The Kingdom of Saxony

THE KINGDOM OF SAXONY Frederick assumed the government in 1768, and in his long and eventful reign, which saw the electorate elevated to the dignity of a kingdom, though deprived of more than half its area, he won the surname of the Just. As he was the first king of Saxony, he is usually styled Frederick Augustus I. When the Bavarian suc cession fell open in 1777, Frederick Augustus joined Prussia in protesting against the absorption of Bavaria by Austria, and Saxon troops took part in the bloodless "potato-war." The elector commuted his claims in right of his mother, the Bavarian princess Maria Antonia, for 6,000,000 florins, which he spent chiefly in redeeming Saxon territory that had been pawned to other German states. When Saxony joined the Ffirstenbund in 1785, it had an area of 15,185 sq.m. and a population of nearly 2,000,000, but its various parts had not yet been combined into a homogeneous whole, for the two Lusatias, Querfurt, Henneberg and the ecclesi astical foundations of Naumburg and Merseburg had each a separate diet and government, independent of the diet of the electorate proper. In 1791 Frederick declined the proffered crown of Poland. Next year saw the beginning of the great struggle between France and Germany. Frederick's first policy was one of abstention but when war broke out in i8o6 against Napoleon, 22,000 Saxon troops shared the defeat of the Prussians at Jena, but the elector immediately afterwards abandoned his former ally. At the peace of Posen (Dec. 11, 1806) Frederick assumed the title of king of Saxony, and entered the Confederation of the Rhine as an independent sovereign, promising a contingent of 20,000 men to Napoleon.

In 1807 his submission was rewarded with the duchy of Warsaw (to which Cracow and part of Galicia were added in 1809) and the district of Kottbus, though he had to surrender some of his former territory to the new kingdom of Westphalia. The king of Saxony's faith in Napoleon was shaken by the disasters of the Russian campaign, but when the allies invaded Saxony in the spring of 1813, he refused to declare against Napoleon and fled to Prague, though he withdrew his contingent from the French army. After

Napoleon's victory at Llltzen (May 2, 1813), the Saxon king and the Saxon army were once more at the disposal of the French. During the battle of Leipzig in Oct. 1813, the popular Saxon feeling was displayed by the desertion of the Saxon troops to the side of the allies. Frederick was taken prisoner in Leipzig, and the government of his kingdom was assumed for a year by the Russians. The congress of Vienna assigned the northern portion, consisting of 7,800 sq.m., with 864,404 inhabitants, to Prussia, leaving 5,790 sq.m., with a population of 1,182,744, to Frederick, who was permitted to retain his royal title. On June 8, 1815, King Frederick joined the new German Confederation.

Constitutionalism.

From the partition in 1815 to the war of 1866 the history of Saxony is mainly a narrative of the slow growth of constitutionalism and popular liberty within its limits. Its influence on the general history of Europe ceased when the old empire was dissolved. In the new German empire it was too com pletely overshadowed by Prussia to have any objective importance by itself. Frederick lived 12 years after the division of his king dom. The commercial and industrial interests of the country continued to be fostered, but only a few of the most unavoidable political reforms were granted. Religious equality was extended to the Reformed Church in 1818, and the separate diet of Upper Lusatia was abolished. Frederick Augustus was succeeded in 1827 by his brother Anthony who initiated a few unimportant reforms. An active opposition began to make itself evident in the diet and in the press, and in 1830, under the influence of the July revolu tion in Paris, riots broke out in Leipzig and Dresden, and a con stitution was promised. After consultation with the diet the king promulgated, on Sept. 4, 1831, a new constitution by which the feudal estates were replaced by two chambers, largely elective, and the privy council by a responsible ministry of six departments.