Address of the Mayor of Meran on the Occasion of the Imperial Portrait Presentation at Tirol Castle

Meran. Through our esteemed correspondent from Meran, in further supplement to the report on the festivities at Castle Tirol on the occasion of the most exalted birthday of His Majesty the Emperor, we are now also provided with the address delivered by the Mayor of Meran on that occasion, which we cannot refrain from sharing with our valued readers on account of its truly patriotic and enthusiastic spirit. It reads as follows:

Gentlemen! His Majesty our most gracious Emperor and Lord has, by sending His supreme portrait to be displayed in the Tyrolean ancestral castle, bestowed upon our fatherland a special proof of grace and favor.

I therefore tender to the most serene Sovereign my deepest and most heartfelt thanks for this precious gift into the hands of the Honorable District Captain as head of the representative authority:

in the name of the municipality within whose precincts this ancestral castle lies, which shares its glorious name with the same, and which on the classical soil of its central plain gloriously defeated the enemies of Austria in the year 1809;

I tender these thanks

in the name of the town of Meran, which in bygone times was governed under princely rule from this castle and was alternately itself the residence of the sovereigns; of the town which never wavered in its loyalty to its Emperor and has preserved its affection for the ancestral ruling house down to the present day;

I tender these thanks

in the name of the Burggrafenamt, which since ancient times was summoned with distinction to the guard and defense of this sovereign domain, whose riflemen in all struggles directed the bullets of their rifles with clear eye and firm arm into the heart of the enemies of our Emperor, winning glorious victories especially in the year 1809 against the oppressors of German honor and German freedom;

I renew this expression of gratitude

in the name of our fatherland, the land of mountains and loyalty, which at all times stood under arms for the rights of our imperial throne and our beloved ruling house; of the land which stained red the eagle of its banner in bloody battle for Austria, having long distinguished itself through its martial prowess, especially in the War of Succession of 1703 and in the French Revolutionary Wars of the last decade of the previous and the first decade of the present century, and having through its glorious victories in 1809 prepared Germany's war of liberation in 1813 against French tyranny. In recent times as well, this land has once again proven its loyalty.

Through the transmission of this portrait so dear to us, the Emperor has provided proof that he will always do justice to the loyal Tyrolean people. This image inspires in us the confidence that the most serene ruler will let forbearance and clemency reign over our fatherland, once the time of necessary sacrifices for the preservation of the undivided Austrian state has passed and the deep wound is healed which the new era of violent general upheaval has dealt to the imperial realm.

God bless Austria! God protect and preserve our beloved chivalrous Emperor Franz Joseph I. Long may he live!