A Thorny Problem

At the instigation of this group, Austria's aristocratic circles launched a political spectacle of shared grief. First came charity balls, with money and goods donated in abundance, followed by a collective petition.

If something like this had happened in the East, or even just a little farther east, these people would all be doomed.

But it had happened in the Austrian Empire, so the government had no choice but to consider a solution.

The Regency Council knew perfectly well, however, that these people were the root cause of the Galicia rebellion. There was no way they could be sent back. Keeping them in Vienna would be just as troublesome. What if they got it into their heads to rebel again one day?

In fact, even if the government wanted to send them back to Galicia, Franz had burned their land deeds and the contracts binding their serfs. Even the final backup was gone.

Still, the empire's upper ranks had no real objections to Franz burning the contracts. After all, from any angle, the Poles could no longer be allowed to throw their weight around in Galicia.

Besides, they had also benefited in practice from the establishment of the Imperial Manor. Everyone knew it, of course, but the blame still had to fall on Galicia's serfs and the Polish Restoration Army.

The Regency Council initially planned to ship the Polish nobles off to the colonies, where they could carry on as their lordly landlord selves. After all, according to Franz, the colonies had land to spare.

Franz strongly opposed the idea. At the time, the upper classes in every colony were dominated by German-speaking peoples.

Franz had put a great deal of effort into carefully selecting the members of this system. Bringing in a large number of Polish landlords all at