The promises of reform extorted from the Emperor at the time of the revolution, were similar to those made by the King of Prussia; and they were kept by the subsequent proclamation of a liberal constitution of government for the Austrian States, consisting of the kingdoms of Bohemia, Gallicia, Sodomiria, Illyria, and Dalmatia, the arch-duchies of Higher and Lower Austria, the duchies of Salzburg, Styria, Higher and Lower Silesia, the Margravate of Moravia, and the Tyrol. The constitution given to these countries guarantees a responsible ministry; freedom of the press; the rights of petition and association; public and oral judicial proceedings, and trial by jury in criminal cases; a national guard; liberty of worship for all Christian denominations, acknowedged by law, and for the Jewish persuasion; a Diet consisting of two chambers-one consisting of princes of the blood, of persons appointed for life by the Emperor, and of one hundred and fifty members to be elected by the large landed proprietors from their own order-the other, composed of representatives of the people, elected in conformity with laws to be enacted by the Diet. Separate provincial Diets, also, are guaranteed by it for the different provinces. tal, on the evening of the 17th, and proceeded with his family to the Tyrol. Arrived at Innspruck, he published a manifesto, in which he declared that, reduced by anarchical attempts to the necessity of either shedding the blood of his people or leaving his capital, he had chosen to do the latter; and, also, that he was ready, not only to abide by the concessions made to his subjects on the 15th of March, but to make any others which should be demanded in a legal mode, and not by force. The real object of the departure of the Emperor was to produce a re-action in the capital and elsewhere against the reform party. It was not successful. The Tr rolese, though they continued to be loyal, were also in favor of the new German union, and of the establishment of libera institutions, The ministry of Pillersdorf, though it had before asked leave to resign. continued in office, and directed the affairs of state in conformity with the wishes of the University and the national guard. The Emperor called the members of the diplematic corps to Innspruck, but the ministry declared that the seat of government remained at Vienna. spruck, which it had been found impossİble to do from Vienna. But the publication of a decree for dissolving the Acade mic Legion only had the effect of involv ing in a new defeat the partisans of reaction. The people again barricaded the streets of the capital, on the 26th and 27th of May, and held possession of them unt the ministry yielded, and consented to the appointment of a committee of pub.r safety. Other decrees were afterwards promulgated by the government of a libe ral character, including one for the alkution of feudal rents in the duchy of Ca thia, one modifying the penal code, and another convoking the Constituent AIbly. There was no rupture, however, of the relations between Ferdinand and his ministers; and, at first, an attempt was made to The provisions of this constitution, how-carry out the retrograde policy from Innever, did not fully satisfy the wishes of the Viennese. The ministry of Herr Pillersdorf, also, soon lost its hold of the public confidence, in consequence of undertaking to carry out several retrograde measures, such as closing the University, and abolishing the political committee of the national guards. The fifteenth of May, therefore, beheld in Vienna a bloodless rising of the people hardly less important in its consequences than the terrible outbreak of the populace in Paris. So overpowering was the popular manifestation, that the ministry yielded at once to the demands which were made on them; and Austria, in consequence, instead of accepting the simple chart of government offered her by the Emperor, will receive it in the form of a constitution, revised and altered by a constituent assembly elected by universal suffrage. Tired at length of making concessions to the burghers and students of Vienna, Ferdinand suddenly retired from his capi The elections of members o, tis Assembly were ordered to be mad accordance with the provisional elter law of the 2d of May, though several portant exceptions were allowed to meet the wishes of the people. The Emperor, seeing that nothing was to be gained by absence from his captal expressed a willingness to return at the opening of the new Assembly. But the state of his health, it is said, prevented him from doing so; and his place on that occasion was supplied by the Archduke John. The opening finally took place on the 22d of July. At the same time a new ministry, under the presidency of Baron Von Wessenberg, took the place of that of Herr Pillersdorf, which had failed to regain the confidence of the people. The return of the Emperor was expected at an early day, but it is in the hands of the Assembly, not in his, that are now held the destinies of the empire. bauers and burghers, who had exchanged jackets, and the citizens' wives and peasant girls. The arbitrary King of Hanover was not a little reluctant to satisfy the wishes of subjects, whom, a few years before, he had deprived of their constitution. But when the students of Göttingen threatened to leave the University, en masse, and actually marched out of the town, with tri-colored ribbons in their pipe-stems, and their dogs in leashes; when the citizens appeared openly smoking in the streets, contrary to the new law, and not a soldier would charge bayonet on them; when in the capital the military were intimidated by the bold attidude of the people, who threatened the King with deposition, if their claims were not at once granted, Ernest, seeing that it was the only method of saving his crown, dismissed his ministers, and called to his councils Herr Stube, one of the liberal deputies, who, for refusing to abet his Majesty in the arbitrary measures adopted on his accession, had been prosecuted and imprisoned during several years. Moreover, on the 20th of March, he granted the freedom of the press, the publicity of parliamentary debates, the right of association, a political amnesty, with restoration to civil rights; and promised still further reforms, to be decided upon by the advice of the Assembly of the States.* During the course of the commotions and changes at Vienna, of which a narrative has been given, the Austrian Government has had to encounter very serious difficulties in several of the provinces, particularly in those in Italy. It has there maintained a prolonged defence, though it would seem, in the present hampered condition of the empire, as if nothing were necessary to the ultimate success of the Italians, except those virtues, without the possession of which liberty ought never to be acquired, as it can never be maintained. The blockade of Trieste has been raised by the intervention of the Parliament at Frankfort. A rebellion of the Slavonian population of the capital of Bohemia has been suppressed by the loyalty of the imperial troops, and the firmness of their commandant, Prince Windischgrätz. Hun- In Bavaria, King Louis had forfeited, gary has obtained a diet of its own, which some time before the occurrence of the is now in session, and remains in nominal French revolution, the respect of his subsubjection to the empire. It is rent, how-jects, by his connection with the notorious ever, with an unhappy strife between the different races of the kingdom, the issues of which it is impossible to foresee.* In the smaller German States, the demands for reform have been granted more readily by their sovereigns; and bloodshed has been avoided by the troops espousing the cause of the people. The act of fraternizing had, in many districts of the country, its ludicrous, as well as its serious aspect, the solemnity being celebrated by the fraternal exchange of pipes, a desperate challenging of beer-cups, and the most tumultuous dancing between the *For preceding facts, see the Gazette of Silesia ; Gazette de Spener; Hainburg Börsenhalle, March 17th; London Examiner, March 25th. Lola Montes, created by him Countess of Lansfeld. This lady, having set up her court at Munich, undertook to patronize a newly formed society in the University, bearing the name of Allemania. But the old associations, known by the names of the five Bavarian provinces, picked a quarrel at an eating-house with the neophyte; and the latter, hard pressed, sent to their patroness for protection. Thereupon the Amazonian mistress appeared in propria persona on the scene. This, of course, increased the tumult, which finally terminated in the mobbing of the fair favorite, and her escape on the arm of the King, * Allgemeine Zeitung. who, not without peril from the flying stones, had come to her rescue. The indignant lover immediately avenged himself by suspending the session of the University for one year, and ordering the departure of the students within fortyeight hours. But the popular agitation in favor of the five clubs, and against the troops, who had been ordered out to suppress the tumult, became so alarming, that Louis was obliged to revoke his decree, banish his countess from the kingdom, and consent to a change of ministry. But the popular feeling was not long satisfied. Serious disturbances broke out on the night of the 2d of March, though order was restored by the military, after some damage experienced by the royal windows. On the 4th the people assembled again, marched through the streets with white flags, and presented to the King a petition for the extension of their rights. But peace was apparently restored by the royal promise to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, and convoke a new one for the 21st of the month. Yet the storm was lulled, not laid. In the evening of the same day the cry rang still louder, "To arms." The arsenal was pillaged, and its weapons distributed among the citizens. The cuirassiers and the infantry refused to fire on the people. And the King, seeing that all was in danger of being lost, announced an unconditional grant of the popular demands. Crossed in love, and thwarted by his subjects, Louis now came to the sage conclusion of abdicating his crown in favor of his son, the heir apparent. He did so; and Maximilian II. reigned in his stead. The new sovereign, who was acknowledged with enthusiasm, is described as in the full vigor of manhood, being now in his thirty-seventh year, and as both intelligent and accomplished. His first speech on opening the Chambers could not have been otherwise than universally applauded, for the royal orator declared that he had determined to grant a full amnesty for political offences, and that projects of law would be immediately submitted to the Chambers, securing the responsibility of the ministers of the crown, the perfect liberty of the press, a just representation of the people, the abolition of certain oppressive taxes, the promulgation of a new penal code, trial by | jury, and the right of open courts. His Majesty also promised the institution of the Landwehr, and the emancipation of the Jews; and concluded by assuring the Assembly that he would do all in his power to secure a national representation for Germany.* Besides these commotions of the larger capitals and chief towns, there have been many scenes of insurrection in the rural districts. The horizon, for a short time, was red with insurrectionary fires in Baden, Wurtemburg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Saxony, Hanover, and Westphalia. In Thuringia, the hearth of the old War of the Peasants, the property of the landed proprietors was, at one period, threatened with a renewal of the attacks of 1525. At several points on the Rhine, large collections of persons, having got possession of some pieces of artillery, took up fortified positions and stopped the steamboats, for the purpose of restoring the old occupation of towing vessels up the river by men and horses. But the castles of the nobility were the chief marks of popular violence; and among others, was burned that of Jaxthausen, on the Jaxt, which had for centuries been in the possession of the Berlichingen family, and had been defended by Götz, of the iron hand, when heading the insurgent peasantry against the troops of the empire. The amount of damage done by the peasantry, however, has been considerably exaggerated; and wherever they were met, as in Baden and Wurtemburg, with fair offers of relief from feudal burdens by their lords and the local magistrates, they readily laid down their arms, and returned to their ordinary avocations.† Such are the principal events which have recently transpired in Germany, in the establishment of local freedom. We now proceed to give a brief narration of the efforts made to secure a greater degree of national unity. As has been already observed, the Ger mans, seeing the inefficiency of their Con federation, have been gradually becoming desirous, within the last quarter of a cen * See Correspondence of the Allgemeine Zeitung. Gazette de Heidelberg. See the German Correspondence of the Lordus Examiner, the London Times, the Journa. des De bats, and Gazette de Heidelberg. tury, of adopting a stronger and more dignified, as well as freer form of union. The plan, therefore, of establishing a general representative Diet, or Parliament, proposed immediately on the reception of the news of the French revolution, was favorably received by the people of the different States. The suggestion was originally made in a pamphlet, written by Professor Zopfl, of Heidelberg, who proposed that seventy or eighty persons should be chosen in the different German Chambers of Deputies, and should meet at Frankfort for the purpose of assisting the deliberations of the German Diet. A week before the revolution at Paris, this matter was made the subject of a motion in the Baden Chamber by Herr Bassermann, an eminent liberal, and was seconded by Prof. Helker, one of the most learned political writers of Europe, as well as a veteran in the cause of German freedom. But on the arrival of the news from France, this project, at the instance of Baron Von Gagern, of Hesse-Darmstadt, was taken up by the leading liberals of south-western Germany and Prussia, who agreed among themselves to assemble at Heidleberg, in order to take the preliminary measures for carrying it into effect. This meeting was held on the fifth of March, and was attended by fifty persons, many of them being members of different German Chambers. It was then unanimously resolved to take the responsibility of calling a provisional meeting at Frankfort, of representatives of the whole nation, who should be authorized to take measures for the immediate organization of a Constituent Parliament. A committee of seven persons, also, was elected to carry this resolution into operation. Accordingly, by their direction, the Gazette of Heidelberg published on the 13th a call for a meeting of all persons who were or had been previously members of the various constituLional States, together with a number of other distinguished advocates of reform, who were to be specially invited to assemble at Frankfort on the 30th of the same month, in order to deliberate and act upon the plan of union adopted by the meeting at Heidelberg. Upon this call, a Provisional Assembly organized on the 30th of March, in the free city of Frankfort on the Main; its was Senate having before granted the reforms asked for by the citizens, and thus prepared the way for becoming the chief city of the new, as it had been of the old empire. The members of this Assembly, upwards of five hundred in number, consisted partly of volunteers, obeying the call of the Heidelberg meeting, and partly of persons delegated, in conformity with the popular wishes, by the different governments, who were compelled to relinquish their plan of a national Congress at Dresden in favor of the meeting at Frankfort. The session of the Assembly was held in the great cathedral of St. Paul, and was opened by the offering of prayers. Mittermaier, the eminent jurist, was elected President; Dahlman, one of the famous professors driven from Göttingen by the King of Hanover, Von Itzstein, Robert Blum, a well-known publicist, and Prof. Jordan, lately released from prison for political offences, were appointed Vice Presidents. The Heidelberg committee of seven presented a programme of resolutions to be passed by the Assembly, providing for the organization of a Constituent Assembly, and declaring its own views as to what ought to be the basis of the new federal constitution. In opposition to this programme a bill of popular rights was introduced by Herr Struve, in behalf of the republican party, which was negatived by a large majority, as was, also, a proposal that a programme of procedure should be prepared by a committee of the Assembly, raised for that purpose. The measures recommended by the Heidelberg committee were accordingly adopted; and a committee of fifty members, to whom six Austrian delegates were afterwards added, was appointed to sit at Frankfort until the assembling of the Constituent Parliament. This committee was empowered to advise the German Diet, which was authorized to convoke the Parliament; and was, also, instructed to recall the Provisional Assembly, in case of any dangerous emergency. The republicans refused, at first, to consent to any action of the Assembly's committee with the regular Diet, and expressed their disapprobation of the proposed course of proceedings by withdrawing from the meeting; but they afterwards returned, when the Diet had repealed certain obnoxious decrees, and expelled those members who had been most active in supporting and executing them. The most important resolutions passed by the Assembly were, that it had devolved upon itself to prescribe the mode of organizing the Parliament-that SchleswigHolstein should be regarded as a member of the German nation-that Poland should have a separate national organizationthat the number of representatives in the Parliament should be in the proportion of one for fifty thousand, making an Assembly of upwards of six hundred membersthat the members should be elected by universal suffrage, without reference to religion, rank, or census--that the electors, being German citizens of age, might be selected from any of the Confederated States, without reference to their residence -and that political refugees, returning to the country, should have the right of electing and being elected. These measures having been enacted with praiseworthy dispatch, the Assembly dissolved itself on the 2d of April. Meanwhile the Diet, compelled to yield to the force of public opinion, then the only governing power in the country, had adopted the new German colors, consisting of black, red, and gold; and had invited each one of the States represented by the seventeen members of its smaller council, to send the same number of persons, possessing the confidence of the people, to take part in their deliberations respecting the revision of the federal pact. This request was acceded to by the different governments, who nominated for their representatives extraordinary, some of the most distinguished jurists and political writers of the country. Immediately congregated in Frankfort, these "men of confidence" served as a link of communication between the Diet and the Assembly's committee of fifty-six. By the joint labor of these bodies, especially those of the seventeen "men of confidence," a report was drawn up and published on the 16th of April, containing a draft of a fundamental law for the organization of a new German Empire; and a call for the assembling, in a manner agreeing with the resolutions of the Provisional Assembly, of the Parliament at Frankfort, on the 1st of May, to act upon the proposed constitution. The form of government thus projected, resembles very nearly that of our own country, except that it proposes a hereditary instead of an elective head. All the Germanic States are to be incorporated into the new Empire, including the duchy of Schleswig-Holstein, and excepting the grand duchy of Posen. In the place of the existing confederation of independent States, is to be established one united sovereignty, which, however, shall allow to the different States all the powers consistent with the existence of national unity, and which shall guarantee to them the maintenance of all those fundamental rights and institutions which have recently been granted to the people. The central or imperial power is to embrace the exclusive right of representing the German States in their foreign relations; of making war and peace; of negotiating treaties; of commanding and supporting an army and navy; of estab lishing a uniform system of custom duties; a general postal system; a general system of money, weights, measures, and patents, and of exercising a surveillance over railroads and telegraphs. The supreme power is to be vested in a hereditary Emperor, and a Diet. The Emperor is to reside at Frankfort on the Main; but the mode of his election, in the first instance, is not prescribed in the Constitution. He is to be clothed with the executive power of the Empire, and to appoint its functionaries, together with the officers of the army and navy, and the superior officers of the national miltis. He is to be inviolable and irresponsible; but an act, to be valid, must bear the sig nature of a responsible minister. The Diet is to consist of an Upper and a Lower Chamber. The former is to con tain not over two hundred members, e sisting of the reigning princes of the c ferent States, who may attend eer personally or by substitute; a delega from each of the free cities; and cou! lors of the Empire, chosen, one had be the people of the States, and one hit by the Governments, for the period of twe ve years. The Lower Chamber is to be composed of deputies, elected once ms years, and to be removed in thirds every two years. They are to be elected by the people in districts consisting each of |