Taine, _History of English Literature_; Mrs. Oliphant, _Literary History of England in the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries_; Allibone, _Dictionary of British and American Authors_; Wendell, _A Literary History of America_.
PERIOD V. FROM THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA (1815) TO THE PRESENT TIME.
INTRODUCTION.
POLITICAL CHANGES IN EUROPE.--The aspiration of the peoples of Europe after const.i.tutional freedom and national unity, after the yoke of Napoleon had been thrown off, was for a long season baffled. This was owing partly to the la.s.situde natural after the protracted and exhausting wars, and more to the combination of the princ.i.p.al sovereigns, instigated by the love of power and the dread of revolution, for the purpose of preventing the popular yearning from being gratified. But in 1830--when half of the lifetime of a generation had pa.s.sed by--the overthrow of the old Bourbon line of kings in France was the signal for disturbances and changes elsewhere on the Continent. In _England_, at about the same time, there began an era of const.i.tutional and legislative reforms which effected a wider diffusion of political power. In 1848--after a second interval of about equal length--another revolutionary crisis occurred. At the same time, movements in favor of communism and socialism brought in a new peril. Alarm felt on this account, by the middle cla.s.s in France, was one important aid to the third _Napoleon_ in reviving the empire in _France_. The condition of Europe--in particular, the divided state of _Germany_--enabled him to maintain a leading influence for a score of years in European politics. The unification of _Germany_, which began in the triumph of Prussia over Austria, was completed in _Napoleon"s_ downfall through the _Franco-German_ war. The unification of _Italy_, to which _Louis Napoleon_ had contributed by the French alliance with _Sardinia_ against _Austria_, was consummated under _Victor Emmanuel_, after his cooperation with _Prussia_ in her great struggle with _Austria_. Thus _Germany_ and _Italy_ reached the goal to which they had looked with desire and hope at the close of the Napoleonic wars in 1815.
AMERICA.--On the Western Continent, _Mexico_ and the South-American dependencies of Spain and Portugal gained their independence in connection with political revolutions in the European countries to which they had been attached. The _United States,_ in the enjoyment of peace, and favored by great material advantages, advanced with marvelous rapidity in population and in wealth. Discord, growing out of the existence of negro slavery in the South, brought on at last the Civil War, which terminated in the conquest of the _Confederate States_ and their restoration to the Union, in the freedom of the slaves, and in the prohibition of slavery by Const.i.tutional amendment.
MILITARY SYSTEM IN EUROPE.--During this period, in Europe there has been a wide diffusion of popular education. But a serious hinderance in the way of physical comfort and general improvement in the princ.i.p.al European states has long existed, in the immense standing armies and costly military system which their mutual jealousies and apprehensions have caused them to keep up.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION.--This period outstrips all previous eras as regards the progress of the natural and physical sciences, and of invention and discovery in the practical applications of science. An almost miraculous advance has taken place in the means of travel and of transmitting thought. There has been an equally marvelous advance in devising machinery for use in agriculture and manufactures, and in connection with labor of almost every sort.
PEACE AND PHILANTHROPY.--The vast extension of commerce, with its interchange of products, and the intercourse which is incidental to it, has proved favorable to international peace. The better understanding of economical science, by bringing to view the mischiefs of war and the bad policy of selfishness, has tended in the same direction. Philanthropy has manifested itself with new energy and in new forms of activity. A quickened and more enlightened zeal has been shown in providing for the infirm and helpless, and for mitigating the sufferings of the soldier. Missionary undertakings, for the conversion and civilizing of heathen nations, have been a marked feature of the age.
SOCIALISM.--The "industrial age" had its own perils to confront. The progress of manufactures and trade, the acc.u.mulation of wealth unequally distributed, brought forward new questions pertaining to the rights and reciprocal aggressions of laborer and capitalist. _Socialism_, with novel and startling doctrines as to the right of property, and to the proper function of the state, inaugurated movements of grave concern to the order and well-being of society.
CHAPTER I. EUROPE, FROM THE CONGRESS OP VIENNA (1815) TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1830.
GERMANY: THE HOLY ALLIANCE.--The years of peace which followed the _War of Liberation_ produced a signal increase of thrift and of culture in Germany. But they brought also a grievous disappointment of ardent political hopes. There was a feeling of national brotherhood, which that struggle had engendered,--such a feeling as Germans had not experienced for centuries before. Const.i.tutional government and German unity were objects of earnest desire. _Frederick William III._, the king of Prussia (1797-1840), had promised his people a const.i.tution. But the two emperors, _Francis I._ of Austria and _Alexander_ of Russia, together with _Frederick William_, had, at the instigation of _Alexander_,--whose mind was tinged with religious mysticism,--formed at Paris (Sept. 26, 1815) _"the Holy Alliance,"_ a covenant in which they pledged themselves, in dealing with their subjects and in their international relations, to be governed by the rules of Christian justice and charity. They invited all the potentates of Europe, except the Sultan and the Pope, to become parties to this sacred compact. With the exception of _George IV_., the Prince Regent of England, the sovereigns complied with the request. This alliance, which was sincerely meant by _Alexander_, was popularly confused with the alliance of _Austria, Russia, Prussia, England,_ and _France,_ the aim of which was to prevent further revolutions. _Francis I.,_ who lived until 1835, was stubbornly averse to every movement that in the least favored popular freedom and const.i.tutional government. Supreme in his counsels for a whole generation was _Metternich_, not a profound statesman, but an expert diplomatist, who labored, generally with success, to stifle every effort for an increase of freedom in Germany, and elsewhere on the Continent. In the smaller German states, especially those which had belonged to the _Confederacy of the Rhine_, there was a disposition to found a const.i.tutional system; but the Prussian government followed in the wake of Austria, and Austria stood in the way of every such innovation.
AGITATION AND REACTION.--The agitation for liberty was specially rife among the students in the German universities. A demonstration by them at the _Wartburg_ (1817), in commemoration of _Luther_ and of the victory over Napoleon at _Leipsic,_--in which there were songs and speeches, and a burning of anti-liberal books,--was noticed by the Prussian and Austrian ministers; and the alleged revolutionary movements of students were denounced by the Emperor _Alexander_. This reactionary zeal was whetted by the murder of _Kotzebue_, a German poet, who was hated as a tool of Russia and a foe of liberty, and was a.s.sa.s.sinated by _Karl Sand_, a fanatical Prussian student (March 23, 1819). Young _Sand_ was executed for the deed, but his fate drew out many expressions of pity and sympathy. The Diet of the confederacy (Sept. 20, 1819) adopted what were called _the Carlsbad Resolutions_, which provided for a more rigid censorship of the press, committees of investigation to suppress revolutionary agitation, and a strict supervision of the universities by the governments. All the states were required to enforce these regulations. The liberal party, the party of freedom and unity, still subsisted, especially in the smaller states, where some of the princes, as _William I_. of _Wurtemberg_ (1819-1864) and _Louis I_. of _Bavaria_ (1825-1848), entertained comparatively liberal views.
FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XVIII.--The Congress of _Aix-la-Chapelle_ (1818) withdrew the army of occupation left by the allies in France.
The Pentarchy, or Five Great Powers, pledged themselves to the continued maintenance of peace by means of conferences and congresses. _Louis XVIII_. (1814-1824), although inactive, was not void of good sense, and was disposed to accommodate himself to the times. But the court party, with his brother the _Count d"Artois_ at its head, were unyielding in their despotic ideas. They were for restoring the system of the old monarchy. The increase in the liberal members of the Chamber, or legislative a.s.sembly, impelled _Richelieu_, the head of the ministry, to resign (Dec., 1818). A more liberal man, _Decazes_, succeeded him. He was supported by a party which arose at this time, called _Doctrinaires_ on account of a certain pedantic spirit, and a disposition to shape political action by preconceived theories or ideas, which was imputed to them. In their ranks were _Royer-Collard, Guizot, Villemain, Barante_, and others. They advocated a const.i.tutional monarchy. Among the liberals not affiliated with them was _La Fayette_, who encouraged the _Charbonniers_, a secret society for promoting liberty, that had its origin in Italy.
TYRANNY IN SPAIN.--In 1820 revolts broke out against the Bourbon governments in _Spain_ and _Italy_. _Ferdinand VII_. had been restored to liberty by _Napoleon_ in 1814, and had returned to the Spanish throne. In 1812 the Cortes had established a const.i.tution with a system of parliamentary government, limited prerogatives being left to the king. In favor of the new system were the educated and enlightened cla.s.s generally. But--as was not the case in Germany--the uprising against _Napoleon_ in Spain had owed its strength very much to the ignorant and superst.i.tious peasantry, who, while they hated the foreign yoke, clung to the feudal and ecclesiastical abuses which the French rulers in Spain, as far as time and opportunity permitted, swept away. _Ferdinand_ thus had a strong support in his movement to bring back the former bigoted and exclusive system. He wrested the national property from the holders to whom it had been sold. He restored the Inquisition: not less than fifty thousand individuals were imprisoned for their opinions. From his tyranny ten thousand Spaniards escaped into France.
SOUTH AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.--The French usurpation in Spain cost that country its American colonies. They would not submit to the French sovereignty, and after its fall maintained their independence. _Buenos Ayres_ broke loose from Spain in 1810, and in 1816 joined the Plate states in a confederation. _Paraguay_ declined a union with Buenos Ayres, and continued under the patriarchal absolutism introduced by the Jesuits, _Dr. Francia_ being its ruler until his death (1840). _Uruguay_ became a republic distinct from Buenos Ayres in 1828. In the northern colonies, the princ.i.p.al hero of the struggle for independence was _Simon Bolivar_, who sprang from a n.o.ble Creole family. He first fought for the independence of Venezuela (1810), but was made by _New Granada_ its general in 1812, and became president of the two countries, which were united under the name of _Colombia_ (1819). _Quito_ was now taken, and Peru was set free from the Spanish rule. Upper Peru, in 1825, was named, in honor of the "Liberator," _Bolivia_. He found it impracticable to connect the different states in one confederacy, and closed his eventful life in 1830. _Colombia_ divided itself into the three states, _Venezuela_, _New Granada_, and _Ecuador_ (1831).
MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE.--After the year 1808, there were various attempts at revolution in _Mexico_. In 1821 its independence was achieved by an insurrection under _Iturbide_, a native Mexican. He failed in the effort to make himself emperor (1822); and the Republic of Mexico was organized in 1824, and was recognized by the United States in 1829.
MILITARY REVOLT IN SPAIN.--The loss of her American colonies, and the efforts to restore them, reduced Spain to extreme poverty. In 1820 a successful military insurrection, led by _Quiroga_, _Riego_, and _Mina_, proclaimed anew the const.i.tution of 1812. _Ferdinand_, who was capable of any amount of hypocrisy as well as cruelty, swore to uphold it. The revolution was supported by the intelligent cla.s.s of people, but the defenders of it were split into different parties. The clergy and the peasantry were arrayed on the other side. Guerilla bands were organized under the name of the "Army of the Faith."
CONGRESS OF VERONA.--The military revolt in Spain alarmed the Great Powers. The three sovereigns were now leagued for the defense of "the throne and the altar;" for _Alexander_, who had shown liberal inclinations on the subject of the emanc.i.p.ation of the serfs, and even towards _Greece_ in its aspiration for independence, now recoiled from every thing that savored of freedom. At the Congress of _Verona_ (Oct., 1822), the sovereigns resolved to interfere in Spain. The _Duke of Wellington_ declined to concur with them, and, on his return from the congress, advised _Louis XVIII._ to take the same course.
ENGLAND: CANNING.--_George IV._ (1820-1830) had been regent since 1810. Already unpopular, he became still more so in consequence of his abortive effort (1820) to procure a divorce from _Queen Caroline_, whom he had married at the demand of his father (1795). She was not allowed to be present at his coronation. On account of the profligacy of her husband, there was a strong sympathy with her, although she was a coa.r.s.e-minded woman. For a number of years after the Peace of 1815, the English government resisted movements towards reform at home; and in its foreign policy, under the guidance of _Castlereagh_, it sustained the reactionary cause abroad. Disaffection towards the ministers gave rise to a plot, contrived by some desperate men, to destroy them in a body. It was detected; and _Thistlewood_, with some of his confederates, was executed (1820). On the death of _Lord Castlereagh_ in 1822, _Canning_, a disciple of _Pitt_, became foreign secretary. He adopted a more liberal policy, and worked against the schemes of Metternich for interference in the affairs of foreign states. He transferred England, says Guizot, "from the camp of resistance and of European order into the camp of liberty."
THE REBELLION CRUSHED IN SPAIN.--The French unwisely rejected England"s advice. _Louis XVIII_. sent an army into Spain, under the _Duke of Angouleme_, released _Ferdinand_ at Cadiz, and gave him the power to revoke all that he had done in favor of liberty. The brave _Riego_ was hung on a gibbet of enormous height. The Spanish army was disbanded, and the "Army of the Faith"
took its place. Many thousands of const.i.tutionalists were thrown into prison. _Canning_ recognized the republics of South America, lest they, too, should fall under French control. It was his boast, that he "called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old."
PORTUGAL: BRAZIL.--The royal family of Portugal were residing in _Brazil_ when the Spanish revolution occurred. Portugal, in the absence of King _John VI_., framed a liberal const.i.tution. The Brazilians were eager for independence from Portugal. _John_ decided to withdraw. Arrived in Portugal, he accepted the new const.i.tution; but the anti-revolutionary party rallied about his son _Dom Miguel_, who was supported by his mother, a sister of _Ferdinand VII_, of Spain. _Dom Miguel_ was at length driven into exile, and went to _Vienna_. Meantime _Dom Pedro_, a son of _John VI_., had made himself emperor in Brazil by allying himself with the const.i.tutional party; and _John_ was prevailed on by the British, in 1825, to recognize the new South American empire.
NAPLES AND SICILY.--In all the eight princ.i.p.alities of Italy, except in Tuscany, the misrule of the restored governments was galling to the people, whose hope of freedom had been raised only to be cast down. Everywhere the tyrannical influence of _Austria_ was dominant. The rulers in Italy were slavishly submissive to her will; and any rising of the people, if not put down by them, was crushed by Austrian forces sent down from Lombardy. Secret societies sprung up; the chief of which, the _Carbonari_, aimed at national independence, but beyond that cherished no definite, united purpose. The Spanish revolution served as the occasion for a similar rebellion of the soldiery of _Naples_. A new liberal const.i.tution was established, which _Ferdinand IV_. (July 13, 1820) solemnly swore to maintain. The insurrection in Sicily aimed at independence, but Palermo was surrendered to the revolutionary government of _Naples_. The Neapolitan rebellion led to the Congress of _Troppau_ (Oct., 1820), which was transferred to _Laybach_ (Jan., 1821). There Austria, Prussia, and Russia formed a league, the fruit of which was, that an Austrian army of sixty thousand men marched into the South of Italy, and the revolution was crushed. _Ferdinand_ reestablished his despotism, disbanded the greater part of his army, and punished with exile, imprisonment, and death the leading supporters of the const.i.tution which he had taken an oath to defend.
SARDINIA.--In Piedmont, the demand for a const.i.tution and a rising at _Alessandria_ impelled _Victor Emmanuel I_. to abdicate in favor of his brother, _Charles Felix_, who was favorable to Austria and her policy. Prince _Charles Albert_,--a distant cousin,--who had liberal views, held the regency for a few months; but _Charles Felix_, on his return from _Modena_ (Oct., 1821), governed according to despotic principles. The contest in Italy between "despots and conspirators" went on until the renewed outbreakings of revolt in 1830.
THE GREEK INSURRECTION.--The weakness of Turkey emboldened the Greeks to attempt to throw off the hated Ottoman yoke. The sultans had become the puppets of their guards, the janizaries. One after another of them had been dethroned by their soldiers. The pashas were insubordinate: in Egypt, _Mehemet Ali_ had almost made himself independent. Russia, by the Peace of _Bucharest_ in 1812, had possessed herself of _Bessarabia_ and of Eastern _Moldavia_ as far as the _Pruth_. Among the Greeks, who were not more than a million in number, and were only one among the various peoples subject to Turkey, there were formed _Hetaireiai_, or secret societies, for the purpose of organizing an insurrection. The people were first summoned to rise by _Alexander Ypsilanti_ (1821). A "national congress"
promulgated a new const.i.tution for Greece (1822). Great enthusiasm in behalf of the Greek cause was awakened in most of the civilized countries; but the _Congress of Verona_ (1822), inspired by _Metternich_, decided to give no help to the "insurgents." In the war of the Greeks with the Turks, there were atrocities committed on both sides. _Scio_ was taken by the latter in 1822. Not far from twenty thousand of the inhabitants were ma.s.sacred, and twice that number were enslaved. In 1824 the Greeks began to receive foreign help. Among those who volunteered with a chivalrous sympathy to aid them in their combat was _Lord Byron_, who died at _Missolonghi_ (1824). _Nicholas I_. of Russia, who in 1825 succeeded _Alexander I_., was more inclined to take an active part in the Greek contest, as he considered himself the head of all Christians of the Greek faith. The Sultan _Mahmoud II_., by crushing the janizaries, strengthened himself at home, but weakened his means of attack and defense abroad. In 1826 he made important concessions to _Russia_; among other things, allowing her to occupy the east coast of the Black Sea, and giving to her vessels a free admission to Turkish waters.
GREEK INDEPENDENCE.--_Mehemet Ali_ hoped to succeed _Mahmoud_. His son _Ibrahim_ had defeated the Greeks at _Navarino_ (1825). The next year, in conjunction with the Turks, he captured _Missolonghi_. The apprehension that _Nicholas_ might seek to divide Turkey with _Mehemet Ali_ caused the _Treaty of London_ to be concluded by the Great Powers which founded the kingdom of _Greece_ (July 6, 1827). England, Russia, and France joined in executing the treaty. They destroyed the Turkish-Egyptian fleet at _Navarino_ (Oct. 20). Later, _Nicholas_ waged a separate war with the Porte, which was terminated by the Peace of _Adrianople_ (1829), when the latter recognized the independence of Greece. The crown of Greece was accepted in 1832 by _Otho_, son of Louis of Bavaria.
CHAPTER II. EUROPE FROM THE REVOLUTION OF 1830 TO THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH OF 1848.
CHARLES X.--_Louis XVIII_. died in 1824. His brother, _Charles X_. (1824-30), dealt generously with the collateral branch of the Bourbons, the house of _Orleans_. He restored to _Louis Philippe_, the son of that _Philip Egalite_ whose base career was ended by the guillotine (p. 512), the vast estates of the Orleans family, and gave him the t.i.tle of "Royal Highness." But he failed to secure the cordial support of this ambitious relative. The _Duke of Orleans_ stood well with the king, but was on good terms with the liberal leaders. The king sought to reinstate the ideas and ways of the old _regime_. He was specially zealous in behalf of ecclesiastics, and ceremonies of devotion. But liberal views in politics gained ground in the second Chamber, as well as in the army and among the people. A liberal ministry under _Martignac_ was in power for a while; but in 1829 it was succeeded by a ministry the head of which was the unpopular Prince _Polignac_, and the other princ.i.p.al members of which were hardly less obnoxious. They represented the extreme reactionary and royalist party. Their active opponents--_Guizot_, _Thiers_, and _Benjamin Constant_ among them--found that their a.s.saults on the government were generally applauded. All of these were brilliant political writers. _Constant_ (from 1825) had been the leader of the opposition. _Thiers_ was a journalist of wide influence. _Guizot_ had held office under the liberal ministers, and as lecturer on modern history, and by his writings, had laid the foundation of the great distinction which he deservedly gained, as one of the foremost students and expounders of history in recent times. _Thiers_ and _Guizot_ were at this time united in the advocacy of a const.i.tutional system, as opposed to the reactionary policy and the personal government to which the king and his ministers were committed. Later we shall see that the paths of these two statesmen diverged. In 1830 _Guizot_ was the opposition leader in the Chamber of Deputies. In the Chamber of Peers, the ministry was attacked by _Chateaubriand_, who had been a valuable supporter of the Bourbon cause, and by others. The Chambers were dissolved by the king. The capture of _Algiers_, in a war against the piratical power of which it was the seat, did not avail to lessen the growing hostility to his government. It found expression through the press and in speeches at a great banquet.
ORDINANCES OF ST. CLOUD.--Taking advantage of the provision in the charter which gave extraordinary powers to the king for special emergencies (p. 537), the ministry took the fatal step (July 25, 1830) of issuing the "ordinances of St. Cloud," dissolving the Chamber of Deputies, further restricting the suffrage so that many merchants and manufacturers lost this privilege, and reestablishing the censorship of the press in a peculiarly burdensome form.
THE JULY REVOLUTION.--The ordinances were published on July 26. That evening Prince _Polignac"s_ windows were broken by a mob. The whole city of Paris was in a tumult. The liberal journals protested. There were collisions between the mob and the king"s troops. A protest of the liberal deputies, who met at the house of _Casimir Perier_, was issued. In the night the people armed themselves. _La Fayette_ arrived in Paris. On the 28th students, workmen, and all cla.s.ses of citizens, armed themselves with whatever weapons they could lay hold of. The revolutionists took possession of the Hotel de Ville. The cry was that the charter was violated. All efforts to induce the king to make concessions failed. Many of the soldiers in Paris fraternized with the people, who on the 29th had control of the whole city, except the vicinity of the Tuileries, which they gained possession of that evening. _La Fayette_, at the call of the deputies, a.s.sumed command of the National Guard. Finally, when it was too late, the king decided to withdraw the ordinances, and to change the ministry. _Thiers_ and _Mignet_ caused anonymous placards to be posted, proposing that the _Duke of Orleans_ should take the crown from the people. On the 30th _Louis Philippe_ entered Paris on foot: he had pa.s.sed the summer at his country place at _Neuilly_. _Talleyrand_,--whose influence was great with foreign courts,--_Lafitte_, and _Thiers_ were active in the effort to advance him to the throne. The deputies decided that he must be made lieutenant-general of the kingdom. _Charles X._, who still blindly confided in him, on the 31st appointed him to this office. What the intentions of _Louis Philippe_ were, is not clear. He probably meant to be governed by circ.u.mstances. On the 29th a munic.i.p.al commission was installed at the Hotel de Ville, consisting of _La Fayette_ and six other leading men. They selected several persons as officials whose authority was generally acknowledged. _Louis Philippe_, at the head of the deputies, went to the Hotel de Ville. He was cordially received by _La Fayette_ and his a.s.sociates. It was agreed that there should be "a popular throne, with free inst.i.tutions." On the balcony, under the tri-color flag, the Duke of Orleans was introduced as "the man of the people." _La Fayette_ felt that a republic would be contrary to the national wish. _Thiers_ was of the same mind. They feared complications and contests abroad, and what might be the results of general suffrage, in the existing state of the country, at home.
FLIGHT OF CHARLES X.--The desertion of _Charles X._ by his troops would have rendered an armed contest on his part impracticable. The dexterous management of _Louis Philippe_ was made effectual by the favoring circ.u.mstances. On Aug. 2 the king abdicated in favor of his grandson, the _Duke of Bordeaux_, and was compelled to fly from the kingdom. The volunteer army had been stirred up to go out to _Rambouillet_ to drive him away. The angry old king did not wait for their coming.
LOUIS PHILIPPE MADE KING.--The Chamber of Deputies declared the throne vacant. They altered the charter,--putting all religious bodies on a level, giving freedom to the press, limiting the powers of the king, and giving to the Chambers, as well as to him, the initiative in framing laws. They chose _Louis Philippe_ "King of the French."
He owed his elevation to the middle cla.s.ses, and claimed to be the "citizen king."
SEPARATION OF BELGIUM.--The effect of the new revolution was to set in motion the elements of discontent in the other European countries. _Belgium_ was the first to feel the shock. The Belgians were restless under the rule of _William I._, whose treatment of them aggravated the disaffection which their political relation to Holland constantly occasioned. A revolt broke out at _Brussels_.
The offer of a legislative and administrative separation of _Belgium_ from _Holland_, with one king over both, might have been accepted if it had been made earlier; but it followed unsuccessful efforts to quell the insurrection by force. A provisional government was created at _Brussels_, which proclaimed the independence of _Belgium_ (Oct. 4), and convoked a national congress. France confined itself to preventing the interference of foreign powers. A conference of ministers at _London_ (Jan., 1831) recognized the new state, which adopted a liberal const.i.tution. _Leopold I._ of _Saxe-Coburg_ was chosen king. He was aided by the forces of the French; but the war with Holland lasted until 1833, and it was not until 1839 that Holland definitely accepted the action of the London congress.
POLAND.--Poland was harshly ruled for the Czar by the Grand Duke _Constantine_. The revolution in France was the signal for a Polish rising, that began in an unsuccessful attempt of students and others to seize the person of the grand duke. The insurrection spread: men of talents and distinction, as well as Polish soldiers, joined the cause of the people. The Czar, _Nicholas_, would make no terms with the insurgents, and the Diet (Jan. 25, 1831) declared him to have forfeited the Polish crown. The Poles fought with desperate valor in a series of b.l.o.o.d.y battles, only to be overwhelmed by superiority of numbers. They were defeated at _Ostrolenka_ by _Diebitsch_ (May 26). After his death, _Warsaw_ surrendered to _Paskievitch_ (Sept. 8), and another Russian general entered _Cracow_. _Poland_ was now reduced, as far as it could be, to a Russian province. The army was merged in the Russian forces; the university was suppressed; the Roman Catholic religion, the prevailing faith, was persecuted; and it was computed that in one year (1832) eighty thousand Poles were sent to Siberia.
GERMANY: HUNGARY.--In Saxony and in the minor states of Germany, disturbances were consequent on the tidings of the revolution at Paris. Prussia and Austria were little affected by it; but the demands of the Diet in _Hungary_, when _Ferdinand_, the son of _Francis I._ was crowned king of that country, were an augury of a far greater commotion to arise at a later day. In the Diet of 1832 _Louis Kossuth_ first appeared as a member. Between the years 1828 and 1834, the German states (not including Austria), under the guidance of Prussia and Bavaria, formed a _Zollverein_, or customs-union, which was an important step in the direction of German unity, and one which Austria looked on with disfavor.
ITALY.--In 1831, there were signs of revolt in different states of Italy. At _Modena_, a provisional government was erected. The same thing was done at _Bologna_. _Maria Louisa_ was driven out of _Parma_. Among those who joined the insurgents in the Papal Kingdom were _Napoleon_ and his younger brother _Louis Bonaparte_, sons of _Louis Bonaparte_ king of Holland. The elder of the sons died soon after at _Forli_. The Italians relied on the help of _Louis Philippe_, but the citizen king had no disposition to engage in war with _Austria_. The uprisings were put down with the a.s.sistance of Austrian troops. _Charles Albert_, after April, 1831, king of _Sardinia_, did a good work in the discipline of his army. Without any esteem for Austria, he refused to further the plans of the revolutionary party, and thus incurred the hostility of _Mazzini_, who was organizing the movement of "Young Italy" for independence and unity. _Mazzini_, a man of elevated spirit and disinterested aims, was long to be known as the head of the republican patriots and plotters.
ENGLAND.--In _England_, reform went forward peacefully. The middle cla.s.s gradually obtained its demands. The national debt, at the close of the wars with Napoleon, amounted to nearly eight hundred millions of pounds. In 1823, with the accession of _Mr. Huskisson_ to office, began the movement for a more free commercial policy, which led in the end to the repeal of the corn-laws. The question of "Catholic disabilities" was agitated from time to time, and something had been done to lighten them. Yet in 1828 Catholics were still shut out by law from almost every office of trust and distinction. They could not sit in either house of Parliament. The endeavors of liberal statesmen for their relief were defeated by the Tory majorities. The agitation was increased by the "Catholic a.s.sociation" formed in Ireland by the Irish leader and orator, _Daniel O"Connell_. A Tory ministry was formed by the _Duke of Wellington_, with Mr. (afterwards _Sir_) Robert _Peel_ for its chief supporter in the House of Commons (1829). Yet, to avert the danger of civil war, the ministry introduced, and with aid of the Whigs carried, the "Catholic Emanc.i.p.ation Bill."
THE REFORM BILL.--On the death of _George IV._, _William IV._, his brother (1830-1837), succeeded to the throne. He was favorable to parliamentary reform. The ferment on this subject caused the resignation of the _Wellington_ ministry, which was succeeded by the ministry of Earl _Grey_. A bill for reform was presented to Parliament, depriving eighty-eight "rotten or decayed" boroughs, where there were very few inhabitants, of a hundred and forty-three members of the House of Commons, who were given to counties or to large towns, such as _Birmingham_ and _Manchester_, which had no representation. At the same time the franchise was greatly extended. The bill was strenuously resisted by the Tories, who now began to be called _Conservatives_. Its repeated rejection by the House of Lords caused a violent agitation. Finally, in 1832, when it was understood that the king would create new peers enough to pa.s.s the measure, it was carried in the upper house, and became a law.
SLAVERY ABOLISHED.--In 1833 the system of slavery in the British colonies was abolished, twenty million pounds being paid as a compensation to the slave-owners. This measure was the result of an agitation in which _Wilberforce_, _Clarkson_, and _Buxton_ had been foremost.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century, a strong feeling arose against the slave-trade. _Granville Sharp_ (1734-1813) was one of the earliest promoters of its abolition. By his agency, in the case of a negro,--_Somerset_,--claimed as a slave, the decision was obtained from Lord _Mansfield_, that a slave could not be held in England, or carried out of it. The Quakers were early in the field in opposition to the traffic in slaves. In the House of Commons, _Wilberforce_, a man of earnest religious convictions and one of the most eloquent orators of his time, contended against it for years. His friend _Pitt_, and _Fox_, joined him in 1790. The measure of abolition was carried in 1807. Then followed the agitation for the abolition of slavery itself. The slave-trade was made illegal by France in 1819. It had been condemned by the Congress of Vienna. In the French colonies, slavery continued until 1848.
LEGAL REFORMS.--In the same year the monopoly of the East-India Company was abolished, and trade with the East was made free to all merchants. A new _Poor Law_ (1834) checked the growth of pauperism. In 1835, by the _Munic.i.p.al Corporations Act_, the ancient rights of self-government by the towns, which had been lost since the fourteenth century, were restored to them. Civil marriage was made legal, in compliance with a demand of the Dissenters, who were likewise relieved of other grounds of complaint (1836). Increased attention began to be paid to popular education.
CHARTISM.--Notwithstanding the const.i.tutional changes in England, the distress and discontent of the poorer cla.s.ses occasioned the riotous "Chartist" movement in 1839, when universal suffrage, annual parliaments, and other radical changes were in vain demanded. Ma.s.s meetings were held, and outbreakings of violence were feared; but order was preserved.