II.]

The situation needed all the statesmanship of the new ruler, Leopold II.
This was less obvious in his domestic than in his foreign policy, though
perhaps equally present. As grand-duke of Tuscany Leopold had won the
reputation of an enlightened and liberal ruler; but meanwhile "Josephinism"
had not been justified by its results, and the progress of the Revolution
in France was beginning to scare even enlightened princes into reaction.
Leopold, then, reverted to the traditional Habsburg methods; the old
supremacy of the Church, regarded as the one effective bond of empire, was
restored; and the _Einheitsstaat_ was once more resolved into its elements,
with the old machinery of diets and estates, and the old abuses. It was the
beginning of that policy of "stability" associated later with Metternich,
which was to last till the cataclysm of 1848. For the time, the policy was
justified by its results. The spirit of revolutionary France had not yet
touched the heart of the Habsburg empire, and national rivalries were
expressed, not so much in expansive ambitions, as in a somnolent clinging
to traditional privileges. Leopold, therefore, who made his debut on the
European stage as the executor of the ban of the Empire against the
insurgent Liegeois, was free to pose as the champion of order against the
Revolution, without needing to fear the resentment of his subjects. He
played this role with consummate skill in the negotiations that led up to
the treaty of Reichenbach (August 15, 1790), which ended the quarrel with
Prussia and paved the way to the armistice of Giurgevo with Turkey
(September 10). Leopold was now free to deal with the Low Countries, which
were reduced to order before the end of the year. On the 4th of August
1791, was signed at Sistova the definitive peace with Turkey, which
practically established the _status quo_.

[Sidenote: Austria and the French Revolution.]

On the 6th of October 1700, Leopold had been crowned Roman emperor at
Frankfort, and it was as emperor, not as Habsburg, that he first found
himself in direct antagonism to the France of the Revolution. The fact that
Leopold's sister, Marie Antoinette, was the wife of Louis XVI. had done
little to cement the Franco-Austrian alliance, which since 1763 had been
practically non-existent; nor was it now the mainspring of his attitude
towards revolutionary France. But by the decree of the 4th of August, which
in the general abolition of feudal righ