uprisings in some parts of

Germany. Prussia and Austria were too strong, and their people too well

held in check, to be affected; but in Brunswick the despotic Duke, Karl,

was deposed, Saxony and Hesse-Cassel were obliged to accept co-rulers

(out of their reigning families), and the English Duke, Ernest Augustus,

was made Viceroy of Hannover. These four States also adopted a

constitutional form of government. The German Diet, as a matter of

course, used what power it possessed to counteract these movements, but

its influence was limited by its own laws of action. The hopes and

aspirations of the people were kept alive, in spite of the system of

repression, and some of the smaller States took advantage of their

independence to introduce various measures of reform.



[Sidenote: 1840.]



As industry, commerce and travel increased, the existence of so many

boundaries, with their custom-houses, taxes and other hindrances, became

an unendurable burden. Bavaria and Wuertemberg formed a customs union in

1828, Prussia followed, and by 1836 all of Germany except Austria was

united in the Zollverein (Tariff Union), which was not only a great

material advantage, but helped to inculcate the idea of a closer

political union. On the other hand, however, the monarchical reaction

against liberal government was stronger than ever. Ernest Augustus of

Hannover arbitrarily overthrew the constitution he had accepted, and

Ludwig I. of Bavaria, renouncing all his former professions, made his

land a very nest of absolutism and Jesuitism. In Prussia, such men as

Stein, Gneisenau and Wilhelm von Humboldt had long lost their influence,

while others of less personal renown, but of similar political

sentiments, were subjected to contemptible forms of persecution.



In March, 1835, Francis II. of Austria died, and was succeeded by his

son, Ferdinand I., a man of such weak intellect that he was in some

respects idiotic. On the 7th of June, 1840, Frederick William III. of

Prussia died, and was also succeeded by his son, Frederick William IV.,

a man of great wit and intelligence, who had made himself popular as

Crown-Prince, and whose accession the people hailed with joy, in the

enthusiastic belief that better days were coming. The two dead monarchs,

each of whom had reigned forty-three years, left behind them a better

memory among their people than they actually deserved. They were both

weak, unstable and narrow-minded; had they not been controlled by

others, they would have ruined Germany; but they were alike of excellent

personal character, amiable, and very kindly disposed towards their

subjects so long as the latter were perfectly obedient and reverential.



There was no change in the condition of Austria, for Metternich remained

the real ruler, as before. In Prussia, a few unimportant concessions

were made, an amnesty for political offences was declared, Alexander von

Humboldt became the king's chosen associate, and much was done for

science and art; but in their main hope of a liberal reorganization of

the government, the people were bitterly deceived. Frederick William IV.

took no steps towards the adoption of a Constitution; he made the

censorship and the supervision of the police more severe; he interfered

in the most arbitrary and bigoted manner in the system of religious

instruction in the schools; and all his acts showed that his policy was

to strengthen his throne by the support of the nobility and the civil

service, without regard to the just claims of the people.



[Sidenote: 1844. THE GERMAN-CATHOLIC MOVEMENT.]



Thus, in spite of the external quiet and order, the political atmosphere

gradually became more sultry and disturbed, all over Germany. In 1844, a

Catholic priest named Ronge, disgusted with the miracles alleged to have

been performed by the so-called "Holy Coat" (of the Saviour) at Treves,

published addresses to the German People, which created a great

excitement. He advocated the establishment of a German-Catholic Church,

and found so many followers that the Protestant king of Prussia became

alarmed, and all the influence of his government was exerted against the

movement. It was asserted that the reform was taking a political and

revolutionary character, because, under the weary system of repression

which they endured, the people hailed any and every sign of mental and

spiritual independence. Ronge's reform was checked at the very moment

when it promised success, and the idea of forcible resistance to the

government began to spread among all classes of the population.



There were signs of impatience in all quarters; various local outbreaks

occurred, and the aspects were so threatening that in February, 1847,

Frederick William IV. endeavored to silence the growing opposition by

ordering the formation of a Legislative Assembly. But the provinces

were represented, not the people, and the measure only emboldened the

latter to clamor for a direct representation. Thereupon, the king closed

the Assembly, after a short session, and the attempt was probably

productive of more harm than good. In most of the other German States,

the situation was very similar: everywhere there were elements of

opposition, all the more violent and dangerous, because they had been

kept down with a strong hand for so many years.