Joseph II. and His Court | Page 7

thereunto your
attention and advice. We are at this sitting to deliberate upon the future
policy of Austria, and deeply significant will be the result of this day's
deliberations to Austria's welfare. Some of our old treaties are about to
expire. Time, which has somewhat moderated the bitterness of our
enemies, seems also to have weakened the amity of our friends. Both
are dying away; and the question now before us is, whether we shall
extinguish enmity, or rekindle friendship? For seventy years past
England, Holland, and Sardinia have been our allies. For three hundred
years France has been our hereditary enemy. Shall we renew our

alliance with the former powers, or seek new relations with the latter?
Let me have your views, my lords."
With these concluding words, Maria Theresa waved her hand, and
pointed to Count Uhlefeld. The lord chancellor arose, and with a
dignified inclination of the head, responded to the appeal.
"Since your majesty permits me to speak, I vote without hesitation for
the renewal of our treaty with the maritime powers. For seventy years
our relations with these powers have been amicable and honorable. In
our days of greatest extremity--when Louis XIV. took Alsatia and the
city of Strasburg, and his ally, the Turkish Sultan, besieged
Vienna--when two powerful enemies threatened Austria with
destruction, it was this alliance with the maritime powers and with
Sardinia, which, next to the succor of the generous King of Poland,
saved our capital, and Savoy held Lombardy in check, while England
and Holland guarded the Netherlands, which, since the days of Philip
II., have ever been the nest of rebellion and revolt. To this alliance,
therefore, we owe it that your majesty still reigns over those seditious
provinces. To Savoy we are indebted for Lombardy; while France,
perfidious France, has not only robbed us of our territory, but to this
day asserts her right to its possession! No, your majesty--so long as
France retains that which belongs to Austria, Austria will neither
forgive her enmity nor forget it. See, on the contrary, how the maritime
powers have befriended us! It was THEIR gold which enabled us first
to withstand France, and afterward Prussia--THEIR gold that filled
your majesty's coffers--THEIR gold that sustained and confirmed the
prosperity of your majesty's dominions. This is the alliance that I
advocate, and with all my heart I vote for its renewal. It is but just that
the princes and rulers of the earth should give example to the world of
good faith in their dealings; for the integrity of the sovereign is a
pledge to all nations of the integrity of his people."
Count Uhlefeld resumed his seat, and after him rose the powerful
favorite of the empress, Count Bartenstein, who, in a long and animated
address, came vehemently to the support of Uhlefeld.
Then came Counts Colloredo and Harrach, and the lord high steward,
Count Khevenhuller--all unanimous for a renewal of the old treaty. Not
one of these rich, proud nobles would have dared to breathe a sentiment
in opposition to the two powerful statesmen that had spoken before

them. Bartenstein and Uhlefeld had passed the word. The alliance must
continue with those maritime powers, from whose subsidies such
unexampled wealth had flowed into the coffers of Austria, and--those
of the lords of the exchequer! For, up to the times of which we write, it
was a fundamental doctrine of court faith, that the task of inquiry into
the accounts of the imperial treasury was one far beneath the dignity of
the sovereign. The lords of the exchequer, therefore, were responsible
to nobody for their administration of the funds arising from the Dutch
and English subsidies.
It was natural, then, that the majority of the Aulic Council should vote
for the old alliance. While they argued and voted, Kaunitz, the least
important personage of them all, sat perfectly unconcerned, paying not
the slightest attention to the wise deductions of his colleagues. He
seemed much occupied in straightening loose papers, mending his pen,
and removing with his finger-tips the tiny, specks that flecked the lustre
of his velvet coat. Once, while Bartenstein was delivering his long
address, Kaunitz carried his indifference so far as to draw out his
repeater (on which was painted a portrait of La Pompadour, set in
diamonds) and strike the hour! The musical ring of the little bell
sounded a fairy accompaniment to the deep and earnest tones of
Bartenstein's voice; while Kaunitz, seeming to hear nothing else, held
the watch up to his ear and counted its strokes. [Footnote: Vide
Kormayr, "Austrian Plutarch," vol. xii., p.352.] The empress, who was
accustomed to visit the least manifestation of such inattention on the
part of her councillors with open censure--the empress, so observant of
form, and so exacting of its observance in