EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENTS
"The lights of freedom are going out all over Europe. It will be decades before they are lit again." Maximilian of Habsburg in a private letter to his wife (May 1858).
After the assassination of Napoleon III, it was a miracle that Lord Palmerston's government managed to survive until the end of January.
His government had allowed a dangerous Italian radical to live for years in England without any problems, causing the first regicide in Europe since 1793. The fact that British citizens had participated in the assassination of Napoleon III humiliated the Prime Minister even more.
Moreover, anti-Italian violence had spread rapidly from France to England where there were large communities of both Italians and French. During January and February 1858 members of these two communities clashed in the streets of London due to what had happened in Paris.
Unlike their compatriots in France, many of the Italian residents in London were veterans of 1848 and perfectly capable of defending themselves and their property.
Although the riots in London were not as large or numerous as those that were taking place in France, the number of casualties and collateral damages in England was therefore significantly higher.
Lord Palmerston attempted to resolve the situation, but without success. The possible imposition of martial law was hindered by members of Parliament because it was considered too severe or, on the contrary, too moderate.
Although the Prime Minister proposed sending the army to patrol the streets of the English capital, the simultaneous British involvement in the colonial wars in India and China had greatly reduced the number of soldiers available in England.
The coup de grace, however, was the burning down of the Sabloinere Hotel, the usual residence of many political refugees and regular travelers from the Italian peninsula.
There was no evidence that the fire had been of arson origin, but the people of Clerkenwell quickly decided that the French had been responsible.[1] The subsequent clashes over the next three days caused the death of about forty people and a fire that destroyed St. Joseph's Church in Highate.
Having now lost the support of Parliament and Queen Victoria, Lord Palmerston resigned his office on January 27, 1858 and he retired to private life.
In order to avoid an early election, the Liberal Party decided to appoint Richard Bethell, Palmerston's former Attorney General, as the new british Prime Minister.
Bethell decided to use an iron fist against the responsible for the riots and anyone who might be associated with Orsini and his revolutionary ideas. Gaining the full support of Parliament, on February 15, 1858, the Prime Minister unveiled the "Extraordinary Act for the Protection of the Institutions of the British Empire from Domestic or Foreign Sedition."[2]
Despite its high-sounding name, the new law had numerous irregularities.
The new law established extremely harsh penalties for anyone considered a threat to the British monarchy. However, it did not specify under what circumstances an individual could be considered a risk.
The British government hoped to get rid of as many political agitators as possible because of the vagueness of this law. Soon, revolutionaries such as Giovanni Mazzini or Karl Marx were persecuted by the English police because their past statements or actions were considered suspicious.
Besides the new law, the arrest of François Bernard and his deportation to France in May 1858 were the main causes of the Great Escape. England was clearly no longer a safe place for the various revolutionaries and political activists fleeing from continental Europe.
By the end of 1858, numerous socialists, anarchists and revolutionaries had left London searching new and more tolerant homelands.
The distant and increasingly divided United States soon became a favorite destination for these disparate refugees.
Excerpt from Blood and Iron: the history of Europe in the second half of the 19th century by Edward Connors
England and France were not the only European nations to overreact to the assassination of Napoleon III.
Between 1858 and 1859, most European nations approved draconian internal security measures and repression to prevent other revolutionaries to follow the example of Orsini. An atmosphere of fear spread from Madrid to Istanbul as prisons and execution camps were filled to the brim.
However, there were two notable exceptions.
In Prussia, Prince Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig asked Parliament to grant him special powers to allow him to better prosecute his war against the enemies of Berlin.
For nearly two years Wilhelm had been the regent for the increasingly ill Frederick William IV and he expected that Parliament would accept his proposals without any protest.
However, both liberals and conservatives rejected Wilhelm 's proposals. Prussian democracy had been one of the few successes of the 1848 revolution and nobody wanted to give it up in the name of a dead Frenchman.
In the end, the Prince withdrew his proposal. Unfortunately for him, the Prussian parliament would not forget how the future king had tried to violate the constitution.
In Russia, unlike in Prussia, it was the monarch who refused to pass any extraordinary law despite the advice of his ministers.
Although Alexander II had already begun to reform Russia's economy and armed forces after the Crimean War, until 1858 the Tsar was still reluctant to the idea of liberalizing his country's domestic politics.
The chaos caused in France by the Emperor's death convinced the Tsar that an absolute monarchy was a disadvantage in the long run. If giving more freedom to his subjects would save himself and his family from bomb attacks or constant internal instability, the Russian monarch was willing to adopt all necessary reforms.
Unfortunately, the distrust of Alexander against the Russian minorities was also reinforced by the fact that Napoleon III had been killed by a foreign radical. For Poles, Finns, Jews and Muslims in Russia the Tsar had quite different plans.
..........................................................................................
[1] Until OTL 1945 it was London's Italian ethnic enclave.
[2] OTL the Liberal Government felt as Lord Palmerson's bill was considered too soft and Lord Stanley knew the Conservatives could win the election . ITTL Palmerson is already gone and the situation is more chaotic so the Conservatives chose to not play any political game.
Excerpt from British Imperialism in the 19th Century by Philip Churchill
After the assassination of Napoleon III, it was a miracle that Lord Palmerston's government managed to survive until the end of January.
His government had allowed a dangerous Italian radical to live for years in England without any problems, causing the first regicide in Europe since 1793. The fact that British citizens had participated in the assassination of Napoleon III humiliated the Prime Minister even more.
Moreover, anti-Italian violence had spread rapidly from France to England where there were large communities of both Italians and French. During January and February 1858 members of these two communities clashed in the streets of London due to what had happened in Paris.
Unlike their compatriots in France, many of the Italian residents in London were veterans of 1848 and perfectly capable of defending themselves and their property.
Although the riots in London were not as large or numerous as those that were taking place in France, the number of casualties and collateral damages in England was therefore significantly higher.
Lord Palmerston attempted to resolve the situation, but without success. The possible imposition of martial law was hindered by members of Parliament because it was considered too severe or, on the contrary, too moderate.
Although the Prime Minister proposed sending the army to patrol the streets of the English capital, the simultaneous British involvement in the colonial wars in India and China had greatly reduced the number of soldiers available in England.
The coup de grace, however, was the burning down of the Sabloinere Hotel, the usual residence of many political refugees and regular travelers from the Italian peninsula.
There was no evidence that the fire had been of arson origin, but the people of Clerkenwell quickly decided that the French had been responsible.[1] The subsequent clashes over the next three days caused the death of about forty people and a fire that destroyed St. Joseph's Church in Highate.
Having now lost the support of Parliament and Queen Victoria, Lord Palmerston resigned his office on January 27, 1858 and he retired to private life.
In order to avoid an early election, the Liberal Party decided to appoint Richard Bethell, Palmerston's former Attorney General, as the new british Prime Minister.
Bethell decided to use an iron fist against the responsible for the riots and anyone who might be associated with Orsini and his revolutionary ideas. Gaining the full support of Parliament, on February 15, 1858, the Prime Minister unveiled the "Extraordinary Act for the Protection of the Institutions of the British Empire from Domestic or Foreign Sedition."[2]
Despite its high-sounding name, the new law had numerous irregularities.
The new law established extremely harsh penalties for anyone considered a threat to the British monarchy. However, it did not specify under what circumstances an individual could be considered a risk.
The British government hoped to get rid of as many political agitators as possible because of the vagueness of this law. Soon, revolutionaries such as Giovanni Mazzini or Karl Marx were persecuted by the English police because their past statements or actions were considered suspicious.
Besides the new law, the arrest of François Bernard and his deportation to France in May 1858 were the main causes of the Great Escape. England was clearly no longer a safe place for the various revolutionaries and political activists fleeing from continental Europe.
By the end of 1858, numerous socialists, anarchists and revolutionaries had left London searching new and more tolerant homelands.
The distant and increasingly divided United States soon became a favorite destination for these disparate refugees.
Excerpt from Blood and Iron: the history of Europe in the second half of the 19th century by Edward Connors
England and France were not the only European nations to overreact to the assassination of Napoleon III.
Between 1858 and 1859, most European nations approved draconian internal security measures and repression to prevent other revolutionaries to follow the example of Orsini. An atmosphere of fear spread from Madrid to Istanbul as prisons and execution camps were filled to the brim.
However, there were two notable exceptions.
In Prussia, Prince Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig asked Parliament to grant him special powers to allow him to better prosecute his war against the enemies of Berlin.
For nearly two years Wilhelm had been the regent for the increasingly ill Frederick William IV and he expected that Parliament would accept his proposals without any protest.
However, both liberals and conservatives rejected Wilhelm 's proposals. Prussian democracy had been one of the few successes of the 1848 revolution and nobody wanted to give it up in the name of a dead Frenchman.
In the end, the Prince withdrew his proposal. Unfortunately for him, the Prussian parliament would not forget how the future king had tried to violate the constitution.
In Russia, unlike in Prussia, it was the monarch who refused to pass any extraordinary law despite the advice of his ministers.
Although Alexander II had already begun to reform Russia's economy and armed forces after the Crimean War, until 1858 the Tsar was still reluctant to the idea of liberalizing his country's domestic politics.
The chaos caused in France by the Emperor's death convinced the Tsar that an absolute monarchy was a disadvantage in the long run. If giving more freedom to his subjects would save himself and his family from bomb attacks or constant internal instability, the Russian monarch was willing to adopt all necessary reforms.
Unfortunately, the distrust of Alexander against the Russian minorities was also reinforced by the fact that Napoleon III had been killed by a foreign radical. For Poles, Finns, Jews and Muslims in Russia the Tsar had quite different plans.
..........................................................................................
[1] Until OTL 1945 it was London's Italian ethnic enclave.
[2] OTL the Liberal Government felt as Lord Palmerson's bill was considered too soft and Lord Stanley knew the Conservatives could win the election . ITTL Palmerson is already gone and the situation is more chaotic so the Conservatives chose to not play any political game.
