This act, however, did not imply any
personal hostility to Ferdinand; for the belief that the Austrian
ministers were thwarting the good intentions of their master was as
deeply rooted at this time in the minds of the Viennese as was a similar
belief with regard to Pius IX and his cardinals in the minds of the
Romans; and when the Emperor drove out on March 15th, he was received
with loud cheers.
But as Ferdinand listened to these cheers he must have noticed that,
louder than the "_Es lebe der Kaiser_" of his German subjects and the
"_Slawa_" of the Bohemians, rose the sound of the Hungarian "_Eljen_."
For mingling in the crowd with the ordinary inhabitants of Vienna was
the Hungarian deputation, which had at last been permitted by the Count
Palatine to leave Presburg, and which had arrived in Vienna to demand
both freedoms that had been granted to the Germans and also a separate
responsible ministry for Hungary. They arrived in the full glory of
recent successes in the Presburg Diet; for, strengthened by the news of
the Viennese rising, Kossuth had carried, in one day, many of the
reforms for which his party had so long been contending.
Pages:
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386