"No," replied the Italian; "but the writer wore the gold cross of Maria Theresa."
"That officer with the gold cross was the Emperor—Joseph II. You ask me for a subaltern's commission, and he desires me to give you the rank of captain in a newly-raised regiment, and I have much pleasure in obeying his orders."
This young volunteer died a colonel of Hussars, and fell in battle against Custine, on the Upper Rhine, in 1792.
Lacy's plans of military reform won him a high renown in the Empire, to which he extended the mode of defence previously employed with such success upon the frontiers of Bohemia. He established the great fortress of Koningsgratz, and strengthened the defences of Theresienstadt and Josephstadt, which are still the admiration of all engineers. He regulated the war finance by a system of economy, still remembered with gratitude in Austria. True and faithful to the land he served, he was ever ready to sacrifice his personal interests and feelings for the good of the State. Of this he gave a prominent example in 1788, when Joseph II., having experienced only reverses in his contest with the Porte, was recommended by Lacy to entrust all to Baron Loudon (with whom he had ever been on terms of coldness), as being the only general capable of repairing the misfortunes of the war.
Finding his health failing, he visited the Spa at Baden, and on his return to Vienna died, full of years and honours, on the 28th November, 1801.
He bequeathed to the Archduke Charles an extensive park in the environs, with a request that the people should have free use of it.
He had enjoyed the trust and confidence of Maria Theresa, of Francis I., and of Joseph II., to the full; and until he became enfeebled by time and wounds, he had more State patronage than any other subject in the empire. Frederick the Great had the highest esteem for his character as a soldier, and pronounced him the first tactician of the age, and assuredly the King of Prussia was no mean authority. They had often met in the field. With his characteristic acuteness, Frederick thus spoke of the two greatest generals against whom he led the Prussian armies.
"I admire the dispositions of Lacy, but I tremble at the onset of Loudon!"
Loudon, his companion and rival—of whom elsewhere—ended his career victoriously, after defeating the Turks and capturing Belgrade with the same soldiers whom Lacy had led to many a battle-field.
[Francis Anthony Count de Lacy], the celebrated Spanish general and diplomatist, was the next member of this Irish family who attained an eminent position in the history of Europe.