ment of the city began, and it surrendered unconditionally on the 31st.
There cannot at the present time be much doubt that at this moment when two of the largest cities in the empire were subjected to the state of siege, and the attempt of the Italians to secure their independence had failed, the reactionary councillors of the court had already determined to re-establish absolutism in a new and—as events proved—even more vexatious form. Why it was thought advisable to keep up for a time the pretence of continuing parliamentary government will only be known when future historians obtain access to the now hermetically secluded state papers of this period. The new reactionary ministers in Vienna decided that the parliament should continue its deliberations, but that it should be transferred to the small town of Kroměřiže in Moravia. The deputies met there for the first time on November 22, and the Bohemians again took part in the deliberations. The assembly, in a spirit that may be called foolish or heroic, and perhaps was both, proceeded to discuss the fundamental rights of the citizens. Very radical but absolutely utopian measures were passed. At a moment when the prime minister, Prince Schwarzenberg, and the commander-in-chief, Prince Windischgrätz, were openly expressing views that to a courtier of Louis XIV would have appeared somewhat extreme, the assembly at Kroměřiže voted the suppression of hereditary nobility. Very liberal enactments defining the limits of the powers of the Church and of the State were also voted. Rieger, whose eloquence had already rendered him conspicuous, spoke strongly and brilliantly in favour of religious liberty—a fact that was often recalled when Rieger later in life expressed somewhat ultramontane views. When Prince Schwarzenberg—as events proved somewhat prematurely—believed that the war with Hungary was successfully terminated, he advised the Emperor Francis Joseph—who on December 2, 1848, had suceeded to his uncle Ferdinand—to dissolve the parliament of Kroměřiže. This was done quite suddenly on March 4, 1849, and when the members on that day arrived at the building where they met, they found it closed and all the entrances guarded by a large force of police and soldiers. The police immediately afterwards issued warrants against many deputies whose immunity now ended. Some, though the dissolution had been purposely kept secret,
