It was while this feeling was at its height, that the Venetian Assembly met on the 3rd of July. Manin recapitulated the circumstances of the war. He had failed to obtain even recognition for his Government from the French Republic. He admitted the growth of the feeling in favour of the fusion; and he advised his Republican friends to suppress for a time the assertion of their special political creed, and to accept the fusion as their only hope of safety. Tommaseo, indeed, protested against the proposal; but Manin's influence, assisted by the growing sense of weakness, prevailed; and on July 4, the representatives of Venetia by 127 votes against six declared their province united to Piedmont. Manin, however, resigned his office, as being unable to act as Minister under a Monarchical Government.

But while Charles Albert seemed to be gaining partizans in Lombardy and Venetia by the growing necessities of those provinces, he was exciting against him the opposition of those who might at one time have been favourable to the Italian cause. On June 16, the Sardinian and Venetian fleets had attacked Trieste. As a military incident in the Italian war, this attack was probably of little importance; but its effect on the relations between the German and Italian movements for freedom and unity was of far greater importance than could be estimated by merely military results. For, in Germany more than in almost any other country of Europe, the movement for national freedom and unity was necessitating an amount of self-assertion on the part of the body which represented those ideas, which unavoidably brought it into collision with many whom it ought to have hailed as allies. Both the necessity and desire for this German self-assertion had been evident from the first opening of the Frankfort Constituent Assembly on the 18th of May. Even a small but picturesque incident which took place on the first day of its meeting indicated the strength of the exclusive and defiant German feeling. An old man of seventy-nine had attempted, during the first stormy sitting, to address the Parliament, but his voice had been drowned in the general hubbub. On the following day, the member for Cologne called the attention of the Parliament to the fact that the deputy so unceremoniously treated was the poet Arndt; and thereupon the whole Assembly rose, and expressed to him their thanks for his song on the German Fatherland.

This desire to assert its position as the representative of German feeling had been quickened in the Parliament by two signs of resistance to its authority. The fiery Republicans of Baden had returned in indignation to their State, when they found that the Preparatory Parliament would neither establish a Republic, nor declare itself permanent; and, provoked by the arrest of one of their members, they had rushed into open insurrection, which only the influence of Robert Blum had prevented from spreading to the Rhine Province. And, while they were preparing to suppress the Republican opposition, the Frankfort Parliament were startled to hear that an Assembly had met in Berlin, which claimed, like them, to be a National Constituent Assembly; and this rivalry was made the more alarming by the assistance which Prussian soldiers were at that time giving to the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt in suppressing a popular movement in Mainz. The Frankfort Parliament indignantly resolved that, "This Assembly of the Empire has alone the power, as the one legal organ of the will of the German people, to settle the Constitution of Germany, and to decide about the future position of the Princes in the State." And they further resolved that every Prince who would not submit to their decisions "should be deprived, with his family, of the princely rank, and should descend into the class of citizens, and that his crown and family property should become the property of the State." While they thus boldly claimed to rule the internal affairs of Germany, they were equally zealous in asserting her rights against those who desired to infringe them. They had resented the resistance of the Bohemians to the proposed absorption of Bohemia in Germany; and, while they were disposed to make some concessions to the Poles of Posen, they made them in a somewhat grudging spirit, and were eager to retain in Germany all of that province which they could prove, to their own satisfaction, to be Germanized.

It was obvious that, while such was their state of mind, the Frankfort Parliament would watch with jealous eyes the movement for Italian liberty. They could not, indeed, deny that the Italians had some claim to freedom; or that the authority exercised by Austria in Lombardy was, both in its origin and character, exactly of the kind most opposed to the ideas embodied in the Frankfort Parliament. But the extreme desire to claim Austria as a part of united Germany naturally led the Frankfort Parliament to look at least with tolerance on the special prejudices of the Viennese. While they were thus divided in their minds between principle and prejudice, the news of the attack on Trieste came like a God-send to those who were looking for an excuse to sacrifice their Liberal principles to the desire for German aggrandizement. The Parliament, therefore, resolved unanimously that any attack on the German haven of Trieste was a declaration of war against Germany. A resolution of this kind naturally prepared the way for more decided hostility to the Italian cause; and another decision at which they soon after arrived gave new force to the anti-Italian feeling. Even if some Viennese Democrats might desire, or at all events approve, the separation of Lombardy and Venetia from the Empire, there could be no doubt that this feeling was not shared by the members of the House of Hapsburg. When, therefore, on June 29, Archduke John was chosen Administrator of the German Empire, the Frankfort Parliament almost unavoidably identified itself with the domineering policy of the Austrian Germans. While, then, they claimed security for German freedom, the Parliament triumphed savagely over the fall of the liberties of Bohemia, refused even provincial independence to the Southern Tyrol, and demanded that Northern Italy should be retained in the Austrian Empire.

How far the support of the German Parliament gave any encouragement to Radetzky it may be difficult to say; but it is certain that, during the month of July, his efforts to recover his ground in Italy became more daring in character. No longer confining himself to Lombardy and Venetia, he now marched his troops into Modena, and attempted to restore the Austrian authority in that Duchy. Charles Albert was roused in his turn by this new invasion. His chief general, Bava, rallied his forces, and drove the Austrians first across the Po and then across the Mincio. Charles Albert's whole feeling seems to have been suddenly changed by these successes; abandoning the hesitating policy which he had pursued in the beginning of the war, he now became desperate even to rashness; and, rejecting the advice of General Bava, he tried to push forward to Mantua. Radetzky, during Charles Albert's delays and hesitations, had had time to reinforce his strength, to revive the discipline and vigour of the army, which had been utterly broken during the retreat from Milan, and to choose the best positions for defence and attack. Therefore, on July 24, he was more than ready for Charles Albert's rash attack; and at the battle of Somma Campagna he speedily routed the Piedmontese, and drove them back across the Mincio. But Charles Albert's zeal for action was not yet exhausted, and he marched against Valleggio, in the hope of cutting off Radetzky from Verona. In this march the King seems again to have acted contrary to the advice of his generals; and part of the march was conducted in such tremendously hot weather, and with such bad arrangements for the provision of food, that many of the soldiers died on the road from heat and hunger. A victory gained by General Bava, near Custozza, strengthened the delusions of Charles Albert; but Radetzky soon recovered his ground; the hasty march and the want of food weakened the forces at Custozza, and the Piedmontese were shortly after defeated on the very ground on which they had just been victorious. Charles Albert's assumption of military authority and his defiance of his generals, led to continual confusions and misunderstandings. The result of one of these confusions was that General Sonnaz suddenly left an important fortified position, under orders for which both Charles Albert and General Bava denied their responsibility. On discovering his mistake he hastened back to his position, to find that it had been in the meantime occupied by the Austrians; and when he then attempted to recover it he received one of the most severe defeats of the campaign.

In the meantime the Provisional Government of Lombardy were exciting the greatest irritation by their want of vigour in the conduct of the war, and by the discouragement which they gave to the volunteers. As an extreme instance of this latter fault, may be mentioned their treatment of Francesco Anfossi. He was a brother of Augusta, the leader of the Five Days' Rising, and had served with distinction at Brescia; yet, on his arrival at Milan, he was suddenly arrested without any reason being given. When the news of Charles Albert's defeat arrived in Milan, the Provisional Government once more became alarmed, and again called Mazzini to their help. He had had much difficulty in preventing some of his more fiery followers from imitating the example of Urbino, and organizing an insurrection against the Provisional Government. Therefore Casati and his friends knew that they could depend upon his help whenever they should ask for it. His former proposal for a Council of War was now accepted, and he was asked to name the citizens of which it should be composed. Of the three whom he named, there was only one who had been a steady Republican; while one of them had laboured to promote that fusion of Venetia with Piedmont to which Mazzini had been opposed. The duties of this Committee were to fortify the town, and to provision the army. They proclaimed a levée en masse, and prepared to fortify the lines of the Adda. They also made special requisitions for corn and rice, and arranged for the bringing in of considerable provisions from the country; though some of these were lost by the refusal of the Piedmontese officers to provide guards for the protection of the convoy. They then despatched Garibaldi to raise volunteers; and in three days he had under arms 3,000 men, and was marching to Brescia.

In the midst of these arrangements, the Committee suddenly heard that the Austrians had crossed the Adda, and that Charles Albert was retreating before them. They sent messengers to the Piedmontese camp to learn the intentions of the King; and were dismayed at receiving the answer that he intended to come himself to defend Milan. They then sent messengers to recall Zucchi and Garibaldi from the line of the Adda to the actual defence of Milan. But the management of the defence was now taken out of their hands; and on August 2 the Committee were obliged to resign their authority to the Piedmontese General Olivieri. Olivieri, while urging the Committee of Defence to remain in office, refused their proposal to summon the people to the barricades. But when Charles Albert was attacked by the Austrians under the walls of Milan, the barricades were thrown up in spite of Olivieri. It was, however, then too late to save the Piedmontese from defeat, and, on August 4, the King sent for the Municipal Council, to tell them that he had resolved to come to terms with Radetzky. Restelli, one of the Committee of Defence, denied the failure of food and money which Charles Albert had pleaded as one of his grounds of surrender; and when the Town Council assented to the proposal, Maestri, another of the Committee, denied their claim to speak on behalf of the citizens. The news that the King was intending to desert them, roused the Milanese to fury; and on August 5 Charles Albert promised in writing to stay to defend the city; and General Olivieri even promised to go to Radetzky to obtain good terms. But he did not go; and Charles Albert, after a secret agreement with Radetzky to put the Porta Romana into his hands, fled secretly from Milan on August 6. Many of the Piedmontese officers were so indignant at this desertion, that they offered to remain in the city and share in its defence; and the cry was raised of "Long live Piedmont!" and "Shame to Charles Albert!" But resistance was in vain; and on August 7 Radetzky entered Milan. Garibaldi, who was already on his march to Milan, attempted, with the help of General Medici, to carry on the struggle on the banks of the Lago Maggiore; and Mazzini joined this little band, encouraged them to persevere in their defence, and attempted, though in vain, to form a connection with the defenders of Venice. But the struggle was hopeless. The Lombard cities rapidly fell into the hands of Radetzky; and on August 11, Venice, left alone in her defence, disowned her connection with Charles Albert, and recalled Manin to power.

After this defeat thousands of Lombards left their country; and the following extracts from a litany composed at this period express, better than any mere description, their feelings about this catastrophe:—"All Italy is our country; and we are not exiles, because we remain on Italian soil. Yet we are pilgrims, because a vow binds us to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, that is to say to Lombardy when it is freed. For the heart of our country is the house of our fathers, the place where we were born, where we have learned to pray, and where love was revealed to us, where we have left our dead at rest, our mothers, our sons, and our brothers in tears. Kyrie Eleison," &c.... They then call on Christ, the Virgin, and the Saints to deliver Lombardy from the Austrians, and invoke them to their aid, by the memory of the special sufferers in the cause of Liberty, among whom they particularly specify the Brothers Bandiera, and the defenders of Milan and Pavia; and they end with a prayer that they may not die until they have saluted Italy "one, redeemed, free, and independent."

Radetzky, however, had another enemy to punish besides the Lombards and the Piedmontese. The action of the Pope, however uncertain, and one may even say unwilling, had given a force to the anti-Austrian movement which no other Prince could have given; and, as long as the Liberals ruled in the Papal States, Radetzky considered his work unfinished. About three weeks, therefore, before the surrender of Milan, a body of 6,500 Austrians had crossed the Po, and had once more entered Ferrara. The Bolognese, always the most politically energetic of any of the subjects of the Pope, desired at once to march to Ferrara; but the Pro-Legate, who ruled in Bologna, tried to check the popular movement; and refused to take any more energetic step than the issue of proclamations. He even appealed to the Bolognese to remember the fate of Vicenza as a warning against useless defences. But the people would not listen to him; and a declaration of the Pope that he would defend the frontiers of his State, increased their desire for action. Encouraged by the peaceable action of the Pro-Legate, and by no means alarmed at his proclamations, General Welden entered the Porta Maggiore of Bologna at the head of his forces on the 7th of August. Near that gate a path leads up to a raised piece of ground called the Montagnola, which is covered with grass and trees. To this the Austrian forces made their way; but, in spite of the warnings of the Pro-Legate, Welden's demand for hostages was flatly refused. The people rang their bells, and rushed to the barricades; an old cannon was brought out and carried up to the Montagnola, and by six o'clock in the evening of the 8th of August, barricades had been thrown up near every gate of the city. The Austrians were driven out; and Monsignore Opizzoni, who was in a country house outside the town, was rescued by the citizens, and brought into Bologna.

The dreamy, old-world city at once became full of new life; neighbours flocked in from the surrounding districts; and soldiers who had left the city, in the belief that it was indefensible, now returned to its help. The Pro-Legate issued an encouraging address to the citizens; and Welden complained that the rulers of Bologna were unable to control the excited spirits of the city. The Ambassadors of England, France, Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, and even Naples, who were resident at Florence, protested against the renewal of the Austrian attack; the enthusiasm for the Bolognese spread to Venice, where a large subscription was raised for the families of those who had fallen on August 8; and finally on August 15 a meeting took place between Welden and the representatives of the Pope, which resulted in an order to the Austrian forces to recross the Po.

In the meantime, whatever help the Austrian generals might have received from the approval of the Frankfort Parliament, that assistance must have lost its value, as the position of the Parliament became weaker and weaker. One great difficulty, as already mentioned, was the growing rivalry of Berlin; and this became the more dangerous to German liberty, as the supporters of the original struggle for freedom continued to lose their influence in the Prussian Court. Camphausen, the new Prime Minister, repudiated the March Revolution as decidedly as Schmaltz had repudiated the popular element in the struggles of 1813. Prince William of Prussia, the brother of the King, who was considered the leader of the reactionary party, had returned to Berlin; and, though he now professed to accept the Constitution, he was believed to mean mischief. The actual liberties, indeed, of the citizens of Berlin had not yet been attacked; but a warning of their future fate was given by the treatment inflicted on Posen. Mieroslawski, the leader of the Polish movement in Posen, had been received with enthusiasm in Berlin during the March rising; and the King had then given permission to the different provinces of Prussia to decide whether or not they should be absorbed in the new Germany. The Posen Assembly had decided by twenty-six votes to seventeen against the proposed absorption; and as a means of carrying out this decision, they had removed certain Prussian officials from office in their province. The King of Prussia had at first seemed to approve this change, and had despatched General von Willisen to secure the Poles in their national rights. But when the German party in Posen offered resistance to this policy, the King yielded to them, withdrew General von Willisen, and sent in his stead General von Pfuel, who placed Posen in a state of siege, and punished all who had taken part in the Polish movement.

But, however alarming these signs might be to the more Liberal members of the Frankfort Parliament, the attitude of the majority of that Parliament towards the Poles had not been so generous as to justify them in passing severe condemnation on the Prussian Ministry. It was in another part of Europe, and in a very different struggle, that the power of the Frankfort Parliament over the King of Prussia was to be finally tested. The March rising in Denmark had, unfortunately, like the risings in Pesth and Frankfort, been accompanied with a desire to strengthen their own country at the expense of its neighbours; and an Assembly in Copenhagen had, on March 11, denounced the claims of Schleswig to a separate Constitution as eagerly as the Liberals of Pesth had demanded the suppression of the Transylvanian Diet, and the Liberals of Frankfort the absorption of Bohemia in Germany. The Schleswig-Holstein Estates, however, thought that the time had come for a more definite demand for independence: and, on March 18, they put forward five proposals which they embodied in a petition to the King. These were to the effect that the members of the Estates of both Duchies should be united in one Assembly for the purpose of discussing an Assembly for Schleswig-Holstein; that measures should be taken to enable Schleswig to enter the German Confederation; that in consideration of dangers both from within and without, measures should be taken for a general arming of the people; that liberty of the Press and freedom of public meeting should be granted; and that the Prime Minister of Denmark should be dismissed. The arrival of the bearers of this petition in Copenhagen caused great indignation among the Danes; and, on March 20, a meeting was held to pass five counter-resolutions in favour of the claims of Denmark over Schleswig; and the temper of the meeting was sufficiently shown by the fact that, while the four resolutions which asserted the power of Denmark were easily carried, a resolution proposing a Provincial Assembly for Schleswig was rejected by an enormous majority. War was declared on the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein; and, in order to prevent those Duchies from having due notice of the war, the members of the deputation were detained in Copenhagen until the expedition had actually sailed. On March 27 the Danish forces appeared before Hadersleben; and thereupon the Schleswig-Holstein Estates declared that the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein was no longer free, and formed a Provisional Government.

The meeting of the Preparatory Parliament at Frankfort had naturally increased the hopes of the people of Schleswig-Holstein; and they elected seven representatives to take part in the deliberations of that Parliament. But the Schleswig-Holstein question seemed doomed to bring into prominence all the difficulties which hindered the establishment of the freedom and unity of Germany. The old Bundestag had, even before the meeting of the Frankfort Parliament, declared its sympathy with the Estates of Schleswig-Holstein; and, though it expressed its approval of the election of the Schleswig-Holstein representatives to the Frankfort Parliament, it claimed, as against that body, the sole right of directing the Federal forces of Germany. The King of Prussia was, no doubt, glad enough to pit the older body against the representatives of the newer Germany; and it was avowedly under the authority of the Bundestag that, in the month of April, he marched his forces into Schleswig-Holstein. But it soon became clear that neither the representatives of the old League of Princes, nor the Assembly which embodied the aspirations for German freedom and unity, would be able to control the King of Prussia. Early in June he showed an inclination to come to an understanding with the King of Denmark and to evacuate North Schleswig. The leaders of the Frankfort Parliament felt that, in order to control this dangerous rival to their authority, they must create some central Power which should be able entirely to supersede the Bundestag; and it was, to a large extent, under the influence of this feeling, that the Archduke John was chosen Administrator of the Empire.

But, however much strength the Frankfort Parliament might gain in Germany by this election, it was hardly to be expected that the choice of an Austrian Prince would lead to more friendly relations between Frankfort and Berlin; and, in July, it began to be rumoured that a truce of a more permanent kind was about to be made between the King of Prussia and the King of Denmark, while the King of Hanover seemed disposed to second the former in his defiance of the Constituent Assembly at Frankfort. At last, in September, the crisis of the struggle came. It then became clearly known that a truce of seven months had been agreed to at Malmö between Prussia and Denmark. During that period both the Duchies were to be governed in the name of the King of Denmark as Duke of Schleswig-Holstein; and the man who was chosen to act in the King's name was Count Moltke, who had been previously protested against by the people of Schleswig-Holstein on account of his tyrannical acts. He was to exercise all power except that of legislation, which, indeed, was to cease altogether during the truce; and he was to be assisted by four Notables, two of them to be nominated by the King of Denmark and two by the King of Prussia.

The Frankfort Parliament felt that this truce would sacrifice the whole object of the war; and, on the motion of Dahlmann, they resolved, on September 5, by 238 votes against 221, to stop the execution of the truce. The Ministry, who had been appointed by Archduke John, thereupon resigned, and Dahlmann was empowered by the Archduke to form a new Ministry. At the same time the Estates of Schleswig-Holstein met, and denied that any one had the power to dissolve them against their will, or to pass laws or lay on taxes without their consent. A public meeting of the Schleswig-Holstein citizens declared that they would not submit to the new Government; every one of the four Notables refused to act with Moltke; and, when he applied to the Provisional Government for protection, they sent him a passport to enable him to leave the country. But the Frankfort Parliament very soon began to shudder at its own audacity; and, when Robert Blum urged upon it the desirability of speedily putting in force its decree about Schleswig-Holstein, the Parliament decided that there was no urgency for this motion; and some of the more timid members began to plead the danger of a quarrel with Prussia. Arndt, who had voted for the condemnation of the truce, now changed sides, and urged that the Parliament should accept it, in order to convince the Danes "that they are a brother People;" while even those who still condemned the action of Prussia began to propose all sorts of compromises. At last, on September 16, the Assembly rescinded its former vote, declaring, by 257 against 236, that it was unadvisable to hinder the execution of the truce.

The leaders of the German Left had felt that concession to the King of Prussia in this dispute implied the sacrifice of the whole object of the Parliament's existence; and Robert Blum had declared, shortly before the final vote, that it must now be decided whether Prussia was to be absorbed in Germany or Germany to become Prussian. But the decision of the Frankfort Parliament so roused the fierce Democratic feeling in the city that the movement of resistance to Prussia passed out of the control of Robert Blum, and fell under the leadership of far fiercer and more intolerant spirits. Several thousand Democrats belonging to the Frankfort clubs held a meeting, on September 18, at which they called upon the members of the Left to leave the Frankfort Parliament and form a separate Assembly. Zitz, a representative of Mainz, and nineteen other members, accepted this proposal; and, in the meantime, the Frankfort mob, headed by a man who bore the ominous name of Metternich, threw up barricades in the streets, and prepared for a regular insurrection. The Ministry, in great alarm, sent for troops; and Bavarian, Prussian, and Austrian generals alike responded to the appeal. Robert Blum and Simon, the member for Breslau, in vain tried to make peace; entreating the Ministry to withdraw the troops, and the insurgents to pull down the barricades. But the Ministry would not listen to any advice, and the insurgents threatened Blum and Simon with death. Auerswald and Lichnowsky, two members of the Right, were killed in the riot. Many fled from the city; and it is said that, when Archduke John wished, at last, to make a truce, no member of the Ministry could be found to countersign the order for the withdrawal of the troops. The struggle went on fiercely during the 19th; but there was no organization capable of offering permanent resistance to the soldiers; and, by ten o'clock at night, all the barricades had been swept away; and the Ministry soon after declared Frankfort in a state of siege.

These events gave a shock to the hopes for combining German freedom with German unity which they never after recovered; and the alternative which Blum had propounded, whether Prussia should be absorbed in Germany or Germany in Prussia, was, from that day, to be exchanged for the question whether Austria or Prussia should absorb Germany. There were some, however, who did not at once give up their hope for a solution more favourable to freedom than either of those alternatives. In several parts of Germany Republican feeling seemed to have been growing for some time past, and the fiercest and most daring of the Republican leaders were still to be found in Baden. The rising which had followed the dissolution of the Preparatory Parliament had, indeed, discredited Hecker and his friends with many of the more moderate Democrats; and this feeling, by alienating the party of Hecker from Robert Blum, had deprived that able and temperate statesman of the power which he might have gained as the head of a united Democratic party. That rising had also, unfortunately, brought about a collision between Baden and Bavaria, and, at least, a feeling of suspicion between Baden and Würtemberg. But, though the Democratic party, as a whole, had been weakened by the Baden rising, and though even the special South German movement, which had seemed, in March, to have gained so strong an influence, had been disunited, yet, on the other hand, a certain form of popular enthusiasm had undoubtedly been roused by Hecker, of a kind which the wiser Democrats had failed to excite; and the attempt of the members of the Right in the Frankfort Parliament to annul Hecker's election, on account of his insurrection, had marked him out as a martyr for liberty.

But when the Baden Republicans gathered for action after the Frankfort riots, it was, for some unknown reason, to Struve, rather than to Hecker, that they offered the leadership of the movement. Struve seems to have had fewer gifts for the work of a leader of insurrection than his colleague had possessed. He had been, as was proved by his programme in the Preparatory Parliament, interested rather in the redress of material grievances than in the assertion of Constitutional Liberties; and, though he now proclaimed the Republic from the Town Council House in Lörrach, he rested his appeal to the people mainly on the ground of the burdens still pressing on the cultivators of the land; and he did not allude to the Schleswig-Holstein question, nor did he allege any Constitutional reason for proclaiming the Republic. Blum had seen that Republicanism was not popular in Germany; and, though he looked forward to a Republic as the ultimate goal of his political aspirations, he felt, during the sitting of the Frankfort Parliament, as Mazzini had felt during the war in Lombardy, that any violent attempt to enforce Republican opinions would be dangerous to liberty. Indeed, it was clear that the only possibility for even a temporary success in an insurrection at that time would have lain in an appeal to the national feeling about the Schleswig-Holstein war. The movement, therefore, failed, and failed ignominiously. The Federal troops were sent against the insurgents; at the first collision the latter were easily defeated; and the insurrection was only remembered as the Struve-Putsch.

Since, then, the Frankfort Parliament no more embodied the hopes of the Liberals; since Republican risings seemed hopeless; and since it was hardly to be expected from human nature that those who had desired to establish German unity at Frankfort should consent at once to rally round that Prussian Parliament which had helped to defeat their efforts; the eyes of all who would not give up the cause for lost turned instinctively to Vienna. There, ever since July 10, a Parliament had been sitting, which seemed to enjoy securer freedom than could be found in other parts of Germany. This security was partly due to the influence of the same prince who had so much increased the dignity of the Frankfort Parliament; for the Archduke John was the one member of the Royal House who had a genuine respect for liberty. He had consented, not only to open the Viennese Assembly, but, a little later, to get Pillersdorf dismissed from office, on the ground of his having lost the confidence of the people; and, in August, Ferdinand himself was induced to return to Vienna, and thus to give a still further sense of security to the supporters of parliamentary government. Nor was this Parliament without more solid results; for it abolished in Austria that system of feudalism which had already been swept away in Hungary.

But, in spite of this apparent success, the seeds of division and bitterness were too deeply sown to allow of lasting liberty in Vienna. The workmen's movements, so often leading to riot, had been one cause of weakness; but the most lasting and fatal cause was that terrible race hatred, which, more than anything else, ruined the Austrian movement for freedom in 1848. The opposition of the Bohemians to the May rising in Vienna had intensified against them the indignation which had already been roused by their attitude towards the Frankfort Parliament; and the June insurrection in Prague had been exaggerated by German panic-mongers into an anti-German "St. Bartholomew." When Dr. Rieger, Palacky's son-in-law, pleaded for delay in the election of the President of the Assembly, on the ground that the Bohemian members had not had time to arrive, he was hooted in the streets, and only saved from actual violence by the intervention of Dr. Goldmark; and, when Rieger protested against the illegal arrest and secret trial of one of the Bohemian leaders in Prague, Bach, who had now become the most popular of the Ministers with the German party, evaded the appeal. Indeed the utterances of the German party in Vienna were marked by a combination of a somewhat arrogant assertion of popular authority, as represented by the Assembly, with contempt for the aspirations of other countries. This combination of feeling was perhaps best illustrated by the meeting of July 29, when a majority of the Assembly, in calling upon the Emperor to return to Vienna, indignantly rejected the word "bitten" (entreat) from the address, and substituted the word "fordern" (demand). On the day of this important assertion of popular rights, the news of Radetzky's victories in Italy was received with loud applause in the Chamber, and a solemn Te Deum was shortly afterwards decreed in honour of these victories.[15]

But, offensive as this contrast between the more vulgar side of democratic feeling, and the indifference to the liberties of Italy and Bohemia must seem to the student of this period, there was one direction in which the more generous instincts of the Viennese Democrats were shown; although, even in this matter, the generosity of principle was to be sadly clouded by the savagery of act. The political question which called out this better feeling was the relation of Vienna to Hungary. It will be remembered that the enthusiasm for Hungary, which had been awakened by Kossuth's speech of the 3rd of March, had been considerably damped by the attitude which the Magyar leaders had taken up towards the May rising in Vienna; and the more democratic tone of Jellaciç on that occasion had led the Viennese, for a time, to turn for sympathy to Agram rather than to Buda-Pesth. But no concessions to monarchical feeling which Kossuth might be disposed to make, could reconcile the most influential of Ferdinand's advisers to the independent position which the Magyar Ministers had obtained. The courtiers, indeed, who helped to form the Camarilla, might shrink at first from any sympathy with the daring and independent attitude of the Serbs and Croats. But the party in Vienna which was opposed to Hungarian liberty had been swelled, since March, by the accession of men who were not theoretic opponents of rebellion, but who simply desired that the new free Government should be as thoroughly centred in Vienna as the old system of Metternich had been.

The most important representative of this phase of opinion was the War Minister Latour. Ever since he had taken office, in the latter part of April, he had been trying to make use of the discontented races in Hungary to weaken the power of the Magyars and to strengthen the authority in Vienna. Although he could not at once bring round his colleagues in the Ministry to these intrigues, nor persuade the courtiers to sympathize with the national leaders at Agram and Carlowitz, yet there were points in the position of affairs of which Latour was able to make skilful use for the accomplishment of his ends. Of these circumstances one of the most striking was the character of the Emperor. Ferdinand had shown himself, ever since his accession, most desirous of doing justice between the rival races of his Empire. The great difficulty of balancing the claims of German and Bohemian, Magyar, Croat, and Serb, might well have perplexed a stronger brain and weakened a steadier will than that of Ferdinand the Good-natured (der Gütige); and when the painful disease, with which he was always afflicted, is taken into account, it will seem more wonderful that he ever maintained a steady political purpose for however short a period, than that he was constantly hesitating and changing his course, as new aspects of the question pressed themselves on his attention.

This confusion and its natural results are well illustrated by a story which, though obviously incapable of proof, yet, none the less, may be supposed to embody the popular feeling about this weak but well-meaning monarch. The story is, that during one of his conferences with a Serb deputation, Ferdinand had listened with tears to the descriptions of the cruelties inflicted by the Magyars; but that, just when he seemed about to give them a favourable answer, he happened to glance at a note from Metternich which was lying beside him on the table, and, taking it up, he read these words: "Die Serben sind und bleiben Rebellen" (the Serbs are and remain rebels). This sentence checked Ferdinand's sympathy, and he at once dismissed the deputation with vague words.

Upon this desire to do justice to both sides, and this weakness under the pressure of a stronger will, Latour found it easy to act. A Conference at Vienna between representatives of the rival races was obviously an expedient, which it was easy to recommend to Ferdinand, while it gave admirable opportunities for secret intrigues. Moreover, whatever objections might be entertained by the courtiers to other leaders of the Slavonic races, there was one, at least, who stood on a somewhat different footing. Jellaciç was a personal favourite of the Archduchess Sophia, the wife of Archduke Francis Charles, the next heir to the throne. He had been a colonel in the Austrian army, and his appointment had been looked on at Buda-Pesth as quite as much an assertion of Imperial authority, as of Croatian independence. On the other hand, the fact that he had been entrusted by the Croatian Assembly, on June 29, with almost dictatorial powers, only ten days after he had been declared a traitor by the Emperor, made him a trustworthy representative of the independent nationalists of Croatia; and while, therefore, Latour saw in him a fit tool for his purpose, Ferdinand naturally hoped that a meeting between Jellaciç and Batthyanyi in Vienna might lead to a satisfactory settlement of the quarrels between Hungary and Croatia.

In this hope the Emperor was encouraged by Archduke John, who offered himself as a mediator between the contending parties. But, unfortunately, the double responsibility which Archduke John had taken upon himself interfered with the execution of his good intentions; for while he was urging compromises on Magyars and Croats, the burden of his duties as Administrator of the German Empire compelled him to hasten away to Frankfort. And thus Batthyanyi and Jellaciç were left face to face in a city where there were few who desired to reconcile them, and where the most influential people desired to aggravate their divisions. It must be said, however, in justice to Jellaciç, that some of the points on which he insisted in the controversy have been somewhat misunderstood in respect of their spirit and intention. It has been urged, for instance, that in demanding the centralization at Vienna of financial and military administration, he was contending solely for the interests of the Court, and not at all for Croatian independence. This, however, is scarcely just; for Jellaciç had good reason to believe that Slavonic liberty needed protection from the Magyar Ministers of Finance and War, since, in July, Kossuth, as Minister of Finance, had refused supplies for the Croatian army; and even the Serbs, who were still in partially hostile relations with the Court, had discussed the question of placing themselves under the Ministry at Vienna, as a protection against the Magyars. There were, however, other proposals made by Jellaciç, which could scarcely be covered by this explanation, such as the demand that Hungary should take over a share of the Viennese debt, and that more troops should be sent to Italy; and it was natural, therefore, that Batthyanyi should construe the proposal about the War and Finance Ministry, rather as a blow at the liberties of the Magyars, than as an assertion of Croatian independence. It was obvious that for purposes of conciliation the Conference was a hopeless failure; and Batthyanyi, after in vain urging Jellaciç to abandon these proposals, rose in indignation exclaiming, "Then we meet on the Drave."[16] "No," said Jellaciç, "on the Danube." And so they parted with the consciousness that war was no longer avoidable.

But though the Conference had failed, so far as regarded its apparent purpose, it had served to complete the change in the policy of the Court, and in the position of Jellaciç. From this time forward he ceased to be the complete champion of Croatian liberty, and became the soldier of the Emperor; and from this time forward, therefore, the German Democrats of Vienna resumed their old faith in Kossuth, and considered his enemies as their enemies. The policy of Latour had been accepted at Court, and Ferdinand was whirled away in the vortex of aristocratic opinion, and official intrigue. On August 4 Ferdinand officially declared his confidence in Jellaciç; about September 1, the Viennese Ministry announced to the Hungarians that the March laws which had secured a responsible Ministry to Hungary were null and void, as having been passed without the sanction of Ministers at Vienna; and Ferdinand endorsed this opinion.

In the meantime, even the Serb movement which the Viennese courtiers had looked upon with special suspicion, was passing into hands more favourable to the authority of the Emperor. In the latter part of July, Stratimiroviç had gained great successes in the Banat; and his alliance with Knicsanin, the Servian General, had led him to hope that he might be able to throw off the authority both of Vienna and of Buda-Pesth. But the Patriarch Rajaciç, who had entered with such hesitation into the insurrection, saw his only possibility of safety in placing the movement under the authority of the Emperor. He therefore set himself against the influence of Stratimiroviç; and on his return from Agram to Carlowitz, he was able to use his authority as Patriarch, backed by the influence of Jellaciç, to recover the reins of government, and to limit the authority of Stratimiroviç to military affairs. At the time of the return of Rajaciç, the war had begun to languish; but in the middle of August the Magyars renewed their attacks, and besieged the Serb town of Szent-Tomas. Stratimiroviç marched to the defence, and gained such successes that some of the Magyars raised the cry of treason against their Generals. General Kiss was therefore sent down to take the place of those who had forfeited the public confidence. At first the result of the war was doubtful; for victories were alternately gained by the Serbs and the Magyars; but at last Kiss, by a dexterous movement, succeeded in preventing Stratimiroviç from joining his forces with those of Knicsanin, and thus turned the whole tide of the war against the Serbs. This change of affairs naturally favoured the designs of Rajaciç; Stratimiroviç, finding that much of the popular feeling was turning against him, resigned his authority, and Colonel Mayerhoffer, an Austrian officer, was sent down to take his place. Some of the soldiers of Stratimiroviç were, indeed, indignant at this change; and Rajaciç was obliged to make some advances to reconciliation; but Suplikaç, the Voyvode, backed Rajaciç in his general plans; and by the help of their joint influence, Latour was able to turn the Serb cause into a new prop for the rule of the Emperor.

It is pathetic to see how, in spite of irresistible evidence, Ferdinand still clung to the hope that he might succeed in reconciling the leaders of the different races in his Empire, and yet more strange to see how he still believed that Latour would co-operate with him for this object. He now chose as his mediator, a Hungarian named Lamberg, to whom he gave a commission to settle matters between the contending parties, and to restore order in Hungary. Lamberg was known to Batthyanyi, and seems, to some extent, to have enjoyed his confidence; for Batthyanyi declared that he would himself have counter-signed Lamberg's commission, if Latour would only have submitted it to him in time. But Latour, whose object was very different from that of his good-natured master, despatched Lamberg to Buda-Pesth without that sanction which could alone secure him legal authority in the eyes of the Hungarian Ministers.

Some days before the arrival of Lamberg in Pesth, a striking proof had been given of the growing sympathy between the German Democrats of Vienna and the Magyars, and also of that fierce race-hatred between Germans and Bohemians which had been stirred up by the circumstances of the June rising in Prague. The Magyars had despatched a deputation to the Viennese Parliament, in the hopes of reviving the old alliance between Buda-Pesth and Vienna. The more generous side of the Democratic spirit had been reawakened in the Germans of Vienna by many of the recent events. Even those who had sympathized with the reconquest of Lombardy had been alarmed at the kind of government which the Austrian generals were trying to introduce into that province; and one of the members of the Assembly asked what should they think if the army which was now in Italy were to stand before the gates of Vienna? This feeling of alarm at the growth of a military power independent of Parliament had naturally been increased by the suspicions of Latour's intrigues with the Serbs and the Croats. When, then, on September 19, the Magyar deputation, among whom were Eötvös and Wesselenyi, asked for an audience from the Assembly, that they might explain their position, the leading German Democrats urged their admission, but the Bohemian leaders protested against it, denouncing the Magyars both for separating from Austria and for oppressing the Slavs. Schuselka attempted to mediate between the two parties, maintaining that though the Magyars had done many indefensible things, yet, as a matter of justice, the Parliament ought to hear their petition; but the Ministerialists, combined with the Bohemians, were too strong for opposition; and, by a majority of eighty, it was decided not to admit the deputation.

This refusal of the Viennese Parliament brought to an end the last hope of a peaceable settlement of the Hungarian difficulties. On September 27, Lamberg entered Buda-Pesth, to which the Hungarian Diet had now been transferred. It must be remembered that the Magyars had just been irritated at Ferdinand's denunciations of the March laws of Hungary, and alarmed at his expression of confidence in Jellaciç, who had just crossed the Drave and invaded Hungary. When, then, Lamberg arrived in Pesth, with a commission unsigned by any Hungarian Minister, his arrival was naturally looked upon as a further indication of an attempt of the Austrian Ministry to crush out the liberties of Hungary. A slight thing was sufficient to cause these suspicions to swell into a panic; and the news that Lamberg had at once crossed the Danube, to visit the fortress of Buda, seemed, to the excited Magyars, a sufficient proof of his dangerous intentions. The cry was raised that the fortress was going to be seized and military law established. The fiery students of Pesth hastened out into the streets; and as Lamberg returned across the suspension bridge into Pesth, he was attacked and murdered. Batthyanyi, terrified at this act, resigned his premiership and fled to Vienna; and the Diet of Hungary passed a resolution condemning the murder. Ferdinand was now more easily urged to violent action. On October 3 he declared the Hungarian Diet dissolved, proclaimed Jellaciç Dictator of Hungary, and appointed Recsey Prime Minister in place of Batthyanyi. Jellaciç, however, did not find it easy to assert the authority which was now given him. He had hoped that, in the confusion which followed the death of Lamberg, he would be able to carry Pesth by storm; but he was driven back, and before the end of October the Croats had been expelled from Hungary.

In the meantime the suspicions of the Viennese had been increasing, and on the 29th of September Dr. Löhner, one of the original leaders of the March movement, publicly denounced Latour for his intrigues with Jellaciç. These intrigues had now been placed beyond a doubt by certain letters which had fallen into the hands of the Hungarian Ministry. Pulszky, who was at this time in Vienna, took the opportunity to publish these letters in the form of a placard, while he complained to Latour of the permission given to Jellaciç to raise recruits in Vienna, and threatened, if these proceedings continued, to excite a revolution in which the Viennese Ministers would be hung from lamp-posts. There were, indeed, revolutionary elements enough in Vienna at this time. The friendship between the workmen and the students had led to the formation of a special workman's Sub-Committee under the Committee of Safety. This body actually undertook to find employment for all who were out of work, and even to pay them wages while they were out of work. This offer naturally caused a rush of workmen to Vienna, from all parts of the Empire. The attempt to sift and regulate the claims for employment led to new bitterness; and demands for impossibly high wages provoked rebuffs, which were answered by threats of violence. The Ministry tried to induce the workmen to leave the city, by urging them to join the army in Italy; but the students defeated this attempt by reminding the workmen that the war in Italy was a war against liberty. The suspicions of the Ministers were now excited, not only against the workmen, but against the students; and, after a riot in the latter part of August, the Committee of Safety had been dissolved, and the lecture-rooms of the University closed. But this repression, far from weakening the bitterness in Vienna, only drew closer the links between the poorer students and the workmen; for, while the richer students left the city, the poorer ones, finding it difficult to support themselves after the closing of the lecture-rooms, were subscribed for by the workmen. Thus then the suspicions roused by the intrigues of Latour were strengthened considerably by the general condition of Vienna at this period.

Latour, however, was resolved not to yield. The defeats which Jellaciç was experiencing in Hungary only made it the more necessary that those who sympathized with him should send him help; and on the 5th of October the news spread through Vienna that an Austrian regiment was about to march to Hungary to the assistance of Jellaciç. The students went to the head-quarters of one of the grenadier regiments, and urged them not to join in the march. An officer, who arrested one of the students, was attacked and wounded; and when one of the grenadiers, who had been wounded in a quarrel, was sent to his barrack, his comrades seemed to consider it as a kind of arrest, and demanded his surrender. The National Guard joined in this demand; and thus a state of confusion arose which made it easy for the students and the workmen to hinder the march of the regiments which were starting for Hungary. An Italian battalion refused to proceed further, and the march was hindered for that day. But General Auersperg, who commanded the forces in Vienna, was resolved to continue the attempt; and so, on the following day, the soldiers were despatched to the station which lies beyond the Tabor bridge. But, when they arrived on the bridge, they found that the students and the National Guard were before them, and that the barriers had been closed against them. Auersperg was alarmed at this resistance, and recalled the troops; but collisions had by this time taken place between the soldiers and the people in other parts of the town; and a fierce fight was raging in the Stephansplatz, and even in the church itself.

Then suddenly there rose the cry "Latour is sending us the murderers of the 13th of March;" and a rush was made towards the office of the Ministry of War. Fears had already been entertained by several members of the Assembly, that a personal attack would be made on Latour; and Borrosch, one of the German Bohemian members, Smolka, the Vice-President of the Assembly, Dr. Goldmark, and others, hastened to protect Latour from the vengeance of the crowd. Borrosch, with the same humane ingenuity which Lafayette had shown on a similar occasion, promised that Latour should have a formal trial, if the crowd would spare him. The crowd cheered Borrosch and his friends; and many of them promised that they would protect Latour's life. Borrosch rode off, supposing Latour to be safe; but Dr. Fischhof, feeling that matters were not yet secure, persuaded several members of the National Guard to act as special protectors to Latour; and as the best means of effecting this object, some thirty or forty of them undertook to arrest him. But the excitement of the crowd had been roused anew, and they burst into the War Office. Smolka then entreated Latour to resign. The Minister consented; but the passions of the crowd would not be appeased. The unfortunate man attempted to hide from their pursuit: but they dragged him from his hiding-place, and thrust aside his defenders. Fischhof warded off the first blow that was aimed at him. A student, named Rauch, attempted also to protect him; but all was in vain; and he was dragged down the staircase and into the square in front of the War Office. With his white hair floating about him, he was lifted on to the lamp-post which then stood in the square. He struggled against his enemies, and compelled them to drop him once; but again he was lifted on to the post, and this time the hanging was completed, the crowd tearing his clothes from his body and dipping their handkerchiefs in his blood. This outburst of savagery, instead of satisfying the fury of the people, had quickened their thirst for blood; and their desire for vengeance was now turned against the Bohemian Deputies. Strobach, who had been chosen President of the Assembly, had objected to hold a sitting at all on that day, declaring that executive rather than legislative functions were needed just then. For this refusal some of the members wished to prosecute him; and armed men appeared in the gallery of the Assembly threatening violence to the Bohemian deputies. Those deputies, finding that they could no longer deliberate freely, soon after fled from the city, and issued from Prague a protest against the Reign of Terror, which they declared to be dominating Vienna. In the meantime Ferdinand, having consented, on the day of Latour's death, to the formation of a Democratic Ministry, fled, on the next day, from Vienna to Schönbrunn, and shortly afterwards to Innspruck; and he soon notified his feelings to the Viennese by a proclamation in which he too denounced the reign of violence in Vienna.

Hardly had the Viennese recovered from the surprise caused by the flight of their Emperor, than they heard that Jellaciç, having abandoned his hope of conquering Hungary, was marching against Vienna. General Auersperg, who had withdrawn his troops to the Belvedere after the collision between the soldiers and the people, was still assumed by the Viennese to be in some degree favourable to their cause; and they entreated him to repel the attack of Jellaciç, and to call for help from the Hungarians. Auersperg, however, rejected this proposal, withdrew his troops secretly from the city, and, on October 11, openly joined Jellaciç.

The Assembly were now anxious to appeal to the Frankfort Parliament for help, and entreated them to send representatives to Vienna. Robert Blum, who had grown weary of the state of affairs in Frankfort, and who believed that the only remaining hope for Germany was in Vienna, consented, in company with four others, to accept this embassy. The Parliament in Vienna still imagined that they could keep within legal forms; but this desire irritated those fiery politicians who felt that the struggle was now on a revolutionary footing; and they therefore desired to overthrow the Assembly, and to establish a more determined body in its place. But Blum, who had been accustomed to hold in check the violent members of his own party in Frankfort, supposed that, in Vienna also, he was bound to resist revolutionary methods; and, though he was ready to encourage the Viennese in the defence of their city, he objected to the proposal for the violent dissolution of the Assembly, on the ground that such a proceeding would give an excuse to the tyrants for a dissolution of the Frankfort Parliament.

A man of much more importance in such a siege than Robert Blum could be, arrived about the same time in Vienna. This was Joseph Bem, a Galician of about fifty-three years of age, who had served in Napoleon's expedition to Russia, and had greatly distinguished himself as colonel of the Polish artillery at the battle of Ostrolenka. He had also commanded the Polish artillery in the insurrection of 1830, and had attempted to organize a Polish legion, for the help of the Portuguese, during their struggle against the Absolutist party. He had been wounded in one of these wars, was obliged to use a staff in walking, and was small and delicate in his appearance. He had gained both friends and enemies in Poland, and was known for his strong democratic sympathies. Although he was not appointed to the official headship of the National Guard, he soon became the centre and life of the defence. But he found that the men with whom he had to act did not understand the position in which they were placed; for, when he attempted to urge the National Guard to march out against the army of Jellaciç, they twice refused to follow him, on the ground that they were only intended for the defence of the city.

And, if the rulers of Vienna were feeble in their attitude towards their enemies, they were not less feeble in their treatment of the one people, from whom they might have expected help in this emergency. The advance of Jellaciç against Vienna had naturally increased the sympathy of the Magyars for the Viennese, and Pulszky urged the latter to summon the Hungarian army to their rescue. This formal invitation was the more necessary because the Hungarian officers were in many cases confused in their minds as to their strict legal duty in this war. Archduke Stephen, the Count Palatine of Hungary, after professedly assuming the command of the army, had suddenly fled from the country, and thus weakened the legal position, both of his subordinate officers, and of the Hungarian Diet, of which he was the nominal head. Ferdinand had repeated his former dissolution of the Diet in a proclamation of the 20th October; Prince Windischgrätz, professing to act in the name of the Emperor, issued a declaration from Prague forbidding the Hungarian officers to fight against Jellaciç; and soon after, followed up this proclamation by marching against Vienna. General Moga, the Commander-in-Chief of the Hungarian forces, hesitated to resist the Imperial orders; but, whilst the generals were debating among themselves, Kossuth arrived in the Hungarian camp to urge them to advance. After some delay his influence prevailed; and on October 28 began the march of the Hungarian army for the relief of Vienna.

In the meantime, all those in Vienna, who really cared to save it, were trying to rouse their fellow-townsmen to action. Robert Blum made an address to the students in favour of making "no half-revolution, but a complete change of the system;" and on the 25th October, three days before the Hungarians had begun their march, Bem had succeeded in persuading the National Guard to make their sortie. But confusion followed this attempt; some of the Guard fled; others were mistaken in the darkness for enemies, and fired on by their comrades. Bem's horse was killed under him, and he was compelled to retreat. Windischgrätz, who had now been appointed to the complete command of the besieging force, demanded the surrender of "the Polish emissary Bem, who in a quite uncalled-for manner, had mixed himself up in the affairs of Vienna." This recognition of the independence of the Polish provinces of the Austrian Empire was not accepted by the Viennese; nor did they consent to surrender any of the other people who were demanded by Windischgrätz. Bem roused the soldiers again to the defence, and drove them to their work with abuse. The Students' Legion distinguished itself by its courage; and some of the workmen seconded them bravely. But Messenhauser, the official leader of the National Guard, declared that the struggle was hopeless, and urged the people to yield.

Many were now disposed to abandon the defence; when suddenly, on October 30, there arose a cry that the Hungarians were approaching. Messengers went up the high tower of St. Stephen's Church, and looked out towards the plain of Schwechat, where the Hungarians and Austrians had at last joined battle. The Viennese had been advised by their Hungarian friends to tear up the railway lines; but they neglected this precaution; and thus Windischgrätz had been able to send more troops to Schwechat. But the great weakness of the Hungarians was due to the hesitation of General Moga, and to the want of confidence felt in him by his subordinate officers. Troops were ordered to advance, and then suddenly to halt, without any apparent reason; several of the new recruits ran away; and at last a general panic seized the army, and they fled before the Austrians, continuing to retreat, even after the enemy had ceased to pursue them.

The rumours of Hungarian help had encouraged some of the Viennese to oppose the surrender of their city; and this opposition was continued even after the defeat of the Hungarians had been officially announced. This division of opinion between the leaders and a great part of the people, led to riots in various parts of the town. Under these circumstances, Windischgrätz refused to accept the peaceable surrender offered by the leaders, and, instead, bombarded the town, and then entered it, while it was still on fire. Bem managed to escape; and so did three of the representatives of the Frankfort Parliament; but Blum and Fröbel were arrested. The latter was discovered to have written a pamphlet, which implied a desire to maintain the unity of the Austrian Empire; and, on this ground, he was set free. But Blum was proved to have acted as a captain of one of the corps of the National Guard, during the defence; his speech to the students, about the complete change of system, was supposed to imply a desire for a Republican movement; and so on the 8th November he was condemned to death, and on the 9th he was shot.

Great indignation was excited in Germany by this execution; and the unpopularity which the Frankfort Parliament had incurred by their assent to the truce of Malmö, was increased by their having refused to interfere to protect Blum from arrest. Yet it seems as if the remarks, made above in the case of Confalonieri, may be applied again to Blum. That Blum should die, and Windischgrätz triumph, was no doubt sad; but Blum's execution was rather the result of a system of Government, than a specially illegal or tyrannical act. Blum had staked his life on the issue of the struggle, by coming to Vienna during the siege. If there were any alternative to his death, it was the one proposed by Socrates to his judges; and in the case of Blum, as in that of Socrates, the actual result was the best for his honour.

But, as for the capture of Vienna itself, it is difficult to over-estimate its importance in the history of the Revolution. As the fall of Milan had broken the connection of the Italian struggle with the European Revolution, so the fall of Vienna destroyed the link which bound all the other parts of the Revolution together. Race hatred, and a narrow perception of their own interests, might hinder the Viennese from understanding their true position; but the March rising in Vienna had given to the various Revolutions a European importance, which they would scarcely have attained without it; and the attention of each of the struggling races in turn had been riveted on the city which Metternich had made the centre of the European system. In a still more evident manner was the link broken between Germany and the rest of Europe, and apparently between the most vigorous champions of liberty in the different parts of Germany.

This last aspect of the fall of Vienna has been embodied, by a poet named Schauffer, in verses, which appeared a year after the event, and which contain also a worthy tribute to those fiery youths whose determination and enthusiasm were to so large an extent the cause of all that was best in the Vienna insurrections; though their national prejudices, and their want of self-control, contributed largely to the ruin of the movement which they had inaugurated.[17]