Doctor Loehner's proposal, however, does not seem to have been generally
adopted; and, instead of the suggested appeal to the Estates, a
programme of eleven points was circulated by the debating society. When
we consider that the revolution broke out in less than a fortnight after
this petition, we cannot but be struck with the extreme moderation of
the demands now made. Most of the eleven points were concerned with
proposals for the removal either of forms of corruption, or of
restraints on personal liberty, and they were directed chiefly against
those interferences with the life and teaching of the universities which
were causing so much bitterness in Vienna. Such demands for
constitutional reforms as were contained in this programme were
certainly not of an alarming character. The petitioners asked that the
right of election to the Assembly of Estates should be extended to
citizens and peasants; that the deliberative powers of the Estates
should be enlarged; and that the whole empire should be represented in
an assembly, for which, however, the petitioners asked only a
consultative power.
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