which it was based, were now thoroughly investigated and criticised. It is, however, probable that some of the governments would not have so readily assented to its dissolution but for the extraordinary wealth it possessed. The courts were in want of money, and, on this occasion, made a truly royal booty, of which but a small portion was set aside for educational purposes. The Emperor Joseph appears to have had this booty very much in view. His mother, Maria Theresa, who, in 1748, had, in her right as queen of Hungary, assumed the title of Apostolical Majesty, and, in 1752, had driven four thousand Protestants out of Styria, was merely induced to give her consent to the dissolution of the Society on moral grounds. A written document, containing the substance of her confessions to her Jesuit confessor, was sent to her from Madrid, a proof of perfidy by which she was first convinced of the immorality, according to their statutes, legally practised by the members of the Society.

At the very time that Germany was delivered from the curse of Jesuitism, the crime, termed by way of distinction the crime of the age, was committed against Poland, and distinctly shows the moral principle by which the statesmen of that time were guided. Virtue was never the object of their policy, but simply a means for the success of some political scheme. "Do not talk to me of magnanimity," said Frederick, "a prince can only study his interest." Poland, like Germany, owed the loss of her unity to her aristocracy; but the Waiwodes and Starosts, instead of founding petty states, like the German dukes and counts, and of allowing the formation of a civic class, became utterly ungovernable, and, too jealous to place the crown on the head of one of their own number, continued, from one generation to another, to elect a foreigner for their king. As long as Poland still maintained a shadow of her ancient dignity, her choice was free and unbiassed and ever fell upon some weak prince, as, for instance, the Elector of Saxony; but, as her internal dissensions became more frequent, she allowed her potent neighbour to impose a sovereign upon her. On the demise of Augustus III., [A. D. 1763,] Catherine II. of Russia effected the election of one of her numerous paramours, the handsome Stanislaus Poniatowski, a Pole by birth and her servile tool. A foreboding of the dreadful doom awaiting their country was roused by this stroke of Russian policy in

the bosom of some patriotic Poles, who confederated for the purpose of dethroning the favourite of the foreign autocrat. Catherine, however, sent one of her armies into the wretched country, which was by her orders, by the orders of the selftermed female philosopher, laid waste with most inhuman barbarity. Cannibals could not have perpetrated more coldblooded acts of cruelty than the Russians, whom the noble and gallant Pulawski vainly opposed, A. D. 1769. Catherine, fearing lest the Turks might aid the unfortunate Poles, attacked them also, and victoriously extended her sway to the South.

"I

The whole of the states of Europe, although threatened by the increasing power of Russia, remained inactive. England was occupied with her colonies, France with her mistresses and fêtes, Sweden was powerless. Austria and Prussia, the most imminently threatened, might, if united, have easily protected Poland, and have hindered the advance of Russia towards the Black Sea, but they were filled with mutual distrust. In 1769, Frederick II. and Joseph held a remarkable conference at Neisse, in Silesia, when an attempt was made to place German policy on a wider basis. Who could withstand, was it said, a coalition between all the powers of Germany? think," said Frederick the Great," that we Germans have long enough spilt German blood; it is a pity that we cannot come to a better understanding." Joseph lamented the unpatriotic alliance between Austria and France, and even Prince Kaunitz, the propounder of that alliance, declared that the cession of Lorraine to France was a political blunder that never could have taken place had he been in office at that period. And yet, in despite of these declarations, the sovereigns came to no understanding; nor was a second conference held in the ensuing year at Mährisch-Neustadt, notwithstanding the five protestations reiterated on this occasion, more effective.* The want of concord was entirely owing to Frederick's disbelief in the sincerity of Austria. Austria had

* Frederick, on seeing Laudon, whom he had formerly despised on account of his ugliness, and who had bitterly enough avenged the insult, among Joseph's suite, took him by the arm and placed him next to him at table," Sit down here, sit down here, I would rather have you at my side than opposite to me." At Neustadt, Frederick is said to have observed to the emperor, whilst reviewing the assembled troops, "The most extraordinary thing in our interview is, that all these thousands should fear us two!"

already bestowed the hand of an archduchess on the king of Poland and had tendered her aid to the overwhelming Catholic party among the Polish nobility. Had Prussia united with Austria for the rescue of Poland, the influence of Russia would, it is true, have been weakened whilst that of Austria would have been thereby strengthened, without her having gained the slightest advantage. These grounds determined Frederick not only to leave Russia unopposed, but even to make use of her against Austria, and his brother, Henry, whom he sent to St. Petersburg, accordingly, carried on negotiations to this intent. . The Austrians, upon this, held a council of war, in which the question, whether it was advisable to declare war with Russia in case Prussia sided against them with Russia, was agitated. The question was negatived, [A. D. 1771,] and, from this moment, the partition of Poland was determined upon. Austria, no longer desirous of driving the Russians out of Poland, was merely intent upon sharing the booty, and, abandoning her ancient character as the protectress of that ill-fated country, was the first to make the attack by formally taking possession of the Zips, to which she asserted her ancient right, before Russia, notwithstanding her arbitrary rule in Poland, had formally declared the incorporation of the Polish provinces with the Russian empire. Prussia, meanwhile, cleverly made use of the reciprocal jealousy between Russia and Austria to secure her portion of the booty. The three powers bargained with each other for Poland like merchants over a bale of goods, and Russia, the originator of the whole scheme and the first possessor of the country, retained by far the largest share.* The negotiations were brought to a close, August the 5th, 1773; the Austrians and Prussians entered Poland, of which the Russians had already taken possession, and proclaimed her partition, "in the name of the indivisible Trinity," to which Catherine more particularly added, "for the restoration of the prosperity of Poland." Russia seized almost the whole of Lithuania; Austria, Galicia; Prussia, the province of the Lower Vistula, under the name of Western Prussia. The rest of Poland

* Gregory Orlow, Catherine's favourite, was of opinion that the Russian ministers, who had concurred in the partition, deserved to be deprived of their heads for not having kept the whole of Poland for his mistress.

was bestowed upon the wretched king, Stanislaus, under the name of the republic of Poland, on which the laws prescribed by the three powers were imposed, and which was so constituted as to render unity for the future impracticable in Poland and to favour the wildest anarchy. Every noble had the liberum veto, that is, the power of annihilating the decisions of the diet by his single vote. With a constitution of this nature, Poland naturally sank ever deeper into the abyss of ruin.

Two voices alone throughout Germany ventured to protest against this political murder. Maria Theresa had in her old age committed the control of foreign affairs to her son Joseph and to Kaunitz, but she no sooner learnt the partition of Poland than she thus addressed the latter : "When the whole of my possessions were disputed and I no longer knew where to sit down in peace, I placed my trust in the justice of my cause and in the aid of Heaven. But, in this affair, where injured right not only openly cries for vengeance against us, but in which all justice and sound reason are opposed to us, I must affirm, that never throughout the whole course of my existence have I been so pained, and that I am ashamed to be seen. Let the prince reflect what an example we offer to the whole world by hazarding our honour and reputation for the sake of a miserable bit of Poland. I see plainly that I am alone and am no longer en vigueur, and I therefore let the matter, though not without the greatest sorrow, take its own course.' She signed her name with these words, " Placet, as so many and learned men desire it; but when I have been long dead, the consequences of this violation of all that until now has been deemed holy and just will be experienced." The other voice was that of the Swabian, Schubart, who ventured, even at that period, to lament the fate of "Poland pale with woe" in one of his finest poems.

Prussia had, moreover, come off the worst in the partition, the other powers refusing at any price to permit her occupation of Dantzig. The object of this refusal on the part of Russia was to prevent the whole commerce of Poland from falling into the hands of Prussia. Frederick revenged himself by the seizure of Neufahrwasser, the only navigable entrance into the harbour of Dantzig, and by the imposition of oppressive duties.

CCXXXVIII. Joseph the Second.

THIS emperor, who so zealously aided in the annihilation of an innocent nation and thus repaid John Sobieski's noble devotion with most unexampled ingratitude to his descendants, who evinced such utter want of feeling in his foreign policy, was, to the astonishment of the whole world, in his own dominions, the greatest enthusiast for popular liberty and the greatest promoter of national prosperity that ever sat upon a throne. On the death of his father, Francis I., A. D. 1765,* he became co-regent with his mother, and, although at first merely intrusted with the war administration, ere long interfered in every state affair, in which he was especially supported by the prime minister, Kaunitz, who, whilst apparently siding with him against the caprice or too conscientious scruples of his mother, rendered him his tool. The contradiction apparent in Joseph's conduct, the intermixture of so much injustice with his most zealous endeavours to do right, are simply explained by the influence of Kaunitz, who, like an evil spirit, ever attended him.

For the better confirmation of the unnatural alliance between Austria and France, Maria Antonia, (named by the French, Marie Antoinette,) Maria Theresa's lovely and accomplished daughter, was wedded [A. D. 1770] to the Dauphin, afterwards the unfortunate Louis XVI. She was

*Frederick II. writes of this puppet sovereign,-" The emperor, not daring to interfere in state matters, amused himself with the transaction of mercantile business. He laid by large sums from his Tuscan revenues in order to speculate in trade. He always retained alchymists in his service engaged in the search for the philosopher's stone, and he attempted by means of burning glasses to dissolve several small diamonds into one large one. He established manufactures, lent money on mortgages, and undertook to furnish the whole of the imperial army with uniforms, arms, horses, and liveries. In partnership with a certain Count Bolza and a tradesman named Schimmelmann, he farmed the Saxon customs, and, in 1756, even supplied the Prussian army with forage and flour. Although his consort passionately loved him and was a pattern of conjugal tenderness, she bore his ever-recurring infidelities without a murThe day before his death, he presented his mistress, the Princess von Auersberg, with a bill for 200,000 florins. The validity of a gift of this description was questioned, but Maria Theresa ordered the bill to be duly honoured.

mur.