Tyrol (Austria) -- Description and travel; Tyrol (Austria) -- History
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."
[Sidenote: 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.
[Sidenote: THE DEATH OF HOFER]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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