Chapter 44: Reform Bill (Request for Votes)
Chapter 44: Reform Bill (Request for Votes)
Free distribution of land does not exist, really if this is done, the hearts of the nobles can be balanced only strange?
Moreover, Franz has not heard of the story of the rice and rice feud. Now this kind of reform is already very progressive, too much is not enough.
With the advancement of industrialization, Austria also needs to turn peasants into workers, if everyone is issued land, who wants to go to the city to work?
Europe is not Asia, the per capita land area is not low, the land on the income enough to fill their stomachs, this era of workers living standards are not comparable to farmers.
Listening to the Franz reform program, the crowd breathed a sigh of relief, obviously this reform program is to take care of the interests of the aristocracy.
After the reform, everyone’s interests, even if there is a loss, but it is still acceptable. The nobles who participated in the rebellion, then I’m sorry, they are not in the scope of consideration.
“Your Highness, this reform program is generally fine, but restricting the income from land leasing, is this one something that can be removed, we can leave these issues to the market to decide!” Archduke Louis proposed
Franz shook his head and said, “No, if we don’t limit it, I’m afraid that this is no different from before the reform, we can’t guarantee that all the nobles are temperate.
If a few greedy fools mess around, this reform of ours will soon fail, the current serf riots are the best example of the opposite.”
The greed of the nobility was not something Franz was willing to navigate, if it was a few hundred years ago, it might have been something to look forward to, now it was a no-brainer.
Considering Austria’s special circumstances, he had made concessions. Taking into account the interests of all as much as possible, the abolition of the privileges of the nobility was something he had not even brought up yet.
For the sake of social stability, Franz also had to choose to boil the frog in warm water, and first resolve the biggest domestic conflicts.
Prime Minister Felix thought about it and said: ”This reform, I think the vast majority of the nobles can accept it, the rest we can also do ideological work.
If someone insists on rejecting it, we won’t force them, in case of a rebellion, they will have to be responsible for the safety of their personal property, the empire won’t protect greedy fools!”
No surprise there, the ass determines the head, and by becoming Austria’s Prime Minister, Felix would have to put himself in the government’s shoes.
With the protection of his own family’s interests not being compromised, he was equally unkind to guys who hindered the progress of the empire, compared to Archduke Louis who hadn’t yet shifted his stance.
On the side of the former Prime Minister Metternich, only a bitter smile remained, if he had insisted on reforms, I’m afraid it would be another situation now.
On the serfdom reform, the cabinet reached an agreement. This means that there are a lot of people to be unlucky, before the Metternich era of Vienna government to implement the policy, this time has completely changed.
Neither Felix, nor Franz could tolerate the existence of a bunch of incompetent bureaucrats, and soon the Vienna government would see a major purge.
The crime Franz have thought well, on the investigation of corruption and bribery well, anyway, Austria’s officials there are not a few clean, with this reason can make Austria more than ninety percent of the officials into prison.
Of course, the crackdown will not be so broad, only those who are both greedy, incompetent, and not long for the stupid will be finished, others as long as they can efficiently complete the tasks deployed by the government, then even if the temporary pass.
Whether or not to settle scores, this will be the Austrian government’s finances, if the financial difficulties, Franz will have to kill pigs.
For the consideration of national interests, this time the cabinet also want to find ways to combat the Italian and Hungarian regions of the aristocracy.
Local forces are too large, not conducive to the authority of the central government, these things do not need Franz said, everyone will be very tacit agreement to do.
The situation in Austria was already very serious, the Lombardy and Venice regions had already rebelled and were currently being suppressed.
The Galicia region has rioted again, the Czech region wants autonomy, the Hungarians have formed a cabinet of responsibility, and even if there is no banner of rebellion, there is practically no difference.
On top of that, it’s not all that peaceful elsewhere. The Croats are now confused, originally they were part of the Kingdom of Hungary, and as a result the newly emerged Hungarian nation excluded them from their rights.
The people were polarized, with some wanting to stay in Hungary and others wanting to join Austria as an autonomous province.
The good thing is that they are still loyal supporters of the Habsburgs, which is encouraging.
The people of the region of Damascus could no longer survive, they were already poor, and the aristocrats and capitalists were squeezing them a little bit harder, and the hunger riots were getting worse and worse.
In Slovenia, there are now revolutionaries, and in Transylvania and Slovakia there are different degrees of chaos, so there is hardly any peace in Austria.
Historically, it was this particular situation that forced the Austrian government to carry out reforms.
Only at that time, Vienna fell and was delayed in recovering, the prestige of the Habsburg family fell to its lowest point, and had to rely on the power of the nobility to quell the rebellion.
This also caused that the reforms were excessively tilted towards the aristocracy, while the government also made concessions to the local forces, laying a hidden danger for the collapse of the empire.
Not so now, the Vienna Rebellion was quickly extinguished, and the power of the nobility was also dealt a blow to the authority of the central government, which was not seriously injured.
The military power in the hands of the Austrian government was much stronger than that of the same period in history, and the fact that no troops were drawn from the localities for the suppression of the Vienna Rebellion was the backbone of Franz’s response to the crisis.
On March 19, 1848, the government in Vienna introduced the Abolition of Serfdom Act, which automatically granted all peasants the status of freemen with corresponding rights and duties.
The controversial issue of serfdom was finally resolved. From now on, all forced labor was prohibited in Austria, except for criminals.
On March 20, the government of Vienna introduced the Land Redemption Act, which encouraged the nobility to sell their land to the government, but did not compel them to do so.
The government leased land to peasants and allowed them to buy their leased land in installments of up to forty years, after which they could obtain ownership of the land.
If something happened in the middle of the period, the peasants could apply for an unconditional refund, and land abandonment was prohibited during this period.
The Viennese government was still dominated by the nobility and could not have revolutionized itself.
Franz was a realist and had to compromise when it was time to compromise, he was not radical enough to try to confiscate the land of the nobility, which could not be done.
Just by looking at how many noble officers there were in the military species and how many noble employees there were in the government, he knew what to do.
(Asking for recommendations, I feel like I’m going to get cold)
(End of chapter)