at length succeeded in effecting a pacification between these powers, and in adjusting the Schleswig Holstein affair. The interposition of the British government in any great question of European politics must always have more or less weight on the parties; yet though the present ministry are known to have also interposed between Austria and Sardinia, between the King of Naples and the Sicilians, and were believed to have interposed to prevent the Russian invasion of Hungary, and the French invasion of Rome, yet of all these cases of interventions, which to their credit were invariably in behalf of the weaker party, that of Denmark was the only one in which there was any open manifestation that their interposition had been effective.

GERMANY..

THE prospect of German unity and confederation, for some time obscured, seems to have almost totally disappeared. As the German sovereigns, especially the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia, began to regain their former authority, the weight of the Frankfort assembly or parliament visibly declined. Their numbers gradually diminished, notwithstanding the protests which some of the delegations made against their own recall by the princes they represented. On the 19th of May, the Archduke John was deposed from the Regency, by a vote of one hundred and twenty-six to one hundred and sixteen, and overtures were said to have been made to the King of Wurtemburg offering him the Regency. A like offer was made to the King of Bavaria without success. The assembly soon after adjourned to Stutgard, where there was often not a quorum, which they tried to reduce, before they left Frankfort, to one hundred members; and thus gradually declining, they may be now considered as having only a nominal existence. Thus has passed away the fondly cherished project which was to exalt the German name, by endowing it with power, wealth, and civil freedom. The sentiment of nationality, though disapproved for the present, still exists, however, ready to manifest itself under more favourable circumstances.*

THE King of Prussia sought to avail himself of the sentiment, just mentioned, so as to offer a constitution, for the greater states of Germany, of which he would be the head. In a proclamation, dated at

The question of German confederation is still unsettled, according to the latest accounts. For the present it is stated that a directory of seven members is to sit at Frankfort as an executive commission for the common interests of Germany. A congress of Princes is expected to be held at Laybach at which, as rumour goes, the King of Naples and the Pope will be present or represented. All, however, is still in doubt at the time that we are writing.

Charlottenburg, May 15th, 1849, he announced this purpose, after having given his reasons for not accepting the crown tendered to him by the Frankfort assembly, and uttering strong denunciations against that body. He stated that the constitution about to be formed, would be submitted to a Diet of all the states composing the confederation, for its approval and sanction. The following day he put forth an address to the army, in which he adverts to the insurrections which had been quelled at Dresden, Breslau, and Dusseldorf, and to others then breaking out in the western districts of Prussia, and other parts of Germany, under the pretext of German unity.

The new German constitution which issued from Berlin soon afterwards, and was the joint work of the Kings of Prussia, Saxony, and Hanover, in its principal features closely resembles the constitution of the United States. The legislature consists of two houses. The Senate is chosen for six years, and its members must be thirty years of age. The members of the popular branch are distributed somewhat according to numbers. The whole number of members is one hundred and sixty-seven, of whom Prussia elects forty, Bavaria twenty, Saxony, Hanover and Wurtemburg, twelve each, Baden ten, and the smaller states (thirty-two in number) sixty-one.

The powers of the federal government are nearly the same as in the United States. They extend the regulations of commerce, which must be uniform, to the post-office, the mint, weights and measures, patents for inventions and literary property, imposts, the army and navy, and diplomatic intercourse. But it differs from the American constitution in the following particulars: half the Senate is renewed every three years: the people choose electors who choose the representatives of the people, and are, moreover, chosen for four years: the King of Prussia is the head of the federal government, and in case of his disability, the King of Bavaria. Whether Austria is to be admitted to the confederation, and on what terms, are questions to be hereafter determined. The insurrections in Baden, and other parts of Germany, having been previously quelled, by the 1st of August, all the German states, except Austria, Bavaria and Wurtemburg, had acceded to this constitution of the three kings. The enactments of the central power at Frankfort have since been entirely disregarded by Prussia, as in the occupation of the Duchy of Baden, during the insurrection there, without the authority required by the constitution of Frankfort, in the elections in Prussia, and in its foreign relations.

In the election, the democratic or republican party determined not to vote for the primary electors, so that three-fourths are said to have kept aloof. The republicans have decided on a new organization, and to meet not at Berlin, but at Magdeburg or Habberstadt. They propose to change their name from the democratic to the popular party. These indications of the prevalence of republican sentiments, has had its influence in the Prussian parliament, where, although in the recent

elections there was a large majority of moderates or conservatives, the body is considered to be, on the whole, rather liberal; and, in truth, a certain portion of civil freedom is now deemed, in every part of Germany, an indispensable moral want-a political necessity-to which the most arbitrary of their governments must pay some respect.

Prussia, no longer disposed to conciliate the Frankfort Parliament, has adjusted the Schleswig Holstein question by an armistice and treaty with Denmark, on the 17th of July. By the terms of the treaty, Schleswig is to be governed for the present by two commissioners chosen by Prussia and Denmark, and with whom a third commissioner, nominated by the British sovereign, is to be associated as umpire.

A congress of those who did not take part in the elections, assembled at Cothen, in August, and, according to the report of a committee, it appeared that of 468,405 primary electors, only 115,116, less than one-fourth voted. The congress is composed chiefly of deputies from the eastern provinces of Prussia. At a banquet they toasted "Victorious Hungary," and made a collection for the wounded of Baden. Their next meeting is also to be at Cothen, but the time was not fixed. From these signs of the state of public feeling, one would infer that monarchy in Prussia must rely for its continuance on military force, conducted by unceasing vigilance and prudence. It will, no doubt, however, be greatly strengthened by the successes of Austria and Russia against the Hungarians.

AUSTRIA.

The Emperor Francis Joseph, having, by his manifesto of May 12, announced that the Emperor of Russia would co-operate with him to reduce the Hungarians to subjection, the cause of that brave people was defended in a paper which, though addressed by the Hungarian minister, Count Teleki, to the French minister of Foreign Affairs, seems to have been intended as an answer to the imperial manifesto. He first aims to prove the right of the Hungarians to an independent government; then the gross injustice of the house of Austria towards them; and, lastly, that the cause of Hungary is that of civilization against barbarism. He states that the Hungarian army amounts to nearly 200,000 men.

To this powerful force, the allied emperors were prepared to oppose, it was said, 250,000 men; but it was hoped that the rare military talents which Bem, Gorgey, and Dembinski had recently exhibited, and the resistless force with which the cause of freedom commonly inspires its champions, would more than compensate for the disparity of numbers. It was forgotten that the inferiority of the Hungarians in resources, especially in money, that is so important an element in modern

warfare, made a yet greater difference than that of numbers, and, in fact, rendered the contest a most unequal one. Trusting, however, to the goodness of their cause, as well as their own indomitable spirit, and flushed with their late successes, they firmly prepared for the fearful struggle. The scenes of their operations have been so distant, the localities so imperfectly known here, and the accounts coming through interested channels, have been so partial or defective, that it is but a very imperfect sketch which can at this early day be given of them.

The plan of the allies appears to have been to press on the Hungarians, by the Austrians from the west, and the Russians from the east, until the Hungarian armies, hemmed in on all sides, would be compelled to yield to the overpowering force of their enemies. In May and June, however, before the vast power of the allies were fully brought to bear on them, the vigour, skill, and enterprise of the Hungarian chiefs obtained frequent successes, and the hopes as well as admiration of their numerous friends, both in Europe and the United States, were raised very high. But, even there, they themselves seemed to be but too well aware of the difficulties of their situation. In a public address to the people of Hungary by Kossuth, as Governor, and his ministry, on the 29th of June, which was intended to rouse the nation to one united effort for their independence, the extent of their danger was thus frankly laid before them:

"We will neither flatter nor discourage, but we declare openly that unless the whole nation rise up to defend itself to the last drop of its blood, all the noble blood already shed is in vain, and our country will fall-the Russian knout then ruling over an enslaved people, on the ground where the ashes of our ancestors repose."

In this address, the Hungarian force is stated to be 200,000 men. But when examined in detail, it appeared that more than one-third of this number consisted of irregular forces, of little avail against compact, disciplined, and well-appointed armies, unless they have been routed: so that Georgey, Bem, and Dembinski, had each an army of not more than from 40,000 to 50,000 men.

In July, when more than 150,000 Russians had penetrated by different routes into Hungary and Transylvania, the tide of success began to turn. Pesth, the metropolis, in which a few weeks before Kossuth had entered amid the acclamations of the people, was taken possession of by the Russians under Paskiewitch; the town of Debrinski surrendered to the Russian General Theodyiff; and Georgey, placed between two Russian armies which he was utterly unable to oppose, made a fortunate escape by a masterly retreat, and united his force with that of Dembinski, but not until the latter had been compelled to give way to a superior force under the walls of Waitzen.

In the south, however, the Hungarian arms were more successful. Jellachich was defeated by Bem, and Peterwardien was for the time relieved. The city of Raab was also taken by the Hungarians, which VOL. III. SEPT., 1849.

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conquest, the sanguine thought, threatened the safety of Presburg, and even of Vienna. But this seems to have been the last important success of the Hungarians. Bem's army was defeated by the Russians under Luders; and Georgey was compelled to surrender unconditionally to Paskiewitch.* Further resistance was hopeless, and Kossuth, with the force under Dembinski, retreated to the mountainous part of Hungary, in the north-east. Probably the forces were soon disbanded, and Kossuth, after winning the applause and admiration of the world for his self-devotion to his country, his eloquence, and his talents as a statesman, is now compelled to seek personal safety in a foreign land.

The fate of this gallant people, whom the friends of civil liberty and of rational independence in both hemispheres have so admired and so neglected, cannot be contemplated without the liveliest anxiety. Will they be reinstated in their former political condition? or will all vestiges of their ancient rights be effaced, and the arbitrary government to which they are now subjected, aim to amalgamate them with the rest of its dominions? or will Russia, profiting by the hatred of the Magyars for the Austrians, interfere in their behalf, and hope one day to make them dependents, by the influence of panslavism? These and similar questions present a wide field for conjecture.

DENMARK.

The pretensions of her subjects in the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, no longer receiving the cordial support of the king of Prussia, after his open breach with the Frankfort Parliament, was soon adjusted, favoured as that adjustment was by the mediation of Great Britain, and by the good wishes of most of the other European pow

ers.

At first, Denmark seemed overmatched on land by the Prussian forces sent against her, aided, as they were, by her rebellious subjects; and she put in active requisition her superior naval strength, which all Germany was made to feel by her blockade of all the northern ports through which the Germans received foreign merchandise; and, finally, she redeemed her former failures at the battle of Fredericia, in which her army of 20,000 men obtained a victory over 14,000 Germans.

The armistice with Prussia took place on the 17th of July, and the protocol of the treaty consists of the five following articles:

*The forces of Georgey were, in fact, surrendered to Gen. Rudijer, whom Paskiewitch had sent to Grosswarden. They consisted of 30,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 144 cannon. The remaining corps that submitted to Gen. Luders, in Transylvania, consisted of twelve battalions of infantry, eight squadrons of cavalry, and seventy-four cannon. A cloud of suspicion hangs over Georgey, probably without cause; who is at large, and has retired to his patrimonial estate in Styria. The fortress of Comorn, at the last accounts, still held out; it was said to be well provisioned, and the garrison to consist of 20,000 men. The Esterhazys are there, and are opposed to a surrender, except on conditions which the Austrians will not grant.