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THE

FOREIGN QUARTERLY REVIEW.

NO. XXXVI.

FOR JANUARY, 1837.

ART. 1.-1. Franz der Erste, Kaiser von
Oesterreich und sein Zeitalter (Francis I.
Emperor of Austria and his Times),
von Hermann Meynert. Leipzig: 1834.

8vo.

ernment cannot be surprised if it has not always been an object of encomium to contemporaries, whose opinion it has moreover professed entirely to disregard. Nor can it occasion wonder if neighboring nations, be2. Fürst Clemens von Metternich und sein lieving that the blessings of internal peace Zeitalter (Prince Clemens von Metternich and subordination can be as easily obtained and his Times), von Dr. W. Binder. Lud. by simpler means, and a less obtrusive exerwigsburg: 1836. 8vo. cise of restrictive power, deeply regret the 8. Oesterreichische National Encyclopædie, self-exclusion of so important a member of oder alphabetische Darstellung der wis- the grand community of civilized states from senswürdigsten Eigenthümlichkeiten des the duty of promoting the common weal of österreichischen Kaiserthumes. (Austrian all. Full justice has ever been done to the National Encyclopædia, or Alphabetical amiable qualities and varied talents that disExposition of the most remarkable Pe- tinguish the inhabitants of the empire; but, culiarities of the Austrian Empire.) Wien: from the passive part they have played while 1835-6, in numbers, not yet complete the most momentous questions were discussNo. 1-20. ed in a great part of Europe, they have no doubt attracted less attention and excited less interest in other lands than their peculiar circumstances perhaps deserve. Under a patriarchal government, however, where so much depends on the personal talent and qualities of the sovereign, the decease of a monarch, who for nearly half a century directed the development of the national resources, forms an important epoch for the country, rendered more than usually interesting by the state of Europe at the period.

It is a remark which we have often heard repeated, that the rest of Europe is very imperfectly acquainted with, and has formed most erroneous notions concerning, the Austrian Empire. In this opinion we cannot coincide; for, admitting that many details which would give a clear view of the state of the country, its revenue, and its resources, all of which the imperial government is very studious to conceal, must necessarily be unknown to strangers, as they are so to the The biography of the Emperor Francis subjects of the state; we think that Europe I. of Austria possesses therefore a double inhas still formed no very improper notions as terest at this moment, because his life formed to the character of the inhabitants or of the an important link between the past and the government of that nation. Secluding itself immediate future. A long reign, a steady, as far as possible from all community of in- unswerving pursuance of the line of policy terests with neighboring states, and holding he had laid down, gave him the power of in view an object which it pursues with an fashioning the empire to what it now is; and eagerness that precludes all regard for the consequently all who wish to comprehend its opinions and advantage of others, its gov-present state, or to form conjectures as to its

VOL. XVIII.

19

future progress, must by no means neglect to study the character of its deceased sovereign.

If the biography of the late Emperor be inseparable from the history of the develop. ment of Austria, that of his favorite minister, who long aided, and at length guided, perhaps, the projects of his sovereign, is not less so. This remarkable man, who has steadily pursued his way with an indifference to public opinion almost unexampled, whose penetration enabled him to probe with equal success the character of the monarch whom he served and of the people he had to rule, will afford us by his manner of dealing with prince and people the justest estimate of both; nor can we go far astray, if we place ourselves under the guidance of so clear an eye and so shrewd a tact in action as he is acknowledged to possess.

have the experience of forty years, the most fertile in historical results that any age of history affords, to form a clear judgment of the true course which the Emperor Francis ought to have pursued on his accession to the throne, to consolidate his power and insure the prosperity of his people, than it was for him at the time, bewildered as his view must have been by the failure of the well. meant but inconsiderate changes attempted by his uncle Joseph II. Had any enlightened friend been at his side who could have pointed out where the real faults in Joseph's policy lay, it is probable that the unsophisticated mind of the young emperor, which raised the hopes of his subjects to a high pitch, would have comprehended the truth; and the firmness which he sufficiently displayed in after-life must have insured his success in acting up to it. As it was, nothIf fortune had resolved to contrive a ing could be more natural than that he throne for a favored mortal, from which he should deem the people incapable of appreshould not find it difficult to arrogate a supe- ciating efforts made for their good, and conriority over at least one quarter of the globe, sider his uncle as the victim of the basest she could not have devised materials better ingratitude. It was, however, more than a suited to its accomplishment than those com. mere error of judgment which prevented posing the Austrian Empire. The inex both of these monarchs from rising to the haustible resources of every province, each generous wish of desiring the good of the large enough to form a separate kingdom, people, regardless of who was the author of combine with the varieties of mental power the benefit. Joseph, as well as his succesdisplayed in the inhabitants to form materials sors, was evidently quite impressed with the for the creation of an unconquerable power. notion that the sovereign, as representative The agricultural profusion of the Polish of the Supreme Being, was the chosen disprovinces and Hungary, the mining wealth of great part of the latter country, the industrial spirit of the inhabitants of Bohemia, its agricultural wealth, the mines of Carin- The method adopted by Joseph II. to inthia, and the fertility of Lombardy, united, troduce his intended improvements was peroffer a mass of internal wealth unrivalle I by fectly accordant with these notions. Abol. any other European land. Mighty naviga- ishing without hesitation the customs of the ble rivers traverse the states in all directions, different countries which he undertook to reand afford means of communication to com- form,—the municipal oligarchies of the Belmercial enterprise, to which the possession gians, the patriarchal aristocracy of the of no unimportant extent of sea-coast like- Bohemians, and the irregular inconsistent wise invites. In the population such varied privileges of the Hungarians, he required elements unite as might be expected to turn all to surrender the portion of good they these means to the best advantage. The possessed, and to receive at his hands what skilful industrious Lombard, the wily Illyrian, the hardy Hungarian, the meditative German, the patient persevering Bohemian, and the fiery but versatile Pole, form a mixture of energies admirably calculated to correct and to assist each other. This is the empire as it now presents itself to our view, and the dominions were not less extensive to which Francis succeeded in 1793. He then possessed Belgium instead of Venice, but the exchange has been materially for the advantage of the state; thus too, both Austria and Germany have been respectively gainers by the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire. It is no doubt easier for us who

penser of his favors, and that the people, to use a British phrase, had no right to any ad. vantages which did not originate with him.

he imagined to be a fuller measure of the means of acquiring prosperity. He could never conceive that it was less the good which he offered, than his assumption of the power or rather the right to bestow it, which all united to dispute. Did he assemble the representatives of the people? did he explain the insufficiency of the old customs and the impediments they offered to the advancement of the nation, calling upon them to assist him in devising means to remedy those evils? No; in the plenitude of arro gant power and the confidence of delegated wisdom, he planned laws from the midst of a distant and enervated capital for the citizens