Louisa of Prussia and Her Times | Page 6

over
there!--Stop your noise!--Do not cry so loud!--Hush!--Let us hear what
is in the wagons.--Silence, silence!"
Profound silence ensued--everybody held his breath and listened.
"Well, then, listen to me. These wagons do not contain the remains of
the former emperors, but the gold and the jewels of the present emperor.
It is the state treasure which those hussars are escorting from Vienna to
Presburg, because the government deems it no longer safe here. Just
think of what we have come to now-a-days! Our imperial family, and
even the state treasure, must flee from Vienna! And whose fault is it
that we have to suffer all this? Who has brought these French down
upon us? Who is inundating all Austria with war and its calamities?
Shall I tell you who is doing it?"
"Yes, tell us, tell us!" shouted the crowd. "Woe unto him who has
plunged Austria into war and distress, and caused the flight of the
emperor and the removal of the treasure from Vienna!"
The speaker waited until the angry waves of the people's wrath had
subsided again, and then said in the clear, ringing tones of his powerful
voice: "It is the fault of our prime minister, Baron von Thugut. He don't
want us to make peace with the French. He would rather ruin us all than
to make peace with the French Republic."
"But we don't want to be ruined!" shouted the crowd--"we don't want to

be led to the shambles like sheep. No, no; we want peace--peace with
France. Prime Minister Thugut shall give us peace with France!"
"You had better go and inform the proud minister himself of what you
want," said the speaker with a sneer. "First compel him to do what the
emperor and even our brave Archduke Charles wanted to be done--
compel the omnipotent minister to make peace."
"We will go and ask him to give us peace," said several voices in the
crowd.
"Yes, yes, we will do that!" shouted others. "Come, come; let us all go
to the minister's house and ask him to give us back the emperor and the
state treasure, and to make peace with Bonaparte."
The speaker now descended hurriedly from the lamp-post. His tall,
herculean figure, however, towered above the crowd even after his feet
had touched the pavement.
"Come," said he to the bystanders in a loud and decided tone, "I will
take you to the minister's house, for I know where he lives, and we will
shout and raise such a storm there until the proud gentleman
condescends to comply with our wishes."
He led the way rapidly, and the crowd, always easily guided and pliable,
followed its improvised leader with loud acclamations. Only one idea,
only one wish, animated all these men: they wanted peace with France,
lest Bonaparte might come to Vienna and lay their beautiful capital in
ashes in the same manner in which he had treated so many Italian
cities.
Their leader walked proudly at the head of the irregular procession; and
as the crowd continued to shout and yell, "Peace with France!" he
muttered, "I think I have accomplished a good deal to-day. The
archduke will be satisfied with what I have done, and we may compel
the minister after all to make peace with France."

CHAPTER II
.
MINISTER VON THUGUT.
The prime minister, Baron von Thugut, was in his cabinet, in eager
consultation with the new police minister, Count von Saurau, who had
given him an account of the safe removal of the imperial state treasure

which, like the emperor and the empress, had set out for Hungary.
"All right! all right!" said Thugut, with a sinister chuckle. "In Hungary
both will be safe enough, for I think I have intimidated the Hungarians
so much that they will remain very quiet and very humble."
"Your excellency refers to the conspiracy which we discovered there,
two years ago," said Count Saurau, smiling, "and which the accursed
traitors expiated on the gallows!"
"De Mortuir Nil Nisi Bene!" exclaimed Thugut. "We are under many
obligations to these excellent traitors, for they have enabled us to
render the Hungarians submissive, just as the traitors who conspired
here at Vienna two years ago enabled us to do the same thing to the
population of the capital. A conspiracy discovered by the authorities is
always a good thing, because it furnishes us with an opportunity to
make an example, to tell the nation through the bloody heads of the
conspirators: 'Thus, thus, all will be treated who dare to plot against the
government and against their masters!' The Viennese have grown very
humble and obedient since the day they saw Hebenstreit, the
commander of the garrison, on the scaffold, and Baron Riedel, the tutor
of the imperial children, at the pillory.