years. From a condition of unlettered ignorance, when not one in fifty of the peasantry could read, they rapidly improved. The influence of a wide distribution of property has continued to produce the same results, so that now the agricultural produce of France has again nearly doubled. The commerce of the country has also taken enormous strides, and there are now few restrictions to the national and individual increase of wealth and prosperity.

Russia has not yet commenced this course of progress. She must first give birth, it may be with much pain and labour, to the new life that is within her, which now is constantly extinguished as it begins to breathe; and, in order to attain this, the present system of absolutism, and all the blind veneration it inspires, must pass away, and give place to another system by which the well-being of the whole people will be secure to evolve naturally from the unrestricted, and unaided, and self-regulating exertions of each and all.

CHAPTER III.

POPULAR MOVEMENTS TOWARDS THE

ATTAINMENT OF THE

POLITICAL CONDITIONS OF SOCIAL WELL-BEING.

EUROPE since the period of the first French Revolution has been for the most part in a condition of political as well as of social transition.

The ideas of the French philosophical writers, originally derived from the democratic thought of England and the republican action of America, spread rapidly abroad throughout the Continent. The effect of their views, thus widely disseminated at a time when the various States were struggling against the power of the French arms, was great. They were spread abroad everywhere in secret. Secret societies were organised to assist in their promulgation. These consisted of members pledged to each other to exert themselves to the utmost in the cause of freedom.

One of the most extensive of these societies, named the Tugendbund of Germany, was originated by Stein, the Prime Minister of Prussia.' He conceived the possibility of inspiring the whole of Germany with the idea of parliamentary institutions, free speech, and a free press, holding these forward as a proposed reward for the delivery of their country from the French yoke. The League spread rapidly, and soon numbered amongst its members the principal inhabitants of North Germany. Later on, in

1 A considerable proportion of the information contained in the first half of this chapter has been derived from Mr. Thomas Frost's work The Secret Societies of the European Revolution, 1776-1876, 1876.'

This

1808, the whole length and breadth of Germany was inspired by the idea, and the utmost exertions were ready to be made when the first opportunity for contesting the possession of the country should present itself. moment at length arrived. The early and exceptionally severe winter which met the army of Napoleon in the centre of Russia suddenly reduced the strength which the imperial arms had heretofore possessed. That disastrous campaign, therefore, became the first signal for the coming struggle. The unity and concert which had been ensured induced the King of Prussia, mean and timorous though he was, to join Alexander of Russia in declaring war against Napoleon. The secret organisation of the Tugendbund was now the means by which numerous corps of volunteers were at once forthcoming, as well as sums of money for their maintenance in the field. The result of the combined operations was, therefore, that in the space of eight months the last of the French armies had crossed the Rhine.

The people, however, did not receive the expected reward of their patriotism, for the kings and princes of Germany, as soon as re-established, forgot or denied the rights of their people to political freedom.

In Spain, again, a constitution had been established by the Cortes in 1812. Ten years thereafter that body was elected with a strong democratic majority. The nation desired still more liberty, and the Communeros, a secret society which fostered the idea of popular sovereignty, had largely influenced the elections. The ministry found themselves in a decided minority, and the king, possessing strong tendencies towards absolutism, was inflexible. At this juncture Austria and Russia proposed to land a joint army on the shores of Spain, but the remonstrances of Britain prevented that means of solving the difficulty being carried out. Ultimately a French army poured

through the passes of the Pyrenees and in less than three months overran Spain, and established Ferdinand in the full possession of an absolute sovereignty. On the one side of this struggle we find the first men in Spain, headed by Riego, the president of the Cortes; on the other the king and the ecclesiastical leaders, the former being a mere puppet in the hands of the latter.

In Italy, again, Maghella, the Neapolitan Minister of Police under Murat, entertained the idea of inspiring his countrymen with the prospect of national independence and constitutional government. With this object he introduced the secret system of the Carbonari, which early embraced in its list of members the names of the first families of the country. It spread through all classes of society, and in some of the southern towns of Italy it reckoned all the adult male population as members. Soon afterwards, in 1817, the Guelphs and the Roman Carbonari, two other secret societies, were instituted with views somewhat similar, particularly directing their attacks against the temporal power of the Pope, whose government had always been of the most despotic character. Other societies existed here and there throughout the peninsula, some consisting of desperate characters whom the misgovernment of Naples and other States had partly the credit of creating. By the year 1820 lodges of the Carbonari were established throughout all the principal States of Italy. These contributed in uniting the greater part of the inhabitants together in the same ideas of freedom and unity. In the summer of 1820 the standard of revolt was raised, and Naples declared for the constitution. Ferdinand, however, had pledged himself to Austria to maintain the despotic character of his rule, and he therefore abdicated in favour of his son, who accepted the constitution. This success, however, exasperated the Austrian emperor, who, like the Pope, denounced Car

bonarism, threatening with death and confiscation of goods all those who might be found to be members of the society.

At this time the King of Prussia was equally alarmed by the Tugendbund, and both these monarchs concerted together and with the Emperor of Russia as to a plan of mutual support. They met and formed a 'Holy Alliance' for the defence of the principle of Legitimacy against that of Revolution which was created by the growing desire of the people for liberty and popular government. On the other hand the most influential members of the secret societies of Italy met together, and made provisional arrangements for the unity of the north of Italy, and the establishment of a federative bond with the remainder so soon as the Austrian troops should be driven out.

The existence of the constitution in Naples, and particularly the occurrence of some rioting, led the leaders of the Carbonari to throw off the secret character of their association which they had hitherto maintained there. The forces of the Holy Alliance now invaded Italy. Their power was too great to be withstood with a reasonable prospect of success until they reached the confines of the Neapolitan territory. Here the revolutionary forces had been intended to meet them, but the treachery of the King of Naples spoiled the chances of effectual opposition, and the general commanding the troops found them dispersing almost without a combat. Thus the freedom of the government of Naples was destroyed, and those who had occupied the leading positions in its administration were executed, the Austrian drums meanwhile beating so as to drown the dying utterances of the victims.

The Carbonari in the north of Italy were at this time by no means inactive. A constitution was demanded by the people and the military from Victor Emmanuel in Piedmont. The same objection to the sacrifice of the prin