king,--who was an exile only because of his
attachment to that ancient Church through which alone, as Leopold
believed, salvation could be secured. He went with the heretical William
III. England, indeed, has been the bulwark of the German Hapsburgs on
many occasions, and has saved them on more than one occasion from
overthrow; and she did her best to aid even the Spanish branch in its
last years, and then exerted herself to secure that branch's possessions
for its relations at Vienna. It was English military genius that saved
the Emperor Leopold I. from destruction.[30] When most of Continental
Europe showed itself hostile to the Austrian house after the death of
Charles VI., England was the fast friend of Maria Theresa, his daughter,
and aided her to get over difficulties that seemed about to overwhelm
her; and it was the fault rather of Austria than of England that the two
countries did not act together in the Seven Years' War, when England
was, as it were, forced into the Prussian alliance, and helped Frederick
win his astonishing victories. Austria came out of that memorable
contest without having accomplished the purpose for which she entered
it; but she had displayed great power during its course, and in the last
half of the reign of the empress-queen, her reputation stood very high.
Joseph II., though he declared that he had failed in everything,
impressed himself very powerfully on the European mind, and was counted
a great sovereign. No common man could have entertained the projects
that crowded his teeming mind, and which came to little in most
instances because they were in advance of the time.

During the tremendous struggle that proceeded from the French
Revolution, Austria was almost always in the foreground, and next to
England showed greatest powers of endurance in combating the new order
of things. Six times she made war on France, and though in four of these
wars she was beaten, she had the fortune to decide the event of the
fifth,--that of 1814-15; and in 1815 she was as active against Napoleon
as circumstances permitted any of the Allies to be, except England and
Prussia. The effect of this pertinacity, and of her decisive part in
1813, was to secure for her a degree of consideration altogether
disproportioned to her real power. Men took her for what she appeared to
be, not as she was. In truth, very little was known of her condition,
and the few who were aware of her weakness were interested in keep