EUROPE. 



327 



EUROPE. The only change in the terri- 

 torial division of Europe which was effected in 

 1865, was the annexation of the duchy of Lau- 

 enburg to Prussia, in consequence of a separate 

 treaty between Prussia and Austria. The 

 fate of Schleswig and Holstein remained in 

 suspense; Prussia assuming, provisionally, the 

 government of Schleswig, and Austria that of 

 Holstein. (See PRUSSIA and SOIILESWIG-HOL- 



8TEIN.) 



The death of the king of Belgium gave rise 

 to a report of an imminent partition of Bel- 

 gium between France and Prussia, or France 

 and Holland, but the Government of France 

 disavowed all designs of this kind. (See BEL- 

 GIUM.) 



No war disturbed the peace of Europe during 

 the year. There were slight disturbances in 

 Spain and Italy, but these were suppressed 

 without difficulty. In Ireland, considerable ex- 

 citement was produced by the movements of the 

 Fenian Brotherhood, whose avowed object was 

 the dissolution of the union between England 

 and Ireland, and the establishment of an Irish 

 Eepublic. The arrest by the English Govern- 

 ment of a number of the leaders, among them 

 the Head Centre for Ireland, James Stephens, 

 prevented any outbreak ; and the Fenian ex- 

 citement, after the conclusion of the trial of the 

 prisoners, most of whom were sentenced to long 

 imprisonment, considerably abated. 



"While, however, the peace of Europe itself 

 was not disturbed, many of the European 

 Powers carried on wars in other parts of the 

 world. Russia continued to extend her terri- 

 tory in Asia; France had to fight in Mexico 

 and against the Algerian insurgents ; Eng- 

 land had a war in India ; Spain was engaged 

 in conflicts with Peru and Chili. The rela- 

 tions of England and France to the United 

 States were more amicable than in former 

 years, and intervention and mediation in view 

 of the approaching end of the rebellion, were 

 no longer mentioned. After the surrender of 

 Gen. Lee, all the Governments of Europe an- 

 nounced that they should no longer acknowl- 

 edge any belligerent rights of the Confederates. 

 On learning the news of the assassination of 

 President Lincoln, all the Governments offi- 

 cially expressed their condolence with the loss 

 of the United States ; still it was evident that 

 the expression of sympathy on the part of the 

 Liberals of Europe was much more cordial than 

 on the part of thp Governments. 



England, Italy, and Spain elected, in the 

 course of the year, representatives of the 

 people in the lower houses of the Parliaments. 

 In England, the issue was between the Tories 

 on the one hand, and the combined Minis- 

 terialists and Radicals, classed together under 

 the name of Liberals, on the other. The ma- 

 jority of the latter during the electoral cam- 

 paign advocated a reform of the electoral law, 

 and a large extension of the suffrage, as the 

 measure which the country most needed ; while 

 the Tories, though most of them admitted the 



necessity of a partial reform, severely denounced 

 the. principles of democracy, toward which, &a 

 they charged, the Liberal party was steadily 

 drifting. The issue of the hot contest was a 

 decisive defeat of the Conservatives. The death 

 of Lord Palmerston, and the accession of Earl 

 Russell to the Premiership, greatly increased 

 the hopes of the Liberal party for a speedy 

 success of the reform movement. In Italy, the 

 "Left," the most progressive of the political 

 parties, succeeded in increasing the number of 

 its members in the House of Deputies from 

 fifty to over one hundred. The " Right," or 

 "Catholic" party, although making the most 

 strenuous efforts, was unsuccessful, counting 

 no more than about one dozen members in the 

 new house. The Government, as before, con- 

 trolled the majority, though considerably re- 

 duced by the success of the "Left." (See 

 ITALY.) In Spain, the Progressistas and the 

 Democratic parties abstained again from taking 

 part in the election, which resulted, therefore, 

 in the return of an immense majority for the 

 candidates of the Government. (Sec SPAIN.) 



At the municipal elections, which, in July, 

 were held throughout France, the Government 

 of that country abandoned its practice of openly 

 proposing to the people " official " candidates, 

 although it used its influence for the success 

 of its candidates no less vigorously than in the 

 years before. The result of the election did 

 not materially differ from that of the general 

 election in the previous year. In a great ma- 

 jority of the towns, the Government candidates 

 were elected, while the Opposition displayed 

 the same strength as before in the large cities. 

 The Opposition gained a considerable number 

 of votes, and a few members of the Corps 

 Legislatif, at the supplementary elections for 

 members of this body held in 1865. The 

 expectations of internal reform in France were 

 totally disappointed. (See FKANCE.) An im- 

 portant victory was gained by the Progres- 

 sive party of Sweden, which, with the active 

 support of the Government, prevailed upon the 

 Houses of Nobles and the Clergy to consent to 

 a radical constitutional amendment, in virtue 

 of which a legislature composed of two elective 

 Houses, is to take the place of the former 

 four Houses of the Nobles, the Clergy, the 

 Burghers, and the Peasants. (See SWEDEN.) 

 In Austria, the Emperor, seeing the impos- 

 sibility of prevailing upon Hungary and other 

 eastern provinces of the Empire to accept the 

 Constitution of 1851. suspended this Consti- 

 tution, in order to make an attempt to rec- 

 oncile the Hungarians by far-reaching con- 

 cessions. This measure, and those of a like 

 kind that followed it, were received with great 

 dissatisfaction in the German provinces, the 

 Diets of which protested against the Imperial 

 rescript as a violation of the Constitution ; while 

 most of the non-German provinces sent to the 

 Emperor addresses of thanks for giving greater 

 guarantees of equal rights to the non-German 

 nationalities of the Empire than they found in 



