The bolt shot by the Austrian Bishops has missed fire.
Twenty- five of them, with Cardinal Rauscher at their head, recently pre- sented an address to the Kaiser, praying him -to maintain the Con- cordat, and declaring that its opponents, more especially the Municipality of Vienna, wished to root up religion, and to educate the next generation in contempt of it. The municipality, highly exasperated, presented a counter address, in which they declare that such assertions could have proceeded only from celibates, men "frozen up in a barren individuality ;" the populace made " demonstrations " in front of the Cardinal's palace, and the Reichsrath threatened unless the Concordat were repealed to break off negotiations with Hungary. The Kaiser, if Ultra- montane at heart, was compelled to give way, expressed his full confidence in the good intentions of the municipality, and told the Bishops that they were aggravating his difficulties, and had for- gotten his position as a constitutional Sovereign.
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