MARIA THERESA AND CATHARINE II.
Contemporaneous with Frederic the Great were Maria Theresa and
Catharine II.--two sovereigns who claim an especial notice, as
representing two mighty empires. The part which Maria Theresa took in
the Seven Years' War has been often alluded to and it is not necessary
to recapitulate the causes or events of that war. She and
Catharine II. were also implicated with Frederic in the partition of
Poland. The misfortunes of that unhappy country will be separately
considered. In alluding to Maria Theresa, we cannot but review the
history of that great empire over which she ruled, the most powerful
of the German states. The power of Austria, at different times since
the death of the Emperor Charles V., threatened the liberties of
Europe; and, to prevent her ascendency, the kings of France, England,
and Prussia have expended the treasure and wasted the blood of their
subjects.
[Sidenote: The Germanic Constitution.]
By the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, at the close of the Thirty Years'
War, the constitution of Germany was established upon a firm basis.
The religious differences between the Catholics and the Protestants
were settled, and religious toleration secured in all the states of
the empire. It was settled that no decree of the Diet was to pass
without a majority of suffrages, and that the Imperial Chamber and the
Aulic Council should be composed of a due proportion of Catholics and
Protestants. The former was instituted by the Emperor Maximilian I.,
in 1495, at the Diet of Worms, and was a judicial tribunal, and the
highest court of appeal. It consisted of seventeen judges nominated by
the emperor, and took cognizance of Austrian affairs chiefly. The
Aulic Council was also judicial, and was composed of eighteen persons
and attended chiefly to business connected with the empire. The
members of these two great judicial tribunals were Catholics; and
there were also frequent disputes between them as to their respective
jurisdictions. It was ordained by the treaty of Westphalia that a
perfect equality should be observed in the appointment of the members
of these two important courts; but, in fact, twenty-four Protestants
and twenty-six Catholics were appointed to the Imperial Chamber. The
various states had the right of presenting members, according to
political importance. The Aulic Council was composed of six
Protestants and twelve Catholics, and was a tribunal to settle
difficulties between the various states of which Germany was composed.
These states were nearly independent of each other, but united under
one common head. Each state had its own peculiar government, which was
generally monarchical, and regulated its own coinage, police, and
administration of justice. Each kingdom, electorate, principality, and
imperial city, which were included in the states of Germany, had the
right to make war, form alliances, conclude peace, and send
ambassadors to foreign courts.
The Diet of the empire consisted of representatives of each of the
states, appointed by the princes themselves, and took cognizance of
matters of common interest, such as regulations respecting commerce,
the license of books, and the military force which each state was
required to furnish.
The emperor had power, in some respects, over all these states; but it
was chiefly confined to his hereditary dominions. He could not
exercise any despotic control over the various princes of the empire;
but, as hereditary sovereign of Austria, Styria, Moravia, Bohemia,
Hungary, and the Tyrol, he was the most powerful prince in Europe
until the aggrandisement of Louis XIV.
Ferdinand III. was emperor of Germany at the peace of Westphalia; but
he did not long survive it. He died in 1657, and his son Leopold
succeeded him as sovereign of all the Austrian dominions. He had not
completed his eighteenth year, but nevertheless was, five months
after, elected Emperor of Germany by the Electoral Diet.
Great events occurred during the reign of Leopold I.--the Turkish war,
the invasion of the Netherlands by Louis XIV., the heroic struggles of
the Prince of Orange, the French invasion of the Palatinate, the
accession of a Bourbon prince to the throne of Spain, the discontents
of Hungary, and the victories of Marlborough and Eugene. Most of these
have been already alluded to, especially in the chapter on Louis XIV.,
and, therefore, will not be further discussed.
[Sidenote: The Hungarian War.]
The most important event connected with Austrian affairs, as distinct
from those of France, England, and Holland, was the Hungarian war.
Hungary was not a province of Austria, but was a distinct state. In
1526, the crowns of the two kingdoms were united, like those of
England and Hanover under George I. But the Hungarians were always
impatient of the rule of the Emperor of Germany, and, in the space of
a century, arose five times in defence of their liberties.
In 1667, one of these insurrections took place, occasioned by the
aggressive policy and government of Leopold. The Hungarians conspired
to secure their liberties, but in vain. So soon as the emperor was
aware of the conspiracy of his Hungarian subjects, he adopted vigorous
measures, quartered thirty thousand additional troops in Hungary,
loaded the people with taxes, occupied the principal fortresses,
banished the chiefs, and changed the constitution of the country. He
also attempted to suppress Protestantism, and committed all the
excesses of a military despotism. These accumulated oppressions drove
a brave but turbulent people to despair, and both Catholics and
Protestants united for their common safety. The insurgents were
assisted by the Prince of Transylvania, and were supplied with money
and provisions by the French. They also found a noble defender in
Emeric Tekeli, a young Hungarian noble, who hated Austria as intensely
as Hannibal hated Rome, and who, at the head of twenty thousand men,
defended his country against the emperor. Moreover, he successfully
intrigued with the Turks, who invaded Hungary with two hundred
thousand men, and advanced to lay siege to Vienna. This immense army
was defeated by John Sobieski, to whom Leopold appealed in his
necessities, and the Turks were driven out of Hungary. Tekeli was
gradually insulated from those who had formed the great support of his
cause, and, in consequence of jealousies which Leopold had fomented
between him and the Turks, was arrested and sent in chains to
Constantinople. New victories followed the imperial army, and Leopold
succeeded in making the crown of Hungary, hitherto elective,
hereditary in his family. He instituted in the conquered country a
horrible inquisitorial tribunal, and perpetrated cruelties which
scarcely find a parallel in the proscriptions of Marius and Sylla. His
son Joseph, at the age of ten, was crowned king of Hungary with great
magnificence, and with the usual solemnities.
When the Hungarian difficulties were settled, Leopold had more leisure
to prosecute his war with the Turks, in which he gained signal
successes. The Ottoman Porte was humbled and crippled, and a great
source of discontent to the Christian powers of Europe was removed. By
the peace of Carlovitz, (1697,) Leopold secured Hungary and Sclavonia,
which had been so long occupied by the Turks, and consolidated his
empire by the acquisition of Transylvania.
[Sidenote: The Emperor Joseph.]
Leopold I. lived only to witness the splendid victories of Marlborough
and Eugene, by which the power of his great rival, Louis, was
effectually reduced. He died in 1705, having reigned forty-six years;
the longest reign in the Austrian annals, except that of Frederic III.
He was a man of great private virtues; pure in his morals, faithful to
his wife, a good father, and a kind master. He was minute in his
devotions, unbounded in his charities, and cultivated in his taste.
But he was reserved, cold, and phlegmatic. His jealousy of Sobieski
was unworthy of his station, and his severities in Hungary made him
the object of execration. He was narrow, bigoted, and selfish. But he
lived in an age of great activity, and his reign forms an era in the
military and civil institutions of his country. The artillery had been
gradually lightened, and received most of the improvements which at
present are continued. Bayonets had been added to muskets, and the use
of pikes abandoned. Armies were increased from twenty or thirty
thousand men to one hundred thousand, more systematically formed. A
police was established in the cities, and these were lighted and
paved. Jurisprudence was improved, and numerous grievances were
redressed.
Leopold was succeeded by his eldest son, Joseph, who had an energetic
and aspiring mind. His reign is memorable for the continuation of the
great War of the Spanish Succession, signalized by the victories of
Marlborough and Eugene, the humiliation of the French, and the career
of Charles XII. of Sweden. He also restored Bohemia to its electoral
rights, rewarded the elector palatine with the honors and territories
wrested from his family by the Thirty Years' War, and confirmed the
house of Hanover in the possession of the ninth electorate. He had
nearly restored tranquillity to his country, when he died (1711) of
the small-pox--a victim to the ignorance of his physicians. He was a
lover and patron of the arts, and spoke several languages with
elegance and fluency. But he had the usual faults of absolute princes;
was prodigal in his expenditures, irascible in his temper, fond of
pageants and pleasure, and enslaved by women.
[Sidenote: Accession of Maria Theresa.]
He was succeeded by his brother, the Archduke Charles, under the title
of Charles VI. Soon after his accession, the tranquillity of Europe
was established by the peace of Utrecht, and Austria once more became
the preponderating power in Europe. But Charles VI. was not capable of
appreciating the greatness of his position, or the true sources of
national power. He, however, devoted himself zealously to the affairs
of his empire, and effected some useful reforms. As he had no male
issue, he had drawn up a solemn law, called the _Pragmatic Sanction_,
according to which he transferred to his daughter, Maria Theresa, his
vast hereditary possessions. He found great difficulty in securing the
assent of the European powers to this law; but, after a while, he
effected his object. On his death, (1740,) Maria Theresa succeeded to
all the dominions of the house of Austria.
No princess ever ascended a throne under circumstances of greater
peril, or in a situation which demanded greater energy and fortitude.
Her army had dwindled to thirty thousand; her treasury contained only
one hundred thousand florins; a general scarcity of provisions
distressed the people, and the vintage was cut off by the frost.
Under all these embarrassing circumstances, the Elector of Bavaria
laid claim to her territory, and Frederic II. marched into Silesia. It
has been already stated that England sympathized with her troubles,
and lent a generous aid. Her appeal to her Hungarian subjects, and the
enthusiasm they manifested in her cause, have also been described. The
boldness of Frederic and the distress of Maria Theresa drew upon them
the eyes of all Europe. Hostilities were prosecuted four years, which
resulted in the acquisition of Silesia by the King of Prussia. The
peace of Dresden (1745) gave a respite to Germany, and Frederic and
Maria Theresa prepared for new conflicts.
The Seven Years' War has been briefly described, in connection with
the reign of Frederic, and need not be further discussed. The war was
only closed by the exhaustion of all the parties engaged in it.
In 1736, Maria Theresa was married to Francis Stephen, Grand Duke of
Tuscany, and he was elected (1745) Emperor of Germany, under the title
of _Francis I._ He died soon after the peace of Hubertsburg was
signed, and his son Joseph succeeded to the throne of the empire, and
was co-regent, as his father had been, with Maria Theresa. But the
empress queen continued to be the real, as she was the legitimate,
sovereign of Austria, and took an active part in all the affairs of
Europe.
[Sidenote: Maria Theresa Institutes Reforms.]
When the tranquillity of her kingdom was restored, she founded various
colleges, reformed the public schools, promoted agriculture and
instituted many beneficial regulations for the prosperity of her
subjects. She reformed the church, diminished the number of
superfluous clergy, suppressed the Inquisition and the Jesuits, and
formed a system of military economy which surpassed the boasted
arrangements of Frederic II. "She combined private economy with public
liberality, dignity with condescension, elevation of soul with
humility of spirit, and the virtues of domestic life with the splendid
qualities which grace a throne." Her death, in 1780, was felt as a
general loss to the people, who adored her; and her reign is
considered as one of the most illustrious in Austrian annals.
Her reign was, however, sullied by the partition of Poland, in which
she was concerned with Frederic the Great and Catharine II. Before
this is treated, we will consider the reign of the Russian empress.
* * * * *
The reign of Catharine II., like that of Maria Theresa, is interlinked
with that of Frederic. But some remarks concerning her predecessors,
after the death of Peter the Great, are first necessary.
[Sidenote: Successors of Peter the Great.]
Catharine, the wife of Peter, was crowned empress before his death.
The first years of her reign were agreeable to the people, because she
diminished the taxes, and introduced a mild policy in the government
of her subjects. She intrusted to Prince Menzikoff an important share
in the government of the realm.
But Catharine, who, during the reign of Peter I., had displayed so
much enterprise and intrepidity, very soon disdained business, and
abandoned herself to luxury and pleasure. She died in 1727, and
Peter II. ascended her throne, chiefly in consequence of the intrigues
of Menzikoff, who, like Richelieu, wished to make the emperor his
puppet.
Peter II. was only thirteen years of age when he became emperor. He
was the son of Alexis, and, consequently, grandson of Peter I. His
youth did not permit him to assume the reins of government, and every
thing was committed to the care of Menzikoff, who reigned, for a time,
with absolute power. But he, at last, incurred the displeasure of his
youthful master, and was exiled to Siberia. But Peter II. did not long
survive the disgrace of his minister. He died of the small-pox, in
1730.
He was succeeded by Anne, Duchess of Holstein, and eldest daughter of
Catharine I. But she lived but a few months after her accession to the
throne, and the Princess Elizabeth succeeded her.
The Empress Elizabeth resembled her mother, the beautiful Catharine,
but was voluptuous and weak. She abandoned herself to puerile
amusements and degrading follies. And she was as superstitious as she
was debauched. She would continue whole hours on her knees before an
image, to which she spoke, and which she ever consulted; and then
would turn from bigotry to infamous sensuality. She hated
Frederic II., and assisted Maria Theresa in her struggles. Russia
gained no advantage from the Seven Years' War, except that of
accustoming the Russians to the tactics of modern warfare. She died in
1762, and was succeeded by the Grand Duke Peter Fedorowitz, son of the
Duke of Holstein and Anne, daughter of Peter I. He assumed the title
of Peter III.
[Sidenote: Murder of Peter III.]
Peter III. was a weak prince, but disposed to be beneficent. One of
his first acts was to recall the numerous exiles whom the jealousy of
Elizabeth had consigned to the deserts of Siberia. Among them was
Biren, the haughty lover and barbarous minister of the Empress Anne
and Marshal Munich, a veteran of eighty-two years of age. Peter also
abolished the Inquisition, established by Alexis Michaelowitz, and
promoted commerce, the arts, and sciences. He attempted to imitate the
king of Prussia, for whom he had an extravagant admiration. He set at
liberty the Prussian prisoners, and made peace with Frederic II. He
had a great respect for Germany, but despised the country over which
he was called to reign. But his partiality for the Germans, and his
numerous reforms, alienated the affections of his subjects, and he was
not sufficiently able to curb the spirit of discontent. He imitated
his immediate predecessors in the vices of drunkenness and sensuality,
and was guilty of great imprudences. He reigned but a few months,
being dethroned and murdered. His wife, the Empress Catharine, was the
chief of the conspirators; and she was urged to the bloody act by her
own desperate circumstances. She was obnoxious to her husband, who
probably would have destroyed her, had his life been prolonged. She,
in view of his hostility, and prompted by an infernal ambition, sought
to dethrone her husband. She was assisted by some of the most powerful
nobles, and gained over most of the regiments of the imperial guard.
The Archbishop of Novgorod and the clergy were friendly to her,
because they detested the reforms which Peter had attempted to make.
Catharine became mistress of St. Petersburg, and caused herself to be
crowned Empress of Russia, in one of the principal churches. Peter had
timely notice of the revolt, but not the energy to suppress it. He
listened to the entreaties of women, rather than to the counsels of
those veteran generals who still supported his throne. He was timid,
irresolute, and vacillating. He was doomed. He was a weak and
infatuated prince, and nothing could save him. He surrendered himself
into the hands of Catharine, abdicated his empire, and, shortly after,
died of poison. His wife seated herself, without further opposition,
on his throne; and the principal nobles of the empire, the army, and
the clergy, took the oath of allegiance, and the monarchs of Europe
acknowledged her as the absolute sovereign of Russia. In 1763, she was
firmly established in the power which had been before wielded by
Catharine I. She had dethroned an imbecile prince, whom she abhorred;
but the revolution was accomplished without bloodshed, and resulted in
the prosperity of Russia.
Catharine was a woman of great moral defects; but she had many
excellences to counterbalance them; and her rule was, on the whole,
able and beneficent. She was no sooner established in the power which
she had usurped, than she directed attention to the affairs of her
empire, and sought to remedy the great evils which existed. She
devoted herself to business, advanced commerce and the arts, regulated
the finances, improved the jurisprudence of the realm, patronized all
works of internal improvement, rewarded eminent merit, encouraged
education, and exercised a liberal and enlightened policy in her
intercourse with foreign powers. After engaging in business with her
ministers, she would converse with scholars and philosophers. With
some she studied politics, and with others literature. She tolerated
all religions, abolished odious courts, and enacted mild laws. She
held out great inducements for foreigners to settle in Russia, and
founded colleges and hospitals in all parts of her empire.
[Sidenote: Assassination of Ivan.]
Beneficent as her reforms were, she nevertheless committed some great
political crimes. One of these was the assassination of the dethroned
Ivan, the great-grandson of the Czar Ivan Alexejewitsch, who was
brother of Peter the Great. On the death of the Empress Anne, in 1731,
he had been proclaimed emperor: but when Elizabeth was placed upon the
throne, the infant was confined in the fortress of Schlussenburg. Here
he was so closely guarded and confined, that he was never allowed
access to the open air or the light of day. On the accession of
Catharine, he was twenty-three years of age, and was extremely
ignorant and weak. But a conspiracy was formed to liberate him, and
place him on the throne. The attempt proved abortive, and the prince
perished by the sword of his jailers, who were splendidly rewarded for
their infamous services.
Her scheme of foreign aggrandizement, and especially her interference
in the affairs of Poland, caused the Ottoman Porte to declare war
against her, which war proved disastrous to Turkey, and contributed to
aggrandize the empire of Russia. The Turks lost several battles on the
Pruth, Dniester, and Danube; the provinces of Wallachia, and Moldavia,
and Bessarabia submitted to the Russian arms; while a great naval
victory, in the Mediterranean, was gained by Alexis Orloff, whose
share in the late revolution had raised him from the rank of a simple
soldier to that of a general of the empire, and a favorite of the
empress. The naval defeat of the Turks at Tschesmé, by Orloff and
Elphinstone, was one of the most signal of that age, and greatly
weakened the power of Turkey. The war was not terminated until 1774,
when the Turks were compelled to make peace, by the conditions of
which, Russia obtained a large accession of territory, a great sum of
money, the free navigation of the Black Sea, and a passage through the
Dardanelles.
In 1772 occurred the partition of Poland between Austria, Prussia, and
Russia. Catharine and Frederic II. were the chief authors of this
great political crime, which will be treated in the notice on Poland.
The reign of Catharine was not signalized by any other great political
events which affected materially the interests of Europe, except the
continuation of the war with the Turks, which broke out again in 1778,
and which was concluded in 1792, by the treaty of Jassy. In this war,
Prince Potemkin, the favorite and prime minister of Catharine, greatly
distinguished himself; also General Suwarrow, afterwards noted for his
Polish campaigns. In this war Russia lost two hundred thousand men,
and the Turks three hundred and thirty thousand, besides expending two
hundred and fifty millions of piasters. The most important political
consequence was the aggrandizement of Russia, whose dominion was
established on the Black Sea.
[Sidenote: Death of Catharine.]
Catharine, having acquired, either by arms or intrigues, almost half
of Poland, the Crimea, and a part of the frontiers of Turkey, then
turned her arms against Persia. But she died before she could realize
her dreams of conquest. At her death, she was the most powerful
sovereign that ever reigned in Russia. She was succeeded by her son,
Paul I., (1796,) and her remains were deposited by the side of her
murdered husband, while his chief murderers, Alexis Orloff and Prince
Baratinski, were ordered to stand at her funeral, on each side of his
coffin as chief mourners.
Catharine, though a woman of great energy and talent, was ruled by
favorites; the most distinguished of whom were Gregory Orloff and
Prince Potemkin. The former was a man of brutal manners and surprising
audacity; the latter was more civilized, but was a man disgraced, like
Orloff, by every vice. His memory, however, is still cherished in
Russia on account of his military successes. He received more honors
and rewards from his sovereign than is recorded of any favorite and
minister of modern times. His power was equal to what Richelieu
enjoyed, and his fortune was nearly as great as Mazarin's. He was
knight of the principal orders of Prussia, Sweden, Poland, and Russia,
field-marshal, commander-in-chief of the Russian armies, high admiral
of the fleets, great hetman of the Cossacks, and chamberlain of the
empress. He received from her a fortune of fifty millions of roubles;
equal to nearly twenty-five millions of dollars. The Orloffs received
also about seventeen millions in lands, and palaces, and money, with
forty-five thousand peasants.
[Sidenote: Her Character.]
Catharine had two passions which never left her but with her last
breath--the love of the other sex, which degenerated into the most
unbounded licentiousness, and the love of glory, which sunk into
vanity. She expended ninety millions of roubles on her favorites, the
number of which is almost incredible; and she was induced to engage in
wars, which increased the burdens of her subjects.
With the exception of these two passions, her character is interesting
and commanding. Her reign was splendid, and her court magnificent. Her
institutions and monuments were to Russia what the magnificence of
Louis XIV. was to France. She was active and regular in her habits;
was never hurried away by anger, and was never a prey to dejection;
caprice and ill humor were never perceived in her conduct; she was
humorous, gay, and affable; she appreciated literature, and encouraged
good institutions; and, with all her faults, obtained the love and
reverence of her subjects. She had not the virtues of Maria Theresa,
but had, perhaps, greater energy of character. Her foulest act was her
part in the dismemberment of Poland, which now claims a notice.
* * * * *
REFERENCES.--For the reign of Maria Theresa, see Archdeacon
Coxe's Memoirs of the House of Austria, which is the most
interesting and complete. See also Putter's Constitution of
the Germanic Empire; Kolhrausch's History of Germany;
Heeren's Modern History; Smyth's Lectures; also a history of
Germany, in Dr. Lardner's Cyclopædia. For a life of
Catharine, see Castina's Life, translated by Hunter; Tooke's
Life of Catharine II.; Ségur's Vie de Catharine II.; Coxe's
Travels; Heeren's and Russell's Modern History.