The German revolution of 1849; being an account of the final struggle,in Baden, for the maintenance of Germany's first national representative government

Preface

TN the years 1848 and 1849, continental A Europe was torn from one end to the other by a mad struggle of the people for more civil liberty. France, Germany, Austria- Hungary, Italy, all felt its violence.

In Germany for a time the people were triumphant and absolute government appeared to be an institution of the past. Finally, in 1849, th^ whole illusion was dispelled; grim reaction again swept into power and trampled the common people into the dust, where they remained until the victorious war of 1870- 187 1 against France at last forced the kings and princes to form an empire with an imperial representative government.

The following sketch is intended only to picture the death-struggle of the movement, which took place in Baden, and forms an incident in the history of Germany scarcely less fascinating than the oft-told tale of the great revolution in France, of which it was a mild imitation. Another reason for the appearance of the book is the fact that a vast number of

212146 iv Preface

the participants, after the last gun had been fired, the last charge made, and a life of exile was before them, in looking for a new home, crossed the broad Atlantic and came to the United States, making new careers for themselves, which were not only a credit to the land of their birth, but to the country of their adoption as well.

Lorenz Brentano, the civil leader of the revolution, after coming to the United States, was first a farmer in Michigan, afterwards a lawyer in Chicago, and later editor of the Illinois Staatszeitung of that city, and at different times a member of the State Legislature of Illinois, of Congress, and United States Consul at Dresden.

Of the record of Franz Sigel, much of the time the military commander of the movement, little need be said. As a colonel in the Union army during the Civil War, he gained at Carthage, Missouri, the earliest victory of that struggle, became major-general and department commander, his name being a household word during that ever-memorable time.

Ludwig Blenker became a brigadier-general of United States Volunteers, and to his brigade was intrusted the duty of protecting

Preface v

the rear of the Union army at the fateful first battle of Bull Run.

Alexander Schimmelpfennig commanded the 74th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and afterwards as a brigadier-general took part in the battle of Gettysburg.

Friedrich Hecker's oratory was heard from the stump in the interest of the Republican party wherever Germans lived, from the time of the Fremont campaign in 1856, until long after the close of the Civil War ; in which struggle he also took part, first as colonel, and then as brigadier-general, and in which he was wounded.

There are many others who were less prominent in the Baden movement, as Carl Schurz, who as a young student served in the Palatine division of the Baden army, and in the United States became a major-general, a diplomat. United States Senator, Secretary of the Interior, and writer of books. Another major-general of the Civil War was Peter Joseph Osterhaus, who, during the Baden Revolution, was commandant of the burgher-guard at Mannheim. In the United States he fought under his old commander, Sigel, in Missouri and Arkansas, and as major-general, commanding the Fifteenth Army vi Preface

Corps, was with Sherman on his famous march to the sea.

The Hst could be indefinitely extended if all majors, captains, and lesser officers in the Union army during the Civil War were enumerated who saw their first campaigning in the short struggle in Baden. Nearly all were young, intelligent, and ambitious, some highly educated. Many books might be written about those who, in positions where high qualifications were necessary, rose to eminence. The men appeared in all the walks of life, as writers on the newspapers, as professors in colleges and the higher schools, and in the more important places in the manufactories and workshops.

No claim of original research is made in the following pages. All the materials were obtained from the books and memoirs written by participants, from histories, biographies, and books of travel of a later date, and from the file of a newspaper covering the period of the movement. In addition a very small part of the facts set forth were received from persons who took part in the uprising, notably the writer's father, and his father's brother : the first, while a boy of seventeen, participating as a volunteer, from the night of the attack

Preface vii

on the Armoury in Carlsruhe, until the retreat of the revolutionary army into Switzerland ; the other being a young recruit in Rittmeister La Roche's squadron of dragoons, as it charged the mob approaching along the Lange Strasse, the next day going over to the revolutionists, and serving throughout the war, until, with the remnant of his regiment, he finally surrendered to the Prussians at Freiburg.

It was deemed inadvisable to burden the work with footnotes, but a bibliography of the leading authorities consulted is added at the end of the book.

C. W. D.

Allegheny, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. August, 1902.

Contents

CHAPTER ^^?^.

Preface "i

I. — Germany and Baden from 1815 to the

Chapter I Germany And Baden From 1815 To The Spring Of 1849

THE better to understand the causes which led to the revolutionary movement of 1849, ^ short survey of the history of Baden from the close of the Napoleonic era, with a glimpse at that of Germany in general, will be useful.

Many harsh words have been spoken of the great Corsican, Napoleon Bonaparte, but the truth remains that he introduced more reforms, crushed more abuses, and gave greater liberties to the German people than they had ever known before in all their history. This was -^ more particularly true in Baden and the other states of South Germany which had belonged to his Confederation of the Rhine. Baden was connected with Napoleon not only politically, but by ties of marriage, Crown Prince Karl, afterwards Grand Duke of Baden, having married Stephanie Beauharnais, Napoleon's niece and adopted daughter. After Napoleon's overthrow, the liberties obtained during his supremacy were enjoyed to the full extent in South Germany for a number of years, and two of the states were even given constitutions. Baden received this great boon on

i- August 22, 18 18, and its affairs were thenceforth administered by two Chambers, the second being elected by the people. Bavaria had been given a constitution a few months earlier, but in the other thirty odd states of Germany the will of the kings and princelings remained paramount for many years.

Before the battle of Waterloo, on June 10,

V1815, the German Bund had been formed, which was a loose confederation, whose affairs were administered by a Diet, meeting at Frankfort-on -the- Main, which could change the regulations governing the Union only by a unanimous vote. To this Diet Germany was indebted for the reactionary measures which attempted to crush out all liberty and again bind the Germans in the chains from which, at least in South Germany, they had been freed by the French domination.

The first Landtag, as the Second Chamber in Baden was called, met on April 19, 1819, and was composed of the best, most learned and liberal men in the state, who strove to free it from the remains of feudalism. Bills were in- / troduced for trial by jury, for the restoration of the freedom of the press, as also one requesting the Grand Duke to withdraw an edict of April 23, 18 18, which guaranteed certain obnoxious rights and privileges to the nobility. Only the last was reluctantly granted, and the other bills were never permitted to be passed in the Chambers. The Liberal views expressed in the Baden Landtag, and taught by a number of professors in the leading universities of Germany, were looked upon as revolutionary by Austria and Prussia and some other governments, and a conference of the powers was called by Prince Metternich, the Chancellor of the Empire, which met at Carlsbad in September, 18 19, and appointed a Central Investigation Commission, to inquire into the "revolutionary intrigues and demagogic combinations," and restrlt^d-in the preparation of a resolution for a press law to be in operation for five years, which was duly enacted into a law of the Confederation, on August 13, 1 820. Under the provisions of this law, a strict censorship of the press was instituted in all the states, by which all newspapers and printed matter under twenty sheets could be suppressed, and the editor forbidden thereafter to publish anything in any of the confederated states for a period of five years. At the universities a government official was stationed whose duty it was to bring about the dismissal of all teachers suspected of teaching, or even holding Liberal views.

All secret societies in the universities were suppressed, and a period of reaction commenced. On August 16, 1824, the Diet enacted in the same spirit another law for the supervision of the universities and all educational matters in Germany, and from that time on every man of sincerity and spirit who dared give expression to his thoughts was harassed and persecuted.

In 1830 a glimmer of light broke through the darkness. In July of that year the Bourbons were overthrown in France, and Charles X., who had made himself universally hated, was forced to abdicate. The great revolution which the Poles had just begun for nationalism In their poor dismembered Poland also made a deep impression in Germany. The two events caused a perfect tidal wave of Liberalism to sweep over Baden, and the next Landtag, which met in 1831, was more radical than any of its predecessors since 1819. One of its laws, that relating to the freedom of the press, created great enthusiasm. It was the only one of the kind enacted in all Germany, and was contrary to the regulations of the Diet. The result was a great increase in the number of the Liberal newspapers in Baden. Soon, however, the repressive machinery of the Diet was again set in motion, and as early as November, 1831, the Baden government received notice to exercise a stricter watch over its press ; on July 5, 1832, the Diet declared that the Baden press law was incompatible with the law of the Confederacy and must be abrogated within fourteen days, which was done by the Grand Ducal government, and the censorship in all its rigour re-established. The same influences also broueht about the removal of Professor von Rotteck and Professor Welcker, the Liberal leaders in the Baden Landtag, from their professorships at the University of Freiburg. The reaction then became more pronounced and sharper ; the Liberal South German states were even threatened with armed force, and many of the Liberal leaders in official positions were forced to retire to private life.

But in Baden, the spirit of Liberalism, notwithstanding, grew rapidly, and each succeeding Landtag had a larger independent majority than the one preceding. While the government was far from Liberal in its tendencies, yet public opinion leaned so strongly in that direction that the officials were afraid to prosecute those who held these doctrines.

Prussia was the leader of the reactionaries. "Vj Whenever a man dared utter a Liberal thought or idea, he was persecuted. Arndt, the author of Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland, had long since felt the weight of its iron hand. Heine was an exile in Paris. Many professors were removed from their positions in the universities for expressing ideas repugnant to the minds of a few narrow politicians. The hatred of the / South Germans against the Prussian government was intense. In 1835, when the question of joining the great German Zollvereiii (Tariff Union) came up in the Baden Landtag, although the measure in itself was beneficial, Von Rotteck and other Liberals opposed it, because they did not desire to have anything in com- >^j^ mon with "absolutely governed Prussia."

In 1847 the first real progress was made in the fieht for orreater freedom. In the autumn

of that year two meetings were held with the

object in view of securing the estabhshment

of a national representative government for

the whole of Germany. On September 12th

a great public meeting took place at Offen-

burg, in Baden, under the presidency of

Friedrich Hecker, a young and brilliant ad- ^i^

vocate of Mannheim, a Deputy to the Land- , } ^ t

taof. Other radicals like Gustav Struve,

editor of the Ziischauer, at Mannheim, and

Joseph Fickler, editor of the Constance See-

bldtter, were also among the leaders. The

meeting demanded, among other things, the

repeal of the decrees of Carlsbad, Frankfort,*^

and Vienna, freedom of the press, national

representation at the Diet, and trial by jury.

On October loth a conference of the monarchical Liberals was held at Heppenheim, in the south of Hesse, near the Baden frontier, at which representative men from Baden and other South German states were present, who agreed, in opposition to the resolutions of the Offenburg meeting, to the mild proposition of working for a remodelling of the articles of confederation.

Now came an event which had more in- ^y fluence in Germany than all the agitation of the previous thirty years. In France, on J February 24, 1848, the July Kingdom was ] overthrown and a republic proclaimed, the j national guard and the troops of the line uniting with the people, compelling King Louis Philippe to flee to England. ( The Liberals of Germany took new courage. What they formerly begged for they now demanded. The Diet, on the other hand, assumed a mild, almost apologetic, attitude. On February 17th, before the French Revolution had broken out, the Baden representative to the Diet, at the request of his ngovernment, had asked that body to take \ ^^ some action to calm the threatening attitude of the people in his state. Nothing was done by the Diet. After the events in Paris, however, on March 3d, the Diet voluntarily raised the censorship of the press, and on March 8th declared in favour of a revision of the constitution of the Confederation, and on the sam.e day enacted that the long -defamed black, red, and gold flag should be the imperial flag of Germany. The apparent fear displayed by the Diet and many of the governments made the Germans bold, not only in Baden and South Germany, but wherever the German tongue was spoken. They resolved to pay no further attention to the old reactionary Diet at Frankfort with its Metternichian poHtics.

The first step of the Liberal politicians was to call a conference to be held at Heidelberg,.^ in Baden. On March 5th this conference met ' with fifty-one persons present, of whom twenty were from Baden, including Hecker, the majority of the others being from Wiirtemberg and Hesse-Darmstadt, with one or two each from Bavaria, Nassau, Frankfort, Rhenish- Prussia, and Austria. The representatives at the conference were men of courage as well as conviction, and concluded to establish a national parliament for Germany as rapidly as possible. As a preliminary step, it was decided to invite men from every district in Germany to meet and confer on this important matter.

To prepare for this meeting they appointed a committee of seven to arrange the details, and decided to call a Preliminary Parliament {V or par lament) for March 31st to meet at Frankfort-on-the-Main in the Romer, the old Townhall, where the Emperors of Germany had been crowned for a thousand years. The committee agreed to invite all persons who were then members of the Chambers or other law-making bodies, in all of the German states. In addition, many well-known persons who had been before the public and who, as writers, teachers, agitators, and in other capacities, had a following, were asked. The staid, conservative Germans had become wild ; in many of the larger cities insurrections broke out.

In Baden, while there was no open outbreak, the Chambers were overwhelmed with petitions asking for reforms. As early as February 29th the government had promised the immediate introduction of bills for the establishment of an armed municipal militia, to be called the burgher-guard {Bilrgerwehr), of trials by jury, of a provisional press law, raising the censorship ; and soon afterward the press law of December 28th, 1831, was again put in force.

On March ist, Hecker presented in the Second Chamber the demands of the people, which he had formulated under twelve heads, which were adopted by a large majority the next day, and quickly agreed to by the government, which hastened to remove its two most unpopular ministers, Trefurt and Regenauer, and to appoint as representative to the Diet in place of the generally disliked Von

Bllttersdorf, the Liberal leader Professor Karl Welcker.

In Bavaria, the " March Movement," as the mad spasm was called, resulted in the abdication of the old roud, King Ludwig I. In Wiirtemberg, quiet was brought about by lavish promises and the appointment of a Liberal ministry. In Austria it led to the fall of Prince Metternich, on whose policy of government all the evils of repression were blamed. Prussia, the leading exponent of reactionary government, suffered most. In Berlin, many persons were killed in riots, ij'^ing Friedrich Wilhelm IV. of Prussia, more than any other king or prince in Germany, clung j/^ to the old notion of holding his office by divine right.J The people clamoured for more liberty, large masses congregated, barricades were erected in the streets, even befoPe the , / cJ

Schloss, and on March i8th many citizens '

fell fighting before the advancing soldiers. The fright of the people, the booming cannon, \ the rattle of musketry, and the flames of burn- ^ ino- buildinors made it a scene of .horror. The Prince of Prussia, as the brother of the King and heir presumptive to the throne was called, commanded the troops. Ruthlessly he proceeded against the men behind the barricades, the artillery firing grape and canister, sparing no one. His title of " Canister Prince " gained here clung to him for twenty years, until, as a result of the Franco-German war, he was made Emperor of a finally united Germany, and became a popular hero. At 5 o'clock the next morning, the King commanded an armistice by both parties, but not before five hundred persons had fallen dead and wounded on both sides. During the night he wrote his famous address " To my beloved Berliners," in which he asked them to return to peace and vacate the barricades, to "listen to the fatherly voice of your King. Forget what has happened as I shall forget it " ; and adding, " the Queen unites her tearful entreaties with mine."

The troops were ordered to march from the neighbourhood of the barricades. The next day a large mass of people advanced before the Schloss, bearing on their shoulders the biers on which lay the corpses of many of those killed by the soldiers the night before, covered with flowers and laurel, their wounds uncovered, bloody and ghastly, as they fell. In answer to the threatening clamour, the King, with the Queen leaning on his arm, came out on the balcony with bared head, and looked at the horribly disfigured corpses, while a choir sang the^eautiful hymn, Jesus meme Zicversicht. "^

The popular outcry against the Prince of Prussia did not abate with the concessions made by the King. The Prince was, therefore, directed by his brother to hasten from Berlin and undertake a journey to England, and on the morning of the 19th he left like a fugitive from justice, in citizen's dress, his beard shaved off, and hurried secretly out of the kinordom.

The Preliminary Parliament met in Frankfort on the day set. As there were no seats in the Romer, the five hundred persons who constituted the body organised standing, by electing the old Baden Professor, Mittermaier of Heidelberg, President, and then marched in pairs to St. Paul's Church, where the sessions were to be held. It was a beautiful spring day. Bells were ringing, cannon thundered, and the houses were tastefully decorated, while the streets were lined by densely packed, enthusiastic crowds. The first business was to take action on the programme reported by the Committee of Seven, authorising the work to be done by the Assembly.

Struve spoke earnestly against the report, and presented one of his own, containing, as he said, " the principles, with the help of which alone Germany can be happy, honoured, and free." The most surprising proposition C in this programme was the one asking for the

Y*-^ V/i establishment of a republican form of governfSj. ment modelled on that of the United States.

Hecker, Struve's colleague from Baden, also ' presented a radical proposal. He moved that the Assembly declare its permanency until the election and organisation of the National Assembly. If the step suggested by Hecker had been taken the Diet would at once have been set aside, and the Preliminary Parliament as a revolutionary government taken its place. The majority were too conservative to take extreme steps, and both Struve and Hecker met with little encouragement, and the report of the Committee of Seven was adopted without qualification. The election of the members of a National Assembly was ordered. The electoral districts were to contain fifty thousand Inhabitants, each to have one representative, the small states containing a less population than fifty thousand also being entitled to one representative. The acts of the Parliament were at once concurred in by the Diet.

A committee of fifty was appointed to watch over and direct the elections, and to some extent act conjointly with the Diet. On the last day of the session the Assembly declared in favour of the "sovereignty of the people," and decided that the people, and they alone, were entitled to elect the National Assembly.

Hecker and Struve returned to Baden with their high hopes shattered. They, with most of the other Baden representatives, were republicans, while the large majority of the Preliminary Parliament were in favour of a constitutional monarchy. When they reached home they found their government already taking steps to suppress the expected republican demonstrations. The Diet, which had been asked for assistance, had sent the Eighth Army Corps, consisting of Hesse- Darmstadt and other foreign soldiers. This increased the excitement among the liberty -loving people of Baden still more. They saw in it the first of the reactionary measures of the government. The next move of the government was on April 8th, when it arrested Joseph Fickler, who, next to Hecker, was the.^ hero of the people of South Baden. Hecker, although a member of the Second Chamber and privileged from arrest, knew that he would be the next to suffer, and fled to Constance, where he arrived on the nth. Struve was already there, being also in danger of arrest, and having left his home in Mannheim immediately on his return from Frankfort. At Constance many republicans, in addition to Hecker and Struve, had congregated, and a revolution was decided upon, the military being counted upon to unite with them in force. The number of the revolutionists rapidly increased, until four or five thousand had gathered, when the fighting began. It was an ill-advised, mad effort, and ended in dismal failure. / The troops, instead of fraternising with the

\ revolutionists, opened fire on them, and the \ motley, badly armed horde was quickly scat- • tered. The leaders fled to Switzerland, where \J Hecker for a few months published his Volksfreund, and in September sailed for the United States, having first given out an address to the German people, which, for eloquence and pathos, is hardly excelled in the German language. For years afterwards he was the idol of the people of Baden ; his name, above all others, was the one to conjure with, in all South Germany, and wherever liberty was struggling to gain a foothold. In September, after the disorders in Frankfort occasioned by the disgraceful peace of Malm5, Struve made another attempt, wild O

and reckless as the previous one, to overthrow ^ — ^ the government of Baden, and at Lorrach, near the Swiss frontier, proclaimed a republic. This effort was also quickly suppressed, Struve was captured and imprisoned, and only freed by the breaking out of the revolution of 1849.

On May 18, 1848, the first German National , Assembly met. It was a great day for Frankfort, and in all Germany it was observed as a holiday. The flower of Germany was comprised in its membership. Here were professors from Heidelberg, Freiburg, Bonn, Giessen, Halle, Jena, and Wiirzburg. There was the professor and poet, Arndt, and the poet of the people, Uhland, the most popular / of all the living German poets ; Dr. Dollinger/^ the leader of the German Catholics ; Jacob Grimm, the lexicographer, and scores of others as well known. Many famous men, who had been in prison or exile for the opinions they held, had been elected. Old Father Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, the great teacher of ^urnen (gymnastics), soldier in Liitzow's Free- Corps in the war against France, who had been persecuted for years by the Prussian government, was one of the number. There were few experienced politicians among them. They were men of sentiment.

The first and most pressing work of the Parliament was the formation of a Provisional Central Power, into whose hands were to be given the executive powers of the new National Government. This question caused a number of lengthy debates, there being so many divergent views in the Parliament. ,£^ Finally, on June 28th, it was decided to " confine the power to one man, who was to be known as the Vice-Regent of the Empire (Jleichsverweser), whose authority was to be exercised through an imperial ministry appointed by him. The next day Archduke John of Austria was elected to the place, and soon every government in Germany had recognised the new Central Power. The National Government was now in existence, but soon became the butt of wits, and many a covert sneer and poor jest was perpetrated at its expense. A poet of the time wrote :

" Centralgewalt, Centralgewalt !

The next startlinsf event in the National Assembly was the action taken on the armistice of Malmo. Early in April Schleswig- Holstein, owing to trouble about the succession to the Dukedom of Schleswig and its separation from Holstein and attachment to Denmark, had cut loose from the latter power. Soon an overwhelming force of Danish troops entered Schleswig, and the Schleswigers, strengthened though they were by volunteers from Germany, were defeated. Then Prussia sent troops to assist the Schleswigers, and the Diet sent more troops, the whole being placed under the command of the Prussian General von Wrangel. The Danes were beaten back, and on May ist Von Wrangel had entered Jutland. The King of Prussia now saw in the movement only a troublesome revolution, and when Russia and England declared that they would not see Denmark despoiled of territory the Prussians granted an armistice of seven months, the treaty being signed at Malmo, a small city in Sweden. As this armistice was carried on in the name of the Imperial Power it was necessary to have the action ratified by the National Assembly.

When the first news of the granting of the armistice reached Frankfort on August 30th a storm of protest went up, as Schleswig-

Holstein had been represented in the Preliminary Parliament and was already recognised as a German state, and the whole matter was looked upon as treasonable. For several days the question was debated, and on September 5th, by a majority of fourteen, the ratification of the armistice was defeated.

The Imperial Ministers resigned the same evening. Dahlmann, the man who did most to defeat the measure, was called upon to form a new ministry, which he attempted to do, but after repeated efforts, on September 8th gave it up, the former ministers having retained their offices in the meantime. On September 14th the matter of the ratification again came before Parliament, and, after debating the question for three days, the motion to ratify the armistice was finally adopted on the i6th. This result caused the greatest anger among the populace of Frankfort, and a new insurrection broke out. Barricades were erected in the streets, particularly around St. Paul's Church, and after the session of the i8th, Prussian and Austrian troops attacked the barricades and many were killed and wounded on both sides ; but the uprising was suppressed.

Austria dealt the National Assembly a severe blow on November 9th by executing Robert Blum, of Cologne, perhaps the foremost Liberal member of that body. A revolution was in progress in Vienna. Blum and Julius Froebel, another Deputy, had been sent by the members of the " Left," as the Liberals were styled, to Vienna to convey the thanks and good wishes of that party to the Austrian Reichstag and the Municipal Council of Vienna for their '* manly behaviour " during the trying times which the people of German Austria and Hungary were then experiencing. In Vienna the people were in control of affairs when the two Deputies arrived, the Emperor having fled to Olmutz. Shortly afterward Prince Windischgratz, the Austrian Field Marshal, arrived with an army of ninety thousand men and besieged the city. When the place finally surrendered, Blum and Froebel were both arrested, and Blum, after a trial by court-martial, was shot. In vain he set forth his claim of being privileged from arrest, beingamemberof the National Assembly. " He is the most notable of the German anarchists. His colleagues will learn that we are not afraid

o

of them," said Baron von Hiibner to Prince Schwarzenburg, the new Austrian Prime Minister, while urging Blum's execution. All over Germany memorial services were held for this patriot. Freiligrath wrote a mournfully beautiful poem on the event, and even to-day Blum is looked upon as Germany's greatest political martyr.