CHAPTER LXI.
GERMAN FREEDOM AND UNITY.
Formation of the German Confederation (1815).—The German states, thirty-nine in number, were reorganized by the Congress of Vienna as a Confederation, with the emperor of Austria President of the league. A Diet formed of representatives of the several states was to settle all questions of dispute between the members of the Confederation, and determine matters of general concern. In all affairs concerning itself alone, each state was to retain its independence. It might carry on war with foreign states, or enter into alliance with them, but it must do nothing to harm any member of the Confederation. The articles of union, in a spirit of concession to the growing sentiment of the times, provided that all sects of Christians should enjoy equal toleration, and that every state should establish a constitutional form of government. Under this scheme of union Germany was to rest half a century —until 1866. Though Austria was nominally head of the Confederation, Prussia was actually the most powerful member of the league.
The Uprisings of 1830: First Step towards Freedom.—For a long time previous to the French Revolution there had been gradually forming among the German people a double sentiment—a longing for freedom and for unity. It was the influence of the rising patriotic party that had secured the provision in the act of confederation which required that all the princes of the union should give their states a representative form of government. But the faces of these rulers, like those of the restored Bourbons in France, were turned towards the past. They opposed all changes that should give the people any part in the government, and clung to the old order of things.
