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 688 JOSEPH II. JOSEPHINE old empress peaceably to terminate the short struggle of succession. In -1780 he went to Moliilev to see Catharine, with whom schemes of Russian and Austrian aggression in Turkey and Italy respectively were agreed upon. Soon after his return his mother died, and the reign of the imperial philanthropist, so long impa- tiently looked for by liberal Europe, began. The long suppressed desire of totally trans- forming his empire and its nations, nourished by a love of the people, and a certainly not less ardent ambition, now found full satisfaction. Equality, centralization, and uniformity were the leading principles. Serfdom was abolished, German was made the official language every- where, new codes were introduced, the press was almost entirely made free ; about 700 con- vents, containing 36,000 of the younger monks, were dissolved, and all others placed under the bishops ; the bulls of the pope were made de- pendent upon the placet regium ; the bulls Unigenitus and In Ccena Domini were ex- punged from the Austrian rituals ; and by the celebrated edict of toleration, which, however, excluded deists, the Protestants were set on a perfectly equal footing with the Catholics. All this was executed without consulting any legis- lative or deliberative body, and the private rights of individuals were as little considered as the privileges of classes, or the prejudices and ignorance of the masses. The people were to be enlightened and made happy by decrees, all obstacles violently removed, and the refrac- tory punished. Pius VI. personally visited Vienna, and strove in vain to check or mod- erate the reformatory movement. But in the mean time the interests which had been so violently assailed by these changes, having their defenders in the most powerful and most in- fluential classes of society, were active in pre- paring the overthrow of the new system. No- bles, priests, and patriots were united in secret opposition. The dissatisfaction was most in- tense in Hungary, Brabant, Tyrol, and Bohe- mia. In Transylvania a bloody rising of the Wallach peasantry against the nobles, under Hora and Kloska, was slowly suppressed and most cruelly punished. Joseph's attempt to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria was prevented by Frederick's last great act of external policy, the formation of the Fursten- bund (confederation of princes) in 1785. Un- flinching amid all these difficulties, Joseph pro- ceeded in his course of reform, and, eager to add military glory to the fame of his internal achievements, visited Catharine at Kherson during her triumphal progress through the southern regions of her empire (1787), and finally concerted with her the long meditated war against Turkey. It was soon begun. Jo- seph opened it by a sudden attack on Belgrade, but suffered a repulse, which was followed by the defeat at Lugos (1788), and other disasters. A part of the army was lost, when Joseph re- turned to his capital, with a fatal malady, while victory followed the banners of the Russian generals. Brabant, which had long been in open rebellion, declared its independence, Hun- gary was violently agitated, and it availed Jo- seph little that Laudon partially restored the fortunes of the war in 1789. The revolution in France brought new dangers. Broken in spirit, Joseph, shortly before his death, which was attributed by some to poison, abrogated all his innovations (January, 1790), except tol- eration and the abolition of serfdom. JOSEPH, king of Naples and of Spain. See BONAPAETE, vol. iii., p. 29. JOSEPH, Father, the confidential friend of Car- dinal Richelieu, whose real name was FRANgois LECLERO DU TREMBLAY, born in Paris, Nov. 4, 1577, died at Rueil, Dec. 18, 1638. He was the son of an eminent functionary, and his mother belonged to the Lafayette family. In his youth he saw much of society of different countries, and also something of warfare, hav- ing served in the army under an assumed name. Entering the priesthood, he attained great eminence in the order of Capuchin friars. His tact, intelligence, and activity attracted the attention of Richelieu, who employed him as his secretary and as his agent in many diplo- matic negotiations. The immense work of the cardinal was performed by Father Joseph, who became indispensable to him, and was in- timately associated with the most confidential and important transactions of the period. To an enthusiastic religious zeal, which caused him to send missionaries to England, Canada, and the East, and to advocate a crusade against the Turks, he added a consummate shrewdness and a wonderful capacity for incessant labor. Richelieu used to say that no statesman in Eu- rope could grapple with the astute Capuchin friar, and deplored his death as a great calam- ity. The king prevailed upon the pope to make Joseph cardinal, but the latter died be- fore the dignity was tendered to him. Owing to his immense influence over the cardinal and in public affairs, he was treated with great re- gard, though his cat-like and mysterious man- ner and his occasional outbursts of rudeness and wrath were repulsive. He is the reputed author of a Latin poem in favor of a crusade against the Turks, and of other writings, the most remarkable being manuscript memoirs in 4 vols. (in the national library in Paris), pur- porting to be a history of Louis XIII. in 1634- '6, but narrating events down to near the end of 1638; it gives authentic documents of sev- eral treaties, and interesting information about Wallenstein (in whose removal from command in 1629 Father Joseph was instrumental at Vienna), about the project of making a free state out of the Netherlands, and in respect to other schemes and incidents. Ranke sub- mitted in 1860 a report on these memoirs to the French academy of moral and political sci- ences. Gerorne has painted a celebrated pic- ture of Father Joseph, called L 1 Eminence grise. JOSEPHINE, a S. W. county of Oregon, bor- dering on California, bounded N. by the Rogue