the common schools and higher institutions of learning. The university obtained a more liberal system of administration; the gymnasiums were remodeled after those of Prussia, and many Real schools were also organized. In the lower schools Bohemian was made the language of instruction.
Knight Schmerling, Minister of Justice, established a new system of procedure in courts of justice. The trials were to be public, the proceedings oral, and there was to be a jury.
For some time it seemed that the ministry had a sincere desire to introduce the needed reforms; but this favorable state of affairs was of short duration. As in the old days during the Hussite wars, when the people compelled the princes of the world to give them a fair hearing by working according to the motto, Vexatio dat intellectum, so it seems that as long as the officers of the government were harassed by disturbances and uprisings on all sides, their intellect was clear and they were ready to enter upon a policy that would have brought harmony and prosperity to the nations composing the monarchy; but no sooner was the “vexatio” removed, than the government lost its isdom and relapsed into its old despotic ways.
To the close of the year 1848 the Hungarians were completely subjugated. General Radecky, the gray-haired Bohemian veteran, won a glorious victory over the King of Sardinia, which resulted in the restitution to the empire of Venice and Lombardy. The Prussians were also compelled to make a treaty, wherein the relations between the two countries remained the same as before. These victories had the effect of turning the government from its liberal policy. If arms
