all.
From the roof and windows of the Diet Hall missiles were hurled upon the
soldiery. The interior of the Hall was demolished. The soldiers now fired a
volley and cleared the Hall with their bayonets. Blood flowed freely and
many were killed. The sound of the shots was received by the crowds around
the palace with howls of rage. The whole city was in an uproar. Barricades
were thrown up and the gunsmith shops were sacked. At the palace, where the
Emperor himself remained invisible, Metternich and his assembled Council
received the deputation in state. The Council urged the aged Prime Minister
to grant the demanded concession. At length he withdrew into an adjoining
chamber to draft an order annulling the censorship of the press. While he
was thus engaged the cry was raised, "Down with Metternich!" The deputies
in the Council Chamber peremptorily demanded his dismissal. When the old
statesman returned he found himself abandoned even by his colleagues.
Metternich realized that the end had come. He made a brief farewell speech,
marked by all the dignity and self-possession of his greatest days, and
left the Council Chamber to announce his resignation to the Emperor.

[Sidenote: Quiet restored]

[Sidenote: Hungarian demands]

[Sidenote: Kossuth in Vienna]

[Sidenote: Demonstrations of enthusiasm]

The news of Metternich's downfall was received with deafening cheers. His
personality was so closely identified with all that was most hateful in
Austrian politics that the mere announcement of his resignation sufficed to
quell the popular tumult. On the night of March 14, Metternich contrived to
escape from Vienna unobserved, and fled across the frontier. On the same
day a National Guard was established in Vienna, and was supplied with arms
taken from the government arsenal. The Viennese outbreak gave irresistible
force to the national movement in Hungary. Now the Chamber of Magnates,
which had hitherto opposed the demands of the Lower House, adopted the same
by a unanimous vote. On March 15, a deputation was despatched to Vienna to
demand from the Emperor not only a liberal constitution, but a separate
Ministry, absolute freedom of the press, trial by jury, equality of
religion, and a free public-school system. The Hungarians, with Kossuth in
the lead, were received in triumph in Vienna. They paraded through the
streets, and were greeted by Emperor Ferdinand in person. He consented to
everything and issued an imperial resc