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Prince Klemens von Metternich: Political Confession of Faith, 1820
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- From Prince Klemens von Metternich. Political Confession of Faith (1820) The Source of the Evil
- 86. Revolution, Liberalism, and Nationalism in Europe, 1789-1914 Intellectual and Cultural Life, 1815-1848 Conservatism
- Classical Liberalism
84. Prince Klemens von Metternich: Political Confession of Faith, 1820 Prince Klemens von Metternich (1773-1859) was the leading figure in European government up until 1848. As political master of the Austrian Empire, he was the architect of an alliance system among the European powers after Napoleon's defeat - a system which tried to undo the damage to traditional dynastic politics wroght by the French revolution. From Prince Klemens von Metternich. Political Confession of Faith (1820) The Source of the Evil Man's nature is immutable. The first needs of society are and remain the same, and the differences which they seem to offer find their explanation in the diversity of influences, acting on the different races by natural causes, such as the diversity of climate, barrenness or richness of soil, insular or continental position, &c. &c. These local differences no doubt produce effects which extend far beyond purely physical necessities; they create and determine particular needs in a more elevated sphere; finally, they determine the laws, and exercise an influence even on religions. It is, on the other hand, with institutions as with everything else. Vague in their origin, they pass through periods of development and perfection, to arrive in time at their decadence; and, conforming to the laws of man's nature, they have, like him, their infancy, their youth, their age of strength and reason, and their age of decay. Two elements alone remain in all their strength, and never cease to exercise their indestructible influence with equal power. These are the precepts of morality, religious as well as social, and the necessities created by locality. From the time that men attempt to swerve from these bases, to become rebels against these sovereign arbiters of their destinies, society suffers from a malaise which sooner or later will lead to a state of convulsion. The history of every country, in relating the consequences of such errors, contains many pages stained with blood, but we dare to say, without fear of contradiction, one seeks in vain for an epoch when an evil of this nature has extended its ravages over such a vast area as it has done at the present time. The progress of the human mind has been extremely rapid in the course of the last three centuries. This progress having been accelerated more rapidly than the growth of wisdom (the only counterpoise to passions and to error); a revolution prepared by the false systems, the fatal errors into which many of the most illustrious sovereigns of the last half of the eighteenth century fell, has at last broken out in a country advanced in knowledge, and enervated by pleasure, in a country inhabited by a people whom one can only regard as frivolous, from the facility with which they comprehend and the difficulty they experience in judging calmly. Having now thrown a rapid glance over the first causes of the present state of society, it is necessary to point out in a more particular manner the evil which threatens to deprive it, at one blow, of the real blessings, the fruits of genuine civilisation, and to disturb it in the midst of its enjoyments. This evil may be described in one word - presumption; the natural effect of the rapid progression of the human mind towards the perfecting of so many things. This it is which at the present day leads so many individuals astray, for it has become an almost universal sentiment.... The causes of the deplorable intensity with which this evil weighs on society appear to us to be of two kinds.... . . . We will place among the first the feebleness and the inertia of Governments. It is sufficient to cast a glance on the course which the Governments followed during the eighteenth century, to be convinced that not one among them was ignorant of the evil or of the crisis towards which the social body was tending…. France had the misfortune to produce the greatest number of these men. It is in her midst that religion and all that she holds sacred, that morality and authority, and all connected with them, have been attacked with a steady and systematic animosity, and it is there that the weapon of ridicule has been used with the most ease and success. Drag through the mud the name of God and the powers instituted by His divine decrees, and the revolution will be prepared! Speak of a social contract, and the revolution is accomplished! The revolution was already completed in the palaces of Kings, in the drawing-rooms and boudoirs of certain cities, while among the great mass of the people it was still only in a state of preparation. The scenes of horror which accompanied the first phases of the French Revolution prevented the rapid propagation of its subversive principles beyond the frontiers of France, and the wars of conquest which succeeded them gave to the public mind a direction little favourable to revolutionary principles. Thus the Jacobin propaganda failed entirely to realise criminal hopes. Nevertheless the revolutionary seed had penetrated into every country and spread more or less. It was greatly developed under the régime of the military despotism of Bonaparte. His conquests displaced a number of laws, institutions, and customs; broke through bonds sacred among all nations, strong enough to resist time itself; which is more than can be said of certain benefits conferred by these innovators. From these perturbations it followed that the revolutionary spirit could in Germany, Italy, and later on in Spain, easily hide itself under the veil of patriotism… We are convinced that society can no longer be saved without strong and vigorous resolutions on the part of the Governments still free in their opinions and actions. We are also convinced that this may yet be, if the Governments face the truth, if they free themselves from all illusion, if they join their ranks and take their stand on a line of correct, unambiguous, and frankly announced principles. By this course the monarchs will fulfil the duties imposed upon them by Him who, by entrusting them with power, has charged them to watch over the maintenance of justice, and the rights of all, to avoid the paths of error, and tread firmly in the way of truth. Placed beyond the passions which agitate society, it is in days of trial chiefly that they are called upon to despoil realities of their false appearances, and to show themselves as they are, fathers invested with the authority belonging by right to the heads of families, to prove that, in days of mourning, they know how to be just, wise, and therefore strong, and that they will not abandon the people whom they ought to govern to be the sport of factions, to error and its consequences, which must involve the loss of society. The moment in which we are putting our thoughts on paper is one of these critical moments. The crisis is great; it will be decisive according to the part we take or do not take.... Union between the monarchs is the basis of the policy which must now be followed to save society from total ruin.... The first principle to be followed by the monarchs, united as they are by the coincidence of their desires and opinions, should be that of maintaining the stability of political institutions against the disorganised excitement which has taken possession of men's minds- the immutability of principles against the madness of their interpretation; and respect for laws actually in force against a desire for their destruction.... Let [the Governments] in these troublous times be more than usually cautious in attempting real ameliorations, not imperatively claimed by the needs of the moment, to the end that good itself may not turn against them - which is the case whenever a Government measure seems to be inspired by fear. Let them not confound concessions made to parties with the good they ought to do for their people, in modifying, according to their recognised needs, such branches of the administration as require it. Let them give minute attention to the financial state of their kingdoms, so that their people may enjoy, by the reduction of public burdens, the real, not imaginary, benefits of a state of peace. Let them be just, but strong; beneficent, but strict. Let them maintain religious principles in all their purity, and not allow the faith to be attacked and morality interpreted according to the social contract or the visions of foolish sectarians. Let them suppress Secret Societies, that gangrene of society. In short, let the great monarchs strengthen their union, and prove to the world that if it exists, it is beneficent, and ensures the political peace of Europe: that it is powerful only for the maintenance of tranquillity at a time when so many attacks are directed against it; that the principles which they profess are paterllal and protective, menacing only the disturbers of public tranquillity.... To every great State determined to survive the storm there still remain many chances of salvation, and a strong union between the States on the principles we have announced will overcome the storm itself. From Prince Klemens von Metternich, Memoirs of Prince Metternich, 1815-1829, ed. Prince Richard Metternich (New York: Howard Fertig, 1970; photoreprint of a Scribner and Sons 1881 edition), Vol. 3, pp. 456-463, 469-471, 473-476. 85. Carlsbad Resolutions Editor's Note: The extreme phase in the spirit of reaction was reached in Germany when the laws given below were enacted by the Diet. Using the murder of Kotzebue as an excuse, Metternich called a conference of the larger states of the Confederation at Carlsbad (Bohemia) in August, 1819. Here a series of resolutions were drawn up, with the aim of checking the free expression of opinions hostile to existing institutions and of discovering and bringing to justice conspirators, who were supposed to exist in dangerous numbers. These Carlsbad Resolutions were laid before the Diet, which, under Austria's influence, reluctantly ratified them. A special representative of the ruler of each state shall be appointed for each university, with appropriate instructions and extended powers, and shall reside in the place where the university is situated. This office may devolve upon the existing curator or upon any other individual whom the government may deem qualified. The function of this agent shall be to see to the strictest enforcement of existing laws and disciplinary regulations; to observe carefully the spirit which is shown by the instructors in the university in their public lectures and regular courses, and, without directly interfering in scientific matters or in the methods of teaching, to give a salutary direction to the instruction, having in view the future attitude of the students. Lastly, he shall devote unceasing attention to everything that may promote morality, good order, and outward propriety among the students. . . . 2. The confederated governments mutually pledge themselves to remove from the universities or other public educational institutions all teachers who, by obvious deviation from their duty, or by exceeding the limits of their functions, or by the abuse of their legitimate influence over the youthful minds, or by propagating harmful doctrines hostile to public order or subversive of existing governmental institutions, shall have unmistakably proved their unfitness for the important office intrusted to them. . . . No teacher who shall have been removed in this manner shall be again appointed to a position in any public institution of learning in another state of the union. 3. Those laws which have for a long period been directed against secret and unauthorized societies in the universities shall be strictly enforced. These laws apply especially to that association established some years since under the name Universal Students' Union (Allgemeine Burschenschaft), since the very conception of the society implies the utterly unallowable plan of permanent fellowship and constant communication between the various universities. The duty of especial watchfulness in this matter should be impressed upon the special agents of the government. The governments mutually agree that such persons as shall hereafter be shown to have remained in secret or unauthorized associations, or shall have entered such associations, shall not be admitted to any public office. 4. No student who shall be expelled from a university by a decision of the university senate which was ratified or prompted by the agent of the government, or who shall have left the institution in order to escape expulsion, shall be received in any other university. . . . Press Law I. So long as this decree shall remain in force no publication which appears in the form of daily issues, or as a serial not exceeding twenty sheets of printed matter, shall go to press in any state of the union without the previous knowledge and approval of the state officials. Writings which do not belong to one of the above-mentioned classes shall be treated according to the laws now in force, or which may be enacted, in the individual states of the union. . . 4. Each state of the union is responsible, not only to the state against which the offense is directly committed, but to the whole Confederation, for every publication appearing under its supervision in which the honor or security of other states is infringed or their constitution or administration attacked. . . . 6. The Diet shall have the right, moreover, to suppress on its own authority, without being petitioned, such writings included in Article I, in whatever German state they may appear, as, in the opinion of a commission appointed by it, are inimical to the honor of the union, the safety of individual states, or the maintenance of peace and quiet in Germany. There shall be no appeal from such decisions, and the governments involved are bound to see that they are put into execution. . . . 7. When a newspaper or periodical is suppressed by a decision of the Diet, the editor thereof may not within a period of five years edit a similar publication in any state of the union. Establishment of an investigating Committee at Mayence 1. Within a fortnight, reckoned from the passage of this decree, there shall convene, under the auspices of the Confederation, in the city and federal fortress of Mayence, an extraordinary commission of investigation to consist of seven members, including the chairman. 2. The object of the commission shall be a joint investigation, as thorough and extensive as possible, of the facts relating to the origin and manifold ramifications of the revolutionary plots and demagogical associations directed against the existing constitution and the internal peace both of the union and of the individual states; of the existence of which plots more or less clear evidence is to be had already, or may be produced in the course of the investigation. . . . 10. The central investigating commission is to furnish the Diet from time to time with a report of the results of the investigation, which is to be carried out as speedily as possible. 86. Revolution, Liberalism, and Nationalism in Europe, 1789-1914 Intellectual and Cultural Life, 1815-1848 Conservatism Conservatism became the credo of those--kings, aristocrats, and clergy--who opposed the French Revolution and the movements it spawned. To these men, Enlightenment ideas of natural rights, equality, the innate goodness of man, and progress led directly to Robespierre and the Terror. Hence, for those who defended traditional ideas of absolute monarchy, aristocracy, and church conservatism emerged as the answer to the thought of the Enlightenment. Among the first conservative spokesmen to appear was Edmund Burke, author of Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), who predicted (correctly, as it turned out) that the Revolution would lead to terror and military dictatorship. Burke appealed to history, wisdom, and experience as the only true guides in politics, arguing that human society, like a living organism, is infinitely complex and can only change slowly. He also rejected the Enlightenment concepts of natural rights and the social contract. In a famous passage, he declared: Society is, indeed, a contract. It is a partnership in all science, a partnership in all art, a partnership in every virtue and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born. Each contract of each particular state is but a clause in the great primeval contract of eternal society, linking the lower with the higher natures, connecting the visible with the invisible world, according to a fixed compact sanctioned by the inviolable oath which holds all physical and moral natures, each in their appointed place. In the years subsequent to Burke's treatise, conservative thinkers like Joseph de Maistre, the Vicomte de Bonald, and others developed a core of central ideas for conservatism. 1. It venerated and found moral authority in time-tested institutions, traditions, and beliefs; 2. It rejected the Enlightenment notion that man could shape political and social institutions according to theoretical and rational models. 3. In contrast to the philosophes and the Revolutionaries who put great store in the power of human reason and abstract ideas, conservatives emphasized its limitations. 4. Conservatives believed that men were not good by nature but inherently wicked, just as the Christian religion had taught, and their behavior had therefore to be checked by institutions, traditions, and beliefs. In this regard, Bonald wrote: We are bad by nature, we are made good by society! Those who begin by supposing we are born good are like architects, who, about to build an edifice, suppose that the stones appear from the quarry ready cut. [Theory of Political and Religious Power, 1796] 5. Conservatives emphasized the importance of the church, monarchy, and aristocracy as guardians of civilized behavior.
All greatness, all power, all order depends on the executioner. He is the tie that binds society together. Take away this incomprehensible force and at every moment order is suspended by chaos, thrones fall, and states disappear. Classical Liberalism John Stuart Mill, the great English liberal thinker of the 19th century, summarized the core of liberalism in his On Liberty (1859). The only purpose for which power [government] can rightfully be exercised over any member of a civilized community against his will is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. As this quotation makes clear, 19th century liberals favored limits on the amount of control that government could exercise over an individual's liberty. 1. To limit the power of government, they favored written constitutions, representative governments with a restricted electorate, ministers responsible to the legislature, and an impartial bureaucracy; 2. 19th century liberals were not democrats, for they rarely favored universal manhood suffrage. 3. Limits on the power of government meant that the individual had to take responsibility for his own fate. 4. With regard to political and social institutions, most liberals favored utilitarianism, a rational belief that every idea, institution, or law should be measured according to its social usefulness, irregardless of how venerable its existence. 5. In the intellectual sphere, liberals like Mill argued for almost absolute freedom of thought and expression, arguing that the clash of beliefs within the free market place of ideas would lead to truth. 6. Mill also worried that the majority of the population in democratic societies would seek to control thought, and he warned against the "tyranny of the majority". Those most inclined to adopt liberal ideas were men of the Middle Class, businessmen, professional men, or innovating landlords who favored the modern, the efficient, and the enlightened. When applied to economics, liberalism called for economic individualism, laissez-faire, freedom of contract, free competition and trade, and obedience to the natural laws of the marketplace. The successful and hard- working men who made the first Industrial Revolution in England were frequently champions of liberalism, both political and economic. Nationalism Some historians argue that nationalism became the dominant spiritual force in the nineteenth century, supplanting a declining Christianity. It may be defined as "an awareness shared by a group who feel strongly attached to a particular land and who possess a common [language] culture and history marked by shared glories and sufferings. Nationalism is accompanied by a conviction that one's highest loyalty and devotion should be directed toward the nation. Nationalist exhibit great pride in their people's history and traditions and often feel that their nation has been specially chosen by God or history. Like a religion, nationalism provides the individual with a sense of community and with a cause worthy of self-sacrifice." [Perry, 2nd ed, 513] Common ingredients of Nationalism: 1) A certain defined (often vaguely) unit of territory (whether possessed or coveted); 2) Some common cultural characteristics such as language (or widely understood languages), customs, manners, and literature (folk tales and lore are a beginning). If an individual believes he shares these, and wishes to continue sharing them, he/she is usually said to be a member of the nationality; 3) Some common dominant social (as Christian) and economic (as capitalistic or, recently, communistic) institutions; 4) A common independent or sovereign government (type does not matter) or the desire for one. The ‘principle’ that each nationality should be separate and independent is involved here; 5) A belief in a common history (it can be invented) and in a common origin (often mistakenly conceived as racial in nature); 6) A love or esteem for fellow nationals (not necessarily as individuals); 7) A devotion to the entity (however little comprehended) called the nation, which embodies the common territory, culture, social, and economic institutions, government, and the fellow nationals, and which is at the same time (whether organism of not) more than their sum; 8) A common pride in the achievements (often the military more than the cultural) of this nation and a common sorrow in its tragedies (particularly its defeats); 9) A disregard for or hostility to other (not necessarily all) like groups, especially if these prevent or seem to threaten the separate national existence; 10) A hope that the nation will have a great and glorious future (usually in territorial expansion) and become supreme in some way (in world power if the nation is already large). [Source: Boyd C. Shafer, Nationalism: Myth and Reality (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1955): 7-8] Modern historians frequently identify two types of nationalism during nineteenth-century Europe, one characteristic of the nation-states of Western Europe, the other characteristic of Eastern and Southern Europe, where such states had yet to take shape. In England and France, for example, the formation of the state preceded the creation of the nation, and by the nineteenth century, the fusion of the two had more or less taken place, although in France the government was still working on what Eugen Weber called making "peasants into Frenchmen". In contrast, in Eastern and Southern Europe during the nineteenth century, there existed numerous peoples who began to think of themselves as nations, but who lacked states. Therefore, their primary aspiration became the acquisition of a piece of land that they could call their own. Such was true of the Germans, the Italians, and the diverse peoples of Eastern Europe, particularly those within the Austrian Empire. While Italians like Giuseppe Mazzini argued for a risorgimento and for Italian unity, more important nationalist ideas came from Germany, ideas that are important for understanding the nineteenth century and for the Nazi movement in the twentieth. The origins of modern nationalism are usually found in the French Revolution, particularly in the notion of popular sovereignty and in the idea that the people are united by citizenship in a fatherland. The French Revolution also stimulated the birth of nationalist ideas in Germany, and these ideas were part of an anti-French cultural rebirth that followed defeats by Napoleonic France. Also important is the romantic movement, especially in Germany and Eastern Europe, for it lead to a renewed interest in language, literature, and folkways of the people. Scholars like Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) believed that each people (= the Volk) had a Volkgeist and that it could be found in the language, literature, monuments, and folk traditions; hence the efforts of the Grimm brothers to compile a dictionary of the German language and to collect folk tales. Romantic nationalists in Germany thus emphasized the unique qualities of German history, of the German Volk, and the German nation. They were especially attracted to medieval Germany (especially medieval tales and cities like Nuremburg) and they believed that the individual should identify himself with the nation before all; indeed, the German nationalists argued that the national community was a vital force that gave the individual both an identity and purpose in life. The state thus became something holy, the expression of the divine spirit of a people, a living organism that linked each individual to a sacred past, imbued individuals with a profound sense of community, and subordinated the citizen to the nation. [Perry, 513-516] Other Ideas Finally, there appeared during the 19th century a number of advocates of humanitarianism, thinkers who argued that the world in which most men live is cruel and harsh and that efforts, often by governments, should be made to improve the general lot of humanity. Among the humanitarians were, for example, those who advocated the abolition of slavery. This Page is Maintained by Robert W. Brown Last Update: 29.III.2005 Return to the HST 329 Homepage a Download 0.73 Mb. Share with your friends:
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