VIENNA.

New Zealand Tablet, 2 March 1877, Page 1

VIENNA.

fIENN A, the capital of the Austrian Empire, lies to tho Routli of the Danube, on an arm of which river it is situated. It is a fine but unhealthy city, containing close upon 600,000 inhabitants, and possesses some splendid building, notably tho Imperial Palace, the Palace of the Bolredere. and the Cathedial of St. Stephen It is further remarkable for the beauty of it- promocadesand parks, the principal of its public places being that known a3 tho Prater. The name of Vienna occupies a prominent position upon the pa<;e of history, but there are few who will be disposed to deny that the most important event which ever affectod tho fortunes of tho city wig tin* far-iamod sie<jo laid to it by the Turks in tlio year lfiS;i. And now when the affairs of tho nation, which at the time: wo allude t) sent out it,s devastittn.; hordes, hive bean a^.itu disastrously brought before us, the attempt then made by them and which had it been successful must have been attended with the worst consequences to Christendom gonei ally, assumes for ua a fresh interest. _ In the beyjinninsr of July in the year we have spnlcr-n of, it wis known in Vienna that Hungary wvs in a stito of insnrro<-tion ; moreover

that the insurgents, with a criminality which must ever overwhelm their memory with obloquy, had appealed to the Turks for aid, and .that Emeriok Tekeli, leader of the rebels, had by the Mohammedans been proclaimed sovereign of the revolted provinces, and in return had acknowledged himself and his reaim as under conditions of vassalage to the Porte. Nevertheless the capital was not extraordinarily disturbed ; men, trusting in the prowess of the Imperial army, pursued their ordinary course of life in the city, and in the fields wituout the reapers were busy with the harvest. Matters went on thus until the seventh day of the month, when fugitives belonging to the imperial cavalry arrived before the walls, and rumours of alarm were speedily spread throughout the town, rumours that were confirmed when Leopold the Emperor was seen hastening across the river towards Lintz, providing for his safety. Then the panic became general, and the citizens prepared themselves for flight ; nor was it over-soon— if they were to fly, — for that same night a glare upon the horizon here and there proclaimed the burning of villages, and nearer at hand the great convent of the Carmelites on the Kahlenberg made grim announcement in streamers of flame of the advance of Black Mustapha, the vizier, with his army of 400,000 men. Then, to the number of 60,000, terrified throngs hastened away from the city they believed doomed towards Styria ; but as well for perhaps the most part had they remained in the town, for they were pursued in their flight and when overtaken were dealt with in the terrible manner of the Mahommedans.

Those who remained behind under the command of Count Stahrenberg, the Governor, and instructed and encouraged by Kollonitsch, the glorious Bishop of Neustadt, long since celebrated during the Cretan -war as a Knight of Malta, busied themselves about the defence of the city. Night and day they worked and none were idle; the very women turned out and labored with the men. Then in a few days more the great army of the invaders arrived. 25,000 tents arranged in horse-shoe form were pitched against the town, and for two months was continued a siege obstinately maintained and valiantly defended. At the breaches of the walls prodigies of valor were performed. Soldier and citizen fought alike as heroes, and the women and children were employed in heating pitch and water, which they poured from the summit of the fortifications down upon the assailants, thus disabling many a stalwart Mussulman, and casting him howling with agony into the ditch. Underground, too, the combat raged, for the Turks were noted for their powers of mining, and in this manner sought to force an entry into the town, but the Viennese countermined against them, and thus bodies of armed men frequently met in the bowels of the earth and there fought to the death until it is computed that 16,000 of the enemy so perished. But all would have been in vain ; no human bravery nor skill could have saved the city had not help reached it from without. One of those great men whose existence now and then vindicates mankind from many base imputations, and proves that the race is capable of producing beings who may seem of more than mortal calibre was the elective King of Poland. John Sobieski was his name ; and it is a name that must endure for ever as that of a man who was incapable only of anything that was mean or tended towards littleness, and to whom heroic deeds and noble thoughts were the ordinary phenomena of lile. An humble Christian, one who could even bear to be openly slighted without endeavoring to resent the offence or swerving from the path of duty, as it is so common in such circumstances. A splendid hero, who knew no fear and was deserving of no reproach, glorious in his public and spotless in his private capacity, the annals of the world show us but few who may worthily be set by his side. Such was he to whom it was reserved to deliver Vienna and consequently Christendom from the danger that menaced.

Early apprised of the peril and appealed to for aid, he only delayed in affording the succour demanded of him until he might successfully act. Then, on August 15, he, having duly honoredfon the Feast of her Assumption, our Blessed Lady, set out at the head of his army for the besieged city. With great difficulty he led his troops across the Carpathians, and after surmounting obstacles that well might have appeared insurmountable, he arrived with his forces on September 10 upon the summit of the Kahlenberg, from whence he surveyed the beleagured city and the long camp of the Turks spread out before it. One night alone did he delay there j the next morning, when the Divine Sacrifice of the Mass had been offered, by Maico Aviano, the Emperor's confessor, reputed jje a.'saint, and which Mass the king served, he led his army to the p^iin below ; a task by no means easy, for besides the natural roughness of the way each ravine was warmly defended, and step by step was the descent opposed by the Mussulmen; but in vain. Sobieski was victorious, and his troops extricating themselves from the passes of the mountain formed in line of battle on the plain beneath, and alter a brief respite the attack began. The Mussulmen fought bravely. The very ardour of the Polish lancers had nearly proved their destruction, and their Bavarian allies were unable to rescue them, when the King arrived to their aid, and all yielded before him. He swept the Mahommedans back upon their camp, and having arrived at its glacis he contemplated desisting from the conflict and resting till the morrow; but fired -with indignation at the insolence of Mustapha, and perceiving by an eagle glance some marks of weakness in the ranks of the Vizier's troops, he changed his mind, and ordering the whole line to advance he himself led the attack and breaking the forces of the enemy in their midst he routed them completely. Thus was Vienna saved, and thus does Christendom owe to Poland a debt thai it pays by the blood-red hand and cruel scourges of Russia.

The Madrid 'Impartial' states that Marshal Serrano has determined to retire into private lite.