One of the leading students then demanded of Montecuccoli whether this
was the whole of the petition they intended to send to the Emperor.
Montecuccoli answered that the Estates had been so disturbed in their
deliberations that they had not been able to come to a final decision.
But he declared that they desired to lay before the Emperor all the
wishes of the people.
Again the leaders of the crowd repeated, in slightly altered form, the
demands originally formulated by Fischhof. At last, after considerable
discussion, Montecuccoli was preparing to start for the Castle at the
head of the Estates when a regiment of soldiers arrived, but they were
unable to make their way through the crowd, and were even pressed back
out of the Herren Gasse.
The desire now arose for better protection for the people; and a
deputation tried to persuade the burgomaster of Vienna to call out the
City Guard. Czapka, the burgomaster, was, however, a mere tool of the
Government; and he declared that the Archduke Albert, as
Commander-in-Chief of the Army, had alone the power of calling out the
guard.
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