MINISTER VON THUGUT.
The prime minister, Baron von Thugut, was in his cabinet, in eager
consultation with the new police minister, Count von Saurau, who had
given him an account of the safe removal of the imperial state treasure
which, like the emperor and the empress, had set out for Hungary.
“All right! all right!” said Thugut, with a sinister chuckle. “In
Hungary both will be safe enough, for I think I have intimidated the
Hungarians so much that they will remain very quiet and very humble.”
“Your excellency refers to the conspiracy which we discovered there, two
years ago,” said Count Saurau, smiling, “and which the accursed traitors
expiated on the gallows!”
“De Mortuir Nil Nisi Bene!” exclaimed Thugut. “We are under many
obligations to these excellent traitors, for they have enabled us to
render the Hungarians submissive, just as the traitors who conspired
here at Vienna two years ago enabled us to do the same thing to the
population of the capital. A conspiracy discovered by the authorities is
always a good thing, because it furnishes us with an opportunity to
make an example, to tell the nation through the bloody heads of the
conspirators: ‘Thus, thus, all will be treated who dare to plot against
the government and against their masters!’ The Viennese have grown very
humble and obedient since the day they saw Hebenstreit, the commander
of the garrison, on the scaffold, and Baron Riedel, the tutor of the
imperial children, at the pillory. And the Hungarians, too, have learned
to bow their heads ever since the five noble conspirators were beheaded
on the Generalwiese, in front of the citadel of Ofen. Believe me, count,
that day has contributed more to the submissiveness of Hungary than all
the favors and privileges which the Emperors of Austria have bestowed
upon the Magyars. Nations are always frivolous and impudent children: he
who tries to educate them tenderly is sure to spoil them; but raise them
in fear and trembling, and they will become quiet and obedient men. And
for that reason, I tell you once more, don’t call those men, now that
they are dead, accursed traitors, for they have been very useful to us;
they have been the instrument with which we have chastised the whole
overbearing people of Austria and Hungary, and those were blessed days
for us when we mowed down the high-born traitors of both countries. The
sword of our justice performed a noble work on that day, for it struck
down a savant and a poet, a count and a distinguished prelate. Oh, what
a pity that there was no prince among them!”
“Well, a prince might have been found likewise,” said Count Saurau,
“and perhaps he may get into our meshes on some other occasion. Your
excellency is an adroit hunter.”
“And you are an excellent pointer for me. You scent such things on
the spot,” Count Thugut exclaimed, and broke out into a loud burst of
laughter.
Count Saurau laughed also, and took good care not to betray how cruelly
the joke had wounded his aristocratic pride. The Austrian aristocracy
was accustomed to such insults at the hands of the powerful and proud
prime minister, and everybody knew that Thugut, the son of a poor
ship-builder, in the midst of his greatness, liked to recall his
modest descent, and to humble the nobility through the agency of the
ship-builder’s son.
“Your excellency will permit me to render myself at once worthy of the
praise you have kindly bestowed upon me,” said the police minister,
after a short pause. “I believe we have discovered another conspiracy
here. True, it is only an embryo as yet, but it may grow into something
if we give it the necessary time.”
“What is it, Saurau?” said Thugut, joyfully--“tell me at once what it
is! A conspiracy--a good, sound conspiracy?”
“Yes, a most malignant and important conspiracy! A conspiracy against
your excellency’s life!”
“Bah!--is that all?” said Thugut carelessly, and with evident
disappointment. “I was in hopes that by this time you would hand over to
me some high-born aristocrats who had held secret intercourse with that
execrable French Republic. It would have been a splendid example for
all those hare-brained fools who are so fond of repeating the three
talismanic words of the republican regicides, and who are crazy with
delight when talking of Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite. I would have
liked to chastise a few of these madmen, in order to put a stop to the
prevailing republican enthusiasm. But instead of that, you talk to me of
a conspiracy only aimed at myself!”
“Only at yourself!” repeated the count, with great indignation. “As
if it were not the most dreadful calamity for Austria if she should be
deprived of your services. You know that we are standing on the verge
of a precipice; in the interior, the liberal and seditious desires which
the senseless reforms of the Emperor Joseph have stirred up, are still
prevalent, and the people only submit with reluctance and with spiteful
feelings to the reforms which your excellency has inaugurated with a
view to the best interests of Austria. Abroad, on the other hand, the
blood-stained French Republic incites the malecontents to imitate its
own infamies; they would like to see the victorious banners of General
Bonaparte here in order to have his assistance in establishing a
republican government in Austria.”
“It is true,” said Thugut, “the Austrian empire, at the present time, is
exposed to great dangers from within and without; the reins must be held
very firmly in order to conduct the ship of state safely through the
breakers, and I believe I am the man to do it. You see, count, I do not
underrate my own importance. I know only too well that Austria needs
me. Still, the plots and conspiracies that are merely directed against
myself, make me laugh. For let me tell you, my dear little count, I
really fancy that my person has nothing to fear either from daggers,
or from pistols, or from poisoned cups. Do you believe in a Providence,
count? Ah!--you look surprised, and wonder how such a question could
fall from infidel lips like mine. Yes, yes, I am an infidel, and I
honestly confess that the heaven of Mohammed, where you are smoking
your chibouk, seated on cushions of clouds, while houris, radiant with
beauty, are tickling the soles of your feet with rosy fingers, appears
to me by far more desirable than the Christian heaven where you are to
stand in eternal idleness before the throne of God Almighty, singing
hymns, and praising His greatness. Ah! during the happy days of my
sojourn at Constantinople, I have had a slight foretaste of the heaven
of Mohammed; and again, in the tedious days of Maria Theresa, I have had
a foretaste of the heaven of Christianity!”
“And which Providence did your excellency refer to?” asked Saurau. “I
pray your excellency to tell me, because your faith is to be the model
of mine.”
“I believe in a Providence that never does any thing in vain, and
never creates great men in order to let them be crushed, like flies,
by miserable monkeys. That is the reason why I am not afraid of any
conspiracy against myself. Providence has created me to be useful
to Austria, and to be her bulwark against the surging waves of the
revolution, and against the victorious legions of General Bonaparte. I
am an instrument of Providence, and therefore it will protect me as long
as it needs me. But if, some day, it should need me no longer, if it
intended then that I should fall, all my precautions would be fruitless,
and all your spies, my dear count, would be unable to stay the hand of
the assassin.”
“You want me to understand, then, that no steps whatever are to be taken
against the criminals conspiring against your excellency’s life?”
“By no means, count--indeed, that would be an exaggeration of fatalism.
I rely greatly on your sagacity and on the vigilance of your servants,
count. Let them watch the stupid populace--see to it that faux freres
always attend the meetings of my enemies, and whenever they inform you
of conspiracies against myself, why, the malefactors shall be spirited
away without any superfluous noise. Thank God, we have fortresses and
state prisons, with walls too thick for shrieks or groans to penetrate,
and that no one is able to break through. The public should learn as
little as possible of the fate of these criminals. The public punishment
of an assassin who failed to strike me, only instigates ten others to
try if they cannot hit me better. But the noiseless disappearance of a
culprit fills their cowardly souls with horror and dismay, and the ten
men shrink back from the intended deed, merely because they do not know
in what manner their eleventh accomplice has expiated his crime. The
disappearance of prisoners, the oubliettes, are just what is needed.
You must quietly remove your enemies and adversaries--it must seem as
if some hidden abyss had ingulfed them; everybody, then, will think this
abyss might open one day before his own feet, and he grows cautious,
uneasy, and timid. Solely by the wisdom of secret punishments, and
through the terror inspired by its mysterious tribunals, Venice has been
able to prolong her existence for so many centuries. Because the spies
of the Three were believed to be ubiquitous--and because everybody was
afraid of the two lions on the Piazzetta, the Venetians obeyed these
invisible rulers whom they did not know, and whose avenging hand was
constantly hanging over them.”
“Now, however, it seems that a visible hand, a hand of iron, is going
to strike away the invisible hands of the Three,” said Count Saurau,
quickly. “Bonaparte seems to desire to force Venice, too, into the pale
of his Italian republics. The city is full of French emissaries, who, by
means of the most eloquent and insidious appeals, try to bring about a
rising of the Venetians against their rulers, in order--but hark!” said
the count, suddenly interrupting himself. “What is that? Don’t you hear
the clamor in the street, right under our window?”
He paused, and, like the minister, turned his eyes and ears toward the
window. A confused noise, loud shouts and yells, resounded below.
The two ministers, without uttering a word, arose from their arm-chairs
and hurried to one of the windows, which looked upon the wide street
extending from the Kohlmarkt to the minister’s palace. A vast mass of
heads, broad shoulders, and uplifted arms, was visible there, and the
angry roar of the excited populace was approaching already the immediate
neighborhood of the palace.
“It seems, indeed, as if these honorable representatives of the people,
intended to pay me a visit,” said Thugut, with great composure. “Just
listen how the fellows are roaring my name, as if it were the refrain of
some rollicking beer-song!”
“Why, it is a regular riot!” exclaimed the police minister, angrily.
“Your excellency will permit me to withdraw--”
He left the window hastily, and took his hat, but Thugut’s vigorous hand
kept him back.
“Where are you going, count?” said he, smiling.
“To the governor of Vienna,” said Saurau. “I want to ask him why he
permits this nonsense, and order him to disperse the rabble in the most
summary manner!”
“Pray, stay here,” said Thugut, quietly. “The governor of Vienna is a
man of great sagacity, who knows perfectly well how we have to treat the
people. Why, it would be an unparalleled tyranny if the poor people were
not even allowed to give the prime minister their good advice, and
tell him what they think of the state of affairs. Just give them this
permission, and they will believe they have performed a most heroic
deed, and it will seem to them as if they could boast of great liberty.
True political wisdom, my dear little count, commands us to give the
people a semblance of liberty; we thereby succeed in dazzling their
eyes so well that they do not perceive that they have no real liberty
whatever.”
The clamor and noise in the street below had increased in fury.
The people, whose dense masses now entirely obstructed the street,
impetuously moved up to the portal of the ministerial palace, the front
door of which had been locked and barred already by the cautious
porter. Vigorous fists hammered violently against the door, and as an
accompaniment to this terrible music of their leaders, the people howled
and yelled their furious refrain: “We want to see the minister! He shall
give us peace! peace! peace!”
“Ah! I know what it means!” exclaimed Count Saurau, gnashing his teeth.
“Your enemies have instigated these scoundrels. The party that would
like to overthrow you and me, that wants to make peace with France at
any price, and to keep Belgium united with Austria--this party has hired
the villains below to get up a riot. They want to compel your excellency
either to resign or to comply with the wishes of the people, and make
peace with the French Republic.”
Thugut laughed. “Compel ME!” said he, laconically.
At that moment the mob yelled louder than ever, and the shout--“Peace!
we want peace!” shook the windows.
Simultaneously the furious blows against the front door redoubled in
violence.
“Assuredly, I cannot stand this any longer!” exclaimed the police
minister, perfectly beside himself. “I ought not to listen quietly to
this outrage.”
“No,” said Thugut, very quietly, “we won’t listen to it any longer. This
is my breakfast-hour, and I invite you to be my guest. Come, let us go
to the dining-room.”
He took the count’s arm, and proceeded with him to the adjoining room.
Breakfast for eight persons was served in this room, for Baron Thugut
was in the habit of keeping every day open table for seven uninvited
guests, and his intimate acquaintances, as well as his special
favorites, never failed to call on the minister at least once a week
during his well-known breakfast and dinner hours.
To-day, however, the minister’s rapid and inquisitive glances did
not discover a single guest. Nobody was in the room except the eight
foot-men who stood behind the chairs. Well aware of their master’s stern
and indomitable spirit, they occupied their usual places, but their
faces were very pale, and their eyes turned with an expression of
extreme anxiety toward the windows which, just then, trembled again
under the heavy, thundering blows levelled at the front door.
“Cowards!” muttered Thugut, while walking to his chair at the upper end
of the table and beckoning Count Saurau to take a seat at his side.
At this moment, however, the door was hastily opened, and the steward,
pale and with distorted features, rushed into the room.