I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1301 The Emperor's Authority

Kobutzl felt much more at ease as he entered the parliament hall.

Weimar had contributed troops and funds in the previous anti-French war, making him a relatively staunch "Viennaist." Granting Weimar the title of Elector meant that at least four votes in the Imperial Diet would now belong to His Majesty the Emperor.

Once all the electors' representatives had arrived, Archbishop Frederick Karl, who was presiding over the meeting, first gave a traditional, ceremonial opening speech, and then went straight to the point:
"Due to some unfortunate reasons, the Elector of Hanover is no longer able to fulfill his duties..."

He rattled off a bunch of polite words, then took out a letter: "His Majesty the Emperor wishes to revoke this electoral marquis position..."

Prussian Foreign Minister Herzberg immediately stood up: "This is not in accordance with custom."

He glanced at Kobtzel and said loudly, "I propose that the Duke of Hesse inherit the title of Elector, which stems from His Majesty Ludwig X's grandmother..."

He rattled off several names, successfully linking Ludwig X to the Hanoverian royal family by blood. Indeed, after centuries of intermarriage, the royal families of all the German states were related to each other.

Kobutzl interjected bluntly, "If someone must inherit the title of Elector of Hanover, it should be the Count of Weimar."

He added, "This is also His Majesty the Emperor's opinion."

Archbishop Karl waited until he and Hertzberg were seated before nodding and saying, "Very well, then we will follow His Majesty the Emperor's wishes and first vote on whether the Earl of Weimar will be granted the title of Elector."

Who supports this decision?

Kobutz raised his hand without hesitation, glancing smugly at the Mainz Foreign Minister out of the corner of his eye.

No response.

He paused for a moment, then quickly gestured to the Salzburg Foreign Minister, who simply smiled politely at him.

A dozen seconds later, Archbishop Karl repeated the vote, and then solemnly announced: "Only the Elector of Bohemia approves."

He looked around at everyone and continued, "Next, we will vote on the proposal for the Elector of Brandenburg. Who supports the Duke of Hesse being granted the title of Elector?"

The agents of the five electors, including Brandenburg and Palatinate, raised their hands almost simultaneously.

Kobutz was stunned on the spot.

how can that be!

All the electors actually ignored the emperor's wishes!
Especially the Elector of Salzburg, who was personally nominated by His Majesty the Emperor.

He remembered the vote on the qualifications of the Elector of Salzburg, which passed unanimously.

Little did he know that the Archbishop of Salzburg, having witnessed firsthand the siege of Passau fortress by hundreds of thousands of French troops, would inevitably be left with a profound psychological scar—Salzburg is only seventy or eighty kilometers from Passau.

Moreover, Austria had now lost Innsbruck, and all trade routes to Salzburg were now controlled by Bavaria. Between loyalty to the monarch and the national treasury, he decisively chose the latter.

"These damned traitors..."

Kobutz gritted his teeth and muttered angrily, then shouted to Archbishop Karl, "I demand that the 'compromise agenda' be initiated!"

The so-called "compromise agenda" is a procedure in which the Imperial Diet postpones voting and conducts private negotiations when it cannot reach a consensus on important matters.

Although he could insist on his vote not passing, that would seriously offend Ludwig X—Hesse is now a large and powerful state that cannot be ignored.

Archbishop Karl readily agreed to initiate a "compromise agenda," with a new vote to be held two weeks later.

Before Kobtzel could even catch his breath, Archbishop Karl continued, "This meeting needs an additional provisional vote, proposed by the Elector Palatine. The content is—a request for His Majesty the Emperor to recognize the entire contents of the Stuttgart Declaration."

"So, who supports this proposal?"

Once again, all five votes were in favor, except for the one from Bohemia represented by Kobtzel.

Kobutz immediately became enraged and demanded a "compromise agenda" again.

You should know that this damned "Declaration" completely divided up all of the emperor's directly controlled territories and even created two kings.

Vienna is currently too weak to pay attention to this thing, but unexpectedly these people are demanding that the emperor acknowledge it.

This is absolutely unacceptable!
Archbishop Karl nodded helplessly: "Alright, then we'll vote again in two weeks..."

Before he finished speaking, Kobtzel felt several cold gazes piercing him.

Yes, it was the French government's instruction to allow Hesse to inherit the status of Elector of Hanover. These German states might not care much about it, but the Declaration of Stuttgart was the legal basis for them to obtain the imperial domains and the territory of Hanover.

The Holy Roman Emperor's refusal to recognize it was a move to stand in opposition to all the states.

After confirming that there were no other agenda items, Kobbutzl immediately fled the meeting hall.

He has realized that the current situation has become very bad.

Upon returning to his residence, he immediately summoned all the accompanying diplomatic officials to discuss how to break the deadlock.

a few days later.

Franz II frowned as he looked at the secret letter sent by his foreign minister.

Kobutzl requested 120 million florins for diplomatic funding and to bestow titles upon more than a dozen political figures from various countries in exchange for the cooperation of the Electors in the Imperial Diet.

The Holy Roman Emperor and several high-ranking officials discussed the matter for a whole day and finally agreed to Kobtsl's request.

After all, both the selection of the Elector and the Stuttgart Declaration were matters of life and death for the Empire.

……

Vienna's inner city.

Outside a café on Tuchlauben Street, not far from St. Stephen's Cathedral, Lucas von Scherer, dressed in a simple black linen coat and wearing an old dark gray felt hat, but with passionate eyes, clenched his fists and whispered to the dozen or so passersby surrounding him:
"Our city is suffering from poverty and hunger, while the lords of Schönbrunn Palace have added three new taxes in a single week!"
"They emptied everyone's last penny, not to help the elderly and children, nor to distribute pensions to wounded soldiers, but to give it to countries like Mainz and Bavaria."

“That’s over two million florins! Our Emperor, in order to make the Earl of Weimar an Elector, didn’t hesitate to use our money for diplomatic bribery…”

He looked at a sallow-faced, emaciated woman and pointed to the bag of bread she was holding: "In the past two weeks, the price of bread has increased by a quarter. If the emperor were willing to use those 200 million florins to stabilize the price of bread, how could we be starving?"

His words immediately drew a chorus of agreement.

Lucas then pulled out a stack of leaflets from his pocket and handed them out to everyone: "If you want to escape this hellish life, you must learn from advanced and powerful France!"

"Look everyone, this is the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, promulgated by the Crown Prince of France. It is the compass that guides us toward the light!"

(End of this chapter)