finding themselves delivered from their great common enemy, and firmly established on their thrones, thought proper to forget the promises they had made in the moment of peril, as well as the dangerous instrument they had called into action on their side. There can hardly be a doubt, we think, that some frank and judicious concessions to a people who had done so much, over and above being a mere act of common honesty on the part of the sovereigns, who had voluntarily promised their subjects free constitutions, would have done much to allay that immoderate enthusiasm in favour of liberty which so many circumstances had conspired to excite, and which, according as it is well or ill directed, may become the instrument of great good or incredible evil. But no such concessions were made; and the very men who had combated by the side of their sovereign were transformed into the mortal enemies of his crown and government. Of this some incontestable evidences soon appeared.

In the year 1817, the Students of the University of Jena had invited those attending the others to send deputies to celebrate the 18th of October, the anniversary of the battle of Leipsic, or, in their phrase, of the independence of Germany, at the Castle of Wartburg, rendered famous by the residence of Luther. There they were joined by persons who had been formerly members of the celebrated Tugenbund, by men of letters, and by several magistrates; and in the orgies which followed were guilty of many notable extravagances; consigning to the flames, by a sort of auto da fé, several works whose authors were held in esteem at the Courts of Vienna, St Petersburgh, and Berlin, together with a copy of the treaty of the Holy Alliance. But what proves how deep

ly this spirit had taken root, is, that, some months afterwards, deputies from fourteen Universities assembled at the same place to lay the foundation of a general union, called the Burchenschaft, and agreed upon thirteen articles, which were to serve as the basis of the particular constitutions of the Universities. Their papers were seized; but, as far as we have been able to learn, these articles contained the profession of doctrines incompatible with the existence of the present order of things, and calculated to engender revolution and anarchy.

Among these frantic young enthusiasts, was the notorious Charles Frederick Sandt, who had distinguished himself first at the Univer sities of Tubingen and Erlangen, and afterwards by his bravery in the last campaign against France. He had attended both the meetings at Jena, and had acquired an ascendancy among his fellows by his impetuous, dark, and empassioned eloquence. On the last of these occasions he had exclaimed, in a fit of frantic exultation, "That a young man ought to consider no sacrifice too costly to secure the liberty of Germany, to expel from her territory foreigners or traitors, who went about preaching absolute power, and endeavouring to smother liberty in the birth, and to sow discord among her children." He particularly denounced Kotzebue, whom he regarded as a Russian spy, appointed to watch over and report to his master, the Emperor Alexander, the character of the political works that from time to time appeared, and the state of political opinions in Germany; and from all the cir cumstances it is apparent that he had long meditated the assassination which he afterwards perpetrated on the 23d of March 1819. This atrocious act, instead of being viewed

in its true light, was compared to that of Mutius Scævola or Marcus Brutus; the picture of Sandt was greedily bought up wherever the sale of it had not been interdicted by the police; and his mother received more than four thousand letters of congratulation, a fact no less singular in itself than strongly characteristic of the extent to which the frenzy prevailed.

The attention of all was immediately turned to the investigation of this remarkable assassination, and of the state of the German Universities. A commission had been appointed for that special purpose, but no evidence could be procured that Sandt had any accomplices in the University in which he had been educated. But a young man of the name of Löning having soon after attempted, though fortunately without success, to assassinate M. Ibell, President of the Regency of the Duchy of Nassau, it became evident that strong measures must be resorted to, in order to protect the lives of public men a. gainst the poniards of such desperate and deluded enthusiasts. Numbers of the Professors in the different Universities were arrested, and their papers seized; while others, who were conscious of being suspected, fled, and sought an asylum in France. A Congress of the Ministers of the principal Germanic States was assembled at Carlsbad, the deliberations of which were carried on with extraordinary secrecy, though we may judge of their nature from the plan which was soon after submitted to the Diet, for the purpose of arresting, if possible, the progress of this endemic; the first article of which regulates provisionally the mode in which the diet is to enforce its resolutions; the second suppresses all secret associations, particularly that known by the name of Algemeine

Burchenschaft; the third establishes a censorship for five years on all writings above fifty pages, and on all the daily and periodical Journals: and the fourth constitutes at Mayence an extraordinary commission of inquiry, to consist of seven members of the Diet, elected by a plurality of votes, to make minute and scrupulous investigations into the origin and ramifications of revolutionary movements and democratical associations, formed for the purpose of disturbing the general peace, and to exercise a general direction and control over the local inquiries made in the different states of the confederation.

The history of the Austrian States this year, offers little deserving of notice. The Emperor, early in the season, set out from Vienna on a tour to Italy, in the course of which he visited the principal cities of his Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, and spent the Easter holidays at Rome, where his brother, the Archduke Rodolph, was installed Archbishop of Olmutz, and raised to the dignity of Cardinal. This gave rise to some speculation as to the ulterior views of his Imperial Majesty, which, it was alleged, had no other object, than, on the death of the present Pontiff, to secure the reversion of the Tiara to a Prince of the House of Austria, and thus to establish the dominion of that ambitious family over the whole of the Peninsula of Italy. What truth there may be in these conjectures, time only can determine; but it is singular enough that, at the special request of the Austrian Ministers, the Editors of the Gazette of Frankfort, and of a paper in the Low Countries, where these speculations were first published, were prosecuted, and condemned, the one to lose his place, and the other to pay a fine of 500

florins. So alarmed are the continental despots at any thing that looks like free discussion.

The financial concerns of a despotic government can never be accurately known; nor is any credit due even to the official statements made on this important criterion of the internal condition of a country; but as far as we are able to judge, those of Austria were this year far from flourishing. By an imperial or donnance, the respective States of Upper and Lower Austria, of Styria, of Carinthia, of Bohemia, of Moravia, and of Lodomeria, were ordered to assemble on the same day, (the 29th of October,) throughout the whole extent of the Austrian Monarchy. From the unanimous representations of these bodies, it appears that agriculture was in a state of unprecedented depression; that they were unable to pay the taxes demanded of them; and that, unless considerable reductions were made in the land-tax, inevitable ruin would be the consequence. Their representations are of course very respectful, for their powers are extremely limited, extending only to the local assessment of the gross amount of taxes laid on by the Government, and the drawing up statements of their grievances to be laid before the Emperor; but when taken in conjunction with the fact, that it had previously been found necessary to grant to the two provinces of Austria Proper, a considerable diminution of the land-tax, they show plainly enough the extent of the distress that prevailed. At the same time, however, the official docu ments bear, that 8,201,061 florins of the ancient debt of the Empire had been extinguished between the 14th of April 1818 and the end of February 1819. How far this is probable, we leave to our readers to judge.

The Austrian Universities appear

to have been less deeply infected with the mania of theosophism and liberty than those of the other German States. The annihilation of the liberty of the press, by the resolutions of the Diet at Frankfort, could produce little effect in a country where a censorship had always existed, if possible still more unrelenting and rigorous than that which had lately been instituted. At the instigation of Prussia, however, several arrests took place at Vienna: which would seem to indicate that the University of that capital was at least suspected of sharing in the opinions and views which agitated so powerfully those of the neighbouring kingdoms.

In the general view of the affairs of Germany, we have seen that, at this time, Prussia was the grand theatre where the enthusiastic, or rather fanatical spirit of the students and people, in favour of levelling doctrines, assumed the most formidable and menacing appearance. Many circumstances conspire to account for this moral phenomenon. Prussia had suffered more severely under the French yoke, and made more vigorous exertions to throw it off, than any other German State. Here also the Tugenbund, of which almost all classes were at one time members, had not only originated, but had fostered that very spirit which now threatened destruction to the monarchy it had saved. The King had violated the promises by which he had solemnly and voluntarily bound himself, and wished to cast off the instruments which had achieved his deliverance, and crowned his efforts with triumph. Hence we find that many of those who, in the campaigns of 1813 and 1815, had been distinguished for a courage and devotion more than heroic, were now become the most furious ene

mies of the king and the government.

The assassination of M. Kotzebue in March, and the attempt on the life of M. Ibell in July, led to the adoption of a series of rigorous measures, certainly rendered necessary by the state of the public mind, and the dangers by which the general tranquillity was menaced. Professors and ecclesiastics were forbid, under heavy penalties, to mix up politics with their lectures or discourses. The students of Berlin received an order to present themselves, whenever required, before a commission appointed to watch over the state of the University. The celebrated Jahn, the founder of the Gymnastic Schools upon the classical model, and who is said to have instilled his principles into upwards of 40,000 pupils, was arrested and sent first to Spandau, and afterwards to Custrin. The Burchenshaft was abolished, and other measures of a similar tendency were adopted; but the snake was only scotched, not killed, as ap peared by the subscriptions that were opened in behalf of Jahn, and the sensation created by his arrest and detention.

In the report of the commission established at Berlin to institute inquiries relative to the democratical clubs (kammer gericht), the students are divided into five classes: 1. The turnistes, who perform gymnastic exercises; 2. The bursches, or students properly so called; 3. The wissende, or instructed, in which the professors are included; 4. The blacks (so named from the colour of their dress) who write; and, 5. The ancients, or directors of the association. The two first of these classes are strangers to the secrets of the association, and contribute to its success in no other way than by their enthusiasm for the propagation of its doctrines.

The military organisation of Prus

sia, consisting, 1. Of the regular troops, 2. Of the landwehr or militia, of two classes, and, 3. Of the landstrum, or levy en masse, underwent this year some modifications, the second class of the landwehr and landstrum being suppressed. This was followed, as had been foreseen, by the resignation of Boyen, the Minister of War, by whom the army had been raised to its effective state during the late war, of Beyme, the Minister of Justice, and of Baron Humboldt, Minister of the Interior, who had, for some time, been obnoxious to Prince Hardenberg.

The finances of Prussia were not in a very prosperous state. The revenue was estimated at 47,000,000, the expenditure at 50,863,150, and the deficit, consequently, at nearly 4,000,000 crowns.

Bavaria had last year made the attempt to give its people a new constitution, and all Germany was attentive to watch the result of the experiment, which, as far as we can judge, has been upon the whole successful. The principal error committed, appears to consist in the too great extension of the elective franchise, and the consequent preponderance of the democratical part of the constitution. The payment of 8 florins of land-tax entitles a citizen to vote for a deputy, which is only 1-15th of the sum necessary, by the late law of elections, to qualify a voter in France; but it ought, at the same time, to be mentioned, that the land-tax of Bavaria is, to that of France, as 9 to 29, which considerably reduces the difference in the qualification required. The elections, however, appear to have been conducted with great prudence and moderation. Most of the deputies of the nobility had sat in the ancient provincial States; those of the Universities, Catholic and Protestant,

were all men of letters distinguished by their writings; and those from the country consisted of respectable and well-educated yeomen, and tradesmen in easy circumstances, and intimately acquainted with the state and condition of their respective districts. In the Lower Chamber, about a tenth part consisted of merchants and bankers, and nearly another tenth of lawyers; and in the choice of representatives, no attention whatever had been paid to the religion which the candidate professed

The first session of this representative body naturally enough produced some keen discussions, and occasionally a little jarring, between the Chamber of Senators, the interested defenders of ancient institutions, and the Chamber of Deputies, who saw only the abuses which these institutions had protected, and were anxious to reform them. But, upon the whole, the business of the session was conducted with spirit and cordiality; and however much we may regret that the resolution for the introduction of trial by jury and the establishment of provincial councils, which had been carried unanimously in the Lower, should have been thrown out in the Upper Chamber, we must at the same time admit, that by the establishment of complete toleration, of the liberty of the press, and of schools for the instruction of the lower classes, the great landmarks of liberty have been fixed, and a solid foundation laid for future improvement.

The report of the Committee of Finance on the budget shows that the receipts were equal to the expenditure, and points out several improvements in the collection of the revenue calculated to produce a considerable balance in favour of the nation. The session was terminated on the 27th of July, before

which the King gave his congé royal, or assent to all the propositions which had passed the Chambers, and pronounced a warm eulogium on the manner in which the public business had been conducted, expressing his hope that the constitutional government would be the most solid support to the throne, and a source of prosperity to the nation.

When the resolutions of Frankfort were made known in Bavaria, they excited little sensation. A free constitution was in full activity; the nobility seem to have yielded with good grace to the wishes of the people; no disturbance prevailed in the Universities; the Universities; the censorship established on the press was so far from being oppressive, that it left it in a great measure free; and public opinion received no shock, and produced no reaction. Such are the advantages that result from keeping faith with the people.

In Baden, which had also received a constitutional charter, the harmony between the Grand Duke and the States was soon interrupted. This was occasioned by an edict, issued on the 16th of April, restoring to the nobility certain prerogatives and privileges which had been abolished by a rescript of the last Duke, dated the 23d of April 1818. On the part of the present Duke, this restoration had been, in a great measure, compulsory, as the noblesse had appealed to the Diet, by whom a commission had been appointed to take their case into consideration, and to prescribe the course to be followed in the adjustment of their grievances. The edict in questionwas the result of this interference; and when it was presented to the Second Chamber of the States, was, after a keen debate, rejected by considerable majority. The co-exis-. tence of a feudal nobility with feu