This deputation waited on the
Emperor on March 12th, but it proved of little avail; and when the
professors returned with the answer that the Emperor would consider
their wishes, the students received them with laughter and resolved to
take the matter into their own hands. The next day was to be the opening
of the Assembly of the Estates of Lower Austria; and the students of
Vienna resolved to march from the University to the Landhaus.
In the great hall of the University, now hidden away in an obscure part
of Vienna but still retaining traces of the paintings which then
decorated it, the students gathered in large numbers on March 13th.
Various rumors of a discouraging kind had been circulated; this and that
leading citizen were mentioned as having been arrested; nay, it was even
said that members of the Estates had themselves been seized, and that
the sitting of the Assembly would not be allowed to take place. To these
rumors were added the warnings of the professors.
Fuester, who had recently preached on the duty of devotion to the cause
of the country, now endeavored, by praises of the Emperor, to check the
desire of the students for immediate action; but he was shouted down.
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