That is hardly doubtful. “Imprison a Slav idea,” it has been written, “in the deepest dungeon of a fortress, and it will blow up the fortress in order to get out.” But that peril belonged to the future. For the moment Austria was once more saved; and the Emperor’s coronation in the cathedral, in 1867, was a magnificent ceremony, every detail of it fraught with significance to those who knew their history. We have to picture Francis Joseph, mounted on a snow-white horse, ascending the ancient hill, and brandishing his sword to the four points of Heaven as a sign that he would confound his subjects’ enemies, whether they came from north, south, east, or west; a very different experience truly from that of the days when Milan had received him and the Empress, with their heads covered, in stony silence, and the people of Venice had shunned the Archduke Maximilian and the Archduchess Charlotte as if they were lepers who had escaped from quarantine. A part of the ceremony consisted in the presentation to him of a purse of money, and he ordered its contents to be distributed among the families of those who had fallen fighting against him in 1849. It was one of those magnificent gestures which, like kind words, are worth much and cost little. So that Francis Joseph, having turned a rebuff to his advantage, was stronger after Sadowa than before it; and he soon showed his skill in conciliating individuals by bestowing the office of Prime Minister upon the Count Andrassy who had been condemned to death, and hanged in effigy, for his share in the Hungarian rebellion. “I am so glad I didn’t really hang you,” he said genially, “for, in that case, I should have deprived myself of the most capable and amiable of my Prime Ministers”; and he did as good a day’s work when he said that as when he promoted the old soldiers whom he had caught poaching to be game-keepers. Moreover, he displayed a similar readiness to let bygones be bygones and to fight shoulder to shoulder with his old enemies when Prussia fell out with France in 1870. That, however, is an intricate story, and demands a separate chapter. CHAPTER XV Attitude of Austria in the Franco-German War—Proposed alliance of France, Italy, and Austria against Prussia—General Türr’s interview with Francis Joseph—Victor Emmanuel’s conditions—The bargain concluded—The French plan of campaign drafted by the Archduke Albert—Beust’s letter to Richard Metternich—Reasons why the Austrian promises were not fulfilled.