The Kaiser's death came upon the Public unexpectedly; though not quite
so upon observant persons closer at hand. He was not yet fifty-six
out; a firm-built man; had been of sound constitution, of active, not
intemperate habits: but in the last six years, there had come such
torrents of ill luck rolling down on him, he had suffered immensely, far
beyond what the world knew of; and to those near him, and anxious for
him, his strength seemed much undermined. Five years ago, in summer
1735, Robinson reported, from a sure hand: "Nothing can equal the
Emperor's agitation under these disasters [brought upon him by Fleury
and the Spaniards, as after-clap to his Polish-Election feat]. His
good Empress is terrified, many times, he will die in the course of
the night, when singly with her he gives a loose to his affliction,
confusion and despair." Sea-Powers will not help; Fleury and mere ruin
will engulf! "What augments this agitation is his distrust in every one
of his own Ministers, except perhaps Bartenstein," [Robinson to Lord
Warrington, 5th July, 1735 (in State-Paper Office).]--who is not much
of a support either, though a gnarled weighty old stick in his way
("Professor at Strasburg once"): not interesting to us here. The rest
his Imperial Majesty considers to be of sublimated blockhead type,
it appears. Prince Eugene had died lately, and with Eugene all good
fortune.
And then, close following, the miseries of that Turk War, crashing
down upon a man! They say, Duke Franz, Maria Theresa's Husband, nominal
Commander in those Campaigns, with the Seckendorfs and Wallises under
him going such a road, was privately eager to have done with the
Business, on any terms, lest the Kaiser should die first, and leave it
weltering. No wonder the poor Kaiser felt broken, disgusted with the
long Shadow-Hunt of Life; and took to practical field-sports rather.
An Army that cannot fight, War-Generals good only to be locked in
Fortresses, an Exchequer that has no money; after such wagging of the
wigs, and such Privy-Councilling and such War-Councilling:--let us hunt
wild swine, and not think of it! That, thank Heaven, we still have;
that, and Pragmatic Sanction well engrossed, and generally sworn to by
mankind, after much effort!--
The outer Public of that time, and Voltaire among them more deliberately
afterwards, spoke of "mushrooms," an "indigestion of mushrooms;" and
it is probable there was something of mushrooms concerned in the event,
Another subsequent Frenchman, still more irreverent, adds to this of
the "excess of mushrooms," that the Kaiser made light of it. "When the
Doctors told him he had few hours to live, he would not believe it; and
bantered his Physicians on the sad news. 'Look me in the eyes,' said he;
'have I the air of one dying? When you see my sight growing dim, then
let the sacraments be administered, whether I order or not.'" Doctors
insisting, the Kaiser replied: "'Since you are foolish fellows, who know
neither the cause nor the state of my disorder, I command that, once
I am dead, you open my body, to know what the matter was; you can then
come and let me know!"' [_Anecdotes Germaniques_ (Paris, 1769), p.
692.]--in which also there is perhaps a glimmering of distorted truth,
though, as Monsieur mistakes even the day ("18th October," says he, not
20th), one can only accept it as rumor from the outside.
Here, by an extremely sombre domestic Gentleman of great punctuality
and great dulness, are the authentic particulars, such as it was good to
mention in Vienna circles. [(Anonymous) _Des &c. Romischen Kaisers Carl
VI. Leben und Thaten_ (Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1741), pp. 220-227.] An
extremely dull Gentleman, but to appearance an authentic; and so little
defective in reverence that he delicately expresses some astonishment at
Death's audacity this year, in killing so many Crowned Heads. "This
year 1740," says he, "though the weather throughout Europe had been
extraordinarily fine," or fine for a cold year, "had already witnessed
several Deaths of Sovereigns: Pope Clement XII., Friedrich Wilhelm of
Prussia, the Queen Dowager of Spain [Termagant's old stepmother, not
Termagant's self by a great way]. But that was not enough:
unfathomable Destiny ventured now on Imperial Heads (WAGTE SICH AUCH AN
KAISER-KRONEN): Karl VI., namely, and Russia's great, Monarchess;"--an
audacity to be remarked. Of Russia's great Monarchess (Czarina Anne,
with the big cheek) we will say nothing at present; but of Karl VI.
only,--abridging much, and studying arrangement.
"Thursday, October 13th, returning from Halbthurn, a Hunting Seat of
his," over in Hungary some fifty miles, "to the Palace Favorita at
Vienna, his Imperial Majesty felt slightly indisposed,"--indigestion of
mushrooms or whatever it was: had begun AT Halbthurn the night before,
we rather understand, and was the occasion of his leaving. "The Doctors
called it cold on the stomach, and thought it of no consequence. In
the night of Saturday, it became alarming;" inflammation, thought the
Doctors, inflammation of the liver, and used their potent appliances,
which only made the danger come and go; "and on the Tuesday, all day,
the Doctors did not doubt his Imperial Majesty was dying. ["Look me
in the eyes; pack of fools; you will have to dissect me, you will then
know:" Any truth in all that? No matter.]
"At noon of that Tuesday he took the Sacrament, the Pope's Nuncio
administering. His Majesty showed uncommonly great composure of soul,
and resignation to the Divine Will;" being indeed "certain,"--so
he expressed it to "a principal Official Person sunk in grief"
(Bartenstein, shall we guess?), who stood by him--"certain of his
cause," not afraid in contemplating that dread Judgment now near: "Look
at me! A man that is certain of his cause can enter on such a Journey
with good courage and a composed mind (MIT GUTEM UND DELASSENEM MUTH)."
To the Doctors, dubitating what the disease was, he said, "If Gazelli"
my late worthy Doctor, "were still here, you would soon know; but as it
is, you will learn it when you dissect me;"--and once asked to be shown
the Cup where his heart would lie after that operation.
"Sacrament being over," Tuesday afternoon, "he sent for his Family, to
bless them each separately. He had a long conversation with Grand Duke
Franz," titular of Lorraine, actual of Tuscany, "who had assiduously
attended him, and continued to do so, during the whole illness."
The Grand Duke's Spouse,--Maria Theresa, the noble-hearted and the
overwhelmed; who is now in an interesting state again withal; a little
Kaiserkin (Joseph II.) coming in five months; first child, a little
girl, is now two years old;--"had been obliged to take to bed three days
ago; laid up of grief and terror (VOR SCHMERZEN UND SCHRECKEN), ever
since Sunday the 16th. Nor would his Imperial Majesty permit her to
enter this death-room, on account of her condition, so important to the
world; but his Majesty, turning towards that side where her apartment
was, raised his right hand, and commanded her Husband, and the
Archduchess her younger Sister, to tell his Theresa, That he blessed her
herewith, notwithstanding her absence." Poor Kaiser, poor Theresa! "Most
distressing of all was the scene with the Kaiserin. The night before,
on getting knowledge of the sad certainty, she had fainted utterly away
(STARKE OHNMACHT), and had to be carried into the Grand Duchess's [Maria
Theresa's] room. Being summoned now with her Children, for the last
blessing, she cried as in despair, 'Do not leave me, Your Dilection,
do not (ACH EUER LIEBDEN VERLASSEN MICH DOCH NICHT)!'" Poor good souls!
"Her Imperial Majesty would not quit the room again, but remained to the
last.
"Wednesday, 19th, all day, anxiety, mournful suspense;" poor weeping
Kaiserin and all the world waiting; the Inevitable visibly struggling
on. "And in the night of that day [night of 19th-20th Oct., 1740],
between one and two in the morning, Death snatched away this most
invaluable Monarch (DEN PREISWURDIGSTEN MONARCHEN) in the 66th year of
his life;" and Kaiser Karl VI., and the House of Hapsburg and its Five
tough Centuries of good and evil in this world had ended. The poor
Kaiserin "closed the eyes" that could now no more behold her; "kissed
his hands, and was carried out more dead than alive." [Anonymous, UT
SUPRA, pp. 220-227.--Adelung, _Pragmatische Staatsgeschichte_ (Gotha,
1762-1767), ii. 120. JOHANN CHRISTOPH Adelung; the same who did the
DICTIONARY and many other deserving Books; here is the precise Title:
_"Pragmatische Staatsgeschichte Europens,"_ that is, "Documentary
History of Europe, from Kaiser Karl's Death, 1740, till Peace of Paris,
1763." A solid, laborious and meritorious Work, of its kind; extremely
extensive (9 vols. 4to, some of which are double and even treble),
mostly in the undigested, sometimes in the quite uncooked or raw
condition; perhaps about a fifth part of it consists of "Documents"
proper, which are shippable. It cannot help being dull, waste, dreary,
but is everywhere intelligible (excellent Indexes too),--and offers an
unhappy reader by far the best resource attainable for survey of that
sad Period.]
A good affectionate Kaiserin, I do believe; honorable, truthful, though
unwitty of speech, and converted by Grandpapa in a peculiar manner,
For her Kaiser too, after all, I have a kind of love. Of brilliant
articulate intellect there is nothing; nor of inarticulate (as
in Friedrich Wilhelm's case) anything considerable: in fact his
Shadow-Hunting, and Duelling with the Termagant, seemed the reverse of
wise. But there was something of a high proud heart in it, too, if we
examine; and even the Pragmatic Sanction, though in practice not
worth one regiment of iron ramrods, indicates a profoundly fixed
determination, partly of loyal nature, such as the gods more or less
reward. "He had been a great builder," say the Histories; "was a great
musician, fit to lead orchestras, and had composed an Opera,"--poor
Kaiser. There came out large traits of him, in Maria Theresa again,
under an improved form, which were much admired by the world. He looks,
in his Portraits, intensely serious; a handsome man, stoically grave;
much the gentleman, much the Kaiser or Supreme Gentleman. As, in life
and fact, he was; "something solemn in him, even when he laughs," the
people used to say. A man honestly doing his very best with his poor
Kaisership, and dying of chagrin by it. "On opening the body, the
liver-region proved to be entirely deranged; in the place where the
gall-bladder should have been, a stone of the size of a pigeon's egg was
found grown into the liver, and no gall-bladder now there."
That same morning, with earliest daylight, "Thursday, 20th, six A.M.,"
Maria Theresa is proclaimed by her Heralds over Vienna: "According
to Pragmatic Sanction, Inheritress of all the," &c. &c.;--Sovereign
Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, for chief items.
"At seven her Majesty took the Oath from the Generals and Presidents
of Tribunals,--said, through her tears, 'All was to stand on the old
footing, each in his post,'"--and the other needful words. Couriers
shoot forth towards all Countries;--one express courier to Regensburg,
and the enchanted Wiggeries there, to say That a new Kaiser will be
needed; REICHS-Vicar or Vicars (Kur-Sachsen and whoever more, for
they are sometimes disagreed about it) will have to administer in the
interim.
A second courier we saw arrive at Reinsberg; he likewise may be
important. The Bavarian Minister, Karl Albert Kur-Baiern's man, shot off
his express, like the others; answer is, by return of courier, or even
earlier (for a messenger was already on the road), Make protest! "We
Kur-Baiern solemnly protest against Pragmatic Sanction, and the
assumption of such Titles by the Daughter of the late Kaiser. King of
Bohemia, and in good part even of Austria, it is not you, Madam, but
of right WE; as, by Heaven's help, it is our fixed resolution to make
good!" Protest was presented, accordingly, with all the solemnities,
without loss of a moment. To which Bartenstein and the Authorities
answered "Pooh-pooh," as if it were nothing. It is the first ripple of
an immeasurable tide or deluge in that kind, threatening to submerge
the new Majesty of Hungary;--as had been foreseen at Reinsberg; though
Bartenstein and the Authorities made light of it, answering "Pooh-pooh,"
or almost "Ha-ha," for the present.
Her Hungarian Majesty's chief Generals, Seckendorf, Wallis, Neipperg,
sit in their respective prison-wards at this time (from which she soon
liberates them): Kur-Baiern has lodged protest; at Reinsberg there will
be an important resolution ready:--and in the Austrian Treasury (which
employs 40,000 persons, big and little) there is of cash or available,
resource, 100,000 florins, that is to say, 10,000 pounds net. [Mailath,
_Geschichte des Oestreichischen Kaiserstaats_ (Hamburg, 1850), v. 8.]
And unless Pragmatic sheepskin hold tighter than some persons
expect, the affairs of Austria and of this young Archduchess are in a
threatening way.
His Britannic Majesty was on the road home, about Helvoetsluys or on
the sea for Harwich, that night the Kaiser died; of whose illness he
had heard nothing. At London, ten days after, the sudden news struck
dismally upon his Majesty and the Political Circles there: "No help,
then, from that quarter, in our Spanish War; perhaps far other than
help!"--Nay, certain Gazetteers were afraid the grand new Anti-Spanish
Expedition itself, which was now, at the long last, after such
confusions and delays, lying ready, in great strength, Naval and
Military, would be countermanded,--on Pragmatic-Sanction considerations,
and the crisis probably imminent. [London Newspapers (31st Oct.-6th
Nov., 1740)]. But it was not countermanded; it sailed all the same,
"November 6th" (seventh day after the bad news); and made towards--Shall
we tell the reader, what is Officially a dead secret, though by this
time well guessed at by the Public, English and also Spanish?--towards
Carthagena, to reinforce fiery Vernon, in the tropical latitudes; and
overset Spanish America, beginning with that important Town!
Commodore Anson, he also, after long fatal delays, is off, several weeks
ago; [29th (18th) September, 1740.] round Cape Horn; hoping (or
perhaps already not hoping) to co-operate from the Other Ocean, and be
simultaneous with Vernon,--on these loose principles of keeping time!
Commodore Anson does, in effect, make a Voyage which is beautiful, and
to mankind memorable; but as to keeping tryst with Vernon, the very gods
could not do it on those terms!