Around him thronged the citizens, overcome with transports of joy, pressing him so closely that many were trampled beneath his horse's feet. In the enthusiasm, relief, and triumph of victory, Hofer was named with one voice dictator of Tyrol. But there was that strange analogy which links Hofer's attitude in the hour of triumph so closely (notwithstanding the differentiations of sex) with that of Joan of Arc and with Cromwell. Turning to the thronging multitude, which filled the narrow streets to overflowing, he cried out, with a gentle and almost pitiful glance at their upturned faces, "Do not shout in triumph; but offer thanks to God and pray." At the door of the church of the Franciscans he dismounted, and entered the building to return thanks to God, and remained there in prayer, unmoved by the cheers and "Hochs" of the great assembly of his troopers and fellow-countrymen outside, the sounds of which, as they came in through the constantly open doors of the church at that hour, bore no personal significance to him.
On leaving the building he was waited upon by the chief citizens, who expressed their undying gratitude to their deliverer. But in response he said, "By my beard and St. George, God himself and not I has been the Saviour of our country."
Andreas Hofer was destined to show that he was not only a warrior, but also an administrator, actuated by the most lofty desires for his country's good. In every act of his government could be detected the truly religious and patriotic character of the man. And during the short time that he reigned in the palace at Innsbruck, waiting anxiously for the approval and the help from his Emperor in Vienna, his conduct was marked by dignity, kindliness, and strength. But alas, his triumph was but brief. In less than two months after the retaking of Innsbruck, a fresh Bavarian army was entering Tyrol by way of the Unter-Innthal, and taking Speckbacher unawares the invaders gained a partial victory; and ere the disaster of October 10th could be retrieved, the Treaty of Vienna was agreed upon (October 14, 1809), by which the hand of one of the Habsburg princesses was promised to Napoleon as the price of peace.
Tyrol by this new arrangement remained Bavarian, and the Archduke John himself called upon Andreas Hofer to lay down his arms. The latter did not obey. He persuaded himself that the Treaty of Vienna was without substance, or merely a trick to enable the invaders to make good their fresh hold upon the country, and he decided to continue the struggle. His followers, however, were discouraged by the callous way in which the Austrian Government had invariably left them to fight their own battles alone.
Speckbacher, too, was deserted by all save a mere handful of men, and after remaining in hiding for some time and escaping capture by a miracle he succeeded in getting to Vienna. The Capuchin Haspinger afterwards joined him there, and was ultimately made curate of Hietzing, near Schönbrunn. It then became clear to Hofer that to continue the struggle for freedom just then was useless and, indeed, impossible; so he dispersed his own handful of faithful friends and supporters, telling them, "We shall meet again before long, for Tyrol will not perish."
HOFER AN OUTLAW
With these prophetic words, which were destined never to be realized so far as the meeting with his faithful comrades in arms was concerned, Hofer took farewell of his companions and fled a fugitive into the mountains of the Passeyer Valley.
A price was put upon his head by the Bavarians and French, who recognized that their peaceful occupation of the conquered and ceded territory depended very greatly upon the capture and imprisonment or death of Hofer, who, as a popular hero, held so high a place in the hearts of his countrymen; and that for him to remain at large would constitute a perpetual menace.
For a long while Hofer was able to elude the vigilance and discovery of his would-be captors. Technically, and owing to his abandonment by the Austrian Government, he was a rebel on account of his refusal to lay down his arms when commanded by the Archduke John to do so. In the end, as so often happens, there was one found base and treacherous enough to betray the fugitive for blood money. Guided by such an one, named Raffl, some Italian gendarmes, supported by a small detachment of French soldiers, made their way amid the intricate mountain paths to the chalet where—near St. Leonard, but far from other habitations—Andreas Hofer had for some months lived with his family, now broken down by despair for his country, anxiety and privation.
He made no resistance, and was immediately taken to Mantua, escorted (such was his fame and the fear lest he should escape or be rescued) by four French officers, a battalion of infantry, and a detachment of cavalry. No effort appears to have been made by the Austrian authorities to save the hero to whom they owed so much, and Hofer was tried by court-martial under the presidency of General Bisson, and condemned to be shot.
THE DEATH OF HOFER
On the morning of February 20th, 1810, Andreas Hofer, who lay in prison but a short time after condemnation, was awakened early and led forth to die. At the gates were gathered a handful of his friends and companions in arms who had been captured and brought to Mantua, or had followed him there, and these knelt and entreated his blessing as he passed by them; this he gave calmly, remaining far less outwardly moved than they who received it.
Then onwards to the Ceresa Gate, where the firing party halted. Hofer declined to have his eyes bandaged; neither would he kneel. But standing erect with unwavering courage he faced the file of soldiers, who with loaded muskets were to do him to death. Giving his last remaining piece of money to the corporal, he said to him, "Aim straight." Then he calmly gave the signal to fire.
The muskets rang out, the bullets sped to their mark, and one of the noblest of patriots Europe had ever seen fell without a groan.
At his own last request his body was buried at Mantua in the garden of his friend and father confessor, Manifesti. There it lay for fifteen years, until one night three officers of a Tyrol Chasseur regiment stealthily removed the remains, distressed that the hero of Tyrol should lie buried in foreign soil. The body was first taken to Bozen, and shortly afterwards to the Abbey of Wilten.
When later a funeral worthy of his fame was accorded him, deputations came from all parts of Tyrol to pay their tribute to the greatest hero in its history; and amid a throng which was perhaps never before equalled in the streets of Innsbruck, the remains of Andreas Hofer were with great appropriateness borne to their last resting-place in the church of the Franciscans by twelve innkeepers. On the coffin lay his hat, sword, and decorations, and upon it were the armorial bearings of his family, which had been ennobled by the Emperor Francis I. in 1819. And thus, in a tomb cut from the marble of the Tyrol he loved, his body was laid to rest.
In the same year that Hofer died, Tyrol was divided into three parts. Italy took the southern, Bavaria retained the northern, and Illyria the south-eastern or Pusterthal district. So it remained for three years, until 1813, when the power of Napoleon was once and for ever broken in eastern Europe, when he was defeated at the fierce battle of Leipsic on October 16–18, by the allied forces of Austria, Russia and Prussia. In this battle (known as "the battle of the nations") upwards of 400,000 men were engaged; a fifth of the number were slain. The allies were helped at a critical point of the fighting by the defection from Napoleon of a large force of Saxons.
In the following year Tyrol was reunited to Austria with the addition of the Ziller and Brixen valleys and Windisch-Matrei. On May 27, 1816, the Emperor Francis I. (who in 1806 had resigned the title of Emperor of Germany, retaining only that of Austria) entered Innsbruck to receive the allegiance of the people. His reception was most enthusiastic, the people rejoicing unrestrainedly at once more gaining their freedom, and being reunited to the Austrian Empire.
During the revolutionary excitement which pervaded Europe in 1848 the then Emperor of Austria, Ferdinand, and his Empress took refuge in Tyrol; and in the Austro-Italian War of 1848 the Tyrolese greatly distinguished themselves by their bravery and good marksmanship.
There remains little more to add concerning Tyrol's history. On December 2, 1848, the Emperor Francis Joseph I. succeeded his uncle Ferdinand, who abdicated after ruling the country for thirteen years under the guidance of the powerful Prince Metternich whose reactionary policy provoked the Revolution of 1848.
In