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SCHMIDT, H

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 343 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SCHMIDT, H J• 343 effectively because he depended not on eloquence but on a recognition of what has been called the " See also:irony of facts "—to which the See also:parliament as a whole was so See also:blind. He was the first and the most influential member of the See also:ministry which the See also:regent formed; he held the ministry of the interior and, later, also that of See also:foreign affairs, and it was almost entirely due to him that at least for a See also:short See also:time this phantom See also:government maintained some See also:appearance of See also:power and dignity. A defeat in the parliament when he defended the See also:armistice of See also:Malmo led to his resignation; but he was immediately called to See also:office again, with practically dictatorial power, in See also:order to quell the revolt which See also:broke out in See also:Frankfort on the 18th of See also:September. His courage and See also:resolution averted what nearly became a terrible See also:catastrophe. It was his See also:hope to establish in See also:Germany the supremacy of a Liberal and reformed See also:Austria. This brought him into opposition to the party of Prussian supremacy; and when they attained a See also:majority, he resigned, and was succeeded by See also:Gagern. He remained at Frankfort, holding the See also:post of See also:Austrian See also:envoy, and was the See also:leader of the so-called See also:Great See also:German party until the See also:dissolution of the Austrian parliament showed that the forces of reaction had conquered at See also:Vienna and shattered all hopes of Austria attaining the position he had hoped for her. After the abortive See also:election of the See also:king of See also:Prussia to be See also:emperor, he, with the other Austrians, See also:left Frankfort. On his return to Vienna he became See also:minister of See also:justice, and the reforms which he carried out added to his reputation. His popularity among all Liberals was increased by his resignation in 1851, as a protest against the failure of the government to establish the constitution they had promised. During the next few years he was See also:judge of the supreme See also:court of See also:appeal. When his forecast was fulfilled, and the See also:system of See also:absolutism broke down, he became minister in See also:January 1862.

His first See also:

act was the publication of the constitution by which the whole of the See also:empire was to be organized as a single See also:state with a See also:parliamentary government. The experiment failed, chiefly because of the opposition of the Croatians and See also:Magyars, whom he bitterly offended by his celebrated saying that " See also:Hungary could wait." Faults of manner, natural in a See also:man whose See also:life had been spent as an See also:official and a judge, pre-vented him from keeping together the German Liberals as a strong and See also:united party; he was opposed by a powerful See also:faction at court, and by the Clerical leaders. After the first few months the emperor gave him only a very lukewarm support; and with his retirement in 1865 the See also:attempt to carry out the ideals of See also:Joseph II. to .Germanize while he liberalized the whole of the empire, and to compel Hungarians, Poles, Czechs and Croatians to accept a system in which the government of the whole should be carried on by a German-speaking parliament and bureaucracy, failed. The constitution of 1862, though suspended on See also:Schmerling's fall, was still regarded as legally valid for the cis-Leithan territories, and is the basis on which the See also:present constitution for See also:half the empire was framed. On his retirement he returned to his judicial duties; in 1867 he was made life-member of the Upper See also:House in the Reichsrath, of which he became See also:vice-See also:president, and in 1871 president. This post he laid down in 1879, and came forward as leader of the Liberal German opposition to the See also:administration of See also:Count See also:Taaffe. In 1891 he retired from public life, and died at Vienna on the 23rd of May 1893. Schmerling married, in 1835, Pauline, daughter of See also:Field-See also:Marshal-See also:Lieutenant See also:Baron von Koudelka. Frau von Schmerling, who was distinguished by See also:literary and See also:artistic abilities, at that time rare in the Austrian See also:capital, died in 184o, leaving two daughters. See See also:Arneth, Anton v. Schmerling (See also:Prague, 1895). This contains a full See also:account of Schmerling's life during 1848-1849, but does not See also:deal with his later life.

Wurzbach, Biographisches See also:

Lexicon See also:des Kaiser-'hums Osterreich; Friedjung, Der Kampf um See also:die Vorherrschaft in Deutschland; Rogge, Geschichte Osterreichs. (J. W.

End of Article: SCHMIDT, H

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