'It is a most critical
state of affairs,' he said. 'A revolution may break out all
over the Continent at any moment. There's no saying where it
may end. We are on the eve of a new epoch in the history of
Europe. I wouldn't miss it on any account.'
'Most interesting! most interesting!' I exclaimed. 'How I
wish I were going with you!'
'Come,' said he, with engaging brevity.
'How can I? I'm just going back to Cambridge.'
'You are of age, aren't you?'
I nodded.
'And your own master? Come; you'll never have such a chance
again.'
'When do you start?'
'To-morrow morning early.'
'But it is too late to get a passport.'
'Not a bit of it. I have to go to the Foreign Office for my
despatches. Dine with me to-night at my mother's - nobody
else - and I'll bring your passport in my pocket.'
'So be it, then. Billy Whistle [the irreverend nickname we
undergraduates gave the Master of Trinity] will rusticate me
to a certainty. It can't be helped. The cause is sacred.
I'll meet you at Lady Grey's to-night.'
We reached our destination at daylight on October 9. We had
already heard, while changing carriages at Breslau station,
that the revolution had broken out at Vienna, that the rails
were torn up, the Bahn-hof burnt, the military defeated and
driven from the town. William Grey's official papers, aided
by his fluent German, enabled us to pass the barriers, and
find our way into the city. He went straight to the Embassy,
and sent me on to the 'Erzherzog Carl' in the Karnthner Thor
Strasse, at that time the best hotel in Vienna. It being
still nearly dark, candles were burning in every window by
order of the insurgents.
The preceding day had been an eventful one. The
proletariats, headed by the students, had sacked the arsenal,
the troops having made but slight resistance. They then
marched to the War Office and demanded the person of the War
Minister, Count Latour, who was most unpopular on account of
his known appeal to Jellachich, the Ban of Croatia, to
assist, if required, in putting down the disturbances. Some
sharp fighting here took place. The rioters defeated the
small body of soldiers on the spot, captured two guns, and
took possession of the building. The unfortunate minister
was found in one of the upper garrets of the palace. The
ruffians dragged him from his place of concealment, and
barbarously murdered him. They then flung his body from the
window, and in a few minutes it was hanging from a lamp-post
above the heads of the infuriated and yelling mob.
In 1848 the inner city of Vienna was enclosed within a broad
and lofty bastion, fosse, and glacis. These were levelled in
1857. As soon as the troops were expelled, cannon were
placed on the Bastei so as to command the approaches from
without. The tunnelled gateways were built up, and
barricades erected across every principal thoroughfare.
Immediately after these events Ferdinand I. abdicated in
favour of the present Emperor Francis Joseph, who retired
with the Court to Schobrunn. Foreigners at once took flight,
and the hotels were emptied. The only person left in the
'Archduke Charles' beside myself was Mr. Bowen, afterwards
Sir George, Governor of New Zealand, with whom I was glad to
fraternise.
These humble pages do not aspire to the dignity of History;
but a few words as to what took place are needful for the
writer's purposes. The garrison in Vienna had been
comparatively small; and as the National Guard had joined the
students and proletariats, it was deemed advisable by the
Government to await the arrival of reinforcements under
Prince Windischgratz, who, together with a strong body of
Servians and Croats under Jellachich, might overawe the
insurgents; or, if not, recapture the city without
unnecessary bloodshed. The rebels were buoyed up by hopes of
support from the Hungarians under Kossuth. But in this they
were disappointed. In less than three weeks from the day of
the outbreak the city was beleaguered. Fighting began
outside the town on the 24th. On the 25th the soldiers
occupied the Wieden and Nussdorf suburbs. Next day the
Gemeinderath (Municipal Council) sent a PARLEMENTAR to treat
with Windischgratz. The terms were rejected, and the city
was taken by storm on October 30.
A few days before the bombardment, the Austrian commander
gave the usual notice to the Ambassadors to quit the town.
This they accordingly did. Before leaving, Lord Ponsonby
kindly sent his private secretary, Mr. George Samuel, to warn
me and invite me to join him at Schonbrunn. I politely
elected to stay and take my chance. After the attack on the
suburbs began I had reason to regret the decision. The
hotels were entered by patrols, and all efficient waiters
KOMMANDIERE'D to work at the barricades, or carry arms. On
the fourth day I settled to change sides. The constant
banging of big guns, and rattle of musketry, with the
impossibility of getting either air or exercise without the
risk of being indefinitely deprived of both, was becoming
less amusing than I had counted on. I was already provided
with a PASSIERSCHEIN, which franked me inside the town, and
up to the insurgents' outposts. The difficulty was how to
cross the neutral ground and the two opposing lines. Broad
daylight was the safest time for the purpose; the officious
sentry is not then so apt to shoot his friend. With much
stalking and dodging I made a bolt; and, notwithstanding
violent gesticulations and threats, got myself safely seized
and hurried before the nearest commanding officer.
He happened to be a general or a colonel. He was a fierce
looking, stout old gentleman with a very red face, all the
redder for his huge white moustache and well-filled white
uniform.
