Chapter 348

On March 1st, 1848, the Baden and Württemberg bourgeois liberals initiated a conference of the liberal states in Heidelberg.

A total of 51 people attended the conference. Most of them were representatives of the South German States. Among them, there were four from Prussia and only one from Austria.

The conference passed the Declaration to the German People and decided to set up a seven-member committee to prepare the German Preparatory Parliament. (The predecessor of the Frankfurt Conference)

There was no doubt that Austria was being represented in this conference.

No matter what others thought, Franz wouldn't recognize the legitimacy of this conference. He was busy dealing with domestic issues and didn't have time to care about these issues. Now that the internal crisis was under control, it was time to intervene in the affairs of the German Region.

Unlike in history, the Austrian bourgeoisie was hit hard. The remaining people were also trembling on the side, afraid that the government would kill them. At this time, who dared to come out and cause trouble?

The Frankfurt Conference was coming, but Austria's representative hadn't been elected. Instead, a group of wanted criminals were going to attend this conference.

Franz didn't know what the capitalists were thinking. This was destined to fail from the beginning. Without the recognition of the various governments, how could it be legitimate?

"Prime Minister, what do you think of the capitalists' actions?" Franz asked.

"Your Highness, I think we can ignore it. This conference was originally illegal. We can just not recognize it!" Prime Minister Felix said calmly.

In this era, Austria still had the capital to back it up. Out of all the states in Germany, Austria was the strongest.

Franz frowned. Obviously, he wasn't satisfied with this answer. In history, the Government of Austria did the same thing. The consequences were quite serious. The parliament passed the proposal of small Germany and excluded Austria.

In Franz's view, the Kingdom of Prussia was behind this conference. Otherwise, Austria wouldn't have been excluded from the beginning.

"Prime Minister, do you really think so? If we don't intervene, I guess the result of the conference will be the establishment of a small German Empire excluding Austria.

Regardless of whether this conference is legal or not, the impact on the people is unquestionable. Perhaps it hasn't been clearly felt in Austria.

But in other regions, the influence has begun to spread. Once the people accept this theory, it will lay the foundation for the future unification of these regions by Prussia. "Foreign Minister Metternich frowned.

The title of "Europe's Coachman" wasn't just for show. Although he didn't think the German Region could be unified, Metternich, who pursued European balance, also opposed anyone to unify Germany.

Now the Kingdom of Prussia was already very powerful. If they continued to create opportunities, it wouldn't be a problem for them to annex North Germany.

This was a very big threat to Austria. This was a great threat to Austria. By this time, Metternich had already left the political arena and lost his right to speak. He was powerless to stop all this.

Now that he was still Austria's Foreign Minister, of course, he had to do something. Disrupting the Frankfurt Conference was the first step.

This was also the reason why Franz put him in the cabinet. In terms of diplomacy, there weren't many people in the world who could compete with him, even though the "Vienna System" he created had collapsed.

"Mr. Metternich, please don't be alarmist here. Who are these capitalists? Can they represent the public?

The governments of all countries won't recognize their legitimacy. This so-called German Parliament doesn't have any power outside of Frankfurt! "Felix said tit-for-tat.

"Don't forget the influence of the capitalists among the people. They can influence the public opinion of a region through the newspapers in their hands. As far as I know, the Government of Prussia has had secret contact with them.

Once the conditions are met, the capitalists will support the Kingdom of Prussia to unify the small German Region. Then we and the Kingdom of Prussia will have a war! "Metternich said, almost roaring.

…

Seeing the two of them arguing until their faces were red and they were about to fight, Franz quickly scolded, "Shut up, both of you. Today you are here to discuss, not to listen to you quarrel!"

On the surface, Franz was very angry, but in fact, he was very happy. No monarch wanted his subordinates to be monolithic, not to mention that Franz wasn't the emperor yet.

As the regent of the crown prince, once the cabinet united, then Franz would be a mere figurehead. For the balance of power, he couldn't let the cabinet members unite.

One was the former prime minister who had been in charge of Austria for more than 20 years, the other was the powerful current prime minister. When two powerful people didn't agree with each other politically, there was bound to be conflict.

"Well, to be on the safe side, whether it's a conspiracy by the people of Prussia or not, we must destroy this conference. At least, we must suppress the influence of the conference to a minimum.

If anyone has any ideas, please bring them up. Our time is precious. Wasting even a minute is a crime! "

Franz was still biased towards Metternich. In the future, when the small German Empire was established, the status of the Frankfurt Conference was artificially magnified.

As for how effective it was, it was estimated that only those who had experienced it would know. Franz didn't want to try it, so he might as well destroy it.

Anyway, because of the customs union, Austria's influence among the capitalists in the German Region was limited, far less than that of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was undoubtedly impossible to rely on this conference to reach an agreement that was beneficial to their side.

"Why don't we send someone to propose the formation of the North and South German Empire? If we promise to the South German states not to interfere in their internal affairs, the chances of success are still very high!" Minister of Finance Carr said tentatively.

"It's useless. We may have a glimmer of hope to convince the South German states, but in the meeting of the representatives of the bourgeoisie, it's absolutely impossible to pass!

Moreover, to convince them, the price we have to pay is too high. In the end, it's still only a nominal unification. "Metternich shook her head and said.

Franz was tempted. If the South German Federal Empire was established, then there would be nothing for the people of Prussia to do. Because of religious beliefs, there was actually a clear gap between North and South Germany.

Even if it was only a nominal unification, in reality, everyone was still doing their own things. They could still use economic means to infiltrate and slowly influence their politics.

Unfortunately, now was not the time. At least, they had to wait until Austria dealt with the internal conflicts, otherwise they wouldn't have the confidence to speak.