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JOSEPH II. 



particularly in the languages, mathematics and music. 

 Ills lively temperament often brought him into col- 

 lision with his mother, whom lie obeyed from respect, 

 but without conviction, and with secret reluctance. 

 He observed how much her devotional spirit was 

 abused, and he imbibed an invincible aversion to 

 the clergy. She set a great value on birth, and he 

 early acquired a dislike for undeserved privileges. 

 In the mean time, the seven years' war having 

 broken out, every preparation was made for the 

 young prince joining the army, when Maria Theresa 

 recalled her order. In 1760, he married Elizabeth 

 of Parma, who died on her second confinement, i I e 

 also lost his second wife, a Bavarian princess. He 

 was elected king of the Romans in 1764, and, on the 

 death of his father, 1765, German emperor. His 

 mother declared him co-regent in the hereditary 

 states of the house of Austria, and gave him the com- 

 mand of the army ; but the real authority remained 

 in her hands. During the war, Joseph had had 

 cause to admire the great enemy of his house. Ani- 

 mated by this example, he entered on his elevated 

 career ; but, as he had but little real power, except- 

 ing in military affairs, in which, with the aid of Lascy, 

 he introduced some improvements, he employed his 

 time in travelling, and becoming acquainted with his 

 states. On one of these journeys, under the title of 

 count Falkenstein, he visited Frederic the Grent in 

 his camp at Neisse, August 25, 1768. The two 

 monarchs, dispensing with ceremonies, met on terms 

 of familiarity, like friends. In the following year, 

 the emperor, in his camp, received a visit from Fre- 

 deric. In 1777, Joseph made a journey to Paris, 

 where he spent six weeks. Every body was charmed 

 with him. At the end of this year, the elector of 

 Bavaria died, and the war of the Bavarian succession 

 broke out between Prussia and Austria, to which 

 Maria Theresa put an end, without the knowledge, 

 and contrary to the wishes of her son, who was de- 

 sirous of measuring himself in the field with his great 

 adversary. In 1780, Joseph came into the posses- 

 sion of full dominion over his hereditary states, at the 

 age of forty years, and was thus the sovereign of 

 more than twenty-two millions of men, with a fine 

 army. His people adored him; the nobility and 

 clergy alone had reason to fear him. Joseph had 

 drawn on himself their hatred, by ordinances, which 

 were, in many respects, very excellent. He allowed 

 a greater freedom of the press, put an end to the 

 connexion between Rome and the religious orders, 

 diminished the pensions, placed the Jews on a better 

 footing, abolished bondage, suppressed all nunneries 

 and many monasteries, particularly those in which 

 there were no schools, or the sick were not taken 

 care of, or the monks did not preach. In the spring 

 of 1782, pope Pius VI. -made a visit to Vienna. 

 Joseph afterwards returned his visit at Rome, still 

 continuing to suppress monasteries, so that in eight 

 years, the number belonging to the different orders 

 liad sunk from 63,000 to 27,000. All branches of 

 the government, public education, the police, the 

 state of the clergy, and the peasantry, were re- 

 formed. By a new code of laws, capital punish- 

 ments were abolished. His attempts at reform in 

 Hungary, which he wished to render uniform with 

 his German states, caused a rebellion of the Wa- 

 lachians, which he could quell only by the execution 

 of its leaders, Horia and Gloska. Then followed, 

 1784, the dispute with Holland, concerning the free 

 navigation of the Scheldt, and the negotiations for 

 the exchange of the Netherlands for Bavaria, against 

 which the confederacy of the German princes was 

 formed, in 1785. In 1797, under the title of count 

 Falkunstein, Joseph made a journey into the Crimea, 

 where Catharine gave him a most splendid reception 



at Cherson. After his return, he experienced a 

 series of misfortunes. Disturbances having broken 

 out in the Netherlands, Joseph discontinued his re- 

 form-;, and quiet seemed to be restored. February 9, 

 1788, he declared war against the Turks. By the 

 defeat at Lugos (September 20, 1788), the army was 

 obliged to retreat, and suffered dreadfully in conse- 

 quence of the heat and the unhealthiness of the 

 country. Joseph himself, exhausted and chagrined 

 by the misfortune of his army, returned sick to 

 Vienna in December. In the following year, fortune 

 favoured the Austrian arms ; Belgrade was surren- 

 dered to Laudohn, and the Russians made great pro- 

 gress. The principal cause of the difficulties which 

 Joseph next had to encounter, was the tax law, intro- 

 duced iu November, 1789. The nobility and peasan- 

 try showed themselves equally dissatisfied, and the 

 signal was given for general disorder and open rebel- 

 lion. The Netherlands declared themselves indepen- 

 dent, and expelled the imperial forces from all the 

 provinces, and Luxemburg only remained in the pos- 

 session of the imperial troops. Joseph showed him- 

 self ready to make concessions ; but all his proposals 

 were scornfully rejected. The Hungarians, also, 

 whose general dissatisfaction had been only slumber- 

 ing, rebelled, and demanded the restoration of their 

 ancient rights and constitution. To the astonish- 

 ment of all Europe, Joseph, hi January, 1790, 

 declared all the acts of his government in that coun- 

 try revoked, even to the edict of toleration (June 22, 

 1781). Tyrol showed signs of dissatisfaction, and 

 Joseph hastened to put every thing on its former 

 footing. His health sunk under these accumulated 

 mortifications, and the consequences soon became 

 apparent. February, 1790, he was sensible that 

 death was rapidly approaching, and, on the 20th, he 

 died of a pulmonary consumption. Joseph was of 

 the middle size ; of a lively disposition, fickle, and 

 fond of action, of ruling, of destroying and building 

 up. Courage in danger was a striking trait in his 

 character. He had a strong and lively sense of the 

 dignity of man, and respected it in all. He caused 

 the Augarten, hitherto closed, to be made public, and 

 placed over the entrance the inscription, " Dedicated 

 to all men, by one who values them." When re- 

 quested to permit only certain classes to walk in the 

 Prater, in 'order that they might enjoy themselves 

 there with their equals only, he refused, and added, 

 " If I would live only with my equals, I must go to 

 the tomb of the emperors, at the capuchin chapel, 

 and there spend my days." To Schmidt, the histo- 

 rian of Germany, he said, " Spare no one, and not 

 even myself, if you come down so far with your his- 

 tory. Posterity must judge of my faults, and those of 

 my predecessors." Frederic the Great wrote to Vol- 

 taire concerning him " Joseph is an emperor such 

 as Germany has not had for a long time. Educated 

 in splendour, his habits are simple ; grown up amidst 

 flattery, he is still modest ; inflamed with a love of 

 glory, he yet sacrifices his ambition to his duty." 

 Joseph's favourite object was to be sovereign in a 

 peculiar sense, and to manage the great machine of 

 the state entirely himself. Whatever his own reflec- 

 tions, or his knowledge of other countries, showed to 

 be useful, he wished to introduce. But he did not 

 sufficiently consider that he had to do with other 

 men, with other relations, and that long habit ren- 

 dered it difficult to change, at once, usages sanctified 

 by time ; that other men did not possess his know- 

 ledge and experience. (See Anecdotes of the Em- 

 peror Joseph II., and Pezzl's Charakteristik, Vienna, 

 1790). Dohm's Memoirs also contain important 

 nformation on Joseph's system of government and 

 reform. The Letters of Joseph II. (Leipsic, second 

 edition, 1822) are valuable. 



