Emperor Francis II and the Austrian “Jacobins,” 1792–1796

Abstract

EMPEROR FRANCIS II (Francis I of Austria) abhorred political change. No, he once said, refusing some Italian demands for political reform, every concession is dangerous. Man with his insatiable nature always asks for something more. Give him the hand, and he wants the arm; give him the arm, and he wants the whole body. I do not wish to give them my head.1 This is not to imply, however, that Francis had a clear idea, when he succeeded Leopold II in 1792, of how to exercise his God-given power. He knew, from his father's comments and from observation, that turmoil and discord had been the most marked results of Emperor Joseph's revolutionary zeal. He was aware, too, that the sudden departure from this radical system during the final months of Joseph's reign and the two years of Leopold's had led to the appearance of numerous inconsistencies and contradictions which left even the ablest jurists in doubt as to the actual state of the laws. Evidently it was unwise to attempt to restore in two or three years an order which the energetic Joseph, as adviser to Maria Theresa and in his own right, had altered over a period of three decades. But since the government of the Austrian monarchy was in a muddle, something ought to be done to bring order out of administrative and legal chaos. The task was made harder by several conditioning factors. Francis had to bear in mind his additional responsibilities as Holy Roman emperor, both for the sake of the prestige involved and because imperial events had an influence on Austrian foreign relations. Then, the work of resettlement, complicated in time of peace, had to be undertaken amidst twenty-three years of almost uninterrupted warfare against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Finally, the new spirit engendered by the Enlightenment and the French Revolution had definitely made itself felt in Austria, especially among the professional classes and the lesser officials appointed by Joseph. Hence, when the bewildered twenty-four-year-old Francis sought advice from his more experienced elders, he discovered that they were divided into two opposing groups: Josephinians and anti-Josephinians.