The New International Encyclopædia/Carlsbad Decrees

CARLSBAD DECREES. The resolutions adopted by a conference of delegates of the principal German States at Karlsbad in 1819, and promptly ratified by the Federal Assembly. They were aimed at the liberal agitation then rampant and were a part of the reactionary policy of Prince Metternich. The press was put under a strict censorship and the universities under police supervision. The Burschenschaft was to be suppressed, and a federal committee of seven was appointed to inquire into “the origin and ramifications of revolutionary conspiracies and demagogic associations.” At the Conference of Vienna in the following year constitutions were declared incompatible with the rights of the sovereigns. See Burschenschaft, and Metternich.