main considerations dominated the fortunes of Hanover during
the period of the Napoleonic wars, the jealousy felt by Prussia
at the increasing strength and prestige of the electorate, and its
position as a vulnerable outpost of Great Britain. From 1793 the
Hanoverian troops fought for the Allies against France, until
the treaty of Basel between France and Prussia in 1795 imposed
a forced neutrality upon Hanover. At the instigation of Bonaparte
Hanover was occupied by the Prussians for a few months
in 1801, but at the settlement which followed the peace of
Lunéville the secularized bishopric of Osnabrück was added to
the electorate. Again tempting the fortune of war after the
rupture of the peace of Amiens, the Hanoverians found that
the odds against them were too great; and in June 1803 by
the convention of Sulingen their territory was occupied by the
French. The formation of the third coalition against France
in 1805 induced Napoleon to purchase the support of Prussia
by allowing her troops to seize Hanover; but in 1807, after
the defeat of Prussia at Jena, he incorporated the southern
part of the electorate in the kingdom of Westphalia, adding the
northern portion to France in 1810. The French occupation
was costly and aggressive; and the Hanoverians, many of whom
were found in the allied armies, welcomed the fall of Napoleon
and the return of the old order. Represented at the congress of
Vienna by Ernest, Count Münster, the elector was granted the
title of king; but the British ministers wished to keep the
interests of Great Britain distinct from those of Hanover. The
result of the congress, however, was not unfavourable to the new
kingdom, which received East Friesland, the secularized bishopric
of Hildesheim, the city of Goslar, and some smaller additions of
territory, in return for the surrender of the greater part of the
duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg to Prussia.
Like those of the other districts of Germany, the estates of the different provinces which formed the kingdom of Hanover had met for many years in an irregular fashion to exercise their varying and ill-defined authority; and, although the elector Ernest Augustus introduced a system of administrative councils into Celle, these estates, consisting of the three orders of prelates, nobles and towns, together with a body somewhat resembling the English privy council, were the only constitution which the country possessed, and the only check upon the power of its ruler. When the elector George Louis became king of Great Britain in 1714 he appointed a representative, or Statthalter, to govern the electorate, and thus the union of the two countries was attended with constitutional changes in Hanover as well as in Great Britain. Responsible of course to the elector, the Statthalter, aided by the privy council, conducted the internal affairs of the electorate, generally in a peaceful and satisfactory fashion, until the welter of the Napoleonic wars. On the conclusion of peace in 1814 the estates of the several provinces of the kingdom were fused into one body, consisting of eighty-five members, but the chief power was exercised as before by the members of a few noble families. In 1819, however, this feudal relic was supplanted by a new constitution. Two chambers were established, the one formed of nobles and the other of elected representatives; but although they were authorized to control the finances, their power with regard to legislation was very circumscribed. This constitution was sanctioned by the prince regent, afterwards King George IV.; but it was out of harmony with the new and liberal ideas which prevailed in Europe, and it hardly survived George’s decease in 1830. The revolution of that year compelled George’s brother and successor, William, to dismiss Count Münster, who had been the actual ruler of the country, and to name his own brother, Adolphus Frederick, duke of Cambridge, a viceroy of Hanover; one of the viceroy’s earliest duties being to appoint a commission to draw up a new constitution. This was done, and after William had insisted upon certain alterations, it was accepted and promulgated in 1833. Representation was granted to the peasants; the two chambers were empowered to initiate legislation; ministers were made responsible for all acts of government; a civil list was given to the king in return for the surrender of the crown lands; and, in short, the new constitution was similar to that of Great Britain. These liberal arrangements, however, did not entirely allay the discontent. A strong and energetic party endeavoured to thwart the working of the new order, and matters came to a climax on the death of William IV. in 1837.
By the law of Hanover a woman could not ascend the throne, and accordingly Ernest Augustus, duke of Cumberland, the fifth son of George III., and not Victoria, succeeded William as sovereign in 1837, thus separating the crowns of Great Britain and Hanover after a union of 123 years. Ernest, a prince with very autocratic ideas, had disapproved of the constitution of 1833, and his first important act as king was to declare it invalid. He appears to have been especially chagrined because the crown lands were not his personal property, but the whole of the new arrangements were repugnant to him. Seven Göttingen professors who protested against this proceeding were deprived of their chairs; and some of them, including F. C. Dahlmann and Jakob Grimm, were banished from the country for publishing their protest. To save the constitution an appeal was made to the German Confederation, which Hanover had joined in 1815; but the federal diet declined to interfere, and in 1840 Ernest altered the constitution to suit his own illiberal views. Recovering the crown lands, he abolished the principle of ministerial responsibility, the legislative power of the two chambers, and other reforms, virtually restoring affairs to their condition before 1833. The inevitable crisis was delayed until the stormy year 1848, when the king probably saved his crown by hastily giving back the constitution of 1833. Order, however, having been restored, in 1850 he dismissed the Liberal ministry and attempted to evade his concessions; a bitter struggle had just broken out when Ernest Augustus died in November 1851. During this reign the foreign policy of Hanover both within and without Germany had been coloured by jealousy of Prussia and by the king’s autocratic ideas. Refusing to join the Prussian Zollverein, Hanover had become a member of the rival commercial union, the Steuerverein, three years before Ernest’s accession; but as this union was not a great success the Zollverein was joined in 1851. In 1849, after the failure of the German parliament at Frankfort, the king had joined with the sovereigns of Prussia and Saxony to form the “three kings’ alliance”; but this union with Prussia was unreal, and with the king of Saxony he soon transferred his support to Austria and became a member of the “four kings’ alliance.”
George V., the new king of Hanover, who was unfortunately blind, sharing his father’s political ideas, at once appointed a ministry whose aim was to sweep away the constitution of 1848. This project, however, was resisted by the second chamber of the Landtag, or parliament; and after several changes of government a new ministry advised the king in 1855 to appeal to the diet of the German Confederation. This was done, and the diet declared the constitution of 1848 to be invalid. Acting on this verdict, not only was a ministry formed to restore the constitution of 1840, but after some trouble a body of members fully in sympathy with this object was returned to parliament in 1857. But these members were so far from representing the opinions of the people that popular resentment compelled George to dismiss his advisers in 1862. But the more liberal government which succeeded did not enjoy his complete confidence, and in 1865 a ministry was once more formed which was more in accord with his own ideas. This contest soon lost both interest and importance owing to the condition of affairs in Germany. Bismarck, the director of the policy of Prussia, was devising methods for the realization of his schemes, and it became clear after the war over the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein that the smaller German states would soon be obliged to decide definitely between Austria and Prussia. After a period of vacillation Hanover threw in her lot with Austria, the decisive step being taken when the question of the mobilization of the federal army was voted upon in the diet on the 14th of June 1866. At once Prussia requested Hanover to remain unarmed and neutral during the war, and with equal promptness King George refused to assent to these demands. Prussian troops then crossed his frontier and took possession of his capital.
