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126o THE LEAPE K. [No. 452, JSovembeb 20...
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The Middlk Cr_Ass.—In England what in re...
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Biographies Of German Princes. No. Ii. T...
wonderful feats in affairs of gallantry . In this latter respect his labours have truly been of " gigantic" dimensions . For half a century his adventures have furnished the gossips of his country a never-failing material for racy anecdotes ; and though how , at the ripe age of seventy-seven , his youthful fires might well be supposed'to be somewhat exhausted , he still seems determined to add to the choice collection of adventures which he
has gone through for the edification of his subjects . His very marriages afford ample food to those of prurient tastes . His first union was with the Princess Caroline Augusta of Bavaria , from whom he was however divorced after a few years , on account , it is said , of the scandal created by the many liaisons the royal Benedict continued to indulge m . This Princess of Bavaria afterwards became the wife of the Emperor Francis of Austria . The next marriage of King William was with Catherine Paw " - lowna , daughter of the Emperor Paul of Russia , and widow of Prince Peter of Holstein-Oldenburg .
This second essay in matrimony proved , however , of but short duration , the Queen dying soon after ; her death being accelerated , it was generally believed , by the many trials she experienced during her stormy union with this " giant" of a King . A third nuptial ceremony was then gone through with Pauline , daughter of the late Duke of Wurtemberg , uncle of the bridegroom . So much for the formally authorised and legitimate marriages . The other " morganatic" * unions , " left-hand marriages , " and so forth , have been long among the unconcealed customs of the royal residence . At present , a
certain Madame Stubenrauch is in the ascendancy among the sultanas , and to her influence is chiefly to be traced the conclusion of the Concordat with Rome , the lady in question being an undisguised partisan of the Jesuits . The King himself is a Protestant , to all outward appearance . So much , however , is he under the beguilements . of these Popish Delilahs , that the general opinion of the country is that he will ultimately , if he has not done so already , enter the pale of the Roman Church . He had to give recently a public declaration to the contrary before all the evangelical prelates of Wurtemberg , in order to pacify the anger of the people . His hatred to liberty he imbibed at a very early
epoch . At the age of fifteen he was compelled to epoch . At the age of fifteen he was compelled to fly ^ from his future principality before the onslaught of the first French Revolution . Incensed at this , he entered the Austrian army as a volunteer against the French Republic . Subsequently , he was appointed by his father to serve under Bonaparte in his Russian campaign , which , however , he evaded by falling sick , and finally took part in Napoleon's overthrow . He showed himself in this latter campaign no bad tactician , and materially assisted in the defeat of a large French corps d ' armie . His advent to the throne , in 1816 , soon brought his despotic qualities into full relief . Yet , by a curious turn of circumstances , he was compelled , in spite of his natural leaning to Absolute Grovern merit , to throw himself for a tune into the arms of
Constitutionalism , in order to provide himself with a support against the annexing propensities of the two great German Powers , Austria aud Prussia . It was the same thing as with Baden , Bavaria , and , in fact , with almost all the minor States , whose minnow dukes found themselves in danger of being shallowed up by the great fish , and , to avert such an . unpleasant catastrophe , endeavoured to interest their long-suffering subjects in the preservation of their petty dynastic rule . But the danger of annexation once passed by , King William showed his true character . He forthwith , overthrew the liberty of the press , ourtailed the
right of free inquiry and free science at the universities , packed the legislature with his own creatures , drew as he listed upon the exohequer without waiting for the ceremony of parliamentary assent , and entered into suspicious political relations with the Court of St . Petersburg . Several intermarriages between the Wurtemberg and Russian dynasty resulted therefrom . The Crown Prince Charles himself is united since 1846 to Olga , the daughter of the late Czar Nicholas . In Wurtemberg this latter union created at the time much uneasiness ; and , judging from its conaequences , there was good reason for regarding it with such feelings . The Councils of the Court of * The German princes frequently Indulge In Mormon customs through theae * ' morganatic V marriages . This immunity from the generally rocolvod laws of morality they ' claim a * one of their sovereign privileges !
Stuttgard have become since then more and more reactionary . Shortly before 1848 King William was one of the most unpopular sovereigns of Germany . His tyranny was equally oppressive in political and religious matters . A Protestant sovereign by p rofession , he oppressed arbitrarily the neo-Cathoilc communities , which had formed themselves in opposition to the Papal authority . No wonder that in 1848 the storm of popular indignation rose mightily against him . He only managed to calm the waves by giving in to the popular demands without making any attempt at a struggle , and by appointing as Chief Minister of his Cabinet a well-known Democrat , who had hitherto been conspicuous as a member of the most advanced Opposition . i « rii
. „ , „_„ -r . __ .-: During the whole year of 1848 , King William kept himself very prudently quiet . But when Vienna had been stormed , after its prolonged siege by Windischgratz ; when the King of Prussia had accomplished his coup d ' etat ; when the Prince of Prussia marched with a large army against the democrats of Baden , and the National Assembly at Frankfort had been obliged to seek refuge at Stuttgard , then the King of Wurtemberg suddenly saw his opportunity * had arrived . He resolved on a double coup . At one blow he proposed to disperse the German Parliament , whose rump was assembled
in his capital , and , at the same time , to get rid of his Liberal Ministry . He carried out this plan with unparalleled treachery . Feigning the most humble devotion to the cause of the National Parliament , he ordered his Ministry to recognise formally all the resolutipns it might come to , all the decrees it might enact . Thus , the Deputies of the German nation were lulled into a false confidence of their security at Stuttgard . They leisurely set about those measures they thought best calculated to save the cause of falling freedom . In presence of the danger to which the fatherland was exposed , Provisional
they consequently established a Regency as an Executive Government superior to all princely power in Germany . King William made no scruple , but hastened to acknowledge it as a legal authority . Suddenly , however , one morning , the streets of Stuttgard were filled with troops ; the German Parliament was at once pronounced to be dissolved ; and every attempt of its members to deliberate was declared an act of high treason . On this the people as well as some of the Deputies ran to the customary hall of assembly . There , however , the royal troops were drawn up in battle array , the artillery planted and ready to open fire
on the crowd , while the cavalry , brandishing their sabres , charged down the streets . At last a great number of the members of the National Assembly made their way through the turmoil . They walked arm-in-arm , four abreast , with uncovered heads . Even a portion of the troops themselves opened their ranks to admit this solemn procession , and a feeling of hesitation pervaded the military . But the savage Ulans , at whose head an unscrupulous sabrevr was placed , turned the tide ; The word was given to the cavalry to clear the street . Upon this , one of the deputies ,
old grey-headed Uhland , the patriot bard of Germany , he who had sung the war song of the struggle against Napoleon , and ever stood up for the " good old right" of Wurtemberg , bared his breast , and calmly Did the reckless lancbrs to plant their weapons there . Some of them , made drunk for their disgraceful work , beat the veteran poet with the flat of their sword . A short mftie ensued — -and the National Assembly was dispersed . Soon after the Liberal Ministry of Wurtemberg also ceased to exist .
Since the overthrow of German liberty , the King of Wurtemberg has kept his bellicose propensities employed in a petty quarrel with the , now demented , King of Prussia , on account of the pretensions to imperial dignity which , for a time , had been asj cribed to the latter . So furious was King William at these alleged pretensions , that on a piiblic occasion he declared that " no Teok * would over be found base enough to submit to a Hohenzollern . " Mutual compliments of this kind were bandied for some time , until other princes interposed and patched up the unseemly squabble . Of a nature loss capable of conciliation is the quarrel between the king and the Stuttgurd Legislature . His continual defalcations from tlie publio exchequer ; his interference with personal liberty ; ltfs lawless encroachments oh the freedom of the press ; the favour ho has shown since 1851 ? The Kings of Wunemberg bear tho title of Gouate of Took .
to the feudal interest ; his leaning towards the ltuS sian dynasty On the one hand and to Louis Nano leon on the other , to both of whom he is related his semi-Catholic policy ; the continued proflio-aCv of his life , —all have served to increase the measure of unpopularity formerly bestowed upon him . No wonder that democratic opinion should secretlv spow more rapidly than before . The most moderate men of the country are exasperated against the King ' s misrule . To give a single instance- — In one of the discussions of the Chamber on the budget , the Royal Commissary dared to deny the right of the Legislature to control certain expenses and with a sneer continued that " the times of 1848 had gone by ! " . Upon this , a deputy of the
Moderate-Liberal , party rose and indignantly replied - " The right of the Wurtemberg Legislature to vote or refuse taxes is anterior , and even Superior , to the existence of the Wurtemberg monarchy itself and may be found in the end to survive it / " ' This short and energetic reply affords a pretty good key to the relations between * the King aud liis subjects .
126o The Leape K. [No. 452, Jsovembeb 20...
126 o THE LEAPE K . [ No . 452 , JSovembeb 20 , 1858
The Middlk Cr_Ass.—In England What In Re...
The Middlk Cr _ Ass . —In England what in reality governs is the middle class—but a middle class much more largely established , and constituted after a muctt more hierarchical fashion , than that which governed in France during the existence of our Parliamentary rfy ' ime . That middle class esteems intelligence highly , but character still more . It seeks after and vnlues wealth , Lut as the sign of social strength arid activity . It abhors apathy and weakness , and consequently arbitrary rule , whether it be imposed or admitted . It will exist l ) y itself and for itself : hence its instinctive aud traditional
repugnance to centralisation and bureaucracy . On the other hand , it does not aspire to possess itself of the whole of the public functions , and to shut out above and below at the same time access to power against all that does not belong to it . It opens its ranks to all who raise themselves without contesting any elevation anterior to it or independently of it . It willingly consents that the aristocracy by birth , which . for ages is recruited from its ranks , shall represent at home and abroad the public authority and the national grandeur , just as a powerful sovereign , reposing in the tranquil and simple majesty of his power , willingly leaves to great men and
fords the care of displaying the pomp of distant embassies , and obtaining the honour of onerous missions . Hut it gives to understand that its will must be obeyed ; that no other interest shall enter into conflict with its own ; that no conviction shall prevail over Us own . It has for two centuries always existed , and ever extended ; it is the spirit of the . middle classes which has ever directed those great currents of opinion of which dynastic and ministerial revolutions are merely the official interpretation . Tho English patrician has never been other than and tlie
the active and devoted delegate , tho interpreter instrument of that intelligent and resolute class in whom the national will and power are condensed . It is that class which Cromwell and Milton personified when , bythe sword of one , and the pen of the other , the , Kepublic sat for a space on tho ruins of the throne of Charles I . It was from that class , and with it , that Monk brought back the Stuarts , and that thirty years later , thei I ailiament substituted for them a now Royalty , nwas that class which , with the two Pitts , raised from bo betrinnintr of the eighteenth century tho ed . licc of liritisa it iron
preponderance , and which with Hurko saved ,, * ruined and infected by the contagion of rcyolu ioi ay doctrines . If was the same class winch , in our da ) opened under Peel a new era of policy-tho nichuintto of the condition and tho enlargement of the rights ol mo working classes . —Count Montahmbert . SiKoW Ea « ninos , —If we tell a tnlo with icapeot to the gains of groat musical artist * , it is upon tto authority of La Le T / . ccUralo . M ««» fnn *«« Jtf in London for every representation at Drury-li « 16 ™ . Grisi , at Now York , for appearing at an ontono , imh Lablaoho for singing twice was paid 180 / . I » » 7 Rossini was offered a million of francs f ^ - \ " if ho would play tho part ot Figaro 1 <» r a J lessor , in singing to Queen Victoiiii , Li » blacho j . nsp » w 40 / . At a slirde fllvoii in London Gnsl rcto vo'l iw 40 / . At a sotree givon in w «« w '' « " »• ...-ronllsod PetowbuW
,, The second benefit of Taglioni at St . re JkJJ 51 , 000 roubles ( blC / , ) . In the course of tho ro ] , n « nU tion tlio Emperor sent her a bouquet of forget " « composed of diamonds and turquoises . I ho " »'"«»; , „ , at Hamburg received 8750 francs a mglit . > "h ^ charged 2000 franca a lesson . """ »»« " ' J ^ . prleft behind him 875 , 000 francs , and a » " !« Ji P sontfl from every Court of Europe , among » l »» £ twenty-six diamond rings of great value , t > t 0 snuff-boxos , and 11 . 4 valuable > v « tchos . Io 1 ^ J m * ntZ * Mn ** tr * l * ato , that In o » r dixy » A \ on anru » never sing for loss than 2000 frpnea n nl « ht , Jja Tamborlik , ov « ry timo ho gives »»>» M «/ ''^ f ' '' JJcU frnncs , In America , nnd in lilo ospo olalW , tf « » 1 U < h artiste realise great sums i Hera and J lij w rf t 0 realised more than 300 , 000 Jpmo . by « ringb 0 ^ a Amgrioa . As to Jonny Lind , she is aaldto liav enouBh to buy the fuo almplo of Swodon i » ^"' 01 dollars . —Tho Critic .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 20, 1858, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20111858/page/20/
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