Opening of the Imperial Free-Shooting in Merano

Austrian Monarchy.

Merano, 1 Oct. (Corresp.) You will readily understand that one cannot immediately take pen in hand to report on matters in whose arrangement one takes an active part, and you will therefore forgive my letter today for being somewhat tardy. On 29 September, as is well known, the imperial free-shooting contest began here. The festive procession, of which you provided an excerpt from the programme a few days ago, set out from the Vinschgau Gate shortly after 11 o'clock. In front of the administrative building on the Rennweg, the civic guard had formed a square, within which Their Imperial Highnesses, Viceroy Rainer, the Vice-Queen, and Princes Rainer and Heinrich were assembled, surrounded by their retinue, the Imperial-Royal authorities, including District President Count Fünfkirchen, and the municipal council. To the left and right of the entrance waved the black-red-gold, green-white, and red-white festival banners, borne by 14 students, and in the background stood 24 boys holding the remaining prizes. District Captain Kopp spoke of the importance of the festival and the Emperor's grace, requesting His Imperial Highness the Viceroy to present the principal prizes, which Dr. Anton Putz, the chief shooting master, accepted with warm thanks. A choral society formed in recent days from among the finest singers of German Tyrol sang a consecration song, and the procession then moved towards the shooting grounds in the order laid down by the programme, accompanied alternately by brass music and male chorus. Among the visiting riflemen who joined in, we saw with sincere joy our dear neighbours from Bolzano in large numbers with flags and markers, and even the Italian part of the region had sent a stalwart representative in the shooting master of Strigno, Count Firmian. At the shooting range, with its countless fluttering pennants, thoughtful inscriptions, and green festoons, a lively bustle now commenced; windows and balconies served as frames for spectators in fine attire, and the pavilion of the flag tower accommodated Their Imperial Highnesses the Viceroy, the Vice-Queen, and the Princes, as well as the youthful and beautiful Princess Wasa, in whose entourage we also noted Marshal Marmont, Count Wolkenstein, Countess Esterházy, and Countess Leyden, the renowned lady marksman. Upon arrival at the shooting range, a peasant lad waved the banner to the sound of drum and pipe (Schwögel), a custom which, like so many fine remnants from the days of romanticism, reaches down in this land into our shallow modern era. Chief Shooting Master Dr. Anton Putz now stepped into the centre of the square and, in his spirited style of delivery, honoured the significance of the festival. He pointed to the newly rebuilt shooting house, bearing on its gable its dedication: 'With God for Emperor and Fatherland!' The inscriptions upon the panelling, the trophies on the beams and walls with their dates, bore witness to what Tyroleans had accomplished in grave epochs; the times of the French invasions, the recent glorious past in the Italian campaign, were the fruits of what Emperor Maximilian had planted (1511), the prince whose name lives forever on the lips of the people.

The love of the people, or as the legend recounts, an angel, was said to have saved the illustrious marksman from death on the Martinswand, but his scions, too, have not forgotten this service, becoming guardian spirits for the riflemen's guilds whenever they were in danger of falling into decline. Maximilian the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order (1665) and Leopold with his Estates (1704) had strengthened and developed the institution, and finally Ferdinand the Benign instilled into the upright people new spirit and renewed affection for its time-honoured military capacity (1845). And so his grace established the Imperial Shooting Contest, an armed competition in which the marksman might test his acquired skill in handling the weapon, a festival of manly contest; yet it calls together the armed hosts from all districts from east and west, north and south, not merely for noble competition, but also for mutual joy and fellowship, to form a nucleus around which a vigorous, joyful communal life may crystallise, to awaken and strengthen fraternal sentiment, to knit ever firmer the bond of harmony and unity for days of peace—and for days of peril! And today that moment has arrived when this national festival is observed for the first time in the heart of Tyrol, in Merano, a festival so celebrated and beloved of Tyrolean manhood, and so graciously protected and granted through the favour of our chivalrous Emperor Franz Joseph, for whom he called for a heartfelt threefold cheer: 'Long live our youthful, constitutional Emperor!' The cheer resounded from a thousand throats, the saluting guns were discharged, and the choral society, accompanied by music, struck up the Emperor's hymn, for which Dr. J. F. Lentner had penned a new contemporary text, which I forward to you in excerpt. ") The shooting banners of Merano and the Bolzano shooting company were now planted on the flag tower, and the wine of honour was presented from a large drinking horn while the choral society sang a celebratory hymn. In conclusion, Dr. Putz mounted the rostrum and declared the Imperial Free-Shooting of Merano for the year 1850 open.

In the evening, a serenade took place at Castle Winkel in honour of the birthday of His Imperial Highness Viceroy Rainer, during which the choral society performed several fine choruses to exceptional acclaim.

") We shall publish this imperial hymn as well as the remaining festival songs in our next feuilleton.