KAUNITZ, WENCESLAS, PRINCE OF, an Austrian statesman, was born at Vienna in 1710. Being one of nineteen children, he was educated for the Church ; but the deaths of his elder brothers occa sioned a change in his vocation, and he became chamberlain in the palace of the Emperor Charles VI. His talents, which were enhanced by an agreeable person and calm reflective halite, soon marked him out as fitted for tho career of diplomacy. He was made a minister of state in 1744 for the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia. Being sent to the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, he signed the treaty of peace in the name of Austria, for which the Empress Maria Theresa honoured him with the order of the Golden Fleece. His next mission was to France, where he was sent as ambassador in 1750. He con tinued at the court of Louis XV. until 1753, and obtained so much influence over the mind of that monarch by the assiduities he paid to the favourite, Madame de Pompadour, that he baffled the manoeuvres of the Prussian envoy in the same quarter, and founded an alliance betweeu France and Austria. When he returned home he was made chancellor of state, the empress feeling that no proofs of confidence were too great for a minister who had so skilfully disabled her most powerful enemy by depriviog Prussia of the ally on whom she chiefly relied. Nor was the resentment of Frederick IL less decided ; his hatred of Kaunitz was strongly expressed even in his 'Memoirs.' After
concluding the treaty of alliance between France and Austria in 1756, Kaunitz received his title as prince of the German empire in 1764, and accompanied Joseph l I. in 1770 when he had an interview at Neustadt with the King of Prussia. But though a successful diplomatist, Kaunitz has been reproached with having instigated the government of Joseph II. to introduce very serious innovations in the ecclesiastical r6gime of his dominions.
In private life, Kaunitz's taciturnity was often felt and interpreted as disdain towards his associates in office; but he had great personal qualities—never lending himself to the envy of other men, or to his own desires of vindictiveness. Prince Knuoitz was acquainted with the Latin, French, Italian, and English languages, as well as with the German ; he founded several academies and schools of art, and was a patron of literary men and artists, with whom he lived on terms of equality. His probity and honour were unimpeached. He was the faithful servant of four Austrian sovereigns, Maria Theresa, Joseph II., Leopold IL, and Francis H.; and no minister at that court ever enjoyed greater or more enduring credit. He died of a neglected cold, June 24, 1794.