osition of the middle and higher classes. The
communistic clubs were overawed by the National Guards, and on
April 16th the Communistic party was defeated. General Cavaignac,
who had been made dictator during the struggle, laid down his
office after the battle which began on the 23d of June between
the rabble of idle mechanics, eighty thousand in number, and
the national forces had been decided in favor of the latter,
who slew no less than sixteen thousand of the enemy. Cavaignac
was now appointed chief of the Executive Commission with the
title of President of the Council. A reaction favoring a monarchy
was indicated; but meanwhile a new constitution provided for
a quadriennial presidency, with a single legislature of seven
hundred and fifty members. Louis Napoleon, the nephew of the
great emperor, was chosen by a majority vote for the office in
December of 1848. Four years later he was declared emperor under
the title of Napoleon III.

The revolutionary movement spread to other countries of Europe,
with varying results. In Hungary, Kossuth in the Diet demanded
of the emperor-king a national government. Prince Metternich,
prime minister, attempted to resist the demand with military
force, but an insurrection in Vienna drove him into exile, and
the Hungarians gained a temporary advantage, and were granted
a constitution. The Slavs met at Prague, at the instigation of
Polocky, and held a congress; but it was broken up by the impatience
of the inhabitants, and a success of the imperialists was followed
by the rising of the southern Slavs in favor of the emperor.
A battle took place in Hungary on September 11, 1848, but the
imperialists under Jellachich were routed and driven toward the
Austrian frontier. The war became wider in its scope; the
insurrectionists at first met with success; but in spite of their
desperate valor the Hungarian forces were finally overthrown by the
aid of a Russian army; and their leader, Goergy, was compelled to
surrender to the Russians on August 13, 1849. It was thought that
the Czar might annex Hungary; but he handed it back to Francis
Joseph, who, by way of vengeance, permitted the most hideous
cruelties.

In Germany, the issue had no definite feature. The people demanded
freedom of the Press and a German parliament, and the various
princes seemed acquiescent; but when it was proposed that Prussia
should become Germany, there was opposition on all sides; a Diet
of the Confederation was