BACH. Baron ALEXANDER., an Austrian statesman, was b. Jan. 4, 1813, at Loosdorf, in lower Austria, where his father held a judicial office. The young B. received a care ful education. At the age of 24, he was promoted to the rank of doctor of laws, and then entered the imperial service, in which he remained about 9 years. During this period also he traveled over the greater part of Europe and some of the countries of Asia. Ile was on terms of friendship with the members of the opposition of lower Aus tria, and belonged to that circle of young men who well understood the failings of the old system, and the inevitability of a change in the organization of Austria. He took an active part in founding the juridico-politieal reading club, and courageously defended it against the police. On the occurrence of the events of Mar., 1848, B. took a distin guished place as a mediator. He formed part of the provisional committee of the com coons, and was also chosen in April, by the states of lower Austria, one of their repre sentatives in the central commission of the.provincial states of Austria.
In this, the outset of his political career, B. already showed a leaning to those views which he afterwards manifested as minister. He advocated the centralization of the Austrian monarchy,•and declared himself against the independence of Hungary, as well as against the entry of the German provinces.of Austria into the German confederation. But he also desired an extension of the basis of the states, and of their parliamentary influence in the direction of public affairs. During the occurrences of the 15th of May, 1848, B. kept away from Vienna. When, after these occurrences, the old liberal oppo
sition came to the helm, B. undertook the ministry of justice. He now entered with talent and energy into the remodeling of the whole system of Austrian law. On the other hand, the part he took in the assembly brought upon him the hatred of the "left," and of the democratic party generally. The opposition was particularly bitter on the question of removing the burdens from peasant proprietors, on which B. maintained the principle of compensation, and wished a part of that compensation to be made good by those who had hitherto borne the burdens in question. Ilis policy, also, with regard to Hungarian affairs met with violent opposition from the "left." In the events of the 6th of Oct., 1848, B. would have fallen a victim to popular fury, like the war-minister Latour, had he not found an opportunity of withdrawing from pursuit. On the forma tion of the Schwartzenberg-Stadion ministry, he again took the portfolio of justice, and participated in the measures regarding Hungary and all the other important steps taken by that ministry. On the withdrawal of Stadion in May, 1849, B. took his place at the head of the ministry of the interior, from which he was sent, in 1839, as plenipotentiary to Rome—a mission which terminated in 1865. Among his most important labors as minister of the interior are the constitutions for the different crown-lands, as well as the organization of their political administration.