. Mediæval and modern history . ffairs, the Netherlanders rose in openrevolt and declared themselves independent of the Austriancrown (1790). At the same time Joseph drove his Hungarian subjects to theverge of rebellion by attempting to deal with Hungary in somesuch arbitrary way as he had dealt with the Netherlands,— in aword, to Germanize the country. The situation became so threat-ening that Joseph, upon his dying bed, was constrained to annulall his reform measures and put everything back as it was, save asregards the serfs, who retained the freedom with which he haddowered them. 493. Caus
. Mediæval and modern history . ffairs, the Netherlanders rose in openrevolt and declared themselves independent of the Austriancrown (1790). At the same time Joseph drove his Hungarian subjects to theverge of rebellion by attempting to deal with Hungary in somesuch arbitrary way as he had dealt with the Netherlands,— in aword, to Germanize the country. The situation became so threat-ening that Joseph, upon his dying bed, was constrained to annulall his reform measures and put everything back as it was, save asregards the serfs, who retained the freedom with which he haddowered them. 493. Causes of the Failure of Joseph IIs AttemptedReforms. The Emperor Joseph II is one of the most patheticfigures in history. He died in 1790, a weary, heartbroken man,lamenting that though he had labored his life through to make hissubjects contented and happy and to deserve their love, he hadsimply filled his empire with unrest and unhappiness, and insteadof winning the gratitude of his subjects had awakened only §494] REFORM FROM ABOVE 43S The most of Josephs attempted reforms, save those of theabohtion of serfdom and the revision of the laws, had in truthresulted in dismal failures. This was not because much he aimedto do was not in sad need of being done, but because in suchmatters the good intention is not sufficient without patience andwisdom. Joseph had neither. Frederick the Great said of him,Joseph is a good man, but he always takes the second step be-fore he takes the first. This lack of patience to begin at thebeginning and to wait for results is well shown in his methodof creating a park: at great expense he set out full-grown treesinstead of saplings. And Joseph lacked that wisdom which recognizes that thereformer must take account of the beliefs, habits, and prejudicesof men and of races. As his biographer Paganel comments, Itis only in the hands of God that man is as clay. 494. Reform from Above versus Reform from II was one of the
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