THUGUT’S FALL.
Tidings of fresh defeats had reached Vienna; more disasters had befallen
the army, and the great victory of Marengo had been followed, on the
3rd of December, 1800, by the battle of Hohenlinden, in which Moreau
defeated the Austrians under Archduke John. Even Thugut, the immovable
and constant prime minister, felt alarmed at so many calamities, and he
was generally in a gloomy and spiteful humor.
He felt that there was a power stronger than his will, and this feeling
maddened him with anger. He was sitting at his desk, with a clouded brow
and closely compressed lips, his sullen eyes fixed on the papers before
him, which a courier, just arrived from the headquarters of the army,
had delivered to him. They contained evil tidings; they informed him
of the immense losses of the Austrians, and of the insolence of the
victorious French general, who had only granted the Austrian application
for an armistice on condition that the fortresses of Ulm, Ingolstadt and
Philipsburg be surrendered to him; and these humiliating terms had been
complied with in order to gain time and to concentrate a new army. For
Thugut’s stubbornness had not been broken yet, and he still obstinately
refused to conclude the peace so urgently desired by the whole Austrian
people, nay, by the emperor himself.
“No, no, no peace!” he muttered, when he had perused the dispatches.
“We will fight on, even though we should be buried under the ruins of
Austria! I hate that revolutionary France, and I shall never condescend
to extend my hand to it for the purpose of making peace. We will fight
on, and no one shall dare to talk to me about peace!”
A low rap at the door leading to the reception-room interrupted his
soliloquy, and when he had harshly called out, “Come in,” his valet de
chambre appeared in the door.
“Your excellency,” he said, timidly, “Counts Colloredo, Saurau, and
Lehrbach have just arrived, and desire to obtain an interview with your
excellency.”
Not a muscle moved in Thugut’s face to betray his surprise, and he
ordered the servant in a perfectly calm voice to admit the gentlemen
immediately. He then hastily walked to the door for the purpose of
meeting them. They entered a few minutes later: first, Count Colloredo,
minister of the imperial household; next, Count Saurau, minister of
police; and last, Count Lehrbach, minister without portfolio. Thugut
surveyed the three dignitaries with a single searching glance. He
perceived that good-natured Count Colloredo looked rather frightened;
that the ferocious eyes of Count Lehrbach were glistening like those of
a tiger just about to lacerate his victim: and that Count Saurau, that
diplomatist generally so impenetrable, permitted a triumphant smile to
play on his lips. With the sure tact which Thugut never lost sight
of, he saw from the various miens of these three gentlemen what had
occasioned their call upon him, and his mind was made up at once.
He received them, however, with a pleasant salutation, and took the hand
of Count Colloredo in order to conduct him to an armchair. Colloredo’s
hand was cold and trembling, and Thugut said to himself, “he is charged
with a very disagreeable message for me, and he is afraid to deliver
it.”
“Your excellency is doubtless astonished to see us disturb you at so
unexpected an hour,” said Count Colloredo, in a tremulous voice, when
the four gentlemen had taken seats.
“No, I am not astonished,” said Thugut, calmly. “You, gentlemen, on the
contrary, have only anticipated my wishes. I was just about to invite
you to see me for the purpose of holding a consultation, very disastrous
tidings having arrived from the headquarters of our army. We have lost a
battle at Hohenlinden--Archduke John has been defeated.”
“And Moreau has already crossed the Inn and is now advancing upon
Vienna,” said Count Lehrbach, with a sneer. “You have made some terrible
mistakes in your hopes of victory, minister.”
“Yes, indeed, you have made some terrible mistakes, my dear little
baron,” said Count Saurau, laying particular stress on the last words.
Thugut fixed a laughing look on him. “Why,” he said, “how tender we are
to-day, and how big your beak has grown, my dear little count! You seem
but slightly afflicted by the misfortunes of the empire, for your face
is as radiant as that of a young cock that has just driven a rival from
its dunghill. But it must have been a very stupid old cock that has
condescended to fight with you. Now, my dear Count Colloredo, let us
talk about business. We have been defeated at Hohenlinden, and Moreau is
advancing upon Vienna. These are two facts that cannot be disputed. But
we shall recover from these blows; we shall send a fresh army against
Moreau, and it will avenge our previous disasters.”
“However, your excellency, that is a mere hope, and we may be
disappointed again,” replied Colloredo, anxiously. “The emperor, my
gracious master, has lost faith in our victories, unless we should have
an able and tried general at the head of our forces--a general equally
trusted by the army and the nation.”
“Let us, then, place such a general at the head of the army,”
said Thugut, calmly; “let us immediately appoint Archduke Charles
commander-in-chief of the Austrian forces.”
“Ah, I am glad that you consent to it,” exclaimed Colloredo, joyfully,
“for the emperor has just instructed me to go to his distinguished
brother and to request him in the name of his majesty to resume the
command-in-chief.”
“Well, he will accept it,” said Thugut, smiling, “for commanding and
ruling always is a very agreeable occupation; and many a one would be
ready and willing to betray his benefactor and friend, if he thereby
could acquire power and distinction. Are you not, too, of this opinion,
my dear little Count Saurau? Ah, you do not know how tenderly I am
devoted to you. You are the puppet which I have raised and fostered, and
which I wanted to transform into a man according to my own views. I am
not to blame if you have not become a man, but always remained only a
machine to be directed by another hand. Beware, my dear, of ever falling
into unskilful or bad hands, for then you would be lost, notwithstanding
your elasticity and pliability. But you have got a worthy friend there
at your side, noble, excellent Count Lehrbach. Do you know, my dear
Count Lehrbach, that there are evil-disposed persons who often tried to
prejudice me against you, who wanted to insinuate you were a rival of
mine, and were notoriously anxious to supplant me and to become prime
minister in my place? Truly, these anxious men actually went so far as
to caution me against you.”
“And did not your excellency make any reply to them?” asked Count
Lehrbach, laughing.
“Parbleu, you ask me whether I have made a reply to them or not?” said
Thugut. “I have always replied to those warning voices: ‘I need not
break Count Lehrbach’s neck; he will attend to that himself. I like
to push a man forward whom I am able to hang at any time.’” [Footnote:
Thugut’s own words.--Hormayer’s “Lebensbilder,” vol. i., p. 882.]
“But you have not taken into consideration that the man whom you are
pushing forward might reach back and afford you the same pleasure which
you had in store for him,” exclaimed Lehrbach, laughing boisterously.
“Yes, that is true,” said Thugut, artlessly; “I ought to have been
afraid of you, after all, and to perceive that you have got a nail in
your head on which one may be hanged very comfortably. But, my friends,
we detain Count Colloredo by our jokes, and you are aware that he
must hasten to the archduke in order to beg him to become our
commander-in-chief and to sign a treaty of peace with France. For I
believe we will make peace at all events.”
“We shall make peace provided we fulfil the conditions which Bonaparte
has exacted,” said Count Colloredo, timidly.
“Ah, he has exacted conditions, and these conditions have been addressed
to the emperor and not to myself?” asked Thugut.
“The dispatches were addressed to me, the minister of the imperial
household,” said Count Colloredo, modestly. “The first of these
conditions is that Austria and France make peace without letting England
participate in the negotiations.”
“And the second condition is beaming already on Count Lehrbach’s
forehead,” said Thugut, calmly. “Bonaparte demands that I shall withdraw
from the cabinet, as my dismissal would be to him a guaranty of
the pacific intentions of Austria, [Footnote: Hausser’s “History of
Germany,” vol. ii., p. 324.] Am I mistaken?”
“You are not; but the emperor, gratefully acknowledging the long and
important services your excellency has rendered to the state, will not
fulfil this condition and incur the semblance of ingratitude.”
“Austria and my emperor require a sacrifice of me, and I am ready to
make it,” said Thugut, solemnly. “I shall write immediately to his
majesty the emperor and request him to permit me to withdraw from the
service of the state without delay.”
Count Colloredo sighed mournfully; Count Saurau smiled, and Count
Lehrbach laughed in Thugut’s face with the mien of a hyena.
“And do you know who will be your successor?” asked the latter.
“My dear sir, I shall have no successor, only a miserable imitator, and
you will be that imitator,” said Thugut, proudly. “But I give you my
word that this task will not be intrusted to you for a long while. I
shall now draw up my request to the emperor, and I beg you, gentlemen,
to deliver it to his majesty.”
Without saying another word he went to his desk, hastily wrote a few
lines on a sheet of paper, which he then sealed and directed. “Count
Colloredo,” he said, “be kind enough to hand this letter to the
emperor.”
Count Colloredo took it with one hand, and with the other he drew a
sealed letter from his bosom.
“And here, your excellency,” he said--“here I have the honor to present
to you his majesty’s reply. The emperor, fully cognizant of your noble
and devoted patriotism, was satisfied in advance that you would be ready
to sacrifice yourself on the altar of the country, and, however grievous
the resolution, he was determined to accept the sacrifice. The emperor
grants your withdrawal from the service of the state; and Count Louis
Cobenzl, who is to set out within a few hours for Luneville, in order
to open there the peace conference with the brother of the First Consul,
Joseph Bonaparte, will take along the official announcement of this
change in the imperial cabinet. Count Lehrbach, I have the honor to
present to you, in the name of the emperor, this letter, by which his
majesty appoints you minister of the interior.”
He handed to Count Lehrbach a letter, which the latter hastily opened
and glanced over with greedy eyes.
“And you, my dear little Count Saurau?” asked Thugut, compassionately.
“Have they not granted you any share whatever in the spoils?”
“Yes, they have; I have received the honorable commission to communicate
to the good people of Vienna the joyful news that Baron Thugut has been
dismissed,” said Count Saurau; “and I shall now withdraw in order to
fulfil this commission.”
He nodded sneeringly to Thugut, bowed respectfully to Count Colloredo,
and left the minister’s cabinet.
“I am avenged,” he muttered, while crossing the anteroom; “henceforward
the shipbuilder’s son will call me no longer his ‘dear little count.’”
“And I shall withdraw, too,” said Count Lehrbach, with a scornful smile.
“I shall withdraw in order to make all necessary preparations, so that
my furniture and horses can be brought here tomorrow to the building of
the chancery of state. For I suppose, Baron Thugut, you will move out of
this house in the course of to-day?”
“Yes, I shall, and you will withdraw now, sir,” said Thugut, dismissing
the count with a haughty wave of his hand. Count Lehrbach went out
laughing, and Count Colloredo remained alone with Thugut.
“And you,” asked Thugut, “do not you wish to take leave of me by telling
me something that might hurt my feelings?”
“I have to tell you a great many things, but nothing that will hurt your
feelings,” said Colloredo, gently. “First of all things, I must beg you
not to deprive me of your friendship and advice, but to assist me as
heretofore. I need your advice and your help more than ever, and shall
do nothing without previously ascertaining your will.”
“The emperor will not permit it,” said Thugut, gloomily. “He will
require you to break off all intercourse with me.”
“On the contrary,” whispered Colloredo, “the emperor desires you always
to assist him and myself by your counsels. The emperor desires you to be
kind enough to call every day upon me in order to consider with me the
affairs of the day, and there, accidentally of course, you will meet his
majesty, who wants to obtain the advice of your experience and wisdom.
You will remain minister, but incognito.”
A flash of joy burst forth from Thugut’s eyes, but he quickly suppressed
it again.
“And shall I meet in your house sometimes your wife, the beautiful
Countess Victoria?” he asked.
“Victoria implores you, through my mouth, to trust her and never to
doubt of her friendship. I beg you to receive the same assurance as far
as I am concerned. You have rendered both of us so happy, my dear baron;
you were the mediator of a marriage in which both of us, Victoria as
well as myself, have found the highest bliss on earth, and never shall
we cease to be grateful to you for it; nor shall we ever be able or
willing to do without your advice and assistance. You are our head, we
are your arms, and the head commanding the arms, we shall always obey
you. Victoria implores you to tell her any thing you desire, so that she
may give you forthwith a proof of her willingness to serve you. She has
charged me to ask you to do so as a proof of your friendship.”
“Well,” said Thugut, laughing, “I accept your offer, as well as that of
your beautiful wife Victoria. Count Lehrbach has been appointed minister
and he wants even to move to-morrow into the chancery of state. We will
let him move in early in the morning, but, in the course of the day, the
emperor will do well to send him his dismissal, for Count Lehrbach is
unworthy of being his majesty’s minister of state. His hand is stained
with the blood which was shed at Rastadt, and a minister’s hand must be
clean.”
“But whom shall we appoint minister in Lehrbach’s place?”
“Count Louis Cobenzl, for his name will offer the best guaranty of our
pacific intentions toward France.”
“But Count Cobenzl is to go to Luneville to attend the peace
conference.”
“Let him do so, and until his return let Count Trautmannsdorf
temporarily discharge the duties of his office.”
“Ah, that is true, that is a splendid idea!” exclaimed Count Colloredo,
joyfully. “You are a very sagacious and prudent statesman, and I shall
hasten to lay your advice before the emperor. You may rest assured
that every thing shall be done in accordance with your wishes.
Lehrbach remains minister until to-morrow at noon; he then receives
his dismissal, Count Louis Cobenzl will be appointed his successor, and
Count Trautmannsdorf will temporarily discharge the duties of the office
until Cobenzl’s return from Luneville. Shall it be done in this manner?”
“Yes, it shall,” said Thugut, almost sternly.
“But this does not fulfil Victoria’s prayer,” said the count, anxiously.
“I am able to attend to these matters, but Victoria also wants to give
you a proof of her friendship.”
“Well, I ask her to prepare a little joke for me and you,” replied
Thugut. “Count Lehrbach will move early to-morrow morning with his whole
furniture into the chancery of state. I beg Victoria to bring it about
that he must move out to-morrow evening with his whole furniture, like
a martin found in the dove-cote.” [Footnote: Thugut’s wishes
were fulfilled. Count Lehrbach lost on the very next day his
scarcely-obtained portfolio, and he was compelled to remove the
furniture which, in rude haste he had sent to the chancery of state
in the morning, in the course of the same evening.--Vide Hormayer’s
“Lebensbilder,” vol. i., p. 330.]
“Ah, that will be a splendid joke,” said Count Colloredo, laughing, “and
my dear Victoria will be happy to afford you this little satisfaction.
I am able to predict that Count Lehrbach will be compelled to move out
to-morrow evening. But now, my dearest friend. I must hasten to Archduke
Charles, who, as you are aware, is pouting on one of his estates. I
shall at once repair thither, and be absent from Vienna for two days.
Meantime, you will take care of Victoria as a faithful friend.”
“I shall take care of her if the countess will permit me to do so,” said
Thugut, smiling, and accompanying Count Colloredo to the door.
His eyes followed him for a long while with an expression of haughty
disdain.
“The fools remain,” he said, “and I must go. But no, I shall not go! Let
the world believe me to be a dismissed minister, I remain minister after
all. I shall rule through my creatures, Colloredo and Victoria. I remain
minister until I shall be tired of all these miserable intrigues, and
retire in order to live for myself.” [Footnote: Thugut really withdrew
definitely from the political stage, but secretly he retained his full
power and authority, and Victoria de Poutet-Colloredo, the influential
friend of the Empress Theresia, constantly remained his faithful
adherent and confidante. All Vienna, however, was highly elated by
the dismissal of Thugut, who had so long ruled the empire in the most
arbitrary manner. An instance of his system is the fact that; on his
withdrawal from the cabinet, there were found one hundred and seventy
unopened dispatches and more than two thousand unopened letters. Thugut
only perused what he believed to be worth the trouble of being read, and
to the remainder he paid no attention whatever.--“Lebensbilder,” vol.
i., p. 327.]