prevented any ingress or egress, and cleared the streets of all disturbers. As soon, however, as the emperor had heard that five or six of his Viennese had been shot in the street, and when his ears were filled with the noises caused by the conflict between the soldiery and the multitude, he came to the determination to yield every thing sooner than cause the death of another citizen of Vienna. The friends of the emperor remonstrated; but it was useless to argue with him; his only answer was, "he would have no more bloodshed." The precautions taken by Prince Metternich thus proved of no avail. The will of the emperor was omnipotent for peace for a concession to the popular demands for any thing and every thing which might tend to save his people from death by the sword and the cannon. The hands of the military were thus paralyzed; and as their inactivity was speedily noticed, riots burst out afresh, lanterns were broken, sign posts were torn down, and some of the windows of the public buildings smashed in presence of the soldiers. The courage of the students was again aroused, and they determined then, on what they had not previously thought, of dividing themselves into companies, and sending a request to the emperor, that he would permit them to have arıns. By this time, it might be said that the work of the revolution had been accomplished. The soldiers, who had preserved order, were forbidden to interfere further; they were openly insulted by the mob, and were not allowed to resent it. An overwhelming force stood paralyzed in the presence of a comparatively few, who indulged in riots, and excesses of all kinds. The influence of Metternich had ceased, and he then determined on resigning a post which he had long held with honour to himself, benefit to his sovereign, and advantage to the empire. He, whose policy had unthroned Napoleon, was driven from power, office, and imperial dignity, by the tumultuous gathering of beardless boys, and of a ruffian rabble! The administrator who, whatever faults might be found with him by others, was at least worthy of a golden statue in the latrarium of his emperor, was expelled, and his downfall celebrated as a triumph-as if he had been nothing better * "Imagines eorum aureas in latrario haberet." Capitolinus, M. Anton. Philosop. Hist. August. Script. vol. i. p. 297. a than a Sejanus. It is not our province to be the panegyrist of Prince Metternich. If we were so, we should only make a vain effort to remove that unpopularity which has long fastened upon his name in this country; but this we cannot avoid observing, that if we regard him solely as an Austrian minister, he extorts our admiration; because, we must look upon him as one, the main object of whose life was to retain in its integrity the empire of which he was the protector-to preserve in their allegiance the various and hostile nations of which the Austrian empire is composed to guard his sovereign from hostilities abroad, and the subjects in peace at home-to raise up amongst the poor in each particular nation, as contradistinguished from the nobility, the fastest friends to the monarchy-to establish a fallen dynasty, and reorganise a society which had been ruined by wars and foreign invasions; to save the throne, and to control the disaffected, and to do all this by his own energies, and finally to bring it to perfection by his sole unaided statesmanship. It is but justice to fallen minister to refer to these facts; and our excuse for doing so is, that we will not follow the example of the mob of authors, who have no words of praise but for the unfortunate, and who are ever ready to detract from the merits of those who have been defeated: "non enim, ego id faciam, quod plerique scriptores solent, ut de his detraham qui victi sunt."* There are passages in the political career of Prince Metternich to be disapproved of; there are others, which, if they cannot be explained, such, for instance, as the massacres at Gallicia-that are deserving not merely of condemnation, but of the reprobation of every man, and especially of every Catholic. Considering him, however, solely in that light in which we at present desire especially to regard him, we shall find that the peace that prevailed previous to his downfall, and the confusion, tumult, anarchy, and bloodshed, subsequent to that circumstance, are in themselves the best panegyric upon his policy, and the strongest proofs that he was alone fitted, if his advice had been followed, to stem the torrent of events, and to prevent them from overwhelming his sovereign and the empire in one common destruction. 1 Between the hours of five and nine o'clock on the evening of the 13th of March, the fate of the Austrian * Lampridius, Anton. Heliogab. Hist. August. Script. vol i. p. 879. empire was pending upon upon the discussion that then took place in the palace. It was decided, when the emperor rejected the advice of Prince Metternich, and accepted his resignation. At nine o'clock it was announced that the emperor had assented to the arming of the citizens and the students, and that Prince Metternich had resigned. This announcement appeared to be the signal, not for peace, but for disorder. It seemed as if all the tutelary deities of the empire had abandoned Vienna when Metternich fled from it: "Excessere omnes adytis, arisque relictis In all parts of the suburbs, bands of ruffians were to be found, plundering houses, setting them on fire, robbing the peaceful passengers; the custom houses were delivered to the flames and destroyed; the villa of Prince Metternich, and many private as well as public establishments were attacked; upon the glacis, the gas candelabra were smashed, and the furious jets of flames cast up from the broken columns, caught the adjoining palisades and consumed them; so that Vienna appeared for a time to be belted round with fire. The iron railings of the Vienna bridges were broken down. Mischief was let loose, and completed the destruction which spoliation and crime had commenced. The revolutionists, who sought but for changes which would be agreeable to themselves, found that they had let loose robbers and villains, who desired to convert to their own pecuniary profit the cessation of that vigilant control which had been hitherto exercised over them. Anarchy prevailed where order had hitherto predominated; and as the arm of the military had been paralyzed, and as the burgher guard was barely sufficient to protect the inner town from conflagration and robbery, it was necessary to arm the students at once, and send them to the outer town, or suburbs of Vienna, for the purpose of checking outrage. It was about midnight that the students marched out of Vienna, and their numbers were found sufficient, wherever they appeared, to overawe the thieves of the suburbs in their depredations. On the morning of the 14th of March, there was pub * Virgil, Æneid. Lib. ii. 351, 352. lished a proclamation from the emperor, in which was notified his majesty's permission to the students to arm themselves, and an appeal to the citizens to enrol themselves in the burgher-guard, whilst, at the same time, a request was made to all the owners of houses, fathers of families, masters of factories and workshops, to keep their domestics and operatives within doors, so as to prevent the streets being filled with idle persons. This proclamation was followed by the distribution of arms, not only to the students, but to all others who notified that they were anxious for the preservation of the peace, by wearing a white band on the arm, or a white cockade in the hat. In the course of a few hours, forty thousand stand of arms were thus distributed; and at eleven o'clock it was declared that the armoury had been exhausted of every warlike weapon, some of these being manifestly arms which had been employed when Vienna had been last besieged by the Turks. No sooner had the revolutionists obtained possession of arms, than the burgomaster, with a deputation, was sent to the emperor to request his approval to "the establishment of a national guard." The deputation was sent at twelve o'clock, and without waiting for a reply from his majesty, it was notified that the enrolment of the national guard would take place at three o'clock. Such was the occupation of the revolutionists in the city; whilst outside robbery and destruction of property were carried on in a most lamentable manner. The Mariahilfer church and convent were plundered; factories in Miedling, Atzgersdorf, Himberg, &c., were burned to the ground; and although the rioters were offered by the factory owners whatever sums of money they choose to demand to spare the machines, the money was refused, and the machines destroyed; and yet, so capricious were the mob, that whilst they spared the houses of butchers and bakers, who bestowed upon them bread and meat, they invariably tore down the houses, and destroyed every vestige of property of the butcher and baker who presumed to ask the price of his goods from those who had come determined to rob him.* *" Lætantur prædones, et exultant lictores capta præda: convertuntur vomeres in gladios, et falces in lanceas, non est, qui in latere non deferat chalybem et lapidem in præparationem At three o'clock, and whilst the citizens were engaged in enrolling themselves as a national guard, there appeared a proclamation from the emperor, some sentences of which are worthy of translation, as demonstrating the opinions of his majesty, and proving that he felt he had been deceived when he had made the concessions previously demanded from him. "During the commotion of yesterday, certain requests were made to his majesty the emperor, which requests were granted by him, in the settled hope, and in full reliance upon the assurance given to him by the states, the burghers, and the academical senate, that peace and order would thereby be restored, and without having recourse to any further employment for an armed force. To-day other requests are laid before him, and the same assurances are repeated, although affairs are in a still more disturbed condition than they were yesterday. "The security of the throne must be shaken should his majesty again yield to deceptive hopes. It is impossible in times of excitement, for his majesty to take into consideration, much less to establish institutions suitable to the empire. Hence it is plainly the interest of those who make these requests to maintain the peace, and thus bring themselves nearer to that period of time in which may be granted what is sought for by them." This proclamation concluded by stating, that for the purpose of maintaining the dignity of the throne, and securing the peace of the city, Field-marshal the Prince de Windischgratz had been appointed to the supreme command over the civil and military authorities, and all were called upon to aid him in the attainment of these objects. This proclamation was the last appeal made against a violent revolution by the emperor. It was not responded to. On the contrary, a deputation of twelve was sent from the Riding School, where the names of persons disposed to act as a national guard were inscribed, and that deputation was required to see the emperor, and to make these two demands: first, to assent to the institution of a national guard; second, to concede the liberty of the press. Whilst this deputation was absent, violent speeches were delivered, and the effort was made to induce the people to determine upon a revolt, should their requests be refused. The incendii et in exustionem." Conradi Episcopi Chronicon, as quoted by Schmidt, Geschichte der Deutschen, B. 6, c. 16. vol. iii. p. 190. |