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. Constitutional government and German unity were objects of earnest desire. _Frederick William III._, the king of Prussia (1797-1840), had promised his people a constitution. 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 constitutional 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 constitutional 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 assassinated 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 _Würtemberg_ (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 assembly, 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 constitutional 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 constitution with a system of parliamentary government, limited prerogatives being left to the king. In favor of the new system were the educated and enlightened class 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 superstitious 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 principal hero of the struggle for independence was _Simon Bolivar_, who sprang from a noble 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 constitution 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 class 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 emancipation 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 coarse-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 Angoulême_, 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 constitutionalists 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 constitution. The Brazilians were eager for independence from Portugal. _John_ decided to withdraw. Arrived in Portugal, he accepted the new constitution; 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 constitutional 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 principalities 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 constitution 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_ reëstablished his despotism, disbanded the greater part of his army, and punished with exile, imprisonment, and death the leading supporters of the constitution which he had taken an oath to defend.

SARDINIA.--In Piedmont, the demand for a constitution 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 constitution 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 massacred, 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.