The Galician conservatists’ activities during the Springtime of Nations (an outline of the problem)

The paper discusses the political scene in the restless period of Springtime of Nations. The author analyses the distinctive features of the conservatives’ policy. Likewise he points to the experience that they obtained at the time. The policy that the conservative delegation of Lvov (composed inter alia of prince Leon Sapieha, Helcel and Maurycy Kraiński) tried to pursue in Vienna relied among others on such postulates as: autonomy of Galicia, rejection of slogans of Polish radicals who demanded that Austria should secure full liberty to Polish territories. Furthermore among their postulates there were: the necessity to punish those who were responsible for the slaughter of the Polish nobles at the time of peasant rising in 1846, replacement of the German officials by the Polish ones, convening the provincial Seym, establishing the Commission elected by the Galician estates with the task of organizing administration, judiciary, public education and provincial army. Finally they postulated the opening of the borders for the emigrants. The experience obtained by the conservatives during the Springtime of Nations had an impact on further policy pursued by the Conservatives. This policy was characterized inter alia by rejection of the federal project with the strong emphasis laid on the community of Slavs. This policy was also characterized by the Conservatives’ engagement in the institutional activities of the partitioning empires, negation of conspiracies, affirmation of legal activities, postulates of righteous solution of peasant question with due regard being made to the traditional paternalism of the nobiliary class.