Britain and the German Question

Britain and the German Question

Britain and the German Question Perceptions of Nationalism and Political Reform, 1830 63 Frank Lorenz Müller Stevenson Junior Research Fellow University College Oxford

Frank Lorenz Müller 2002 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-333-96615-0 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2002 by PALGRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-1-349-42829-8 ISBN 978-1-4039-1966-3 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781403919663 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Müller, Frank Lorenz, 1970 Britain and the German question: perceptions of nationalism and political reform, 1830 63 / Frank Lorenz Müller. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Great Britain Foreign relations Germany. 2. Great Britain Foreign relations 19th century. 3. Germany Foreign relations Great Britain. 4. Germany Foreign relations 1789 1900. I. Title. DA47.2.M85 2001 327.41043 09 034 dc21 2001035428 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02

f ür Hedi und Erhard

Contents Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations ix xi Introduction 1 1 British Perceptions of Vormärz Germany, 1830 47 9 Subversion and Reaction in the Wake of the July Revolution, 1830 3 9 Reforms and no Reform Movement, 1834 47 30 2 British Perceptions of Revolutionary Germany, 1848 9 56 Reform, Revolution and Reaction in the German States 58 Revolution, Constitution and Nationalism in the Frankfurt Centre 76 3 British Perceptions of the Austro-Prussian Struggle for Supremacy, 1848 51 108 The Project of a Prussian-led Kleindeutschland, May 1848 April 1850 109 Austria s Campaign to Recover her Role in Germany, 1848 51 131 4 British Perceptions of the Reaction and the Struggle for Federal Reform, 1851 63 157 Suggesting Prussian Leadership: Perceptions of Germany, 1858 61 163 Spanners in the Prussian Works: Adversaries, Reaction and Conflict, 1859 63 182 Conclusion 201 Appendix: Long-standing British Diplomats in the German Confederation (1830 63) 209 Notes 212 Manuscript Sources and Bibliography 247 Index 262 vii

Acknowledgements During the writing of this book, I was very fortunate in the generous support I received from numerous individuals and institutions. I am delighted to use this opportunity to record my gratitude and indebtedness to them. Merton and University Colleges, Oxford, have been my academic homes since 1996. Throughout this time, I have greatly benefited from being part of such learned, generous and caring communities. For that I would like to thank the Warden and Fellows of Merton, its Middle Common Room and domestic staff, as well as the Master, Fellows and staff of Univ. Without the financial support I received from the Rhodes Trust I could not have undertaken my research. I would therefore like to express my gratitude to the Rhodes Trustees and the friendly people at Rhodes House. I would also like to thank Hugh and Catherine Stevenson whose generosity enabled me to complete this study. In the course of my work I was greatly assisted by archivists and librarians. I am particularly grateful to the staff at the Public Record Office, but also to the staff of Southampton University Library, Balliol College Library, the Bodleian Library, the British Library and the County Record Offices in Northampton, Winchester and Hertford. For their permission to consult and quote from archival material I would like to register my gratitude to the Earl of Clarendon, the Trustees of the Broadlands Archives, the Controller of Her Majesty s Stationary Office, the British Library and the Hampshire Record Office. My doctoral supervisor, Professor Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann, first taught me in 1993, then encouraged me to return to Oxford in 1996, and has since helped me in many kind ways. This study owes much to his keen interest, judgement and experience. I am also grateful to Professor Timothy Blanning, Professor Robert Evans, Peter Ghosh, Philip Waller and Dr Leslie Mitchell for their advice and encouragement. My friends and colleagues Dr Dominik Geppert and Dr Benjamin Novick, my mother-in-law, Susan Chesters, and Cameron Laux of Palgrave Publishers proof-read all or parts of the manuscript. Thanks to their efforts many opaque phrases and infelicities of style have been weeded out. What blemishes remain result from my stubbornness. Celia, my wife, helped me tremendously during the writing of this ix

x Acknowledgements book. She took a consistently lively interest in my work and was an inspiring, constructively critical reader. Her greatest contribution, however, is the happiness she gives to the author. I owe an even greater, deeper debt of gratitude to my parents, Hedi and Erhard Müller, for everything they have done for me. It is to them, my oldest and best friends, that this book is gratefully and affectionately dedicated. FLM

Abbreviations Add.Mss. Additional Manuscripts, British Library (London) AHR The American Historical Review AP Aberdeen Papers, British Library (London) BD Despatches (part of BP) BEM Blackwood s Edinburgh Magazine BFR The British and Foreign Review BlP Bloomfield Papers (PRO/FO/356) BP Broadlands (= Palmerston) Papers, Southampton University Library BQR The British Quarterly Review CaP Cartwright Papers, Northamptonshire Record Office (Northampton) CEH Central European History ClP Clarendon Papers, Bodleian Library (Oxford) CM Cornhill Magazine CoP Cowley Papers (PRO/FO/519) ER The Edinburgh Review FaC Correspondence of John Fane, Bodleian Library (Oxford) FM Fraser s Magazine for Town and Country FO Foreign Office Files, PRO (Kew/Surrey) FQR The Foreign Quarterly Review FR The Fortnightly Review GC General Correspondence (as part of BP) GWU Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht HFR The Home and Foreign Review HJ The Historical Journal HZ Historische Zeitschrift IHR The International History Review JMH The Journal of Modern History MaP Malmesbury Papers, Hampshire Record Office (Winchester) MGM Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen MM Memoranda (part of BP) MoP Morier Papers, Balliol College Library (Oxford) NBR The North British Review PeP Peel Papers, British Library (London) PRO Public Record Office (Kew/Surrey) xi

xii Abbreviations QR QVL QVP RC RuP TEM WeP WR The Quarterly Review The Letters of Queen Victoria. A Selection from Her Majesty s Correspondence between the Years 1837 and 1861, eds A. C. Benson and Viscount Esher, 3 vols (London 1908) The Papers of Queen Victoria on Foreign Affairs [files from the Royal Archives (Windsor); microfilm edition] Royal Correspondence (part or BP) Russell Papers (PRO/30/22) Taits s Edinburgh Magazine Westmorland Papers, British Library (London) The Westminster Review