"Then peace is not agreeable to you?"
"Pardon me, I have every reason to be satisfied. Have we not exchanged
compliments with all the powers of Europe, and have not the people of
Vienna sung ninety-nine thousand TE DEUMS in honor of the peace of
Teschen?" [Footnote: Joseph's own words.]
"I see that you do not approve of it, Joseph," said the empress, who was anxious to come to an understanding on the subject.
"I was under the impression that I had signed all your majesty's acts without giving any trouble whatever," was the cold reply.
"But you did it unwillingly, I fear, and thought of your mother as a weak and timid old woman. Is it not so, my son?"
"When I signed the treaty I thought of my ancestor, Charles V. After a disastrous campaign in Africa, he was obliged to return with his fleet to Spain. He sailed, it is true, but he was the last man to go on board. So with me—I signed the articles of peace, but was the last one who signed." [Footnote: Ibid.]
"Have you nothing more to say on the subject? Are you not glad that there is to be no bloodshed?"
"A son and subject has no right to sit in judgment upon the actions of his mother and empress."
"But you are more than a subject, you are an emperor."
"No, your majesty; I am like the Venetian generals. In war, they commanded the armies, and received their salaries from the republic. When their campaigns were over, their pensions were paid and they sank back into obscurity."