Joseph II. and His Court | Page 8

others--seemed singularly
indulgent to-day; for while Kaunitz was listening to the music of his
watch, his imperial mistress looked on with half a smile. At last, when
the fifth orator had spoken, and it became the turn of Kaunitz to vote,
Maria Theresa turned her flashing eyes upon him with a glance of
anxious and appealing expectation.
As her look met his, how had all coldness and unconcern vanished
from his face! How glowed his eyes with the lustre of great and
world-swaying thoughts, as, rising from his chair, he returned the gaze
of his sovereign with one that seemed to crave forbearance!
But Kaunitz had almost preternatural control over his emotions, and he
recovered himself at once.

"I cannot vote for a renewal of our worn-out alliance with the maritime
powers," said he, in a clear and determined voice. As he uttered these
words, looks of astonishment and disapprobation were, visible upon the
faces of his colleagues. The lord chancellor contented himself with a
contemptuous shrug and a supercilious smile. Kaunitz perceived it, and
met both shrug and smile with undisturbed composure, while calmly
and slowly he repeated his offending words. For a moment he paused,
as if to give time to his hearers to test the flavor of his new and startling
language. Then, firm and collected, he went on:
"Our alliance with England and Holland has long been a yoke and a
humiliation to Austria. If, in its earlier days, this alliance ever afforded
us protection, dearly have we paid for that protection, and we have
been forced to buy it with fearful sacrifices to our national pride. Never
for one moment have these two powers allowed us to forget that we
have been dependent upon their bounty for money and defence. Jealous
of the growing power and influence of Austria, before whose youthful
and vigorous career lies the glory of future greatness--jealous of our
increasing wealth--jealous of the splendor of Maria Theresa's
reign--these powers, whose faded laurels are buried in the grave of the
past, have compassed sea and land to stop the flow of our prosperity,
and sting the pride of our nationality. With their tyrannical commercial
edicts, they have dealt injury to friends as well as foes. The closing of
the Scheldt and Rhine, the Barrier treaty, and all the other restrictions
upon trade devised by those crafty English to damage the traffic of
other nations, all these compacts have been made as binding upon
Austria as upon every other European power. Unmindful of their
alliance with us, the maritime powers have closed their ports against
our ships; and while affecting to watch the Netherlands in our behalf,
they have been nothing better than spies, seeking to discover whether
our flag transcended in the least the limits of our own blockaded
frontiers; and whether to any but to themselves accrued the profits of
trade with the Baltic and North Seas. Vraiment, such friendship lies
heavily upon us, and its weight feels almost like that of enmity. At
Aix-la-Chapelle I had to remind the English ambassador that his
unknightly and arrogant bearing toward Austria was unseemly both to
the sex and majesty of Austria's empress. And our august sovereign
herself, not long since, saw fit to reprove the insolence of this same

British envoy, who in her very presence spoke of the Netherlands as
though they had been a boon to Austria from England's clemency.
Incensed at the tone of this representative of our friends, the empress
exclaimed: 'Am I not ruler in the Netherlands as well as in Vienna? Do
I hold my right of empire from England and Holland?'" [Footnote:
Coxe, "History of the House of Austria," vol. v., p. 51.]
"Yes," interrupted Maria Theresa, impetuously, "yes, it is true. The
arrogance of these royal traders has provoked me beyond all bearing. I
will no longer permit them to insinuate of my own imperial rights that I
hold them as favors from the hand of any earthly power. It chafes the
pride of an empress-queen to be CALLED a friend and TREATED as a
vassal; and I intend that these proud allies shall feel that I resent their
affronts!"
It was wonderful to see the effect of these impassioned words upon the
auditors of the empress. They quaked as they thought how they had
voted, and their awe-stricken faces were pallid with fright. Uhlefeld
and Bartenstein exchanged glances of amazement and dismay; while
the other nobles, like adroit courtiers, fixed their looks, with awakening
admiration, upon Kaunitz, in whom their experienced eyes were just
discovering the rising luminary of a new political firmament.
He, meanwhile, had inclined his head and smiled when the empress had
interrupted him. She ceased, and after a short pause, Kaunitz resumed,
with unaltered equanimity: "Your majesty has been graciously pleased