frontiers; and whether to any but to themselves accrued the profits of
trade with the Baltic and North Seas. Vraiment, such friendship lies
heavily upon us, and its weight feels almost like that of enmity. At
Aix-la-Chapelle I had to remind the English ambassador that his
unknightly and arrogant bearing toward Austria was unseemly both to the
sex and majesty of Austria's empress. And our august sovereign herself,
not long since, saw fit to reprove the insolence of this same British
envoy, who in her very presence spoke of the Netherlands as though they
had been a boon to Austria from England's clemency. Incensed at the tone
of this representative of our friends, the empress exclaimed: 'Am I not
ruler in the Netherlands as well as in Vienna? Do I hold my right of
empire from England and Holland?'" [Footnote: Coxe, "History of the
House of Austria," vol. v., p. 51.]

"Yes," interrupted Maria Theresa, impetuously, "yes, it is true. The
arrogance of these royal traders has provoked me beyond all bearing. I
will no longer permit them to insinuate of my own imperial rights that I
hold them as favors from the hand of any earthly power. It chafes the
pride of an empress-queen to be CALLED a friend and TREATED as a vassal;
and I intend that these proud allies shall feel that I resent their
affronts!"

It was wonderful to see the effect of these impassioned words upon the
auditors of the empress. They quaked as they thought how they had voted,
and their awe-stricken faces were pallid with fright. Uhlefeld and
Bartenstein exchanged glances of amazement and dismay; while the other
nobles, like adroit courtiers, fixed their looks, with awakening
admiration, upon Kaunitz, in whom their experienced eyes were just
discovering the rising luminary of a new political firmament.