MINISTER THUGUT.
The prime minister, Baron Thugut, was in his study. It was yet early
in the morning, and the minister had just entered his room in order to
begin his political task. On the large green table at which Thugut had
just sat down, there lay the dispatches and letters delivered by the
couriers who had arrived during the night and early in the morning.
There were, besides, unfolded documents and decrees, waiting for the
minister’s signature, in order to become valid laws. But the minister
took no notice whatever of these papers, but first seized the newspapers
and other periodicals, which he commenced reading with great eagerness.
While he was perusing them, his stern features assumed a still harsher
mien, and a gloomy cloud settled on his brow. Suddenly he uttered a wild
oath and violently hurling the paper, in which he had been reading, to
the floor, he jumped up from his chair.
“Such impudence is altogether intolerable!” he shouted, angrily. “It is
high time for me to teach these newspaper scribblers another lesson, and
they shall have it! I--”
Just then, the door of the anteroom opened, and a footman entered. He
informed his master that the police minister, Count Saurau, wished to
see him.
Baron Thugut ordered him to be admitted at once, and went to meet him as
soon as he heard him come in.
“You anticipate my wishes, my dear count,” he said. “I was just going to
send for you.”
“Your excellency knows that I am always ready to obey your calls,”
replied Count Saurau, politely. “I acknowledge your superiority and
submit to you as though you were my lord and master; notwithstanding our
position in society and in the state service, which is almost an equal
one, I willingly permit you to treat me as your disciple and inferior.”
“And I believe that is the wisest course you can pursue, my dear little
count,” said Thugut, laughing sarcastically. “It has been good for you
to do so, I should think, and so it has been for the whole Austrian ship
of state, that has been intrusted to my guidance. Yes, sir, the son of
the ship-builder Thunichtgut has shown to you and your fellow-members
of the ancient aristocracy that talents and ability are no exclusive
privileges of your class, and that a common ship-builder’s son
may become prime minister, and that a low-born Thunichtgut may be
transformed into a Baron von Thugut. The great Empress Maria Theresa
has performed this miracle, and baptized me, and I believe Austria never
found fault with her for doing so. The ship-builder’s son has piloted
the ship of state tolerably skilfully through the breakers up to the
present time, and he shall do so in future too, in spite of all counts
and aristocrats. You see, I do not try to conceal my humble descent;
nay, I boast of it, and it is therefore quite unnecessary for you to
remind me of what I never want to forget!”
“I see that some late occurrence must have excited your excellency’s
just anger,” exclaimed Count Saurau.
“And being police minister, you doubtless know all about that
occurrence,” said Thugut, sarcastically.
Count Saurau shrugged his shoulders. “I confess I am unable to divine--”
“Then you have not read the papers this morning?” asked Thugut,
scornfully. “You have no idea of the infamous attack which an
aristocratic newspaper scribbler has dared to make upon me, nay, upon
the emperor himself?”
“I confess that I do not understand what your excellency means,” said
Count Saurau, anxiously.
“Well, then, listen to me!” exclaimed Thugut, seizing the paper again.
“Listen to what I am going to read to you: ‘At a time when the whole
Austrian people are longing for peace, when our august Empress Theresia
and our dearly beloved Archduke Charles share these sentiments of the
people and give expression to them at the feet of the throne and in
opposition to those who would deluge our cherished Austria with the
miseries and dangers of war--at such a time we fondly look back into the
great history of our country and remember what has been accomplished by
great and gifted members of our imperial house in former periods for
the welfare and tranquillity of Austria; we remember, for instance, that
Austria in 1619, like to-day, was threatened by enemies and on the eve
of a terrible war, not because the honor and welfare of Austria rendered
such a war necessary, but because the ambitious and arrogant minister,
Cardinal Clesel, was obstinately opposed to peace, and utterly unmindful
of the wishes of the people. He alone, he, the all-powerful minister,
was in favor of war; he overwhelmed the weak Emperor Mathias with his
demands; and when the latter, owing to the anxiety he had to undergo,
was taken sick, he even pursued him with his clamor for war into his
sick-room. But then the archdukes, the emperor’s brothers, boldly
determined to interfere. They arrested the rascally minister at the
emperor’s bedside, and sent him to Castle Ambrass in the Tyrol, where he
suffered long imprisonment, a just punishment for his arrogance and
for his attempt to involve the country in a war so distasteful to all
classes of the people. About half a century later a similar occurrence
took place. There was again a minister advocating war in spite of the
whole Austrian people. It was in 1673. The minister to whose suggestions
the Emperor Leopold lent a willing ear at that time, was Prince
Lobkowitz. But the Empress Claudia had compassion on the people,
groaning under the heavy yoke of the minister. She alone prevailed upon
the emperor by her eloquence and beauty to deprive Prince Lobkowitz
suddenly of all his honors and offices and to send him on a common
hay-wagon amidst the contemptuous scoffs and jeers of the populace of
Vienna to the fortress of Raudnitz, forbidding him under pain of
death to inquire about the cause of his punishment.’” [Footnote: Vide
Hormayer, “Lebensbilder aus dem Befreiungskriege,” vol. i., p. 321.]
“Well,” asked Thugut, when he ceased reading, “what do you think of
that?”
“I believe the article contains very idle historical reminiscences,”
said Count Saurau, shrugging his shoulders; “these reminiscences,
according to my opinion, have no bearing whatever upon our own times.”
“That is, you will not admit their bearing upon our own times, my dear
little count; you pretend not to perceive that the whole article is
directed against myself; that the object is to exasperate the people
against me and to encourage my enemies to treat me in the same manner as
Clesel and Lobkowitz were treated. The article alludes to the archdukes
who overthrew the minister so obstinately opposed to peace, and to the
Empress Claudia who profited by her power over the emperor in order to
ruin an all-powerful minister, her enemy. And you pretend not to see
that all this is merely referred to for the purpose of encouraging
Archduke Charles and the Empress Theresia to act as those have acted?
Both are at the head of the peace party; both want peace with France,
and in their short-sightedness and stupidity, they are enthusiastic
admirers of that French general Bonaparte, whom they call ‘the Italian,’
unmindful of the great probability of his designating himself some day
by the sobriquet of ‘the Austrian,’ unless we oppose him energetically
and set bounds to his thirst after conquest. They want to get rid of me
in the same manner as their predecessors got rid of Cardinal Clesel. But
I hold the helm as yet, and do not mean to relinquish it.”
“It would be a terrible misfortune for Austria if your excellency should
do so,” said Count Saurau, in his soft, bland voice. “I do not believe
that either the Empress Theresa or the Archduke Charles will act in a
hostile manner toward you.”
“And if they should do so, I would not tolerate it,” exclaimed Thugut.
“My adversaries, whosoever they may be, had better beware of my
elephant foot not stamping them into the ground. I hate that boastful,
revolutionary France, and to remain at peace with her is equivalent
to drawing toward us the ideas of the revolution and of a general
convulsion. Short-sighted people will not believe it, and they are my
enemies because I am a true friend of Austria. But being a true friend
of Austria, I must combat all those who dare oppose and impede me, for
in my person they oppose and impede Austria. First of all things, it is
necessary for me to get rid of those newspaper editors and scribblers;
they are arrogant, insolent fellows who imagine they know every thing
and are able to criticise every thing, and who feel called upon to give
their opinion about all things and on all occasions because they know
how to wield a goose-quill. The best thing we could do would be to
suppress all newspapers and periodicals. Shaping the course of politics
ourselves, we do not need any newspapers, which after all are nothing
but ruminating oxen of what we have eaten and digested already; the
people do not understand any thing about it, nor is it necessary that
they should. The people have to work, to obey, to pay taxes, and, if
necessary, to give up their lives for their sovereign; they need not
know any thing further about politics, and if they do, it is generally
detrimental to their obedience. Let us drive away, then, that noxious
crowd of newspaper writers and pamphleteers who dare enlighten the
people by their political trash. Ah, I will teach Count Erlach that
it is a little dangerous to become a newspaper editor and to serve up
entremets of historical reminiscences to the people of Vienna! I will
cram them down his own throat in such a manner as to deprive him--”
“Count Erlach is the author of the article your excellency read to me
just now?” asked Count Saurau, in great terror.
“There, his name is affixed to it in large letters,” replied Thugut,
contemptuously; “he has not even taken pains to conceal it. We have to
return thanks to him for his sincerity, and I hope you will take the
trouble of expressing our gratitude to him.”
“What does your excellency want me to do?” asked the police minister,
anxiously. “I believe it would not be prudent for us to make much ado
about it.”
“Of course not,” said Thugut, laughing. “Do I like to make much ado
about any thing, which would only give rise to scandal and idle
gossip? Just reflect a while, my dear little count. What did we do, for
instance, with the Neapolitan Count Montalban, who became a thorn in our
side, and endeavored to gain power over the emperor? Did we accuse him
of high treason? Did we prefer any charges against him at all? We
merely caused him to disappear, and no one know what had become of the
interesting and handsome count. People spoke for three or four days
about his mysterious disappearance, and then forgot all about it.
[Footnote: Lebensbilder, vol. 1., p. 321.] My dear sir, there is nothing
like oubliettes and secret prisons. I have often already preached that
to you, and you always forget it. Violence! Who will be such a fool
as to betray his little secrets by acts of open violence? We happen to
stand on the great stage of life, and, like every other stage, there
are trap-doors in the floor, through which those will disappear who
have performed their parts. Let us, therefore, cause Count Erlach, the
political writer, to vanish by means of such a trap-door.”
“I implore your excellency to show indulgence for once,” said Count
Saurau, urgently. “Count Erlach is an intimate friend of Archduke
Charles, and even the Empress Theresia is attached to him.”
“The greater the necessity for me to get rid of him, and to return my
thanks in this manner for the blows they want to deal me by means of
their historical reminiscences. This Count Erlach is a very disgusting
fellow, at all events; he would like to play the incorruptible Roman and
to shine by his virtue. There is nothing more tedious and intolerable
than a virtuous man who cannot be got at anywhere. Count Erlach has now
given us a chance to get hold of him; let us improve it.” “He has very
influential connections, very powerful protectors, your excellency. If
he should disappear, they will raise a terrible outcry about it, and
make it their special business to seek him, and if they should not find
him they will say we had killed him because your excellency was afraid
of him.”
“I was afraid of him!” exclaimed Thugut, laughing. “As if I ever had
been afraid of any one. Even an earthquake would not be able to frighten
me, and, like Fabricius, I should only look around quite slowly for the
hidden elephant of Pyrrhus. No, I know no fear, but I want others to
feel fear, and for this reason Count Erlach must be disposed of.”
“Very well, let us get rid of him,” replied Count Saurau, “but in a
simple manner and before the eyes of the whole public. Believe me for
once, your excellency, I know the ground on which we are standing; I
know it to be undermined and ready to explode and blow us up. Count
Erlach’s disappearance would be the burning match that might bring about
the explosion. Let us be cautious, therefore. Let us remove him beyond
the frontier, and threaten him with capital punishment in case he ever
should dare to reenter Austria, but let us permit him now to leave the
country without any injury whatever.”
“Well, be it so. I will let you have your own way, my dear anxious
friend. Have Erlach arrested to-day; let two police commissioners
transport him beyond the frontier, and threaten him with capital
punishment, or with my revenge--which will be the same to him--in case
he should return. Let the scribblers and newspapers learn, too, why
Count Erlach was exiled. The prudent men among them will be warned by
his fate, and hereafter hold their tongues; the stupid and audacious
fellows, however, will raise an outcry about the occurrence, and thus
give us a chance to get hold of them likewise. The matter is settled,
then; the aristocratic newspaper writer will be transported from the
country, and that is the end of it. [Footnote: Count Erlach was really
transported beyond the Austrian frontier by two police commissioners.
Only after Thugut’s overthrow in 1801 was he allowed to return to
Austria and Vienna.--Lebensbilder, vol. 1., p. 321.] But I shall seek
further satisfaction for these articles in the newspapers. Oh, the new
Empress Theresia and the archduke shall find out that I am no Clesel
or Lobkowitz to be got rid of by means of an intrigue. I shall try to
obtain in the course of to-day an order from the emperor, removing the
archduke from the command of the army and causing him to retire into
private life. He wants peace and repose in so urgent a manner; let him
sleep and dream, then, while we are up and doing. I need a resolute and
courageous general at the head of the army, a man who hates the French,
and not one who is friendly to them. But as for the empress--”
“Your excellency,” interrupted Count Saurau, with a mysterious air,
“I called upon you to-day for the purpose of speaking to you about the
empress, and of cautioning you against--”
“Cautioning me?” exclaimed Thugut, with proud disdain. “What is the
matter, then?”
“You know assuredly that the Empress Theresia has fully recovered from
her confinement, and that she has held levees for a whole week already.”
“As if I had not been the first to obtain an audience and to kiss
her hand!” exclaimed Thugut, shrugging his shoulders. “The empress,”
continued Saurau, “has received the ambassadors also; she even had two
interviews already with the minister of the French Republic, General
Bernadotte.”
Thugut suddenly became quite attentive, and fixed his small, piercing
eyes upon the police minister with an expression of intense suspense.
“Two interviews?” he asked. “And you know what they conferred about in
these two interviews?”
“I should be a very poor police minister, and my secret agents would
furnish me very unsatisfactory information, if I did not know it.”
“Well, let us hear all about it, my dear count. What did the empress say
to Bernadotte?”
“In the first audience General Bernadotte began by reading his official
speech to her majesty, and the empress listened to him with a gloomy
air. But then they entered upon a less ceremonious conversation, and
Bernadotte assured the empress that France entertained no hostile
intentions whatever against Naples, her native country. He said he had
been authorized by the Directory of the Republic to assure her majesty
officially that she need not feel any apprehensions in relation to
Naples, France being animated by the most friendly feelings toward that
kingdom. The face of the empress lighted up at once, and she replied to
the general in very gracious terms, and gave him permission to renew his
visits to her majesty whenever he wished to communicate anything to her.
He had asked her to grant him this permission.”
“I knew the particulars of this first interview, except the passage
referring to this permission,” said Thugut, quietly.
“But this permission precisely is of the highest importance, your
excellency, for the empress thereby gives the French minister free
access to her rooms. He is at liberty to see her as often as he wishes,
to communicate any thing to her. It seems the general has to make many
communications to her majesty, for two days after the first audience,
that is yesterday, General Bernadotte again repaired to the Hofburg in
order to see the empress.” [Footnote: “Memoires d’un Homme d’Etat,” vol.
v., p. 485.]
“And did she admit him?” asked Thugut.
“Yes, she admitted him, your excellency. This time the general did not
confine himself to generalities, but fully unbosomed himself to her
majesty. He confessed to the empress that France was very anxious to
maintain peace with Naples as well as with Austria; adding, however,
that this would be much facilitated by friendly advances, especially
on the part of Austria. Austria, instead of pursuing such a policy, was
actuated by hostile intentions toward France. When the empress asked for
an explanation of these words, Bernadotte was bold enough to present to
her a memorial directed against the policy of your excellency, and in
which the general said he had taken pains, by order of the Directory,
to demonstrate that the policy of Baron Thugut was entirely incompatible
with a good understanding between Austria and France, and that,
without such an understanding, the fate of Naples could not be but very
uncertain.”
“What did the empress reply?” asked Thugut, whose mien did not betray a
symptom of excitement or anger.
“Her majesty replied she would read the memorial with the greatest
attention, and keep it a profound secret from every one. She added,
however, she feared lest, even if the memorial should convince herself
of the inexpediency of Baron Thugut’s policy, it might be difficult
if not impossible to induce the emperor to take a similar view of the
matter--his majesty reposing implicit confidence in his prime minister
and being perfectly satisfied of your excellency’s fidelity, honesty,
and incorruptibility. After this reply, Bernadotte approached the
empress somewhat nearer, and cautiously and searchingly glanced around
the room in order to satisfy himself that no one but her majesty could
overhear his words. Just then--”
“Well, why do you hesitate?” asked Thugut, hastily.
“My tongue refuses to repeat the calumnies which the French minister
has dared to utter.” “Compel your tongue to utter them, and let me hear
them,” exclaimed Thugut, sarcastically.
“With your excellency’s leave, then. Bernadotte then almost bent down to
the ear of the empress and said to her, whisperingly, the Directory
of France were in possession of papers that would compromise Minister
Thugut and furnish irrefutable proofs that Minister Thugut was by no
means a reliable and honest adviser of his majesty, inasmuch as he was
in the pay of foreign powers, England and Russia particularly, who paid
him millions for always fanning anew the flames of Austria’s hostility
against France. Bernadotte added that these papers were on the way and
would arrive at Vienna by the next courier. He asked the empress if she
would permit him to hand these papers to her for placing them into the
hands of the emperor.”
“And the empress?”
“The empress promised it, and granted a third audience to the minister
as soon as he should be in possession of the papers and apply for an
interview with her.” [Footnote: “Memoires d’un Homme d’Etat,” vol. v.,
p. 890.]
“Are you through?” asked Thugut, with the greatest composure.
“Not yet, your excellency. It remains for me to tell you that the
courier expected by Bemadotte arrived last night at the hotel of the
French embassy, and that the minister himself immediately left his couch
in order to receive the dispatches in person. Early this morning an
extraordinary activity prevailed among the employes of the embassy, and
the first attache as well as the secretary of legation left the hotel at
a very early hour. The former with a letter from Bernadotte repaired to
Laxenburg where the empress, as is well known to your excellency, has
been residing with her court for the last few days. After the lapse of
an hour, he returned, and brought the general the verbal reply from the
empress that her majesty would return to Vienna in order to attend
the festival of the volunteers, and would then be ready to grant an
immediate audience to the ambassador.”
“And whither did the secretary of legation go?”
“First to one of our most fashionable military tailors, [Footnote:
Military tailors are tailors who have the exclusive privilege of
furnishing uniforms, etc., to the officers of the army.] and then to
a dry-goods store. At the tailor’s he ordered a banner, which is to
be ready in the course of this evening, and at the dry-goods store he
purchased the material required for this banner--blue, white, and red.
Now, your excellency, I am through with my report.”
“I confess, my dear count, that I have listened to you with the most
intense pleasure and satisfaction, and that I cannot refrain from
expressing to you my liveliest admiration for the vigilance and energy
of your police, who do not merely unfathom the past and present, but
also the future. In three days, then, the ambassador of France will have
an interview with the empress?”
“Yes, your excellency, and he will then deliver to her the above
mentioned papers.”
“Provided he has got any such papers, my friend! Papers that might
compromise me! As if there were any such papers! As if I ever had been
so stupid as to intrust secrets to a scrap of paper and to betray to
it what every one must not know. He who wants to keep secrets--and I
understand that exceedingly well--will intrust them just as little to
paper as to human ear. I should burn my own hair did I believe that it
had got wind of the ideas of my head. I would really like to see these
papers which Bernadotte--”
The sudden appearance of the valet de chambre interrupted the minister.
“Your excellency,” he said, “the ambassador of the French Republic,
General Bernadotte, would like to see your excellency immediately
concerning a very important and urgent affair.”
Thugut exchanged a rapid, smiling glance with the count. “Take the
ambassador to the reception-room and tell him that I shall wait on him
at once.”
“Well?” he asked, when the valet had withdrawn. “Do you still believe
that Bernadotte has got papers that would compromise me? Would he call
on me in that case? He doubtless intends telling me his ridiculous
story, too, or he wishes to intimidate me by his interviews with the
empress, so as to prevail on me to accede to the desires of France and
to become more pliable. But he is entirely mistaken. I am neither afraid
of his interviews with the empress, nor of Bernadotte’s papers, and
shall immovably pursue my own path. If it please God, this path will
soon lead me to a point where the battle against those overbearing
French may be begun in a very safe and satisfactory manner. Come, my
dear count, accompany me to the adjoining room. I shall leave the
door ajar that leads into the reception-room, for I want you to be an
invisible witness to my interview with the ambassador. Come!”