Whilst the Prince de Ligne was returning to Vienna the insurgents seized Ghent and Brussels, and on the 2d of December 1789 they proclaimed that Joseph II. had forfeited the sovereignty of the Netherlands. Two months later the Emperor succumbed to a chronic disease, aggravated by grief and anxiety.[92] The Prince de Ligne wrote to the Empress Catherine: “He is no more, Madame,--he is no more, the Prince who honoured the man, the man who still more honoured the Prince. He said to me a few days before his death, on my return from the Hungarian army which I had led into Silesia: ‘I was not fit to see you yesterday; your country has killed me.... The capture of Ghent is my agony, and the abandonment of Brussels my death. What an outrage’ (he repeated that word several times). ‘I am dying of it: one would have to be of stone to survive it. I thank you for all you have done for me. Laudon has spoken very well of you; I thank you for your fidelity. Go into Flanders; bring back the country to its allegiance. If you cannot succeed, remain there; do not sacrifice your interests to me--you have children....’” On the Emperor’s table were found several letters, written on the eve of his death. One of them, which was in French, was addressed to the Princesses François and Charles de Lichtenstein, and to the Comtesses Clary, de Kinsky, and de Kaunitz. TO THE FIVE LADIES WHO SO KINDLY RECEIVED ME INTO THEIR SOCIETY. “The time has come for me to bid you an eternal farewell, and express all the gratitude I feel at the condescension and kindliness you have shown me for so many years. The memory of each day is dear to me, and the thought of separation is the only one that troubles me. Wholly trusting in the goodness of Providence, I submit myself entirely to its decrees. Keep me in remembrance, and do not forget me in your prayers. My writing will show you the condition I am in.” The Prince de Ligne was deeply affected by this loss, of which he soon felt the painful results. Leopold II., who succeeded his father, behaved with marked coldness towards all those for whom Joseph had had any affection. Moreover, the new sovereign’s policy had nothing in common with that of his predecessor. On the 27th of July 1790 Austria signed at Reichenbach a Convention with Prussia, by which she agreed to make peace with Turkey, the conditions to be based on the _status quo_ that existed before the war. Prince Charles, foreseeing a period of forced inaction, asked and obtained permission to enter the Russian service. He accordingly set off, leaving his father in Vienna unfavourably looked upon at Court, and grieved at being separated from him. It was under Souvarof’s orders in Bessarabia that Prince Charles fought his campaign. He was selected to conduct part of the operations at the famous siege of Ismaïl.[1]