The Defense of the Old Regime, 1815–48 463left their name behind for expurgated (bowdlerized)
works. They abridged Shakespeare to produce The Fam-
ily Shakespearein 1818. The bowdlerized Shakespeare
eliminated all passages that might “raise a blush on the
cheek of modesty,” such as Hamlet’s famous remarks to
Ophelia about sex.
Protecting the Old Order: The Law
Historians often characterize Metternichian government
as an effort to curb dissent. Every state in Europe
adopted such legislation as a bulwark against revolution.
Freedom of the press and freedom of speech were the
first targets. Russian restrictions were so severe that writ-
ers spoke of a “censorship terror.” Two of the greatest fig-
ures of Russian literature, Alexander Pushkin and Fyodor
Dostoevski, were exiled—Pushkin for writing “Ode to
Liberty” and Dostoevski for belonging to a radical orga-
nization. In Scandinavia, the tales of Hans Christian An-
dersen were banned for corrupting the youth; Dante’s
The Divine Comedywas forbidden in Prussia because the ti-
tle seemed blasphemous to a censor.
Such counterrevolutionary legal restrictions did not
stop with obvious political targets; they also had pro-
found effects on individual families. In France, for ex-
ample, the government sought to rebuild the traditional
family. The chief legal expression of this effort was the
repeal of the divorce law adopted during the French
Revolution. As Louis de Bonald, a philosopher of
monarchism, explained: “Just as political democracy al-
lows the people, the weak part of political society, to
rise against the established power, so divorce, veritable
domestic democracy, allows the wife, the weak part, to
rebel against marital authority. In order to keep the
state out of the hands of the people, it is necessary to
keep the family out of the hands of wives and children.”
Metternich adopted similarly motivated family legisla-
tion in Austria. A Marriage Law of 1820, for example,
forbade marriage by beggars, people receiving relief,
the unemployed, and migrants; it also required a “mar-
riage permit,” without which servants, journeymen, and
day laborers could not marry.
The policy of social control made schools another
favorite target of conservative governments. Metter-
nich’s regulations for schools, announced at Karlsbad in
1819 (see document 24.2), put German universities un-
der the control of a government commissioner, fired
liberal professors, and closed student clubs. Francis I
liked this policy; as he told a group of teachers in 1821:
“I do not need scholars but obedient citizens.” The arbi-
trary arrest and trial of teachers followed. In Prussia the
harassment of liberal professors became a police recre-
ation. This regulation of the schools reached its nadir
when Friedrich Froebel opened the first kindergarten in- Froebel believed that preschool children could
learn through games and activities. The Prussian gov-
ernment, however, deemed this a revolutionary princi-
ple that undermined the authoritarian model of
education. Kindergartens were outlawed.
German education laws provided a model for other
countries. Shortly after the promulgation of the Karls-
bad Decrees, Alexander I adopted a similar program.
His instructions for the University of Kazan (1820)
eliminated free speech and freedom of inquiry: “No
harmful or seductive literature or speeches in any form
shall be permitted to spread through the university.”
Alexander, like Francis I, thought that “[t]he soul of
DOCUMENT 24.2
The Karlsbad Decrees, 1819
Supervision of Universities- The sovereign [of each German state] shall
choose for each university an extraordinary com-
missioner.... The duty of this commissioner shall
be... to observe carefully the spirit with which
the professors and tutors are guided in their public
and private lectures;... to give the instruction a
salutary direction, suited to the future destiny of
the students.... - The governments of the states... recipro-
cally engage to remove from their universities and
other establishments of instruction, professors and
other public teachers against whom it may be
proved, that... in abusing their legitimate influ-
ence over the minds of youth... they shall have
shown themselves incapable of executing the im-
portant functions entrusted to them....
3.... [L]aws... against secret or unautho-
rized associations at the universities shall be main-
tained in all their force and vigor.
Press Censorship
1.... [N]o writing appearing in the form of
a daily paper or periodical pamphlet... shall be
issued from the press without the previous consent
of the public authority.
“Karlsbad Decrees.” The Annual Register(1819). London:
J. Dodsky, 1820.