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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 December 2010
Prince Schwarzenberg returned on the Evening of the 18th Instant from Dresden, where he presided at the closing of the Conferences of the German Powers on the 15th. His Highness, as I am informed, made a very conciliatory speech on that occasion, and was followed by the Prussian Prime Minister Baron Manteuffel who is reported to have spoken with much less tact.
1 For the Dresden Conferences see n. 1 in Saxony section.
2 In order to shorten the procedure of voting at the Federal Diet, a time limit of two weeks (when applicable) was agreed. Prior to this, the standing orders of the Federal Diet allowed the minister plenipotentiaries six to eight weeks to receive instructions.
3 For the Grundrechte see n. 1 in Württemberg section.
4 Jonkheer Friedrich van Scherff.
5 Wiener Zeitung.
6 According to the statutes of 13 April 1851, the Reichsrat was an advisory council to the monarch and the council of ministers. It was appointed by the emperor and consisted initially of eight members (including two Hungarians), all of whom were high-ranking bureaucrats. Its first sitting took place on 22 April 1851.
7 The constitution of 4 March 1849, which replaced the constitution of 25 April 1848, laid down the legal unity of the German and non-German parts of the empire in an indivisible and indissoluble hereditary monarchy, and provided for a two-chamber parliament. Emperor Franz Joseph did not wait for the final statement of the cabinet and annulled the constitution by the Sylvester Patent of 31 December 1851.
8 Enclosures: extract from Wiener Zeitung, 26 August 1851 (original and translation), including three Kabinettsschreiben from Franz Joseph to Schwarzenberg, and one Kabinettsschreiben from Franz Joseph to Kübeck, all dated 20 August 1851. The leading article was published in the section Nichamtlicher Teil.
9 ‘Truth before all’.
10 From 1818, the Duke of Wellington held the rank of an imperial field marshal and was colonel-in-chief of the Austrian infantry regiment No. 42.
11 On 4 September 1850, during a visit to England, General Haynau – who had been involved in the suppression of the Hungarian revolution and was notorious for his brutality – was attacked by indignant workers at a London brewery.
12 Most probably the Neue Münchener Zeitung, which published an anti-British article on the Refugee Question on 17 March 1853.
13 European Central Democratic Committee, founded at the initiative of Giuseppe Mazzini in June 1850.
14 On 15 November 1852, the official French newspaper, Le Moniteur, published a manifesto of the society La Révolution, the appeal Au peuple (co-authored by Victor Hugo), and the manifesto Seigneuret of the Comité révolutionnaire socialiste.
15 See n. 26 in Saxony section.
16 Ticino (see n. 20 in Hamburg section).
17 Debates of 8 June 1818 and 12 April 1824 respectively, when the continuation of the 1793 Aliens Act, which included the right to deport unwanted aliens, was passed by the House of Commons.
18 Name not traceable.
19 For the Austrian motion to place the federal army on a war footing see n. 23 in Frankfurt section. In the sitting of the combined military and oriental committees of 22 January 1855, the Austrian envoy to the Federal Diet moved to mobilize at least half of the contingent and to appoint a commander-in-chief.
20 Circular dispatch, Buol to the Austrian missions in Germany, 14 January 1855.
21 The Concordat of 18 August 1855 guaranteed the Catholic Church far-reaching rights throughout the Austrian Empire, including in the fields of marriage law, censorship, elementary and secondary education, and the administration of Church property.
22 In his dispatch No 138 to Clarendon of 3 December 1855 (not included in this volume), Malet reported from Frankfurt that, according to Rechberg, the Concordat had been taken ‘solely with reference to the Italian Provinces’, adding that ‘there were no other means of governing them’, owing to the opposition of the clergy to the Austrian government.
23 Lombardy-Venetia.
24 See n. 27 in Frankfurt section.
25 In his dispatch of 5 January 1856 to Prince Gorchakov, the Russian foreign minister, Nesselrode, accepted the Austrian proposition of 16 December 1855, with the exception of the terms relating to the cession of South Bessarabia and the allies’ right to ask for special conditions.
26 On 28 December 1855, Karl Freiherr von Werther was instructed to act on behalf of peace.
27 ’Policy of revenge’.
28 See n. 21 in this section.
29 Crimean War, 1853–1856.
30 Press ordinance (Pressordnung), decreed by imperial patent on 27 May 1852.
31 Treaty of Paris of 30 March 1856 (see n. 28 in Frankfurt section) and treaty of 15 April 1856, which renewed the alliance between Austria, Britain, and France to maintain the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire.
32 Judith und Holofernes by Johann Nestroy (debut performance March 1848 at the Carltheater, where it was restaged in 1856).
33 See n. 21 in this section.
34 Title of the Austrian emperor as King of Hungary.
35 Cardinal von Rauscher and the nuncio, Antonio Saverio De Luca.
36 Vienna episcopal conference, 6 April–17 June 1856.
37 Punch, satirical weekly magazine, established in London in 1841.
38 Ferdinando II.
39 While France and Britain had pressed the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies for internal reforms and suspended their diplomatic relations in October 1856, Austria maintained a passive and conciliatory policy. Austria's policy of non-interference was motivated by the difficulties in Austrian-ruled Lombardy-Venetia and Piedmont-Sardinia's territorial ambitions.
40 For the Concordat see n. 21 in this section.
41 Seymour most probably refers to the joint Prussian and Württemberg attempts of the years 1843–1846 to unify the Evangelical Church in Germany.
42 Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.
43 SMS Novara began her circumnavigation of the globe on 30 April 1857 from Trieste, returning on 26 August 1859.
44 Representation of the People Act, 7 June 1832.
45 Seymour refers to the period before 1836, as the Aliens Office had been closed following the 1836 Registration of Aliens Act. In Austria, the new passport system had been introduced by imperial decree on 9 February 1857.
46 The Conspiracy to Murder Bill was introduced to Parliament on 8 February 1858 and covered offences both in England and abroad, as a response to Continental demands following the assassination attempt on the French emperor in January 1858, which had been plotted by Felice Orsini in England. The defeat of the bill led to the resignation of Palmerston's government and the formation of a new minority Conservative administration under the Earl of Derby on 20/21 February.
47 Seymour most probably refers to news being reported from the Sepoy Uprising in India (1857–1859) and the Second Opium War between China and an Anglo-French force (1856–1860).
48 From 1850 there were no laws to prevent foreigners settling in Britain or empowering the authorities to expel aliens.
49 Mazzini settled in London in January 1837.
50 See n. 68 in Prussia section.
51 On 2 December 1854, Austria formed an alliance with Britain and France, pledging to support the Four Points to end the Crimean War.
52 Ferdinand Graf von Buol-Schauenstein.
53 See n. 46 in this section.
54 Danilo I, Prince of Montenegro, advocated the independence of Montenegro from the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire and the readjustment of the frontiers with the neighbouring Turkish provinces.
55 Seymour refers to the conciliatory policy in Lombardy-Venetia from 1856, where Franz Joseph had lifted the sequester of 1853, granted amnesty to political offenders, and installed Archduke Maximilian as civil governor-general (in March 1857).
56 See n. 58 in Prussia section.
57 Fane refers to the Prussian chamber of deputies, which was elected according to a three-class franchise imposed on 30 May 1849.
58 See n. 55 in this section.
59 Enclosures: circular dispatch by Buol to the Austrian representatives at the German courts, dated Vienna, 28 April 1859 (original and translation). For Rechberg's declaration of 2 May 1859 see n. 57 in Frankfurt section.
60 Schleinitz to the Prussian missions in Germany, 29 April 1859.
61 War Manifesto of 3 May 1859, in which Napoleon III declared that Italy should be free from the Alps to the Adriatic.
62 Bach was dismissed on 21 August 1859.
63 For the Reichsrat of 1851 see n. 6 in this section.
64 Rechberg assumed office as foreign minister and president of the council of ministers on 17 May 1859.
65 Fane refers to the Concordat of 1855 (see n. 21 in this section).
66 Assemblies of estates (Landstände) existed in the Habsburg crown lands from the late Middle Ages until 1848. Provincial diets were reintroduced in 1861.
67 Second War of Italian Independence (April–July 1859).
68 Treaty of Paris, 1856 (see n. 28 in Frankfurt section).
69 The emancipation of the Russian serfs was initiated with the imperial rescript of 20 November 1857, which emancipated and provided land to serfs in Lithuania in exchange for a long series of annual payments. The Act of Emancipation, freeing serfs on private land, was not passed until 1861, and serfs on state land were only emancipated in 1866.
70 Enclosure: extract entitled Amtlicher Theil, Kaiserliches Patent vom 20 Dezember 1859 (original and translation).
71 On 5 March 1860, the Reichsrat of 1851 (see n. 6 in this section) was enlarged by forty-eight to sixty extraordinary members; it was opened on 30 May. In addition to its advisory role (particularly for important bills), its central task was to report on the budget.
72 On 12 August, the railway from Vienna to Munich was officially opened at Salzburg.
73 The federal and anti-liberal coalition of the higher nobility of Austria and Hungary.
74 Hungarian constitution of 11 April 1848. It was replaced by the imperial constitution imposed on 4 March 1849, which put Hungary on an equal footing with the other crown lands (this was repealed by the patent of 31 December 1851). In October 1860, the constitutional diploma (Oktoberdiplom, see n. 80 in this section) restored the pre-1848 constitutional system based around the comitatus (county).
75 This measure was enacted on 10 January 1861.
76 Ministerial decree on franchise and eligibility of the deputies for the Landtage of 5 January 1861. With the exception of public and military officers and priests, the franchise system for the provincial diets was based on property and the payment of direct taxes. As such, only a fraction of the population was entitled to vote.
77 Imperial ordinances of 27 December 1860.
78 Imperial resolution of 17 July 1860, which was affirmed by the constitutional diploma of 20 October 1860 (see n. 80 in this section). For the Reichsrat of 1860 see n. 71 in this section.
79 Imperial speech from the throne at the opening of the Reichsrat, 1 May 1861. The new parliamentary Reichsrat (which replaced the imperial council of 1860; see n. 71 in this section) was established by the Fundamental Law for the Representation of the Empire (Grundgesetz über die Reichsvertretung) and constitution of 26 February 1861. It consisted of a house of deputies, whose members were elected by the provincial diets, and an upper chamber.
80 The constitutional diploma of 20 October 1860 (Oktoberdiplom), which provided for a federal organization of the empire and reintroduced the provincial diets, was not implemented (apart from in Hungary, where the pre-1848 constitution was restored). By contrast, the imperial constitution of 1861 provided for a two-house parliament (Reichsrat) with legislative functions, and restricted the competences of the provincial diets to matters expressly prescribed in the provincial statutes (Landesordnungen). The emperor reserved his right to veto any decisions of the respective representative bodies on both the provincial and the imperial levels.
81 The address of the house of deputies of the Reichsrat as voted on 11 May was presented to Franz Joseph on 14 May 1861.
82 Enclosures: article from Wiener Zeitung, 12 May 1861, entitled ‘Herrenhaus, Sitzung vom 11. Mai’ (original and English précis); copy of emperor's answer to the lower house, no date (original and translation).
83 Die Presse (established 1848).
84 In addition to the Hungarian diet (opened on 2 April), the diet of Croatia-Slavonia also rejected the election of deputies for the Reichsrat. Deputies for Istria and Transylvania were elected on 26 September 1861 and 20 October 1863 respectively. For the Reichsrat and the patent of 26 February 1861 see nn. 71 and 80 in this section.
85 Donauzeitung, published from 1860 to 1862 in Vienna. Enclosure: extract from the Donauzeitung of 24 September 1861, entitled ‘Verfassungsrevision’ (original and English précis).
86 The interpellations of both houses were dated 8 July 1862.
87 Rechberg to the Austrian envoys at the German courts, 10 July 1862.
88 Enclosures: newspaper article entitled ‘Sitzung des Herrenhauses vom 14. Juli’ (original and translation); article from Donauzeitung entitled ‘Actenstücke über die Zolleinigung Oesterreichs und des Zollvereins’, dated 10 July 1862 (original and English translation).
89 For the Franco-Prussian Commercial Treaty of 2 August 1862, see n. 88 in Frankfurt section.
90 The treaty of commerce between Great Britain and Austria had been under consideration since 1860. It was finally signed on 16 December 1865.
91 Conferences between Austria and the envoys to Vienna of Bavaria, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, Saxony, and Württemberg, were held on 7 July and 10 August 1862. As a minimal consensus on federal reform, it was agreed to convoke an assembly of delegates of the German Landtage at the Federal Diet to participate in the deliberations on the projected federal laws on civil actions and obligation. It was also resolved to establish a federal court. Corresponding motions were submitted to the Federal Diet on 14 August 1862, which referred the proposals to committees for further examination.
92 In a confidential dispatch to Apponyi sent on 28 August 1862, Rechberg stated that Prussia was the main barrier to peace and harmony in Germany: whereas Austria was simply attempting to maintain the status quo and her own existing position, Prussia was aggressively using force to provoke crises and gain a sole preponderance in Germany.
93 Fane refers to the Prussian plan for a smaller union excluding Austria as put forward in Bernstorff's dispatch of 20 December 1861 to the Prussian envoy to Dresden.
94 In a dispatch from von Werther, Prussian envoy to Vienna, sent to Rechberg on 14 February, Prussia disapproved of the collective step against her plan for federal reform and rejected the invitation to a conference. This was also stated in communications to the other senders of the identical notes of 2 February 1862 (see n. 76 in Württemberg section).
95 Fane refers to Rechberg's dispatch to the Austrian envoys at the German courts, 10 July 1862 (see previous dispatch).
96 For Article 25 of the Austro-Prussian treaty of 19 February 1853 see n. 79 in Hanover section.
97 Bavaria and Württemberg declined to join the Franco-Prussian Commercial Treaty of 2 August 1862 (see n. 88 in Frankfurt section) on 8 and 11 August. On 16 August, Hanover made her acceptance conditional on the approval of all member states of the Zollverein, thus indirectly rejecting the treaty as well.
98 See pp. 69–70.
99 Third German Juristentag at Vienna, 25–28 August 1862.
100 Schmerling gave his speech at the concluding day of the seventh meeting of German artists (Deutsche Künstler-Versammlung, 2–6 September 1862).
101 Law of 17 August 1862, which abolished all transit duties.
102 For the Frankfurt congress of German princes (Fürstentag), which was opened by the Austrian emperor on 17 August 1863, see pp. 74–76.
103 On 17 August 1863.
104 Collective letter to the King of Prussia, 17 August 1863; it was delivered at Baden-Baden on 19 August. Wilhelm I declined the invitation on the following day.
105 The Prussian proposal reached Rechberg on 21 December. The Austro-Prussian deliberations led to their motion at the Federal Diet of 28 December 1863 (see n. 93 in Hamburg section). For the Danish constitution of 18 November 1863 see n. 93 in Hanover section; for the London Protocol see n. 97 in Frankfurt section.
106 See n. 97 in Frankfurt section.
107 Earl Russell presented the results of the London Conference (see n. 106 in Hanover section) to the House of Lords on 27 June 1864.
108 See n. 103 in Frankfurt section and n. 105 in Hanover section.
109 Bloomfield refers to Apponyi's declaration at the last sitting of the London Conference on 25 June 1864. In his speech in the Lords on 27 June, Russell interpreted this declaration as showing that Austria and Prussia had ‘no intention of carrying on hostilities with the view of obtaining possession of any territory beyond the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein’ and had no further designs on Danish territory.
110 For the London Protocol of 1852 see n. 97 in Frankfurt section.
111 Bloomfield most probably refers to the Austrian plan to grant Denmark a guarantee of the integrity of her territory (including the duchies), notwithstanding a possible Austro-Prussian occupation of Schleswig. In early January 1864, Austria endorsed the Prussian policy to give such a guarantee only if Denmark gave way and repealed the joint constitution for Denmark and Schleswig of November 1863.
112 Denmark agreed only to a temporary suspension of hostilities; it expired on 26 June. In the sitting of the London Conference on 18 June 1864, Denmark made an armistice dependent on the settlement of the question of the frontier in Schleswig.
113 Island of Funen (Fyn).
114 At Gastein on 10 August 1865, Blome submitted to the Prussian king the proposition to provisionally divide the administration of the duchies between Austria (Holstein) and Prussia (Schleswig), while adhering to their joint supremacy. For the Gastein Convention see n. 116 in Württemberg section.
115 Bloomfield refers to the Prussian ultimatum to Austria of 21 July 1865, which called for measures to be taken to restore order in the duchies against the Augustenburg party, as a prerequisite of any future settlement of the dispute over the sovereignty of the duchies. In the case of Austrian non-compliance, Prussia announced her intention to proceed on her own.
116 The imperial patent of 20 September 1865 suspended the Law for the Representation of the Empire of February 1861, which provided the legal basis for the Reichsrat (see nn. 71 and 80 in this section), and announced the negotiation of a new constitution with the representatives of the Hungarian crown. In the manifesto of the same day, Franz Joseph announced that the results of these deliberations were to be submitted to the ‘legal representatives’ (the members of the provincial diets) of the other parts of the Austrian Empire before the final decision was made.
117 Most probably Das Fremdenblatt (established 1846) of 22 September 1865.
118 In view of the rumours about Prussian armaments, Károlyi, the Austrian envoy to Berlin, was instructed by telegram on 16 March to inquire whether Prussia intended to break the Gastein Convention of 1865 (see n. 116 in Württemberg section) by force. On the same day Bismarck answered unequivocally with ‘No’.
119 The demand of the Berlin supreme court (Kammergericht) for the extradition of the Prussian journalist Martin May from Holstein (see n. 165 in Prussia section) was rejected by the magistrate's court of Altona on 14 February 1866. While Prussia repeated the request in a dispatch of 6 March, Austria, the administrative power of Holstein, insisted that the issue was a purely legal question between the two courts and rejected any diplomatic interference.
120 Troops from Hungary and other Austrian provinces were ordered to Bohemia on 15 March.
121 The Battle of Königgrätz of 3 July 1866 led to Prussia's decisive victory in the Austro-Prussian War. The battle involved around 500,000 troops, with the Austrians losing 45,000 men and Prussia 10,000.
122 Benedek distinguished himself in the First (1848–1849) and Second (1859) Wars of Italian Independence.
123 Benedek was the son of a provincial doctor.
124 Between 27 June 1866, when the first battle of the Austro-Prussian War took place, and the time of the writing of this dispatch, there were a total of ten engagements between Austrian and Prussian troops.
125 Otto Freiherr Rivalier von Meysenbug.
126 For the preliminary Peace of Nikolsburg see n. 174 in Prussia section.
127 Friedrich Wilhelm.