Part 14

After the restriction of the Greek frontiers by the Powers, Capodistrias' government was appreciably weakened. As difficulties thickened about him, he resorted to the restrictive measures he had become accustomed to while Prime Minister of Russia. He felt that the cause of Greece would be jeopardized unless order was maintained at any cost. When the old revolutionary leaders became turbulent, Capodistrias only put his government on a firmer basis. Mavrocordato, Konduriottes and Miaulis at this juncture waited upon the President as a committee from the opposition and demanded the withdrawal of the obnoxious measures. Capodistrias would not yield, and the popular leaders betook themselves to Hydra. Preparations for civil war were begun. The President sent out an expedition to suppress them. To prevent the fleet from falling into his hands at Paros, Miaulis set fire to the "Hellas," the American-built frigate, and that ship and twenty-eight others were burned to the water's edge. Among those that were imprisoned by Capodistrias was Petro Mavromichalis, the hero of the Morea. The Russian admiral sailed to Nauplia to intercede in his behalf, but in vain. Mavromichalis' brother and son, Constantine and George, appealed to the President in person, but were put under arrest themselves. On October 9, Constantine and George Mavromichalis fell upon Capodistrias as he was going to church and shot him dead. One of the assassins was killed on the spot while the other was executed later. Capodistrias' brother, Augustine, assumed charge. His government was short-lived. After a few months he sailed away with his brother's body to Corfu.

[Sidenote: Revolt in Bologna]

[Sidenote: Menotti]

[Sidenote: Mazzini]

[Sidenote: Papal legate repudiated]

In the meantime another blow for national unity was struck in Italy. On the death of Pius VIII., late in 1830, Gregory XVI. was elected. He had scarcely been installed in the chair of St. Peter, when a report reached him that Bologna had revolted against papal rule. On February 3, Menotti raised the signal of revolt at Modena. He was lured into the power of the Grandduke of Modena, but the insurrection spread so rapidly throughout the north of Italy that the Grandduke had to fly to Austria. Menotti was carried to Austria and there put to death. It was about this time that Mazzini made his first public appearance as a revolutionist and was imprisoned. Pope Gregory sent Cardinal Benvenuti to Bologna as a legate to treat with the rebels, but the legate was made a captive and the revolt spread southward to the papal dominions. In his extremity the Pope called upon Austria for help.

[Sidenote: Austrian intervention invoked]

[Sidenote: Attitude of France]

Austria, whose own dominions in Italy were threatened, had every reason to grant this request. The only obstacle was the threatening attitude of France. Before sending out his troops, Metternich took pains to ascertain the immediate intentions of France. The official answer given to the inquiries of the Austrian Ambassador in Paris, was that Austrian intervention in favor of the sovereigns of Parma and Modena, who were related to the House of Hapsburg, might be tolerated. An extension of such intervention to the Papal States or to Piedmont would certainly constitute a _casus belli_. In token of this declaration, the French Ambassador at Constantinople was instructed to make overtures for an offensive and defensive alliance to the Sultan.

[Sidenote: Metternich diplomacy]

[Sidenote: Papal dominions invaded]

[Sidenote: Casimir Perier's French policy]

In this crisis Metternich put forth all the powers of statesmanship at his command. He declared that it was better for Austria, if necessary, to perish by war than by revolution. On the instant he assured to Russia the support of Austria against the Poles, while he worked upon the fears of Louis Philippe by pointing to the presence of young Louis Bonaparte and his brother with the Italian insurgents. As a last resort he could always let loose upon France Napoleon's son, the Duke of Reichstadt, now growing to manhood at Vienna. In defiance of the French declaration, Austria advanced a strong army through northern Italy into the papal dominion. The insurrection was ruthlessly stamped out. Louis Philippe did nothing. Lafayette resigned his Ministry in chagrin. He was succeeded by Casimir Perier, a constitutional statesman of modern mold. On behalf of France he put forward a double-edged demand that the Austrians should evacuate the papal dominions as soon as the papal government should reform its abuses. For the first time in their history, Austria and the Papacy were made to declare for constitutional reforms. A conference at Rome agreed upon the schemes of reforms to be instituted by the Pope. Further pretext for revolution was thus removed. In July, the last Austrian forces were withdrawn from the Papal States.

[Sidenote: War in Poland]

[Sidenote: Early successes]

[Sidenote: Polish disasters]

[Sidenote: Ostrolenka]

[Sidenote: Ravages of cholera]

[Sidenote: Death of Diebitsch]

[Sidenote: Civil war in Poland]

[Sidenote: Paskievitch, Russian commander]

[Sidenote: Fall of Warsaw]

The Polish struggle, during the earlier part of this year, had assumed the proportions of a national war. In February, the Russians took the offensive. General Diebitsch at the head of a column of 120,000 men marched into Poland. In the first encounters against the Polish forces, who were led by officers who had served under Napoleon, the Russians sustained such losses at Stoczek, Grochov and Bialolenska that Diebitsch had to call for reinforcements. The main body of the Russian army had to abandon the bank of the Vistula. Three detached corps remained stationed there. The Polish general, Skrzynecki, who had succeeded Prince Radzivil in the command, then took the offensive. He defeated the Russians under Geismas at Waver, and General Rosen at Dembevilkie and Igknie, but then stopped short. In the meanwhile a Polish expedition into Volhynia failed completely. Dvernicki was driven back into Gallicia. Another Polish expedition sent into Lithuania under Vilna likewise ended in disaster. The main body of the Poles had to cross the Prussian frontier. Only one division under Dembinski recovered the road to Warsaw. In the interval, the Polish army under Skrzynecki fought a pitched battle on May 26 with the right wing of the Russian main army at Ostrolenka. After a severe fight the Poles had to fall back over the Narev. Cholera now broke out in both camps. General Diebitsch and Grandduke Constantine on the Russian side succumbed to the disease. During this breathing space for the Poles, a revolution against the provisional government broke out in Warsaw. The streets ran with blood. Czartoryski fled in disguise. General Krukoviecki was made dictator. He shot a number of the mutineers and replaced Skrzynecki by Dembinski. Prussia and Austria turned against the Poles. The Prussian arsenals and military stores at Dantzig and Koenigsberg were placed at the disposal of Diebitsch's successor, General Paskievitch. He crossed the Vistula at Warsaw and marched on the capital along the left bank. On September 6, the Russians attacked Warsaw from the side of Vola and Czyste. On the Polish side Wysocki, who had begun the revolution, and General Suvenski, who had lost a leg at Borodino, were killed. Krukoviecki offered to capitulate. The Russians demanded unconditional surrender. The Polish Diet deposed Krukoviecki and put Niemoievski in command. Paskievitch ordered a general attack on the city. The Russians stormed the ramparts and Warsaw capitulated. "Sire, Poland lies at your feet," wrote Paskievitch to the Czar. It was the truth. At Plock 20,000 Poles laid down their arms. Ramarino took 15,000 into Gallicia.

[Sidenote: Poland's aspirations crushed]

[Sidenote: Polish patriots scatter]

Emperor Nicholas made an example of Poland. All those who had borne a prominent part in the insurrection were banished to Siberia. The constitution granted by Alexander was annulled. No more Polish Diets were tolerated. Poles in public office were superseded by Russians. The Polish soldiers and officers were mustered into Russian ranks and distributed over widely different points of the empire. The country was divided into Russian provinces, and Russian systems of taxation, coinage and of administration of justice were imposed upon Poland. In Lithuania, the Polish language was banished from the schools. The University of Vilna was suppressed. Henceforth the ancient spirit of Poland lived only in those foreign exiles who fomented revolutionary risings in Italy, France, Austria and Germany.

[Sidenote: Spirit of revolt in Germany]

[Sidenote: Liberal leaders lost]

Until the subjugation of Poland, the German governments, apprehensive of the course that events might take, had shown moderation in meeting the liberal movements incited by the French and Polish revolution. Trouble first broke out in Brunswick and Hesse, the two worst-governed States of Germany. The despotic princes of Brunswick and Hesse had to resign, and reforms were instituted by their successors. In Hanover and Saxony, too, the people had to be appeased by parliamentary concessions and an extension of the liberty of the press. In the Bavarian Palatinate, where French institutions and ideas prevailed, the tricolor of France and the flag of Poland were saluted side by side with the red, black and gold banner of ancient Germany. After the fall of Warsaw the governments of Prussia and Austria insisted on new reactionary measures. The Diet of the German Confederation began a campaign against all liberal tendencies. German liberalism during this dark period lost some of its foremost leaders by the deaths of Stein the statesman, Arnim the poet, Niebuhr the historian, and Hegel the philosopher.

[Sidenote: Death of Hegel]

[Sidenote: German emigration to America]

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born in 1770 at Stuttgart. He held chairs successively at the Universities of Jena, Heidelberg and Berlin. His works reached an aggregate of eighteen volumes. As a philosopher he was one of the most brilliant exponents of modern rationalism. He reached this standpoint by pushing to their extreme logical conclusions the philosophical doctrines enunciated by Kant. Hegel's most lasting works proved to be his "Phenomenology of the Mind," "History of Philosophy," and "Philosophy of Religion." At the time of Hegel's death there was a general exodus of German liberals to Switzerland, France and America.

Despite a small but influential class of Americans who copied foreign manners, the United States of America had gained something of a national character in European estimation. In the New World alone, labor was deemed compatible with gentility. The increasing facilities of traffic and manufacture gave a tremendous impulse to the development of the country. Thus a surprising number of railroads were opened in the States of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Improvements connecting Philadelphia and Pittsburg were completed at a cost of twelve million dollars. Several thousand miles were covered by canals.

[Sidenote: Development of the United States]

[Sidenote: Chicago founded]

[Sidenote: Black Hawk war]

The American census of 1831 showed nearly 13,000,000 inhabitants, a doubling of the population since the beginning of the century. An area of 725,406 square miles of territory was contained in thirty-four States and three Territories. The population spread westward, no longer in large groups, but in small bodies of pioneers, travelling along the chief rivers. West of the Missouri River all was still virgin soil. During this year Schoolcraft discovered the source of the Mississippi. The settlement of Chicago was laid out and the first sale of lots there was held. A boundary and commercial treaty was concluded with Mexico in the spring. Later in the year President Jackson obtained from the French Government a promise of 25,000,000 francs indemnity for the spoliations on American commerce made under Napoleon. On April 21, the so-called Black Hawk war broke out with the Indian tribes of the Sacs and Foxes. Some 6,500 soldiers were despatched to subdue them. In this war it so happened that Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis served as captain and lieutenant.

[Sidenote: Abolitionist movement]

[Sidenote: William Garrison]

[Sidenote: Nat Turner's revolt]

The issue of slavery was brought to the front early in the year. On the first day of January, Garrison's "Liberator" appeared in Boston. Garrison advocated immediate and unconditional emancipation of the black slaves. In his first issue he said: "I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard." It was not long before Garrison made himself heard, and gathered about him a few men and women as determined as himself. Among them was the young poet Whittier, Louis Tappan, and Lucretia Mott, the Quaker. A storm of obloquy and persecution was raised against Garrison. Social and public ostracism was visited upon him and his fellow abolitionists. Garrison's efforts to free the negroes were made especially unwelcome in the South by an insurrection of blacks led by Nat Turner of South Hampton. The revolt was speedily suppressed, and Turner with seventeen of his followers suffered death by hanging. Turner's attempt called forth a debate of several weeks in the Virginia Legislature, remarkable throughout for its exposure of the evils of slavery and their bad effect on national prosperity.

[Sidenote: Death of Monroe]

[Sidenote: Monroe's career]

One of the foremost statesman of the day was lost to America by the death of James Monroe. He expired on July 4, the third President to die on Independence Day. Monroe was born in Virginia in 1758. He was educated at William and Mary College, studied law under Jefferson, and became a member of the Continental Congress at twenty-five. He saw his first military service in the War of the Revolution. Appointed Minister to France in 1794 he was recalled in 1796, and was Governor of Virginia from 1799 to 1802. He then returned to France as envoy extraordinary and helped to accomplish the purchase of Louisiana. In 1811 he was again made Governor of Virginia. He served as Secretary of State under Madison from 1811 to 1817 and also as Secretary of War from 1814 to 1815. When the War of 1812 emptied the national treasury he pledged his personal credit for the defence of New Orleans. In 1816 he was elected President of the United States. While serving his second term as President, Monroe sent to Congress the famous message against European intervention in South America, which has permanently linked his name with the doctrine of "America for the Americans." His name has been preserved likewise in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, the negro free state in Africa, which was founded under his auspices.

[Sidenote: The Reform Bill]

Throughout this year in England raged the great debate over the government's proposed reform of the rotten borough system. A bill to this effect was introduced by Lord Russell on March 1, immediately after the opening of Parliament. In the seven days' debate that followed the best speakers of England took part, among them Lord Palmerston, Sir Robert Peel, Daniel O'Connell, and young Macaulay, who had only just entered Parliament. By the opponents of the bill reform was denounced as revolution. The government of the United States of North America was cited as a deterrent example. Thus Sir Robert Peel said:

[Sidenote: Robert Peel's speech]

[Sidenote: America a "Deterrent Example"]

"Many experiments have been tried to engraft democratical on monarchical institutions, but how have they succeeded? In France, in Spain, in Portugal, in the Netherlands, in every country on the face of the earth, with the exception of the United States, has the experiment of forming a popular government, and of uniting it with monarchy, been tried; and how, I will again ask, has it succeeded? In America, the House has been told that the most beneficent effects of a representative form of government are plainly visible. But I beg to remind the House that there is a wide difference indeed between the circumstances of this country and of America. In the United States the Constitution has not been in existence more than forty years. I will not say it has been deteriorating, for I wish to avoid all invidious phrases; but it has been rapidly undergoing a change from a republic to a mere democracy. The influence of the executive--the influence of the government--has been daily becoming less, and more power has consequently been vested in the hands of the people. And yet, in that country, there is land uncultivated to an extent almost incalculable--there is no established church, no privileged orders--property exists on a very different tenure from that on which it is held in this country; therefore let not the people of England be deceived, let them not imagine, from the example of the United States, that because democracy has succeeded and triumphed there, it will also succeed and triumph here."

[Sidenote: Reform Bill debate]

[Sidenote: Exciting elections]

[Sidenote: Tories defeated]

[Sidenote: Cobbett's state trial]

Altogether seventy-one speakers joined in the debate. In the end the government obtained a second reading of the bill by a bare majority of one. The opposition had made a motion to withdraw the bill. After another prolonged debate this was carried against the government by a majority of eight. Parliament was dissolved as both Houses were on the point of carrying a motion asking the King not to consent to a dissolution. The elections which followed were turbulent in the extreme. Throughout England the reformers raised the cry: "The bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill." It was then that the custom of electioneering by means of processions and bands of music came into vogue. When the results of the elections were announced it was found that the Tories had lost more than a hundred seats. On the other hand a few of the most prominent supporters of the government suffered signal defeat, notably Lord Palmerston and Cavendish. On the Tory side, young Gladstone, then still a student at Oxford, came into notice by his warm speech against the proposed reform. Parliament was reopened with another hot debate on the all-engrossing bill. It was passed to a second reading by a strong majority of 135 votes. Scarcely had this been accomplished when the government was embarrassed by William Cobbett's state trial for sedition. Throughout the trial the Attorney-General treated Cobbett with marked courtesy, speaking of him as "one of the greatest masters of the English language who had ever composed in it."

[Sidenote: Macaulay]

[Sidenote: Commons pass Reform Bill]

[Sidenote: Rejected by the Lords]

In truth Cobbett's pure, virile, racy, Saxon style, while it delighted men of taste, was also intelligible to the humblest commoner, and accounted in some measure for the tremendous popularity of his journal, the "Political Register." The government was unable to secure Cobbett's conviction and he was suffered to escape punishment by a disagreement of the jury. After this interlude the debate on the Reform Bill went on. On the second night of the debate Thomas Babington Macaulay delivered his first reform speech. When he sat down he had taken rank among the best Parliamentary orators. "Portions of the speech," said Sir Robert Peel, "were as beautiful as anything I have ever heard or read. It reminded me of old times. The names of Burke, Fox and Canning during the evening were linked with that of Mr. Macaulay." The "Spectator" computed the number of speeches which were delivered in committee between the middle and end of July at more than two hundred. Sir Robert Peel alone spoke forty-eight times, while Wetherell, the Tory wag of the House, spoke fifty-eight times. Finally the Opposition was caught unawares late one night on September 19, when they could muster but fifty-eight votes before the doors closed for division, and the bill was thus passed to its third reading. The Tories took pains to be present in force a few days afterward, when the final passage of the bill was moved. After a last passionate debate lasting through three days and nights the Commons passed the bill by a majority of 106 votes. That same night Earl Grey proposed the bill before the Lords. Addressing himself to the bishops he said significantly: "I specially beg the spiritual portion of your lordships to pause and reflect. If this bill shall be thrown out by a narrow majority and the scale should be turned by the votes of the prelates, what would be their situation? Let them set their houses in order!" These menacing words gave great offence to the clergy. The Duke of Wellington spoke strongly against the measure. The bill was thrown out by the Lords after an all-night debate.

[Sidenote: Riots in England]

The immediate effect was a sharp decline in stocks. A few hours after the House of Peers adjourned at six o'clock in the morning, a run for gold began on the Bank of England. The simultaneous effort of the French to abolish their hereditary peerage was hailed as an omen of what was coming in England. Riots broke out all over England. The return to Bristol of Sir C. Wetherell, one of the chief opponents of the bill, was made the occasion of ominous demonstrations. A riotous mob burned the mansion house over his head. Next, the Bishop of Bristol was driven from his episcopal seat. The mob fired the mansion house, the bishop's palace, the excise office, the custom house, three prisons, four toll houses, and forty-two private houses of prominent Tories.

No one was injured until the troops were called in to disperse the mob. Then a number of rioters were sabred and shot. About the same time riots broke out at Bath, Worcester, Coventry, Warwick, Lichfield, Nottingham and Canterbury. With difficulty Archbishop Howley of Canterbury was rescued from the hands of an infuriated mob. The Bishops of Winchester and Exeter were burned in effigy before their very palaces. The Bishop of London did not dare to hold services at Westminster. The news from France served to increase the alarm. Disturbances of a far more serious character were reported from Lyons.

[Sidenote: Reform Bill up again]

Late in the year, after another rejection of the Reform Bill by the Lords, the bill was triumphantly reintroduced in the Commons. The question now was no longer, "What will the Lords do?" but, "What will be done with the Lords?" Rather than risk the threatening downfall of the House of Peers, the Ministers reluctantly determined to pack the Upper House by the creation of a sufficient number of new peers pledged to vote for the Reform Bill. A verse attributed to Macaulay ran:

What though now opposed I be, Twenty peers shall carry me, If twenty won't, thirty will, For I'm his Majesty's bouncing Bill.

"Thus," as Molesworth, the historian of the Reform Bill, has put it, "amid the anxieties of the reformers on one hand, and the dread of revolution on the other, amid incendiary fires and Asiatic cholera spreading throughout the country, amid distress of trade and dread of coming bankruptcy, the year 1831 went gloomily out."

1832

[Sidenote: English sedition trials]

[Sidenote: Fall of Grey's Cabinet]

[Sidenote: Wellington impotent]

[Sidenote: The King humiliated]

[Sidenote: Passage of Reform Bill]

[Sidenote: Changes effected]