I HAD completed my second year at the University, when, inOctober 1848, just as I was about to return to Cambridgeafter the long vacation, an old friend - William Grey, theyoungest of the ex-Prime-Minister's sons - called on me at myLondon lodgings. He was attached to the Vienna Embassy,where his uncle, Lord Ponsonby, was then ambassador. Shortlybefore this there had been serious insurrections both inParis, Vienna, and Berlin.

　　Many may still be living who remember how Louis Philippe fledto England; how the infection spread over this country; how25,000 Chartists met on Kennington Common; how the upper andmiddle classes of London were enrolled as special constables,with the future Emperor of the French amongst them; how thepromptitude of the Iron Duke saved London, at least, from thefate of the French and Austrian capitals.

　　This, however, was not till the following spring. Up toOctober, no overt defiance of the Austrian Government had yetasserted itself; but the imminence of an outbreak was theanxious thought of the hour. The hot heads of Germany,France, and England were more than meditating - they werethreatening, and preparing for, a European revolution.

　　Bloody battles were to be fought; kings and emperors were tobe dethroned and decapitated; mobs were to take the place ofparliaments; the leaders of the 'people' - I.E. the stumporators - were to rule the world; property was to be dividedand subdivided down to the shirt on a man's - a rich man's -back; and every 'po'r' man was to have his own, and -somebody else's. This was the divine law of Nature,according to the gospels of Saint Jean Jacques and Mr.

　　Feargus O'Connor. We were all naked under our clothes, whichclearly proved our equality. This was the simple, thebeautiful programme; once carried out, peace, fraternal andeternal peace, would reign - till it ended, and the earthlyParadise would be an accomplished fact.

　　I was an ultra-Radical - a younger-son Radical - in thosedays. I was quite ready to share with my elder brother; Ihad no prejudice in favour of my superiors; I had oftendreamed of becoming a leader of the 'people' - a stumporator, I.E. - with the handsome emoluments of ministerialoffice.

　　William Grey came to say good-bye. He was suddenly recalledin consequence of the insurrection. 'It is a most criticalstate of affairs,' he said. 'A revolution may break out allover the Continent at any moment. There's no saying where itmay end. We are on the eve of a new epoch in the history ofEurope. I wouldn't miss it on any account.'

　　'Most interesting! most interesting!' I exclaimed. 'How Iwish 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 chanceagain.'

　　'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 mydespatches. Dine with me to-night at my mother's - nobodyelse - and I'll bring your passport in my pocket.'

　　'So be it, then. Billy Whistle [the irreverend nickname weundergraduates gave the Master of Trinity] will rusticate meto 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 hadalready heard, while changing carriages at Breslau station,that the revolution had broken out at Vienna, that the railswere torn up, the Bahn-hof burnt, the military defeated anddriven from the town. William Grey's official papers, aidedby his fluent German, enabled us to pass the barriers, andfind our way into the city. He went straight to the Embassy,and sent me on to the 'Erzherzog Carl' in the Karnthner ThorStrasse, at that time the best hotel in Vienna. It beingstill nearly dark, candles were burning in every window byorder of the insurgents.

　　The preceding day had been an eventful one. Theproletariats, headed by the students, had sacked the arsenal,the troops having made but slight resistance. They thenmarched to the War Office and demanded the person of the WarMinister, Count Latour, who was most unpopular on account ofhis known appeal to Jellachich, the Ban of Croatia, toassist, if required, in putting down the disturbances. Somesharp fighting here took place. The rioters defeated thesmall body of soldiers on the spot, captured two guns, andtook possession of the building. The unfortunate ministerwas found in one of the upper garrets of the palace. Theruffians dragged him from his place of concealment, andbarbarously murdered him. They then flung his body from thewindow, and in a few minutes it was hanging from a lamp-postabove the heads of the infuriated and yelling mob.

　　In 1848 the inner city of Vienna was enclosed within a broadand lofty bastion, fosse, and glacis. These were levelled in1857. As soon as the troops were expelled, cannon wereplaced on the Bastei so as to command the approaches fromwithout. The tunnelled gateways were built up, andbarricades erected across every principal thoroughfare.

　　Immediately after these events Ferdinand I. abdicated infavour of the present Emperor Francis Joseph, who retiredwith 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, afterwardsSir George, Governor of New Zealand, with whom I was glad tofraternise.

　　These humble pages do not aspire to the dignity of History;but a few words as to what took place are needful for thewriter's purposes. The garrison in Vienna had beencomparatively small; and as the National Guard had joined thestudents and proletariats, it was deemed advisable by theGovernment to await the arrival of reinforcements underPrince Windischgratz, who, together with a strong body ofServians and Croats under Jellachich, might overawe theinsurgents; or, if not, recapture the city withoutunnecessary bloodshed. The rebels were buoyed up by hopes ............