NEW-FASHIONED OBSEQUIES.
The emperor's horse was saddled, and he was about to take his daily
ride. But as he was leaving his cabinet, a page announced Field-Marshal
Lacy.
"Admit him," said Joseph, and he hastened to the anteroom to greet his
favorite.
Lacy received the cordial greeting of the emperor with a grave, troubled
expression.
"Sire," said he, "may I beg for an audience?"
"Certainly, my friend," replied Joseph. "I am just about to ride, and
you can accompany me. We can converse together in some of the shady
alleys of the park. I will order a horse for you at once."
"Pardon me, sire, our interview must be here. I saw your majesty's horse
in readiness for your ride, but that did not prevent me from coming, for
the matter which brought me hither is one of supreme importance."
"And you cannot put it off until we take our ride?"
"Sire, my first request is that your majesty will relinquish the ride
altogether. You must not be seen in the streets to-day."
"Bless me, Lacy! you speak as if I were Louis of France, who is afraid
to show himself in public, because of the murmurs of his discontented
subjects."
"Sire, assume that you are Louis, then, and give up the ride. Do it, if
you love me, my sovereign."
"If I love you!" repeated Joseph, with surprise. "Well, then, it shall
be done." And he rang, and ordered his horse to be put up. "Now speak.
What can have happened here, that I should be threatened with a
discontented mob?"
"Sire," began Lacy, "you remember the day on which we swore to speak the
truth to your majesty, even if it should become importunate, do you
not?"
"Yes, I do, Lacy; but neither of you have kept the promise up to this
time."
"I am here to redeem my word, sire. I come to warn your majesty that you
are proceeding too rashly with your measures of reform."
"And you also, Lacy!" cried Joseph, reproachfully. "You, the bravest of
the brave, would have me retreat before the dissatisfaction of priests
and bigots."
"The malcontents are not only priests and bigots, they are your whole
people. You attempt too many reforms at once."
"But my reforms are all for the people's good. I am no tyrant to oppress
and trample them under foot. I am doing my best to free them from the
shackles of prejudice, and yet they harass and oppose me. Even those who
understand my aims, place obstacles in my path. Oh, Lacy, it wounds me
to see that not even my best friends sustain me!"
"I see that your majesty is displeased," replied Lacy, sadly, "and that
you reckon me among your opponents--I who am struck with admiration at
the grandeur of your conceptions. But you are so filled with the
rectitude of your intentions, that you have no indulgence for the
weakness and ignorance of those whom you would benefit, and you snake
too light of the enmity of those whom your reforms have aggrieved."
"Whom have I aggrieved?" cried Joseph, impatiently. "Priests and nobles,
nobody besides. If I have displeased them, it is because I wish to put
all men on an equality. The privileged classes may hate me--let them do
it, but the people whom I befriend will love and honor me."
"Ah, sire, you think too well of the people," said Lacy. "And mindful of
my promise, I must say that you have given cause for dissatisfaction to
all classes, plebeian as well as patrician."
"How so?" cried Joseph.
"You have despised their prejudices, and mocked at customs which in
their superstitious ignorance they hold as sacred. They do not thank you
for enlightening them. They call you an unbeliever and an apostate. Do
not be displeased, sire, if I speak so plainly of things which the
stupidity of your subjects regards as a crime. I come as your majesty's
accuser, because I come as the advocate of your people, imploring you to
be patient with their blindness and their folly."
"What now? Is there any special complaint against me?"
"Yes, sire. Your majesty has issued an edict which has wounded the
people in those relations which the world holds sacred; an edict which
is (forgive me if I speak plain)--which is--so entirely free from
prejudice, that it trenches almost--upon the limits of barbarism."
"What edict can you mean?"
"That which concerns the burial of the dead, sire. I beseech you, revoke
it; for the people cry out that nothing is sacred to the emperor--not
even death and the grave! Leave them their cemeteries and their tombs,
that they may go thither and pray for the souls of the departed!"
"That they may go thither and enjoy their superstitious rites!" cried
Joseph, indignantly. "I will not allow my subjects to seek for their
dead underground. They shall not solemnize the corruption of the body;
they shall turn their eyes to Heaven, and there seek for the immortal
spirit of the departed! They shall not love the dust of their
forefathers, but their souls!"
"Sire, you speak of an ideal people. To bring mankind to such a state of
perfection would require the reign of a Methusaleh! It is too soon for
such edicts. The people, so far from appreciating, abhor them."
"Are you really in earnest, Lacy?" exclaimed the emperor, with flashing
eyes.
"Yes, sire, they are indignant. Yesterday the first burial, according to
your majesty's edict, took place, and since then the people are in a
state of revolt. To-day there are of course other bodies to be interred.
There is not a vagrant in the streets that does not utter threats
against your majesty. From the burgher to the beggar, every man feels
that his sacred rights have been invaded. They feel that the prohibition
of coffins and burying-grounds does not reach the rich, who have their
hereditary tombs in churches and chapels, but the people, who have no
such privileges."
"The people for whose sakes I would have converted the mould of the
burying-ground into fertile fields, and spared them the cost of a
useless coffin, which, instead of rotting in the ground, would have been
so much more wood to warm them in winter, and cook the food for their
hungry, living bodies!"
"But, your majesty, they are not sufficiently enlightened to comprehend
your ideas. Revoke the order, sire--in mercy to their ignorance, revoke
the order!"
"Revoke it!" cried Joseph, furiously. "Never will I make such a
concession to stupidity and malice!"
"Then," said Lacy, gravely, "it is possible that the flames of a
revolution may burst forth to consume this unhappy land. Oh, sire, have
mercy upon the poor people, whose eyes cannot endure the light of
reform! Preserve yourself and your subjects from the horrors of a
revolt, which, although it would be ultimately quelled, might cost
bloodshed and misery! I have never seen such excitement as prevails
throughout the streets of Vienna. Thousands of men and women throng the
quarter where the body lies."
"When does the funeral take place?"
"At three o'clock this afternoon, sire."
"In one hour, then," said the emperor, glancing at the clock.
"Yes, sire; and it may be an hour of tribulation, unless your majesty
has the magnanimity to prevent it! To discourage idle assemblages, your
majesty has forbidden the people to follow funerals. The effect of this
prohibition is, that the poor woman who is to be buried this afternoon
will be followed, not by her friends, but by thousands who have never
seen or known her. The police have done their best to disperse the
rioters, but so far in vain."
"Then there is already a revolt," cried the emperor.
"But for this I never should have presumed to deter your majesty from
enjoying your ride to-day."
"Do you suppose that I would retreat before my own subjects?"
"Sire, the wrath of the populace is like that of a tiger just escaped
from its cage. In its bloodthirstiness it tears to pieces every thing
that comes in its way."
"I am curious to witness its antics," replied the emperor, touching the
bell.
"Sire," exclaimed Lacy, staying Joseph's hand, "what would you do?"
"Mount my horse, and go to the funeral."
"What! To exasperate the crowd! To endanger yourself, and drive these
poor, half-frantic creatures to desperation! Oh, by the love you bear us
all, I beseech you, have mercy upon those whose only possession on earth
is oftentimes the grave! You would deprive their children of the only
comfort left them--that of praying over the ashes of the departed. You
would deprive those who are condemned to live like brutes, of the
comfort of dying like men. You would have their bodies sewed in sacks
and thrown into ditches where they are not even allowed to moulder, but
must be destroyed by lime. No tombstone permitted over their remains,
nothing to remind their weeping relatives that they were ever alive! Oh,
this is cruel! It may be a great thought, sire, but it is a barbarous
deed! I know how bold I am, but my conscience compels me to speak; and
were I to lose the emperor's favor, I must obey its faithful monitions.
Revoke the edict, sire! There is yet time. In one hour it will be too
late!"
The emperor looked despondently at Lacy's agitated countenance. Then,
without a word, he turned to his escritoire and hastily began to write.
His writing concluded, he handed the paper to Lacy, and commanded him to
read it aloud. Lacy bowed and read as follows:
"As I have learned that the living are so material in their ideas as to
set great store upon the privilege of having their bodies rot and become
carrion after death, I shall concern myself in no way as to the the
manner of their burying. Let it be known, therefore, that having shown
the wisdom of disposing of the dead after the manner described in my
edict, I shall force no man to be wise. Those who are not convinced of
its expediency, are free to dispose of their carcasses as they see fit."
[Footnote: Hubner, "Life of Joseph II.," vol. ii., p. 525.]
When Lacy had read to the end, the emperor called imperatively for
Gunther. He obeyed the summons at once.
"This letter to the lord high chancellor, Prince Kaunitz," said he, "I
wish this writing to be printed and posted at the corners of the
streets. Then hasten to the Leopold suburbs, where anyone of the police
will show you to the house whence the funeral is to take place. Go
within, and tell the relatives of the deceased that I give them
permission to bedizen their corpse in whatever style they may choose,
and to bury it in a coffin. Take a carriage and drive fast."
Gunther bowed and turned to leave. "Stop a moment," continued the
emperor. "Go to the chief of police, and tell him that the people must
not be disturbed in any way. They must be allowed to disperse at their
pleasure. Now, Gunther, be quick."
With a look of unspeakable affection Joseph gave his hand to Lacy.
"Lacy," said he, "if I have made this great sacrifice to-day, it is
neither from conviction nor fear; it is to show you what influence your
words have over me, and to thank you for the manliness with which you
have ventured to blame my acts. Few princes possess the jewel of a
faithful friend. I thank God that this jewel is mine!" [Footnote: The
burial edict was as follows: "As the burial of the dead has for its
object the speedy dissolution of the body, and as nothing hinders that
dissolution more than the casing of the corpse in a coffin, it is
ordained that all dead bodies shall be stripped of their clothing, and
sewed up in a linen sack, laid in an open coffin, and brought to the
place of interment. A hole shall be dug six feet long and four feet
wide, and the corpse being taken out of the coffin, shall be put into
this grave, strewed plentifully with quick-lime, and covered with earth.
If more than one corpse is to be buried, the bodies can all be put in
the same grave."--Gross-Hoffinger, "History of the Life and Reign of
Joseph II.," vol. ii., p. 146.]