"Loyalty to the Empire does not need to be proven by humiliating others. And this sort of forcing people to declare their stance, forcing them to prove their resolve, may look like it is helping, but in truth it is only breeding resentment."
Had this been in a later age, Franz would have suspected this crowd of deliberately looking for trouble.
But this was the nineteenth century. Franz had seen plenty of extreme nationalists; once they became extreme, there was truly nothing they would not do.
At present, these people were merely caught up in the fervor of converts. The moment they discovered that things could not meet their expectations, or felt they had been treated unfairly, they would immediately turn around and bite back.
The Austrian Empire's upper ranks had ten thousand things they wanted to say, but after Franz pointed out the crux of the matter, they chose to keep quiet. They did not want to be used as someone else's gun, either.
"What should be done with those Danes?"
The Empire's upper ranks were clearly deeply dissatisfied with those remaining Danish nationalists. Franz had previously ordered that local affairs not be excessively interfered with.
So long as those people did not openly rebel, they could make as much noise as they liked. In the end, they would make their own choice anyway.
Franz spoke with great confidence. In truth, the overwhelming majority of Danish nationalists had chosen to lower their banners and still their drums, with some even directly changing sides.
Yet a small handful remained excessively active. Their public actions had, in effect, begun to split the country apart.
Naturally, Franz could no longer sit by and watch.
"Make both sides shut up. What we need now is stability. Any act that could divide the Empire