"Gentlemen," said the emperor, "the questions before me are of so difficult a nature, that they require careful investigation and calm reflection. In an hour I will decide; and I will give to you, Count Crenneville, the answer to the field-marshal, and at the same time you, Count Mensdorff, shall receive a reply to the question you have brought before me."
The two gentlemen bowed.
"Shall the motion be made immediately to the Confederation for the mobilization of the armies of the un-Prussianized States, as your majesty has desired?" inquired Count Mensdorff.
"Certainly," cried the emperor, "it is necessary that the German States should own to their colours, and that the armies of the Confederation should be placed in the field. I am of the opinion of Baron Gablenz that on this our safety greatly depends."
With a friendly nod he dismissed the gentlemen; then approaching General von Gablenz he took his hand, and said, "God be with you! may He bless your sword, and give me fresh cause to be grateful to you."
Gablenz bent over the emperor's hand, and said with emotion, "My blood, my life, belong to you and Austria!"
The emperor remained alone. Several times he hastily paced his cabinet; then he seated himself at his writing-table, and turned over some papers quickly, without looking at their contents.
"What a frightful position!" he exclaimed; "every feeling of my heart urges me to act against this German calamity, which like a wasting sickness, like a gnawing worm, eats into the heart of Austria, and devours her power and her greatness. My hereditary blood urges me to pick up the glove, half scornfully, half threateningly thrown down so long ago by the dangerous, deadly enemy of my race. The voice of the German people calls me--and my minister counsels retreat, my general hesitates at the moment of decision! Can the thought be true which like a black mountain has oppressed my heart in my dark hours? Am I predestined to bring misfortune on my beloved, beautiful Austria, the glorious inheritance of my great ancestors? Will my name be linked in history with the setting of the Hapsburg star, the fall of the empire?"
He gazed into space with troubled eyes.
"Oh! that thou couldst stand beside me, thou great Spirit, with thy strong noble heart, with thy clear intellect, and unconquerable will, to guide the rudder of the Austrian empire: thou whose calm proud strength shattered the power of the hellish giant who had dismembered the world! oh, that I had a Metternich! What would he counsel, that mighty mind, whom none understood, whom none can understand, because between his inner life and the world the proud words of Horace stand inscribed: 'Odi profanum vulgus et arceo!'"