THE YOUNG SOLDIER.
Kaunitz's prophecy had been fulfilled. No sooner was it known that
Austria and France were allies, than Frederick of Prussia, with all
haste, made treaties with England. These opposite alliances were the
signal for war. For seven years this war held its blood-stained lash
over Austria, and every nation in Europe suffered more or less from its
effects. Maria Theresa began it with sharp words, to which Frederick had
responded with his sharper sword.
The king, through his ambassador, asked the meaning of her extensive
military preparations throughout Austria, to which the empress, nettled
by the arrogance of the demand, had replied that she believed she had a
right to mass troops for the protection of herself and her allies,
without rendering account of her acts to foreign kings. Upon the receipt
of this reply, Frederick marched his troops into Saxony, and so began
the "Seven Years' War," a war that was prosecuted on both sides with
bitter vindictiveness.
Throughout Austria the wildest enthusiasm prevailed. Rich and poor,
young and old, all rushed to the fight. The warlike spirit that pervaded
her people made its way to the heart of the empress's eldest son. The
Archduke Joseph had for some time been entreating his mother to allow
him to join the army; and, at last, though much against her will, she
had yielded to his urgent desire. The day on which news of a victory,
near Kunnersdorf, over Frederick, reached the palace, the empress had
given her consent, and her son was to be allowed to go in search of
laurel-wreaths wherewith to deck his imperial brow.
This permission to enter the army was the first great joy of Joseph's
life. His heart, at last freed from its weight of conventional duties,
and forced submission to the requirements of court etiquette, soared
high into regions of exultant happiness. His countenance, once so cold
and impassible, was now full of joyous changes; his eyes, once so dull
and weary, glowed with the fire of awakened enthusiasm, and they looked
so brilliant a blue, that it seemed as if some little ray from heaven
had found its way into their clear, bright depths. The poor boy was an
altered creature. He was frolicsome with his friends; and as for those
whom he considered his enemies, he cared nothing for their likes or
dislikes. He had nothing to lose or gain from them; he was to leave the
court, leave Vienna, leave every troublesome remembrance behind, and go,
far from all tormentors, to the army.
The preparations were at an end; the archduke bad taken formal leave of
his mother's court; this evening he was to spend in the imperial family
circle; and early on the next morning his journey would begin. He had
just written a last note of farewell to a friend. Alone in his room, he
stood before a mirror, contemplating with a smile his own image. He was
not looking at his handsome face, though happiness was lending it
exquisite beauty; the object of his rapturous admiration was the white
uniform, which, for the first time, he wore in place of his court-dress.
He was no longer the descendant of Charles the Fifth, no longer the son
of the empress, he was a soldier--a free, self-sustaining man, whose
destiny lay in his own hands, and whose future deeds would prove him
worthy to be the son of his great ancestor.
As, almost intoxicated with excess of joy, he stood before the glass,
the door opened gently, and a youth of about his own age entered the
room.
"Pardon me, your highness," said the youth, bowing, "if I enter without
permission. Doubtless your highness did not hear me knock, and I found
no one in your anteroom to announce me."
The prince turned around, and reached out his hand, saying, with a
laugh: "No, no, you found nobody. I have discharged old Dame Etiquette
from my service, and you see before you not his imperial highness, the
Archduke Joseph, crown prince of Austria, but a young soldier, brimful
of happiness, master of nothing but his own sword, with which he means
to carve out his fortunes on the battlefield. Oh, Dominick! I have
dropped the rosary, and taken up the sabre; and I mean to twist such a
forest of laurels about my head, that it will be impossible for me ever
to wear a night-cap again, were it even sent me as a present from the
pope himself."
"Do not talk so loud, your highness; you will frighten the proprieties
out of their wits."
Joseph laughed. "Dominick Kaunitz" said he, "you are the son of your
respected father, no doubt of it; for you behave prettily before the
bare walls themselves. But fear not, son of the mighty minister, MY walls
are dumb, and nobody is near to tell tales. We are alone, for I have
dismissed all my attendants; and here I may give loud vent to my
hallelujahs, which I now proceed to do by singing you a song which I
learned not long ago from an invalid soldier in the street."
And the prince began, in a sonorous bass voice, to sing:
"Oh! the young cannon is my bride! Her orange-wreath is twined with bay,
And on the blood-red battle-field We'll celebrate our wedding-day.
Trara! trara! No priest is there To bless the rites, No--"
Here young Kaunitz, all etiquette despising, put his hands before the
mouth of the prince; and, while the latter strove, in spite of him, to
go on with his song, he said, in low but anxious tones:
"For Heavens sake, your highness, listen to me. You plunge yourself
wantonly into danger. Do you suppose that your powerful voice does not
resound through the corridors of the palace?"
"Well, if it is heard, Dominick, what of it? I bid farewell to my
enemies, and this is my 'Hosanna.' You ought to be ashamed of yourself
to stop me. My tormentors, you think, have heard the beginning of my
song; well, the devil take it, but they shall have the end!"
Once more the archduke began to sing; but Dominick caught his arm. "Do
you wish," said he, "to have the empress revoke her permission?"
The archduke laughed, "Why, Dominick, you are crazed with grief for my
loss, I do believe; the empress revoke her imperial word, now, when all
my preparations are made, and I go to-morrow?"
"Empresses do revoke their words, and preparations are often made, to be
followed by--nothing," replied Dominick.
The prince looked in consternation at his young friend. "Are you in
earnest, dear Dominick?" asked he. "Do you indeed think it possible that
I could be hindered from going to the army, on the very eve of my
departure?"
"I do, your highness."
The archduke grew pale, and in a tremulous voice said, "Upon what do you
found your supposition, my friend?"
"Oh, my dear lord," replied Dominick, "it is no supposition, I fear it
is a fact; and I fear, too, that it is your own fault if this
disappointment awaits you."
"Good Heaven!" exclaimed the prince, in tones of anguish, "what can I
have done to deserve such fearful chastisement?"
"You have displeased the empress by neglect of your religious duties.
For more than two weeks you have not entered a place of worship; and,
yesterday, when the Countess Fuchs remonstrated with your highness, you
replied with an unseemly jest. You said, 'Dearest countess, I hope to
prove to you that, although I neglect my mass, I can be pious on the
battle-field. There, on the altar of my country, I mean to sacrifice
countless enemies, and that will be an offering quite as pleasing in the
sight of God.' Were those not your words, prince?"
"Yes, yes, they were--but I meant no impiety. My heart was so full of
joy that it effervesced in wild words; but surely my mother cannot mean,
for such a harmless jest, to dash my every hope to the earth!"
"Oh, your highness, this is only one offence out of many of which you
are accused. I have no time to repeat them now, for my errand here is
important and pressing."
"Where learned you all this?" asked the poor archduke.
"Bend down your ear, and I will tell you. My father told me every word
of it."
"The lord high chancellor? Impossible!"
"Yes, it would seem impossible that he should repeat any thing, and
therefore you may know how seriously the matter affects your highness
when I tell you that he sent me to warn you."
A quick, loud knock at the door interrupted him, and before the archduke
could say "Come in," the Emperor Francis was in the room. His face
looked careworn, and he cast a glance of tender compassion upon his son.
"My child," said he, "I come to speak to you in private a thing I cannot
compass in my own apartments."
Dominick bowed to take leave, but the emperor withheld him. "Stay," said
he, "for you may serve us, Dominick. I know you to be Joseph's best
friend, and you will not betray him. But I have no time for words. Tell
me quickly, Joseph, is there any secret outlet to these apartments? Do
you know of any hidden stairway by which you could escape from the
palace?"
"I, father! I have secret doors in my apartments? Is this some new
device of my enemies to injure me in the eyes of the empress?"
"Hush, hush, Joseph!--How like he is in temperament to his
mother!--Answer me at once; there is no question of enemies, but of
yourself."
"What would you have me do with secret doors and stairways?" asked
Joseph.
The emperor came close to his son, and, in low, cautious tones,
whispered, "I would have you, this very hour, leave the palace
privately, mount your horse, and speed away from Vienna."
"Fly, my dear father?" cried Joseph. "Has it come to this, that the son
must fly from the face of his own mother? Am I a criminal, who must not
be told of what crime I am accused? No, your majesty; if death, or
imprisonment for life, were here to threaten me, I would not fly."
"Nor would I counsel flight, my son, were you accused of wrong; but this
is not a question of crime, of poisoned beaker, or of castle dungeon--it
is simply this: Do you wish to join the army, or are you ready to give
up your commission and stay at home?"
"Oh, my dear father," cried Joseph, "you well know that I have but one
desire on earth--and that is, to go."
"Then, hear me. It has been represented to the empress that your lust
for war has made you so reckless, so bloodthirsty, and so impious, that
camp-life will prove your ruin. In her excess of maternal love, she has
taken the alarm, and has resolved to shield you from danger by
withdrawing her consent to your departure."
The archduke's eyes filled with tears. The emperor laid his hand
sympathizingly upon his shoulder.
"Do not despair, dear child," said he, tenderly; "perhaps all is not
lost, and I may be able to assist you. I can comprehend the nature of
your sorrow, for I have suffered the same bitter disappointment. If,
instead of leading a useless life, a mere appanage of the empress, I had
been permitted to follow the dictates of my heart, and command her
armies, I might have--but why speak of my waning career? You are young,
and I do not wish to see your life darkened by such early
disappointment. Therefore, listen to me. You know nothing of the change
in your prospects--you have not as yet, received no orders to remain.
Write to your mother, that, preferring to go without the grief of taking
leave, you have presumed to start tonight without her knowledge, hoping
soon to embrace her again, and lay your first-earned laurels at her
feet."
The archduke hastened to obey his father, and sat down to write. The
emperor, meanwhile, signed to young Kaunitz, who had kept himself
respectfully aloof.
"Have you a courser," asked he, "to sell to Joseph, and two good
servants that can accompany him until his own attendants can be sent
after him?"
"I came hither, your majesty, prepared to make the same proposition,
with the fleetest horse in my father's stables, and two trusty servants,
well mounted, all of which await his highness at the postern gate."
"Your father's best horse? Then he knows of this affair?" "It was he who
sent me to the archduke's assistance. He told me, in case of necessity,
to propose flight, and to be ready for it."
"The letter is ready," said the archduke, coming forward.
"I myself will hand it to the empress," said his father, taking it, "and
I will tell her that I counselled you to go as you did."
"But dear father, the empress will be angry."
"Well, my son," said the emperor, with a peculiar smile, "I have
survived so many little passing storms, that I shall doubtless survive
this one. The empress has the best and noblest heart in the world, and
its sunshine is always brightest after a storm. Go, then, my child, I
will answer for your sin and mine. The empress has said nothing to me of
her change of purpose; she looks upon it as a state affair, and with her
state affairs I am never made acquainted. Since accident has betrayed it
to me, I have a right to use my knowledge in your behalf, and I
undertake to appease your mother. Here is a purse with two thousand
louis d'ors; it is enough for a few days of incognito. Throw your
military cloak about you, and away!"
Young Kaunitz laid the cloak upon the shoulders of the archduke, whose
eyes beamed forth the gratitude that filled his heart.
"Oh my father and my sovereign," said he in a voice that trembled with
emotion, "my whole life will not be long enough to thank you for what
yon are doing for me in this critical hour. Till now I have loved you
indeed as my father, but henceforth I must look upon you as my
benefactor also, as my dearest and best friend. My heart and my soul are
yours, dear father; may I be worthy of your love and of the sacrifice
you are making for me to-day!"
The emperor folded his son to his heart, and kissed his fair forehead.
"Farewell, dear boy," whispered he; "return to me a victor and a hero.
May you earn for your father on the battle-field the laurels which he
has seen in dreams! God bless you!"
They then left the room, Count Kaunitz leading the way, to see if the
passage was clear.
"I will go with you as far as the staircase," continued the emperor,
"and then--"
At that moment Dominick, who had gone forward into the corridor, rushed
back into the room pale and trembling, "It is too late!" exclaimed he in
a stifled voice; "there comes a messenger from the empress!"