were no
means of opposing a hostile force. The Government turned its attention
to reconstructing the Militia, and raising the Income Tax for
the purpose. But the outlook was completely changed by the French
Revolution; Louis Philippe, who had just lost his sister and
counsellor, Madame Adelaide, impulsively abdicated, on a rising
taking place, and escaped with his family to this country. England and
Belgium were unaffected by the outburst of revolution which convulsed
Europe: the Emperor of Austria was forced to abdicate, and Metternich,
like Guizot, became a fugitive; Prussia was shaken to her foundation,
and throughout Germany the movement in favour of representative
institutions made rapid headway; a National Assembly for Germany was
constituted, and Schleswig was claimed as an integral part of the
German dominions. In Italy also the Revolution, though premature, was
serious. The Pope, not yet reactionary, declared war against Austria;
the Milanese rose against Radetzky, the Austrian Governor, and King
Charles Albert of Sardinia marched to their assistance. A republic was
proclaimed in Venice, but these successes were afterwards nullified,
and a Sicilian rising against Ferdinand II. of Naples was suppressed.
In France the revolutionary movement held steadily on its course, a
National Assembly was elected, and national workshops established;
Louis Bonaparte, who had been a fugitive in England, was allowed
to return, and was elected President of the Republic by an immense
majority of the popular vote.

The friends of Revolution had no success in England; a very serious
riot at Glasgow was dispersed, and the meeting convened by Feargus
O'Connor for the 10th of April on Kennington Common, which was to
carry a huge petition in favour of the People's Charter to the House
of Commons, proved a ridiculous _fiasco_. Ireland was much disturbed
during the year by what was known as the Young Ireland agitation,
a movement organised by youthful, and for the most part cultivated,
leaders, and utterly different from the sturdy Repeal movement
of O'Connell. Smith O'Brien, brother of Lord Inchiquin, was the
ringleader, and was backed by Mitchel, Duffy, Meagher, and others,
as well as by the _Nation_ and _United Irishman_ newspapers. Like
Chartism, the movement ignominiously collapsed and its leaders were
convicted of treason. An Act was at the same time passed reducing
some offences (till then legally defined as treason) to felonies,