European Republicanism

Abstract

The republicans of Britain wished to see the triumph of peoples all over Europe. The Holy Alliance powers, mainly Russia and Austria, were thought to be at the heart of all political oppression, and as late as 1877 Cowen, Harney and Linton could not bring themselves to support Gladstone’s apparently pro-Russian policies. The greatest chance for liberation appeared to come in 1848, when revolutions shook most of the thrones of Europe. The English radicals watched the scene keenly and, when necessary, provided support for republican refugees. The English Chartists had failed in their attempted ‘rising’ in 1848 and were now once more concerned to restore their own fragile unity. In France the revolution had succeeded, but the new republic turned sour as the government opened fire on the socialist barricades in Paris in June 1848, and as the December presidential elections brought a Bonaparte back to power. Of the speeches which follow, Hetherington’s in particular points out the close connection between reactionary politics and the Church.