the
police had fired on the City Guard. It was now evident that the citizen
soldiers were on the side of the people; and the richer citizens sent a
deputation to entreat that Metternich should be dismissed.

But the Archduke Maximilian was resolved that, as the first expedient
proposed by the Council had failed, he would now apply some of those
more violent remedies which had been postponed at first. He therefore
ordered that the cannon should be brought down from the Castle to the
Michaelerplatz. From this point the cannon would have commanded, on the
one side the Herren Gasse, where the crowd had gathered in the morning,
and in front the Kohlmarkt, which led to the wide street of Amgraben.
Had the cannon been fired then and there, the course of the insurrection
must, in one way or other, have been changed. That change might have
been as Maximilian hoped, the complete collapse of the insurrection; or,
as Latour held, the cannon might have swept away the last vestige of
loyalty to the Emperor, and the republic might have been instantly
proclaimed. But in any case the result must have been most disastrous to
the cause both of order and liberty; for the passions which had already
been roused, especially among the workmen, could hardly have failed to
produce one of those savage struggles which may overthrow one tyranny,
but which usually end in the establishment of another. Fortunately,
however, the Archduke Maximilian seems to have had no official authority
in this matter; and, when he gave the order to fire, the master-gunner,
a Bohemian named Pollett, declared that he would not obey the order,
unless it was given by the commander of the forces or the commander of
the town. The Archduke then appealed to the subordinates to fire, in
spite of this opposition; but Pollett placed himself in front of the
cannon and exclaimed: "The cannon are under my command; until there
comes an order from my commander, and until necessity obliges it, let no
one fire on friendly unarmed citizens. Only over my body shall you
fire." The Archduke retired in despair.

In the mean time the deputation of citizens had reached the Castle. At
first the officials were disposed to treat them angrily, and even tried
to detain them by force; but the news of the concession of arms to the
students, the urgent pressure of Archduke John, and the accounts of the
growing fury of the people finally decided Metternich to yield; and,
advancing into the room whe