READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

A HISTORY OF MODERN EUROPE : A.D. 1453-1900

CHAPTER L.

THE AUSTRO-RUSSIAN ALLIANCE

THE Emperor was celebrating at Innsbruck the marriage of his second son, Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, with Maria Louisa, Infanta of Spain, when, on entering his son’s apartment, on the evening of August 18th, 1765, he sank into his arms in a fit of apoplexy, and immediately expired. By this event, his eldest son Joseph, who had been elected King of the Romans, and crowned at Frankfurt in the spring of 1764, became Emperor, with the title of Joseph II. Francis I was fifty-eight years of age at the time of his death. He was good-humoured and affable, and had enriched himself by entering into various commercial and banking speculations. He had so little ambition, that he was better pleased to appear as a private man than as an Emperor, and although co-Regent with his wife, took little or no part in the government of the Austrian Monarchy. Maria Theresa, who had experienced in her early days the evils and horrors of war, was inclined to pursue a peaceful policy. It was her aim to strengthen the connection with the Bourbon Courts, with which view she gave the hand of her daughter, Marie Antoinette, to the Dauphin, afterwards Louis XVI, May 19th, 1770. Another Archduchess married Ferdinand IV, King of the Two Sicilies, and a third was united with the Duke of Parma.

But the character of Joseph II differed from his mother’s. Although possessed of considerable talents, he was tormented with a restless ambition, without any very fixed or definite object. During his father’s lifetime he had endeavored to procure the reversion to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to the prejudice of his brother Leopold; alleging, that although he should become an Emperor on his father’s death, he should not possess a foot of territory. Maria Theresa, to satisfy this craving, had promised to make him co-Regent of Austria on the death of her husband; but, during his mother’s lifetime, that office remained little more than nominal. It was chiefly through Joseph’s ambition and desire of aggrandizement that Austria was threatened with the War of the Bavarian Succession.

By the death of Maximilian Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, December 30th, 1777, the younger branch of the House of Wittelsbach became extinct, and with it the Bavarian Electorate, which had been vested only in that family. Charles Theodore, Elector Palatine, as representative of the elder, or Rodolphine, branch of the House of Wittelsbach, was undoubtedly entitled to succeed to the Bavarian dominions, with the exception of the allodial possessions. The common ancestor of the two branches, Louis the Severe, Elector Palatine and Duke of Bavaria, had divided the succession to those possessions between his two sons, Rodolph and Louis, in 1310; and the latter, after obtaining the Imperial Crown as Louis V, had confirmed this partition by a treaty with his nephews, sons of his elder brother, Rodolph, in 1329. By this treaty the two contracting parties had reserved the right of reciprocal succession in their respective dominions, the Rhenish Electoral Palatinate and the Duchy of Bavaria. Several claimants, however, burrowing in the inexhaustible chaos of the German archives, advanced pretensions to various parts of the Bavarian dominions. Maria Theresa, as Queen of Bohemia, claimed the fiefs of Upper Bavaria, and, as Archduchess of Austria, all the districts which had belonged to the line of Straubingen. But of this line she was not the true representative, but rather Frederick II of Prussia, as descended from the elder sister. Nor were her pretensions as Queen of Bohemia better founded. Joseph II also claimed several portions of Bavaria as Imperial fiefs. But his pretensions were contrary to the provisions of the Golden Bull, as well as the Peace of Westphalia and the public law of Germany, which recognizes as valid such family compacts as those made by the House of Wittelsbach, even though detrimental to the rights of the Empire. Other minor claimants were the Electress Dowager of Saxony, who, as sister of Maximilian Joseph, claimed the allodial succession; and the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who claimed the Landgraviate of Leuchtenberg by virtue of an expectative granted by the Emperor Maximilian I to one of his ancestors.

Charles Theodore, having no heirs, agreed to the claims of the House of Austria, which comprised half Bavaria, in the hope of thereby procuring protection and provision for his numerous illegitimate children; and the Court of Vienna had indulged the hope that the King of Prussia would not endanger the glories of his youth by forcibly opposing the arrangement. The Convention, however, appeared to Frederick not only to menace the constitution of the German Empire, but, by giving to Austria so large an accession of territory, even to imperil the safety of his own Kingdom. Such being his views, he formed an alliance with the Duke of Deux-Ponts, nephew of Charles Theodore, and next heir to the Bavarian Duchy, whose inheritance had been thus mutilated without his consent; and he undertook to defend the Duke’s rights against the House of Austria. Joseph II would listen to no terms of accommodation; war became inevitable, and, in 1778, large armies were brought into the field by both sides, which, however, did nothing but observe each other. Austria claimed the aid of France by virtue of the treaty between the two countries. Louis XVI, who then occupied the throne of France, pressed by Marie Antoinette, remained for some time undecided. But as France was then engaged in a war with England, on the subject of the revolted North American colonies, Vergennes was resolved not to be hampered with a European war, and Louis at length declared his intention to remain neutral. Yet, to appease his brother-in-law, the Emperor, who reproached him with his desertion, Louis was weak enough secretly to furnish the fifteen million livres stipulated by the treaty. Maria Theresa endeavored to avert an effusion of blood. Without consulting her son, or her minister, Prince Kaunitz, she dispatched Baron Thugut to Frederick with an autograph letter containing fresh offers of peace, and painted to him her despair at the prospect of their tearing out each other’s grey hairs. But the negotiations were again broken off by the anger and impatience of Joseph. The Emperor threatened, when he heard of them, to establish his residence at Aix-la-Chapelle, or some other Imperial town, and never again to return to Vienna.

The campaign of 1779 was almost as barren of events as that of the preceding year. The only notable event of the war was the surprise and capture of a Prussian corps of 1,200 men at Habelschwerdt by the Austrian general, Wurmser, January 18th. Under the mediation of France and Russia, negotiations for a peace were opened at Teschen, in Austrian Silesia, March 14th, and a treaty was signed, May 13th, the anniversary of Maria Theresa’s birth. The principal points were that the Court of Vienna withdrew its opposition to the reunion of Anspach and Baireuth with the Electorate of Brandenburg on the extinction of the reigning line, by abandoning, on that event, the feudal claim of the Crown of Bohemia to those margraviates. Charles Theodore ceded to Austria what is called the quarter of the Inn, or the district extending from Passau along the Inn and Salza to Wildshut; comprising about one-sixteenth part of Bavaria. The claims of Saxony were satisfied with six million florins. Thus was established a new House of Bavaria, more powerful than the former one, since it reunited Bavaria with the Palatinate. Russia guaranteed the Peace of Teschen; and as this treaty renewed the Peace of Westphalia, it afforded that Power a pretext to meddle in the affairs of Germany. A further attempt of Joseph II in 1784 to appropriate Bavaria by exchanging for it the Austrian Netherlands, together with some acts of the Imperial Court, deemed contrary to the German Constitution, occasioned the Fürsten Bund, or League of the German Princes, formed in 1785, under the auspices of Frederick the Great, to uphold the Peace of Teschen. With regard to Europe the most significant part of this league was the partial reconciliation of Prussia with England, through George III as Elector of Hanover: with regard to Germany, it marks the continuation of Austrian and Prussian rivalry.

Maria Theresa did not long survive the war of the Bavarian Succession. She expired November 29th, 1780, in the sixty-fourth year of her age, after reigning forty years. Exemplary in her private life, and sincerely desirous of the welfare of her people, there are few serious blemishes in the life of this excellent Sovereign, except, perhaps, her intolerance. At the commencement of her reign, she formed the design of banishing the Jews from her dominions; from which she was dissuaded by the Elector of Mainz, the Kings of England and Poland, and the Pope. She even lent herself in some degree to oppress the Protestants. Yet she was far from being the slave of the Pope. Having resumed with his consent the title of “Apostolical”, conferred by Sylvester II on St. Stephen, first King of Hungary, she exercised under that almost forgotten appellation an extensive and independent jurisdiction in the Hungarian Church.

The Emperor Joseph II was forty years of age when he succeeded to the Austrian dominions. He possessed considerable talents; but he had been badly educated, had little taste for literature or art, though, like his model, Frederick II, he had imbibed some of the French liberalism of the period, and as he was naturally impetuous, his ill-regulated ambition plunged him into misfortunes. First, he coveted Bavaria; then he turned his views towards Turkey; next he embroiled himself with Holland; and finally with the Netherlands and his own hereditary States.

Joseph’s meddling activity was first displayed, to the great relief of Frederick II, in domestic reforms, especially in the Church. By a decree of October 30th, 1781, such monastic orders were first dissolved as were of no practical use in the State, by keeping schools, tending the sick, preaching, confessing, and the like; as the Carthusians, Camaldolenses, Hermits, and in general all female orders. Other orders were then attacked, and in all about 700 convents were dissolved. Thus, about 36,000 monks and nuns were secularized and pensioned. It was forbidden to send money to Rome or to receive dispensations thence, except gratis; and the investiture of all spiritual prebends in Lombardy was appropriated by the Emperor. An edict of toleration was published, by which the religious privileges of Protestants and non-united Greek Christians were considerably extended. The Papal nuncios were told that they would be regarded only as political ambassadors by the Austrian Ministers at the various Courts where they resided. Prince Kaunitz, an esprit fort of the French school, was, doubtless, in a great degree, the author of this policy, which was adopted by Joseph II partly because he did not wish to appear behind the other enlightened princes of the age, and partly to increase the wealth and population of his States by attracting to them Protestant traders and artisans.

Pope Pius VI, who had succeeded Clement XIV, in the Papal Chair in 1775, was so alarmed by these vigorous reforms that he resolved on visiting Vienna, in the hope of encouraging by his presence the dejected Catholics, as well as of overawing the Emperor by his dignity and captivating him by the charm of his manner. He made his entry into Vienna in great state in March, 1782, accompanied by Joseph and his brother, who had gone out to meet him. His appearance caused great excitement. Vast crowds thronged to the Burg to obtain a sight, and receive the blessing of the Holy Father; and he was obliged to show himself on the balcony several times every day. He celebrated the festival of Easter in St. Stephen’s Church; but the absence of the Emperor was remarked; he was unwilling, it was said, to gratify the Pontiff’s vanity by occupying a lower throne than that erected for the successor of St. Peter. Pius succeeded in filling the people with enthusiasm, but made no impression on the Emperor, and thus derived no advantage from a visit by which he seemed to degrade his dignity and abdicate his infallibility. Joseph overwhelmed him with honor, but would enter into no negotiations; while from Prince Kaunitz, whom he tried to conciliate, he experienced nothing but rudeness. The Emperor accompanied the Pope on his return as far as Mariabrunn. Here they prayed together in the convent church ; but on the very same day Imperial commissioners appeared in the convent, and pronounced it dissolved. After the Pope’s return to Rome an angry correspondence ensued between him and the Emperor. Joseph returned the visit of Pius by appearing unexpectedly at Rome in December, 1783, under the title of Count Falkenstein. He was now meditating a complete breach with the Papal See, from which, however, he was dissuaded by the Chevalier Azara, the Spanish Resident at Rome. He made an advantageous treaty with the Pope regarding the Lombard Church; but from this time forward he treated the Holy Father less roughly.

Joseph’s measures were highly unpopular in Hungary. The idea of the independent nationality of the Hungarians was disagreeable to him, and he disappointed their hopes that he would celebrate his coronation and hold a Diet among them. The Holy Crown of St. Stephen, an object venerated by the Magyars during eight centuries, was carried to Vienna, and deposited in the treasure-chamber; Hungary was divided into ten circles, all public business was transacted in the German tongue, and the ancient Hungarian Constitution was annihilated. Joseph was of opinion that all his subjects should speak the same language, and, as his German possessions were the most important, that the German tongue should have the preference. The nobles protested, but obeyed, while an insurrection of the peasants was speedily quelled.

The Emperor was as hasty in his foreign as in his domestic policy. He succeeded, however, in overthrowing the Barrier Treaty, which had always been disagreeable to the House of Austria. Joseph made a journey into the Netherlands and Holland in 1781. His attention was chiefly attracted in this tour by two things—the disastrous effects arising from the closing of the Scheldt, and the blind bigotry of the Brabanters, which kept them behind other nations; and he resolved if possible to remedy these evils. During the Seven Years’ War the Dutch had withdrawn their garrisons from the Austrian Netherlands, in order to prevent their coming in contact with the French or English, but sent them back after peace had been concluded. Maria Theresa had overlooked this conduct; but towards the end of 1781, Joseph gave notice to the States-General to withdraw their troops from the barrier towns. In vain the States remonstrated: Kaunitz only replied, “The Emperor will hear no more about barriers; they no longer exist”. He trusted in the French alliance; and as the Dutch, besides being harassed by intestine discord, were then involved in a war with England, they had no resource but to protest and comply. The barrier fortresses were then razed—a step which Austria had afterwards cause to rue.

The Emperor soon afterwards demanded from the Dutch Joseph’s the free navigation of the Scheldt; and this demand was accompanied with others respecting boundaries. The States- General, in reply, appealed to the fourteenth article of the Treaty of Münster, ordering the closing of the Scheldt, and the fifth article of the Treaty of Vienna in 1731, abolishing the Ostend Company, and proscribing all commerce between the Austrian Netherlands and the Indies. They placed a Dutch squadron at the mouth of the Scheldt, renewed their treaty of alliance and subsidies with the Elector of Cologne, who was Joseph’s brother, October 30th, 1784, and also endeavored to renew their alliance with England, broken since the American war. The English Cabinet determined to remain neutral, but Vergennes seized the opportunity of supporting Holland. France continued to regard Austria, in spite of the alliance between the two countries, as a probable rival, and had always opposed the wish of Maria Theresa to be admitted into the Family Compact. Catharine II, on the other hand, supported the demands of the Emperor. To bring the question to an issue, Joseph ordered some Austrian ships to ascend the Scheldt, in attempting which they were fired upon by the Dutch. The Emperor now put an army of 30,000 men in motion; the Dutch opened their sluices, and everything seemed to threaten the outbreak of a war. But Louis XVI declared to the Court of Vienna, that he should oppose any hostile attempt upon Holland; and causing two armies to assemble, one in Flanders, and the other on the Rhine, he offered his mediation. This led to a settlement. The Emperor relinquished his demands for a sum of nine and a half million guilders. The Dutch would pay only five million; but Louis engaged to make good the difference—a step which bred much ill blood among the French, who imputed it to Marie Antoinette’s love for her brother Joseph. The Emperor had likewise demanded an apology for the insult to his flag; but he interrupted the Dutch deputies as soon as they began it. The definitive treaty, guaranteed by France, was signed at Fontainebleau, November 8th, 1785. The Treaty of Münster was taken as its basis, and the Barrier Treaty, and that of Vienna of 1731, were annulled. The Dutch having attained their main object in shutting up the Scheldt, made more cessions of forts, etc., even than the Emperor had demanded.

The Dutch followed up this treaty with another of alliance with France, November 10th, 1785. Holland, as we have hinted, was at this time the scene of domestic disturbances, and one of the objects of the French alliance was to procure for the Republican party the support of France against the House of Orange. The dissensions of the two factions had been nourished by the long minority of the hereditary Stadholder William V. At the death of his father, in 1751, that Prince was only three years of age. Until 1759, the regency was conducted by his mother, an English Princess; and, after her death, the guardianship of the young Stadholder was divided between the States-General and Louis Ernest of Brunswick, Field-Marshal of the Republic. When, in 1766, William V attained his majority, he signed an act called the Act of Consultation, engaging the Duke of Brunswick to assist him in his affairs—a proceeding regarded as unconstitutional by the patriotic or Republican party. The provinces of West Friesland, Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht, where that party chiefly prevailed, demanded the Duke's dismissal; who, fatigued by the clamours of the people, at length resigned, in October, 1784, abandoning the Stadholder, who had little political capacity, to the intrigues of his enemies. During the course of the war between England and her American Colonies, the patriot party had courted the protection of France, while those who were attached to the family of Orange, and desired to uphold the Stadholderate, cultivated the friendship of England. The chief leaders of the aristocratical or patriot party were Van Berkel, Pensionary of Amsterdam, to whom Van Bleiswyk, Grand Pensionary of Holland, though far superior in rank, was entirely subservient; Gyzlaas, Pensionary of Dordrecht, and Zeebergen, Pensionary of Haarlem. The superior influence of the patriot party, supported by France, dragged the United Provinces into the maritime war against England, in which the Dutch suffered severe losses. In September, 1785, a tumult broke out at the Hague. The States-General deprived William of the command of the garrison in that town, who thereupon claimed the protection of his uncle-in-law, the King of Prussia. Frederick II did not show much zeal in the cause of his relative, but he took some steps in his favor, and the apprehension of Prussian interference caused the States-General to conclude the arrangement with the Emperor, and the subsequent alliance with France, already recorded.

The Republican party, encouraged by this alliance, proceeded to lengths which ultimately produced a revolution. William V, at the request of the States of Gelderland, who were devoted to his cause, had taken military possession of two towns in that province, which, in contempt of his prerogative, had ventured to name their own magistrates. Hereupon the States of Holland, arrogating to themselves a right to judge the proceedings of a neighboring province, suspended the Prince from his office of captain-general (September, 1786). These events were followed by great excitement and irritation; which France endeavored to allay by sending M. Rayneval to the Hague, to act in concert with the Prussian Minister, Baron Gortz.

A new Sovereign now occupied the throne of Prussia. Frederick II died August 17th, 1786, after a reign of forty-six years. If the title of Great may be justly bestowed on the Sovereign, who, by his abilities and conduct, adds largely to his possessions, without inquiring very strictly into the means by which these acquisitions were made, Frederick is undoubtedly entitled to the appellation. Silesia, conquered by his arms, the Polish provinces, acquired by his diplomacy, formed an immense and highly valuable addition to the Prussian Monarchy, and may entitle him to be regarded as its second founder. The increase of his means and power is thus stated by a contemporary diplomatist: “He found, on his father’s death, a revenue of 13,000,000 crowns; a treasure of 16,000,000; no debts, and an army of 50,000 men; and, at the time, this was reckoned the greatest effort of economy. He has now an income of 21,000,000 crowns; three times that sum, at least, in his coffers; and nearly 200,000 effective men”. Frederick had employed the years of peace which followed the Seven Years’ War in alleviating, by a paternal administration, the evils which that struggle had brought upon his country. This period, though not the most brilliant, was the happiest of his reign. Manufactures and agriculture flourished; the towns and villages ruined during the war were rebuilt and repeopled; the army was again raised to a formidable footing, and the finances were reestablished by the introduction of the strictest order and economy into all branches of the administration. Frederick’s measures with regard to commerce, though well meant, were not so happy. In political economy he was an admirer of Colbert and the French school, and hence was led to adopt a narrow and exclusive system. He had a natural genius for art and literature as well as war, and to the fame of a great general added that of a respectable author. His extravagant admiration of the French school served, however, rather to retard than promote the intellectual progress of his own subjects. The philosophical and freethinking principles which he had imbibed from the same school, as he forbore to force them upon his subjects, were perhaps on the whole beneficial, as they helped to introduce more tolerant views, and to mitigate the rabid bigotry which had too often characterized the professors of Lutheranism. These maxims, however, led him not to any relaxation in his method of civil government, and Prussia under his administration remained as complete a despotism as it had been under that of his predecessors.

Frederick II was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II. The new Monarch seemed disposed to take more interest than his uncle in the affairs of Holland; and he had, immediately after his accession, sent Baron Gortz to the Court of the Stadholder. The views of the two parties were too opposite for conciliation; but an event which occurred towards the end of June, 1787, brought matters to a crisis. The wife of William V, a princess of a high spirit, resolved to visit the Hague, although her husband could not go thither. At Schoonhoven she was stopped by the troops belonging to the States of Holland, treated almost like a prisoner, and turned back. For this affront the Princess of Orange demanded vengeance at the hands of her brother the King of Prussia; but although the States of several Provinces disapproved of what had been done, the States-General, relying on the aid of France, refused to give befitting satisfaction. Frederick William II seized the occasion to reestablish the Stadholder in his prerogatives. In September a Prussian army of 30,000 men, under the Duke of Brunswick, entered Holland. The dryness of the summer prevented the Hollanders from having recourse to inundation. Utrecht surrendered without a blow, and other places followed the example. The patriots, disunited among themselves, found the free companies, which they had raised in imitation of the Middle Ages, and which they had placed under the command of the incapable Rhinegrave, Von Salms, totally unable to oppose an army of disciplined troops; while the nobles, who dreaded a popular government, favored the Prussian invasion. The Prince of Orange entered the Hague, September 20th, after an absence of two years, amid the acclamations of the populace; Amsterdam surrendered, after a short resistance, October 10th, and the free companies were disarmed.

France made some show of assisting her ally, and declared, September 16th, that she would not suffer the Constitution of the United Provinces to be violated. Vergennes had died early in the year, his successor Montmorin had no wish to interfere actively, and France was on the brink of a revolution. England declared that she would defend the Stadholder, if attacked, and prepared her fleets for action. The Court of Versailles submitted, and exchanged declarations with England, October 27th. The disgrace reflected on the French Government by these transactions assisted the designs of the revolutionary party in France. But the Stadholder, though thus restored by force of arms, did not overstep the limits of the Dutch Constitution. All the satisfaction he exacted was, that seventeen magistrates, directly concerned in the outrage upon his consort, should be deposed and declared for ever incapable of serving the Republic; and he cashiered several hundred officers who had borne arms against him. After establishing his authority, William proposed a general amnesty, from which only some of the ringleaders were excepted. Banished from their country, these turbulent men carried their democratic principles into France, and helped to foment the troubles of that Kingdom. By a solemn Act, signed by the various States, entitled Act of Mutual Guarantee of the Seven United Provinces, the hereditary dignities of Stadholder, Captain-General, and Admiral-General were declared an essential part of the Constitution.

By the extinction of the patriot party an end was put to the alliance between the United Provinces and France. It was replaced by a treaty of mutual defence between Great Britain and the States-General, April 15th, 1788, by which Great Britain guaranteed the hereditary Stadholdership to the family of Orange. On the same day a defensive alliance was also signed at Berlin between the States-General and Prussia. These treaties were followed by a defensive alliance between Great Britain and Prussia, concluded at Loo, in Gelderland, June 13th; renewed and confirmed by another treaty signed at Berlin on the 13th of the following August. By a secret article England undertook to support Prussia, in case of need, with its whole naval power, and with an army of 50,000 men. Thus was formed the Triple Alliance, which exercised for some years a decisive effect upon the affairs of Europe.

The Emperor’s conduct in selling the freedom of the Scheldt to the Dutch made him very unpopular in the Austrian Netherlands; and the attempt to exchange these Provinces for Bavaria, converted dislike into hatred. His Church reforms were an also highly distasteful to that bigoted population. As in Austria, convents were dissolved, pilgrimages and spiritual brotherhoods abolished, appeals to the Pope forbidden, in short, all the measures adopted of an incipient Reformation. Towards the end of 1786 tumults broke out at Louvain, on the suppression of the episcopal schools in that city and the removal of the university to Brussels. The disturbance was increased by alterations in the civil government. An Ordinance of January 1st, 1787, abolished the various councils by which the Government was conducted, and established in their place a Central Board. Innovations were also made in the constitution of the courts of law. The boundaries of the provinces were soon afterwards altered, and the whole country was divided into nine Circles, each under a commissioner named by the Court of Vienna. Symptoms of insurrection appeared at Brussels in April. De Hont, a merchant of that city, implicated in a criminal case, had been arrested and tried at Vienna, contrary to the privileges of the Brabanters, to be judged by their countrymen. The States of Brabant took up his cause, and declared that this violation of the Joyeuse Entrée prevented them from voting the annual supplies. A general agitation ensued, which was increased by the manifest weakness of the Government. The States presented to the Arch­duchess Christina, Joseph’s sister, who with her husband, Duke Albert of Saxe Teschen, acted as governors, a list of their grievances in nine heads. The Council of Brabant, or first court of justice, went still further, and abrogated all the new tribunals (May 8th). In consequence of a riot at Brussels towards the end of the month, the governors notified their resolution to maintain all the privileges of the States, and to revoke all regulations contrary to the Joyeuse Entrée. This compliance occasioned their recall. Count Trautmannsdorf was now appointed governor, with instructions to carry out the Imperial decrees, for which purpose military preparations were made. Negotiations, however, ensued; and the final outburst was postponed for a year or two. But the latent discontent was not extinguished. A secret society was formed, with ramifications throughout the provinces, which numbered 70,000 persons, and matters wore an alarming aspect when Joseph entered upon a Turkish war.

 Joseph had cultivated a close friendship with the Tsarina, Catharine II. He had flattered her vanity by paying her a visit at St. Petersburg in 1780, when it had been verbally agreed that, in case of a rupture with the Porte, Russia and Austria should aggrandize themselves at its expense. Magnificent projects were discussed. Catharine inflamed Joseph with the idea of seizing Italy and Rome, and establishing a real Empire of the West, while she should found at Constantinople a new Empire of the East. This suggestion only struck an old chord in the traditional policy of Austria; but it was a snare for the restless and short-sighted ambition of Joseph, while the hope of more practical advantage lay on the Alliance of side of Catharine. The friendship of the two Courts was cemented by a family alliance effected in 1781. Joseph’s nephew, Francis, afterwards Emperor, was married to the younger sister of the Grand Duchess of Russia, and thus the presumptive heirs of two Imperial thrones became brothers- in-law. The King of Prussia, to efface the impression of the Emperor’s visit, sent his nephew and heir, Prince Frederick William, to St. Petersburg. But a new and adverse influence reigned at that Court. After a long enjoyment of Catharine’s favor, Gregory Orloff had been disgraced in 1772, and dismissed with presents of untold value. He was succeeded in his office by Alexander Wassiltschikoff, an officer in the Guards. But Catharine soon grew tired of him, and in Prince 1774 Wassiltschikoff was superseded by Potemkin.

Gregory Potemkin.

Alexandrowitsch Potemkin was the son of a Russian noble, and had played a subordinate part in the revolution which placed Catharine on the throne. His countenance was not prepossessing; his figure gigantic, but not well-proportioned; his temper violent and overbearing. He is said to have been the only man, except Orloff, who continued to retain his influence over Catharine till his death. His brutal energy, which kept the nobles in awe, was useful to the Tsarina.

Potemkin had long set his heart upon a war with Turkey, with the design of seizing the Tartar countries which had been declared independent by the Peace of Kutchuk Kainardji. With this view he employed himself in exciting disturbances in the Crimea. He compelled the Porte to restore the Khan Sahim Gherai, whom it had deposed, and who was in the Russian interest; and when the Turks assumed a threatening attitude against Sahim, supported him by sending an army under Suvaroff into the Crimea (1778). The Porte on its side had, indeed, afforded ground for complaint, and especially it had infringed on the Peace of Kainardji by opposing the passage of Russian vessels from the White Sea, or Aegean, into the Black Sea. The war which seemed imminent was, however, averted by the mediation of France, and a new Convention was executed at Constantinople in March, 1779.

Frederick II, with a view to maintain the peace of Europe, had proposed a quadruple alliance between Russia, Prussia, Poland, and the Porte. But he soon discovered that the Court of St. Petersburg regarded the Peace of Kainardji only as a stepping-stone to greater enterprises, and Catharine, on her side, abandoned an ally on whom she could no longer reckon. Thus was terminated the Russian and Prussian Alliance. The breach, perhaps, was not quite complete till the death, in 1783, of Count Panin, who had always favored the Alliance; but Potemkin was the decided adversary of Prussia, and when, in 1782, the Grand Duke Paul and his wife made the tour of Europe, they were forbidden to visit Berlin.

After the Convention of 1779 further disputes arose between Russia and the Porte, which, however, were amicably settled till the final explosion in 1789. Potemkin gradually induced Sahim Gherai, after renouncing his religion, even to abdicate his dominions in favor of Catharine, and to pass his life as her Lieutenant, in ease and luxury. A Russian manifesto had appeared in April, 1783, declaring the Crimea, the Isle of Taman, and the Province of Kuban on the other side of the Straits subject to the Russian scepter, and Prince Potemkin took possession of them. Potemkin had diverted the pension assigned to the Khan to his own use; and when Sahim Gherai naturally complained of this wrong, he was banished from the Crimea, which, together with the other Tartar lands, was occupied by Russian soldiers. The unfortunate inhabitants, who rose to assert their freedom, were put down with a terrible massacre, in which 30,000 persons perished of all ages and both sexes, The Turks at first acquiesced in these proceedings; and by a Convention between Russia and the Porte, signed at Constantinople, January 8th, 1784, the domination of the Tartars was put an end to; but it was easy to see that a war would ensue , so soon as an opportunity should offer itself.

Catharine now seemed to have made a step towards realizing her project of a new Eastern Empire. She adopted Voltaire’s idea of erecting a new Greek Kingdom on the coasts of the Black Sea. The recently acquired possessions received the names of Tauria and Caucasia, and Cherson was erected in the midst of a desert as the Capital of the new Kingdom, but on a site so ill chosen that it was soon eclipsed by Odessa. Potemkin, who was honored with the pompous name of the “Taurian”, was made Governor-General of the conquered Provinces, and Grand-Admiral of the Black Sea. But, under Russian government, the Tartar Provinces began rapidly to decline. Such were Potemkin’s injustice and violence that the greater part of the inhabitants fled the country. Two years after their union with Russia these Provinces counted no more than 17,000 males; while in former times the Khan of Tartary had often appeared in the field with 50,000 horse­men.

The relations between Russia and the Porte continued to be uneasy. Disputes arose respecting the Turkish government in Moldavia and Wallachia, and on other points; whilst the Porte, on its side, accused the Cabinet of St. Petersburg of frequent violations of the Peace of Kainardji. Catharine II resolved, in 1787, to visit her new possessions, and to receive at Cherson the homage of her Tartar subjects during a grand festival in honor of the founding of that metropolis. After a visit to Kiev, she embarked on the Dnieper with her suite in a flotilla of twenty-two richly-decorated galleys (May 3rd). At Kaniev she had an interview with the King of Poland, her former lover, now her creature and victim. At Koidok she was met by the Emperor Joseph II, who, as usual, travelled incognito under the title of Count Falkenstein. Joseph had devotedly attached himself to her fortunes. Louis XVI had endeavored to dissuade his brother-in-law from the alliance; but Joseph had declared to the Court of Versailles, in August, 1783, that he would support the Tsarina against the Turks with 120,000 men. The present position of his affairs had, however, somewhat cooled his ardor. As the two Sovereigns approached Cherson, large bonfires were kindled at every fifty rods, to enable them to travel by night. To give her new dominions an air of prosperity, Potemkin caused temporary villages to be erected along the route, which were peopled with inhabitants brought from afar, and dressed in holiday attire; while vast herds of cattle were grazing in the pastures. But, after Catharine had passed, villages, peasants, and herds vanished like a scene in a play, and left the country in its native solitude. At Cherson, one of the gates of which bore the ambitious inscription, “The road to Constantinople”, Joseph paid assiduous court to the Tsarina, and every morning attended her levee as a private individual. Future projects against Turkey were cautiously discussed during this journey, but no definite plans were formed, and neither Sovereign desired immediate war. Catharine feared a diversion on the side of Prussia and Sweden, while Joseph received at Cherson alarming tidings respecting the state of Belgium. This position of affairs was favorable to Turkey, and the Divan listened to the exhortations of the English and Prussian residents not to let slip the opportunity of taking vengeance upon Catharine. The Tsarina, who had been scared from continuing her journey to Kinburn by the apparition of a Turkish fleet in the Liman, had scarcely returned to St. Petersburg, when the Russian Minister at Constantinople was arrested and confined in the Seven Towers, August 10th, 1787. At the same time war was declared against Russia. Chabaz Gherai was proclaimed Khan of the Tartars, and the Emperor was required to declare his views. Joseph replied that he was bound by treaties to Russia; and that he should repel force by force. But he offered to mediate a reconciliation; and he accompanied this declaration by placing a cordon of troops on the Hungarian frontier.

The war began with a fruitless attack of the Turkish fleet upon Kinburn, heroically defended by Suvaroff, September 24th. The winter was passed in negotiations. France attempted to mediate a peace, and might have succeeded, had not a courier of M. de Segur, the French Minister at St. Petersburg, who was the bearer of Catharine’s approval of a scheme of conciliation, been murdered on the road. In June, 1788, Potemkin crossed the Bug and invested Otchakov. The Turkish fleet, which had attacked the Russians in the Liman near that place, was totally defeated and destroyed, June 26th. Otchakov, after a furious resistance, was taken by assault, December 17th, the day of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of Russia. A dreadful massacre ensued, in which 40,000 persons are said to have lost their lives. Meanwhile Joseph II had declared war against the Porte, February 9th, 1788. Two fruitless attempts were made to surprise Belgrade. The plan of the campaign was bad. The Austrian forces were weakened by being spread in five divisions over an extent of 800 or 900 miles from the Bukovina to the Adriatic. The Emperor led his division against Belgrade, but failed through dilatoriness. Prince Lichtenstein attempted Dubitza with the same result, which place, however, was taken by Loudon, August 26th, 1788. On the left wing Prince Coburg occupied a considerable part of Moldavia; but, on the whole, the campaign was unfavorable. The Grand Vizier Yussuf broke the Austrian centre and penetrated as far as Temesvar. The Turks were indeed compelled to evacuate the Banat before the end of autumn; but, on the whole, the campaign must be regarded as a failure; and the Emperor returned to Vienna ill and dispirited. One cause of this failure was the inefficiency of the Russians, hampered by an attack of Gustavus III of Sweden.

During the Seven Years’ War the faction of the Hats had reigned supreme in Sweden; but they lost their influence after the Peace, and in the Diet which assembled in 1765 the Caps contrived to seize the Government. To the people, however, this change was of little benefit. They were still oppressed by an oligarchy differing but little from that which had been supplanted, except in its views of foreign policy. The old King Adolphus Frederick was too fond of peace and tranquility to attempt any changes in the State; but his son, the Crown Prince Gustavus, a nephew by his mother of Frederick the Great, had already begun to appear in public as the defender of the people against the oppressions of the nobles, and by his talents and popular qualities excited much admiration and enthusiasm. He had compelled the Council to convoke the States, before the usual period of assembly, in April, 1769; a step, however, which only resulted in the establishment of the Hats. In 1771 Gustavus made a journey to Paris; and he was in that city when he heard of his father’s death, on February 12th. Gustavus, while at Paris, entered into a solemn engagement with the French Ministry to bring about a Monarchical Revolution in Sweden. Yet, at this very time, he signed, at the demand of the Swedish Council, an Act of Security which they had forwarded to him, by which he promised to take on his return a solemn oath to the Constitution of 1720, and to regard as enemies of their country all who should attempt to restore the kingly power.

The talents and manners of Gustavus III made him very popular at the beginning of his reign, and great hopes were entertained of him. The gold furnished to him by the French Court was applied to corrupt the soldiery, and the mutual hatred of the two prevailing factions was employed to work their own destruction. Gustavus was called upon at his coronation, which was celebrated with great pomp in May, 1772, to sign the Act of Security; but though he pledged himself by an oath to its observance, he declared that he had not read it, so great was his confidence in the States! and he was hypocritical enough to add that he had long taken the oath in his heart, being convinced that it was intended for the good of the nation. Yet he was already preparing the overthrow of the Constitution.

Gustavus was sure of the people. He had also formed a party, called the Court Party, which included many of the Hats; he had won the military, and especially the garrison of Stockholm, to which the Council, in order to retain its obedience, allowed double pay. In July, 1772, disturbances broke out in the remoter provinces. Rudbeck, one of the chief members of the oligarchy, who had been dispatched on this account to Gothenburg and Carlskrona, was refused admittance into the little fortress of Christianstadt. The King’s brothers, Frederick Adolphus and Charles, began to put their regiments in motion in Schonen. The Council now appointed Funk, one of their body, governor of Scania, with dictatorial power; required the King to recall his brothers, placed patrols in the streets of Stockholm, and forbade the King to leave the city (August 19th, 1772). Gustavus at this crisis seemed immersed in the most frivolous amusements, such as designing patterns for embroidery, and other pursuits of the like kind. But under this veil he had prepared the blow which he meditated striking. On the very morning that the Council had thus declared war upon him, he repaired to that assembly and loaded them with the bitterest reproaches. He next proceeded to the main guard, and assembling the officers who were in his confidence, he addressed them with that popular eloquence for which he was famed, and persuaded all but three to sign a paper, transferring their allegiance to himself instead of the Council. By the common soldiers and the populace he was received with universal applause. His next step was to surround the Council in their chamber, and place a guard upon all the avenues. Then mounting his horse, he rode through the city, announcing with his own mouth the fall of the tyrannical oligarchs amid general acclamation. Before evening, Gustavus was undisputed master of Stockholm. In his address to the people on the following day, Gustavus assured them that he should claim only the limited prerogatives enjoyed by Gustavus Adolphus and Charles X. Yet the Constitution, drawn up by himself, to which he compelled the Diet to swear by pointing his cannon on the assembly, invested him with extraordinary prerogatives, so that, in case of need, he was even empowered to levy new taxes, without the consent of a committee of the States. The King now dismissed the old Council, and appointed a new one entirely dependent on himself. But in spite of these arbitrary and unconstitutional proceedings, the first measures of Gustavus were highly popular. He abolished the abuses introduced by the late oligarchical government, and caused justice and order to flourish in the Kingdom.

This revolution deprived Russia of the influence she had hitherto exercised in Sweden by means of the prevailing anarchy, and saved the country from partition by Russia, Prussia, and Denmark. In order to regain her influence, Russian emissaries were constantly inciting the nobles against the Court. Gustavus, to revenge himself, seized the occasion of the Russian war with the Turks in 1787. He renewed the ancient connection between Sweden and the Porte, and by treaties concluded in 1787 and 1788, engaged to attack Russia, on condition of receiving Turkish subsidies. Catharine II having equipped at Cronstadt in the spring of 1788 a fleet destined for the Mediterranean, Gustavus caused his brother, the Duke of Sudermania, to issue from Carlskrona with the Swedish fleet, while at the same time he assembled some troops in Finland. Count Rasumoffski, the Russian Minister at Stockholm, hereupon presented a note demanding an explanation of these preparations; but as the note was addressed “to all those of the nation who participated in the government”, Gustavus, instead of explaining, ordered Rasumoffski to quit the kingdom as a disturber of the public peace; and, on July 1st, he caused an ultimatum to be presented to Catharine, in which he demanded the punishment of Rasumoffski, the cession of Russian Finland and Carelia with Kexholm, and the acceptance of Swedish mediation between Russia and the Porte. He also demanded that Catharine should disarm her Baltic fleet and recall her troops from Finland, whilst he reserved to himself the right of remaining armed till a peace should be concluded with the Porte. Catharine replied by a declaration of war, July 11th.

The Swedes began the campaign by taking Nyslot and invading Carelia. Gustavus in person laid siege to Fredericksshamn, but either false news or want of provisions compelled him to raise it and retire to Kymenegord. Terror reigned at St. Petersburg. The Russian fleet had fought a drawn battle with the Swedish in the Gulf of Finland. But the force of Gustavus was paralyzed by an unforeseen event. The news of preparations in Norway by the Danes compelled him to return to Stockholm. He had scarce left the army when a number of officers assembled together, and, alleging that the Constitution of 1772 forbade the King to undertake an offensive war without the consent of the States, required the Duke of Sudermania to propose an armistice; and, on the Duke’s refusal, they sent a deputation to St. Petersburg, to declare that the army would not pass the frontiers provided Catharine instructed her troops not to enter Finland. Catharine gave the deputation a gracious reception; an armistice was agreed on, which the Duke of Sudermania was compelled to accept; and he retired from Russian Finland.

At this point in the contest Denmark prepared to actively interfere. Frederick V, who, towards the end of his life, grew somewhat weak and superstitious, died at the early age of forty-two, January 14th, 1766. He was a munificent patron of literature and science, and a favorer of courtly splendor: but for the people little was done, and the peasant remained the serf of the landed proprietor. He left a son only seventeen years of age, who succeeded him with the title of Christian VII. A generous, or rather, perhaps, a politic, act on the part of Catharine II had, early in Christian’s reign, attached Denmark to Russia. By a treaty, concluded in 1767, she had renounced, in the name of her son Paul, his pretensions to the Duchy of Schleswig, and agreed that the part of Holstein still governed in Paul’s name should be reunited to Denmark.

The history of Denmark from Frederick’s death down to the period at which we are arrived presents little of importance. A domestic tragedy forms its chief incident. Christian VII married an English princess, Caroline Matilda, a sister of George III, who, in January, 1768, bore him a son and heir. In this year the young King, who had been badly educated, and whose mental weakness was pronounced, was sent on a tour to England and France with a suite of near sixty persons, while his young consort remained at home. In Holstein the travelers were joined by a remarkable man, Struensee, town physician (Stadtphysikus) of Altona. Struensee, who was destined to exert a powerful influence both over Christian and his Kingdom, was a handsome, strong-built man, of witty conversation. Bred up in an ascetic pietism by his parents, he had ended with discarding all religion and becoming a disciple of the French philosophy. During this journey the King lost the little bodily and mental strength he had before possessed, and fell entirely under the influence of Struensee, who became Christian’s body physician after his return to Copenhagen. Struensee now formed a criminal connection with the young Queen, Caroline Matilda; the imbecile and impotent Christian was brought entirely under their control; Count Bernstorf, Baron Holk, and the former ministers were removed; and Struensee, associating with himself Falkenskiold as commander-in-chief, and Brandt, who succeeded to Holk’s office of amusing the King, began in 1770 to assume the entire direction of affairs. Struensee was an autocratic reformer, after the manner of Pombal in Portugal. During his short tenure of office he is said to have issued no fewer than 600 reforming decrees, many of which were highly salutary. He abolished the censorship of the Press, suppressed the many honorary titles which had crept in to an absurd extent during the preceding reign; abolished monopolies and reversions to vacated offices; reformed the relations between the peasants and landed nobles, as well as municipal corporations, the magistracy, the universities, and courts of law. He made debts recoverable by legal process from the highest noble as well as from the meanest citizen. He introduced economy into the military service by reducing the royal horse-guard. He also attempted some reforms in the Church, especially by abolishing most of the numerous holidays. In short, he tried to imbue Denmark, which was near a century behind the rest of Europe, with the spirit of the age, and with this view invited thither many foreigners distinguished by their learning or ability.

These innovations naturally produced great discontent and opposition among the privileged classes. Struensee had touched the interests of three powerful orders—the clergy, the army, and the nobles. Nay, with the best intentions for their welfare, he had contributed to offend the prejudices of the whole nation; for the greater part of the Danes, who were bigoted Lutherans, regarded Struensee, on account of his reforms in the Church, as no better than an atheist. The national prejudices were also shocked by the introduction of foreign teachers and ideas, and especially because the edicts of reform had been promulgated in the German language instead of the Danish. Hence, a “Danish” party was formed, in opposition to the “German”, and these names became the watchwords of national antipathy. The widowed Queen Juliana, Christian’s VII’s stepmother, who saw her own son Frederick neglected, retired from Court in disgust, and put herself at the head of the Danish party. The conduct of the young Queen Caroline and Struensee soon supplied this faction with the means of overthrowing them. In the well-known condition of Christian, the birth of a princess had manifested the nature of the connection between Caroline and her Minister. Struensee, on his side, began to abuse his influence, and effaced the merit of his reforms by his ambition, avarice, and vanity. He enriched himself, whilst he forced economy on others; he was even weak enough to assume some of the official titles which he had abolished, and he caused himself and his colleague Brandt to be created Counts. He lived in princely style in the royal palace, and instead of a democratic reformer made himself a sort of Dictator, with the title of Privy Cabinet Minister. All papers signed by him, and furnished with the cabinet seal, were to be regarded as valid as if they had received the royal signature.

In spite, however, of the opposition formed against him, Struensee might probably have maintained his hold of power had he possessed the requisite courage and resolution. But in the presence of danger this bold reformer did not show himself equal to the task which he had undertaken. He displayed his cowardice by flying with the whole Court from Copenhagen on the occasion of a riot of some 300 sailors, who compelled him to grant a request he had previously refused. He acted with equal pusillanimity on two or three other occasions. Thus he had determined to reduce the Norwegian guards, a privileged corps, and distribute them among the regiments of the line; yet, when a mutiny arose, he not only complied with their demand to be discharged, but even conciliated them by a distribution of money. By such instances of weakness he inspired his enemies with contempt as well as hatred, and encouraged them to work his ruin.

The chief instrument of his fall was Guldberg, a miller’s son, a ci-devant student of theology, who, as tutor to Prince Frederick, had acquired great influence over the Queen Dowager. Under Guldberg’s direction, a conspiracy was organized against Struensee, which included Queen Juliana, Prince Frederick, Rantzau, the Minister-at-War, and others. In the morning of January 17th, 1772, the chief conspirators, who had gained the military, suddenly entered Struensee’s bed-chamber, and by working on his fears compelled him to sign the documents which they had prepared. Several orders of arrest were next extorted from the imbecile Christian, by virtue of which Queen Caroline Matilda, Struensee, Brandt, and ten of their colleagues were placed in confinement. The young Queen was conducted to Kronborg; Struensee and Brandt were cast into horrible dungeons and loaded with chains. Stupefied by the sense of his danger, and terrified by the threats of his judges, Struensee was induced to sign a full confession of his guilt with the Queen. But his hopes of saving his life by this step were disappointed. He and Brandt were executed, April 28th. Frankenskiold was banished to Funkholm in Norway, and compelled to subsist on half-a-dollar a day; till at length, in 1777, at the intercession of the Court of St. Petersburg, he was liberated and indemnified. Queen Caroline Matilda signed a confession of her guilt, March 8th, 1772. A divorce was then pronounced between her and Christian VII; but she was liberated from confinement and conveyed to Celle, in the Hanoverian dominions, where she died in 1775.

The hypocritical Guldberg was now triumphant, and ruled twelve years in Denmark under the modest title of Cabinet Secretary. He took an opposite course to Struensee. Instead of abolishing abuses he restored them, and introduced fresh ones. Thus he acquired the gratitude and favor of the nobles; but the people discovered that the restoration of Lutheranism did not involve the return of happiness, and began to regret the Minister over whose fall they had rejoiced. Guldberg ruled till 1784. Two years before he had dismissed the greatest ornament of this period, Peter Andrew von Bernstorf, nephew of the former Minister of that name, who to great talents united strict integrity. But in the year named the young Crown Prince succeeded in obtaining possession of his father’s person, dismissed Queen Juliana, Guldberg, and their creatures, and restored Bernstorf to power.

Agreeably to its treaties with Russia, Denmark prepared to succor that Power in its war with Sweden. In September, 1788, an army of 20,000 Danes, under Prince Charles of Hesse-Cassel, invaded Sweden from Norway, and advanced as far as Uddevalla, near Gothenburg. Gustavus hastened into the northern provinces of his Kingdom, and by his popular eloquence incited the people to defend their country. The threats of the three allied Powers, England, Holland, and Prussia, to send a fleet to the help of the Swedish King, induced the Danes to withdraw from Sweden; an armistice was concluded under British mediation, and Christian VII declared his neutrality.

In the Diet which assembled at Stockholm in January, 1789, the nobles manifested a disposition to oppose the King; but Gustavus, being supported by the other three estates, caused twenty-five of the nobles to be arrested, February 20th. On the following day he laid before the Diet a new Constitution, under the title of an “Act of Union and Surety” : its object was to increase the royal prerogative, and confer on the King the power of declaring war. This Act received the immediate assent of the clergy, burgesses, and peasants. The nobles rejected it, but the King compelled their Speaker to affix his signature; and though this order protested, they agreed, like the rest, to furnish supplies for the war. Hostilities continued during 1789 and 1790; but though a great many actions took place, both by sea and land, they were, for the most part, indecisive; and, with the exception of some of the maritime operations of 1790, which brought the war to a close, are scarcely worth detailing.

In May of that year Gustavus, after defeating the Russian galleys off Frederickshamn, proceeded to Wiborg, and disembarked troops within thirty leagues of St. Petersburg. Here he was joined by his brother, the Duke of Sudermania, with the main Swedish fleet. But meanwhile the Russian fleets, stationed at Cronstadt and Revel, had formed a junction, constituting a force of thirty ships of the line and eighteen frigates, and they now blockaded the whole naval power of Sweden, with the King himself, in the Gulf of Wiborg, during a period of four weeks. Provisions began to fail the Swedes, and the Russian commander, sure of his prey, proposed to Gustavus to surrender by capitulation. Fortunately, an easterly wind sprang up. The Swedes, taking advantage of it, and clearing the way by means of fire-ships, succeeded in forcing a passage; but with the loss of seven ships of the line, three frigates, and 5,000 men. Gustavus, who followed with the Swedish galleys, succeeded in escaping to Svenksund, but with the loss of thirty sail. The Russians, however, were subsequently defeated with great loss in an attack upon that place, and were thus hindered from any attempt upon Stockholm.

These events accelerated a peace. Russia, mistress of the Baltic, could no longer be prevented from sending a fleet into the Mediterranean; the aid of Sweden had therefore become useless to the Porte, and she could no longer reckon on subsidies from that quarter. It was known, too, that Catharine was negotiating a peace with the Porte, on the conclusion of which Sweden would be exposed to all the weight of her anger. But Catharine, on her side, was aware that the negotiations between Prince Potemkin and the Turks had been broken off, and that Austria was about to conclude a separate peace with them, which would leave Prussia and Poland at liberty to turn their arms against her. She therefore proposed a conference, which terminated in the Peace of Werela, on the strict status quo ante bellum, August 14th, 1790. The progress of the French Revolution subsequently converted Gustavus and Catharine from personal enemies into warm friends and allies, and in October, 1791, an alliance was concluded at Drottningholm, called the Treaty of Friendship and Union.

While these events were happening in the north of Europe the progress of the Austro-Russian war with Turkey continued.

Prince Repnin had now succeeded to the command of the Russian army of the Ukraine, and defeated the Turks, who had crossed the Danube at Ismail, September 20th, 1789, General Platoff, at the head of the Cossacks, took Akerman, or Bialogrod, at the mouth of the Dniester, October 13th; and Potemkin closed the campaign by the capture of Bender, November 14th. The Austrians had been equally fortunate, and managed to obtain some successes. Prince Coburg, in conjunction with Suvaroff, defeated the Turks at Fokchany, August 1st, and again at Martinesti, September 22nd; while Count Clairfait overthrew them at Mehadia, August 28th, and drove them from the Banat. But the chief hero of the campaign was Loudon, who took the suburbs of Belgrade by storm, September 30th, and compelled Osman Pasha and the Turkish garrison to capitulate, October 8th; Semendria and Passarowitz surrendered a few days after.

Meanwhile, Sultan Abdul Hamed had been carried off by a stroke of apoplexy, April 7th, 1789. His nephew and successor, Selim III, son of the unfortunate Mustapha III, a young Prince of twenty-eight years, possessing considerable energy and talent, resolved to prosecute the war with spirit; and he issued a decree commanding all the Faithful, between sixteen and sixty years of age, to take up arms.

Selim’s warlike ardor suspended for a while the negotiations which the Court of Berlin, under the counsels of Hertberg, had for some time been carrying on with the Porte, with the view of bringing about a peace. Frederick William II had offered his mediation between Austria and the Porte: but the Emperor rejected it in an angry letter, in which he reproached the House of Hohenzollern with their encroachments ever since the days of Albert of Brandenburg. The reverses suffered by the Turkish arms, in the campaign of 1789, favored the renewal of these attempts on the part of Prussia, and a close alliance between that Power and the Porte was concluded at Constantinople, January 31st, 1790. By this treaty Prussia undertook to assist the Porte in the following spring with all her forces. But Diez, the Prussian Minister at Constantinople, exceeded his instructions. The Cabinet of Berlin, of which Hertzberg was still the director, had only contemplated a war against Austria; but Diez, instead of using the general expression “enemies of the Porte”, specifically undertook to declare war “against the Russians and Austrians”; and inserted the “Crimea”, by name, as one of the provinces to be recovered by the Sultan, although he had been instructed to avoid mentioning any particular provinces. The King of Prussia delayed the ratification of the treaty till June 20th, when these clauses were evaded by adding the condition, “so far as it shall be in our power, and circumstances will permit”; while all mention of the Crimea was omitted; and the words “the provinces lost in the present war”, substituted for it. The Porte, on its side, promised to use its endeavors to procure the restitution of Galicia and the other Polish provinces seized by Austria, to the Republic of Poland. In this piece of liberality towards that unfortunate country, Hertzberg, however, was not so disinterested as he seemed. His object in procuring the restoration of these provinces was to extort from Poland, Danzig and Thorn in exchange for them.

Soon after the conclusion of this treaty between Prussia and the Porte, the death of the Emperor Joseph II (February 20th, 1790), also contributed to give a new turn to affairs. Although the success of the Austrian arms in the last Turkish campaign might serve to throw a cheering ray on Joseph’s last days, yet the gloomy aspect of affairs in his own dominions is thought to have hastened his end. While the Prussians were preparing to strike a blow against him, discontent was increasing in Austria; an insurrection was daily expected to break out in Hungary; Tyrol was in a state of general ferment; and in the Netherlands Joseph had actually been deposed. The discontent in those provinces had continued to smoulder, and, in 1789, it burst into a flame. Even the arbitrary act of Count Trautmannsdorf, in abolishing the Joyeuse Entrée, June 18th, did not produce an immediate insurrection. But the breaking out of the French Revolution encouraged the insurgents. The same cause also occasioned an insurrection in the bishopric of Liége, which then belonged to the Circle of Westphalia. An imperfect attempt of the Emperor to conciliate matters in the Netherlands served rather to aggravate than soothe the general discontent. By the Edict of August 14th, 1789, he reestablished at Louvain the episcopal schools, but without suppressing the general seminary, and left to theological students the choice of either. In the following September, several thousands of the malcontents, with Cardinal Frankenberg, Archbishop of Mechlin, and the Duke of Arenberg at their head, crossed the frontier to Breda; and having formed a pretended assembly of the States, they addressed a remonstrance to the Emperor, demanding the restoration of the privileges enjoyed by Brabant from time immemorial, and threatening, in case of refusal, to appeal “to God and their swords”. The people rose in arms under the conduct of Van der Meersch, a retired officer, who styled himself “General of the Patriots”; and they defeated 3,000 Austrians under General Schroder, who had attacked them at Turnhout. One Van der Noot, an advocate, who called himself “Agent of the Brabanters”, now assumed the direction of the movement, and became for a time the virtual ruler of the Austrian Netherlands. In November the Austrian garrison was expelled from Ghent, and all Flanders renounced its allegiance. The Archduchess Christina and her husband quitted Brussels about the middle of that month, and soon after the Austrian troops were driven out, though Trautmannsdorf had, for a time, apparently reestablished tranquility by restoring the Joyeuse Entrée. A Declaration of Independence was published in that capital, December 13th, 1789, to which the other provinces, with the exception of Luxembourg, acceded. Before the end of the year the Austrians were entirely expelled. On January 11th, 1790, deputies from most of the provinces of the Austrian Netherlands having assembled at Brussels, signed an Act of Union of the Belgian United Provinces. The Government of the new Republic, which was of an aristocratic nature, was in trusted to a Congress; of which Cardinal Frankenberg was President, Van der Noot Prime Minister, and Van Rupen Secretary.

Such was the state of affairs at the death of Joseph II, a Monarch who appears to have sincerely desired the welfare of his subjects, but who undertook the impossible task of ruling them according to the philosophic ideas of his age, with the view of rendering them happy and enlightened in spite of their interests and prejudices, and, as it were, against their will. In Hungary he found it expedient to revoke all his innovations before his death, except the Edict of Toleration and the abolition of serfdom. He also sent back to that country the Holy Crown of St. Stephen, which was carried in triumph to Buda. In short, he summed up, not altogether inaccurately, his own political character in the epitaph which he proposed for himself a little before his death : “Here lies a Sovereign who, with the best intentions, never carried a single project into execution”. Personally, however, Joseph had many excellent qualities. He was industrious, he mixed freely with his people, and permitted even the meanest of them to approach him. He declined a proposal of the inhabitants of Buda to erect a statue to him, with some remarks which may serve to show his ideal of a State. He observed that he should deserve a statue when prejudices were extirpated, and genuine patriotism and correct views of the public good established in their stead; when everybody should contribute his proportion to the necessities and security of the State; when the whole of his dominions should be enlightened by means of improved education, a simpler and better teaching of the clergy, and a union of religion and law; when a sounder administration of justice should be introduced, wealth increased by augmented population and improved agriculture, better relations established between the nobles and their de­pendents, and trade and manufacture put on a better footing. But the harshness with which he enforced minute and vexatious police regulations deprived him of the popularity which his many good qualities were calculated to attract.

Joseph II died at the age of forty-eight, and in the tenth year of his reign. Although he had been twice married, he left no living issue, and he was therefore succeeded as King of Hungary and Bohemia, and in the Sovereignty of Austria, by his brother Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Leopold had ruled Tuscany twenty-five years, with the reputation of liberality and wisdom. Like his brother Joseph, he had sought to reform the Church, and had seconded the efforts of Scipio Ricci, Bishop of Pistoia, for that purpose. An assembly of all the Jansenist prelates and clergy of Tuscany, which Ricci had convoked in the metropolis of his see in 1787, drew up the projects of reform, celebrated as the Propositions of Pistoia. In these Propositions the Papal power was questioned, the showy and merely external worship introduced by the Popes was condemned, and the strict morality of the Jansenists declared the essential principle of Christianity. Pius VI, who then filled the Papal throne, threatened Ricci with excommunication. But the firm attitude of Leopold, who forbade all appeals to Rome, refused to recognize the spiritual powers of the Nuncio, and abolished the dependence of the religious orders on foreign superiors, deterred the Pope from proceeding to this extremity. Such reforms, however, were as distasteful to the mass of the Italians as they were to the Austrians. The populace regarded Ricci as a heretic, and on that score thought themselves justified in plundering his palace. The Propositions of Pistoia were condemned by a small assembly of prelates at Florence, dignified with the name of a general synod; and Pius had only to await with patience a reaction, which soon dissipated the reforms of the Tuscan clergy. Equal liberality was observed in Leopold’s civil administration. He mitigated the rigor of the penal laws, and abolished capital punishment, even in cases of murder. Observing that this mildness was attended with beneficial effects, he introduced, in 1786, his celebrated Code, by which the criminal law was entirely revised, and the prosecution and punishment of offenders reduced to a minimum of harshness and severity.

Leopold, who was forty-three years of age at the time of his brother’s death, immediately left Florence for Vienna. The political atmosphere, as we have seen, was anything but clear. Leopold felt that the most pressing necessity was to accommodate matters with Prussia. Immediately after his arrival in Vienna, he addressed a letter to the King of Prussia, in which he expressed a desire for his friendship, and candidly declared that, as an indemnity for the expenses of the war with Turkey, he should be content with the boundaries assigned to Austria by the Peace of Passarowitz in 1718; and he concluded with assurances of moderation with regard to his future policy. He also by his moderation secured the support of England in his determination to regain his Belgian provinces, then in danger of falling under Francis Vonck, the head of the democratic party. Leopold did not, however, neglect the precautions rendered necessary by the attitude assumed by Prussia, and ordered an army of 150,000 men to assemble in Moravia and Bohemia; although this step compelled him to reduce his forces on the Danube. Frederick William replied in a conciliatory autograph letter, in which he intimated that he could not act without the concurrence of his allies (April 15th). At this juncture England proposed an armistice to Prussia and the belligerents, in order to treat for a peace on the status quo ante helium; but the proposal failed, chiefly through the obstinacy of Kaunitz, now an old man of eighty, whose opinions were treated with great deference by Leopold, although opposed to his own convictions. After the rejection of the armistice Prussia submitted the following project for a peace: That Austria and Russia should restore to the Porte ail the territory they had conquered be­tween the Danube and Dniester; Austria, however, retaining those parts of Wallachia and Servia which had been assigned to her by the Peace of Passarowitz, but restoring Galicia to Poland, except the district from the borders of Hungary and Transylvania to the rivers Dniester and Stry. In order to restore the balance between Austria and Prussia, the latter country was to have Danzig and Thorn. On these conditions Frederick William II agreed not to oppose Leopold in the Netherlands, and to vote for him as Emperor. The Prussian note accompanying these proposals was peremptory, almost challenging. Austria declined the terms offered, on the ground that the districts assigned to her were no equivalent for the sacrifices required of her, and that it was unreasonable to demand that peace should be made at her expense.

Both parties now prepared for war. Loudon resigned the command on the Danube, to place himself at the head of the Austrian army on the frontier of Saxony. The main body of the Prussians, under the King, the Duke of Brunswick, and General Mollendorf, assembled in Silesia; another division was stationed in East Prussia, on the borders of Lithuania, and a third in West Prussia, towards the Vistula. It was in his camp at Schonwald that Frederick William ratified his treaty with the Porte, as already mentioned (June 20th). But in spite of these hostile demonstrations, both Sovereigns were secretly longing for peace. Leopold wished to allay the intestine disorders of his dominions; Frederick William apprehended that his proposals might be distasteful to Poland and the Porte; English influence was strongly in favour of peace, while both Monarchs were filled with alarm at the rapid progress of the French Revolution. Fresh negotiations were, therefore, opened at Reichenbach, a town in the principality of Schweidnitz. Russia refused to take part in them, having resolved to treat separately with the Porte. Hertzberg, bent on carrying his views against Austria, even at the risk of a war, endeavored to exclude England from the Conference, because that Power, as well as Holland, advocated the strict status quo ante bellum; and they had declared that if Prussia should persist in her scheme of indemnification, and a war should be thereby kindled, they should not consider it a casus foederis, and should forbear to take any part in it. Lucchesini, too, the Prussian Minister at Warsaw, dissuaded the irresolute Frederick William from adopting Hertzberg’s policy; which he and others represented as the offspring of a false ambition, and a blind and passionate hatred of Austria.

Leopold's firmness had almost occasioned the breaking-off of the negotiations, when they suddenly took a new turn. A party had sprung up in Poland which opposed the cession of Danzig and Thorn, its only ports, and preferred to renounce Galicia. As this party was supported by the Maritime Powers, Frederick William deemed it prudent to postpone his endeavors to obtain those places till a more convenient opportunity. In revenge, the Prussian Cabinet required that Austria should give up Turkish Wallachia, and signified that the non-acceptance of this condition within ten days would be considered a declaration of war. Leopold consented to accept the strict status quo ante bellum. As there had been no war between Austria and Prussia, those two Powers contented themselves with reciprocal declarations, which were combined in the Convention of Reichenbach, signed August 5th, 1790. On the 21st of the same month an armistice was concluded at Giurgevo, between Austria and the Porte. Before its conclusion the Austrians had gained some advantages in the campaign of that year. Old Orsova had capitulated to them, April 16th, and some successes had been achieved in Wallachia.

It was not till January, 1791, that a congress for the establishment of peace between Austria and the Porte was opened, under the mediation of England, Holland, and Prussia, at Sistova, a town in Bulgaria. During its progress, the Austrians, raising a distinction between the status quo de jure and de facto, made some new demands, which they ultimately carried; not, however, in the treaty, but by a separate convention with the Porte, by which the latter ceded Old Orsova, and a district on the Unna. The Porte retained Moldavia and Wallachia. The Peace of Sistova and the Convention were signed on the same day, August 4th, 1791.

The reconciliation with Prussia had main beneficial results for Leopold. Besides promoting the peace of Sistova, it enabled him to put down the disturbances in the Netherlands and Hungary, and helped him to the Imperial Crown. The three allied Powers did not wish to see Austria deprived of the Belgian provinces by a revolution, though they wanted her to make a new barrier treaty. After the Congress of Reichenbach had settled the affairs of Turkey, the Prussian Minister delivered to those of Austria a declaration of the maritime Powers, expressing their readiness to guarantee, in conjunction with Prussia, the constitution of the Austrian Netherlands, and to take the necessary steps to bring them again under the dominion of the House of Austria. On intelligence of this, the Brussels Congress sent deputies to London, Berlin, the Hague, and Paris, to make remonstrances and demand succors. Leopold, before he left Florence, had declared his disapproval of the innovations of his predecessor in the Netherlands, had promised a complete amnesty, confirmed the Joyeuse Entrée, and even extended the privileges of his rebellious subjects; but without effect. An army of 20,000 men was raised, and placed under the command of Van der Noot; but this force, which attacked the Austrians on the Meuse, in the autumn of 1790, was beaten in almost every encounter. It had been settled at Reichenbach to hold a congress at the Hague, which was opened in September, and attended by Austrian, Prussian, English, and Dutch Ministers. The Belgian provinces also sent deputies; but as they still continued refractory, and demanded that France should be associated in the negotiations, the mediating Powers declared, October 31st, that unless they made their submission within three weeks, they would be abandoned to their fate. This declaration was in accordance with a manifesto published by Leopold at Frankfurt, on the 14th of that month, announcing that if the Netherlanders should not have returned to their duty by November 21st, he should cause an army of 30,000 men to enter their provinces. The insurgent States made use of the last moments of their independence to offer the sovereignty to Leopold’s third son, the Archduke Charles. This step, however, did not arrest the march of the Austrians, under Field-Marshal Bender. They entered Namur, November 24th, and Brussels, December 2nd, when the rest of the Belgian towns submitted. On December 10th the Ministers of the Emperor and the mediating Powers signed, at the Hague, a definitive convention, and the provinces sent deputies to tender their submission. The Netherlanders were guaranteed in their ancient rights and privileges, with some new concessions, and a general amnesty, containing only a few exceptions, was proclaimed. The Republic of the Belgian Provinces had lasted scarce a year. The Archduchess Christina and her husband, the Duke of Saxe Teschen, made their solemn entry into Brussels, June 15th, 1791; but though the aristocratic and more powerful party, which was in favor of kingly government, had submitted, democratic disturbances, in connection with those in France, still continued.

The disturbances in Hungary had also been calmed. Leopold was quietly crowned at Pressburg, November 15th, 1790. The Emperor’s son, Alexander Leopold, whom the Hungarians had unanimously elected their Palatine, assisted in placing the Crown upon his father’s head. The new King of Hungary had, in the previous October, received at Frankfurt the German and Imperial Crown, to which he had been unanimously elected, with the title of Leopold II. Leopold’s government in the Austrian dominions was reactionary. One of his most important regulations was the introduction of the secret police, which he had established in Tuscany, principally, it is said, for his amusement. Leopold died suddenly, March, 1st, 1792. He was forty-five years of age at the time of his death. He had had sixteen children, of whom fourteen survived him. He was succeeded in the Austrian Monarchy by his eldest son, Francis, then twenty-five years of age, who, in the following July, was elected and crowned at Frankfurt, with the Imperial title of Francis II. Leopold had invested his second son, Ferdinand, with the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

Meanwhile the war had continued between Russia and the Porte. The campaign of 1790 began late. Under Potemkin, Suvaroff, and other generals, the Russians captured Kilia Nova, October 29th, and two or three other places subsequently surrendered. But the grand feat of the year was the taking of Ismail by assault, by Suvaroff, December 22nd. This desperate enterprise was not achieved without great loss on the part of the Russians, who stained their victory by the horrible butchery which they committed. The campaign on the Kuban and in the Caucasus was also favorable to the Russians. Several engagements took place at sea. A bloody but indecisive battle was fought near the Gulf of Yenikale, July 19th, 1790, and, on September 9th, Admiral Ouschakoff entirely defeated the Turkish fleet near Sebastopol.

Fortune also favored the Russian arms in 1791. The principal event in the campaign of that year was the defeat of the Grand Vizier, Yussuf Pasha, by Prince Repnin, near Matchin, July 10th. The victory was chiefly due to General Kutusoff, who commanded the Russian left wing. On the 3rd of the same month, General Gudowitsch, with the army of the Caucasus, took Anapa, the key of the Kuban. On August 11th, Admiral Ouschakoff, after a severe engagement, defeated the Turkish fleet off Kara Burur, or the Black Cape. But on that very day the preliminaries of a peace had been signed at Galatz.

Catharine II having refused to accede to the Congress of Reichenbach, or to accept the mediation of Prussia with the Porte, Frederick William put a large army on foot; and Great Britain declared to the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, that, whether the mediation of the allied Powers were accepted or not, she should demand for the Porte the strict status quo ante bellum. In pursuance of this declaration a large fleet, destined for the Baltic, was equipped in the English harbors, and the Dutch were called upon to furnish their contingent. But a war with Russia was very unpopular in England, on account of the lucrative commerce with that country. It was warmly opposed by Fox and Burke; Pitt himself was not anxious for it; and the retirement of the Duke of Leeds, the Foreign Secretary, who was succeeded by Lord Grenville (April, 1791), marked the adoption of a more pacific policy. Shortly before the allies had obtained the consent of Denmark to act as mediator between Russia and the Porte; a mediation which Catharine accepted. She continued, however, to reject the strict status quo, though she was not unwilling to accept a modified one, which should give her Otchakov and its territory; and in this demand she was supported by Count Bernstorf, who, as Danish Minister, conducted the mediation; but on condition that the fortifications of Otchakov should be razed. The allies consented; new propositions were made to Catharine on this base, and, after considerable negotiation, preliminaries were signed, August 11th, at Galatz, between Prince Repnin and the Grand Vizier. The negotiations for a peace were transferred to Jassy, whither Prince Potemkin hastened from St. Petersburg to conduct them. The idea of a peace was very distasteful to Potemkin, who was in hopes of obtaining Moldavia and Wallachia for himself, as an independent principality; nor did he altogether despair of attaining that object by his negotiations. But the sittings of the Congress had scarcely begun when he was seized with a malignant fever then raging in those parts. He left Jassy, October 15th, for his favorite residence, Nicolajeff. But it was not permitted him to reach it. He died on the road the following day, in the arms of his favorite niece, the Countess Branicka. The Peace of Jassy was signed January 9th, 1792, Catharine being anxious to have her hands free so as to be able to check the determination of the Poles to reorganize their resources, reform their Constitution, and save their country from further partition. The Dniester was now established as the boundary between the Russian and Turkish Empires, and thus Otchakov was tacitly assigned to Russia; which Power restored to the Porte its other conquests.

CHAPTER LI

THE AMERICAN WAR AND AFTER