text:
No. 12.
18th December, 1814.
I have received your No. 15, and it has given me great satisfaction. If England declares frankly in favor of Saxony, her agreement with Austria and the greater part of Germany ought to triumph over the lights of the age. 1 I like the firmness of the Emperor Francis, and I care little for the defection of the King of Würtemberg. I await the explanation of what you tell me on the subject of that prince, but, from what I know of him, I should not attempt to advise any one to form a close alliance with him.
The letters found among Lord Oxford's papers have not thrown any light upon Murat's proceedings; 2 but the facts contained in the letter from Leghorn, whose truth is not to be questioned, since Prince Metternich admits his knowledge of them, speak for themselves; 3 and it is more than time that all the Powers should combine together to eradicate the evil. M. de Jaucourt will certainly have informed you of the unjust, and I must say ungrateful, reproach which has been made to Count Hector d'Agout on this subject. It would be well that you should speak to M. de Labrador about this, so that his testimony may serve to enlighten M. de Cevallos, if he be in error, or at least to shame him, if, as I very strongly suspect, he lies to himself.
I look upon the wish of the Emperor of Russia to see you again as a good sign. I have nothing to add to what I have said to you concerning the great affairs, but there is one of them which I should like to see brought to a conclusion; it is that of the marriage. I have given my ultimatum. I shall not look into what may take place in a foreign country, but the Duchesse de Berry, whomsoever she may be, shall not cross the frontiers of France without making open profession of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion. 4 On that condition I am not only ready, but eager, to conclude the matter. If that condition does not suit the Emperor of Russia, let him say so; he and I will be none the less good friends, and I will arrange another marriage.I feel your absence as deeply as you do, but in affairs of such importance we must apply to ourselves what Lucan said of Cćsar.On which, etc.
1. .The Emperor Alexander and Councillors La Harpe, etc.
2. General Exelmans was the person most seriously compromised in this affair. Among the papers which were seized was a letter written by him to Murat, which M. de Jaucourt described as "altogether insensate."
3. In his letter to Talleyrand of the 18th of December, Jaucourt speaks of this roundabout correspondence that goes from the island of Elba to Tuscany, from Florence to Chambéry, to Franche Comté, to Paris."
At this very time the French minister in Switzerland, M. Auguste de Talleyrand, had a watch kept on King Joseph, who had taken refuge at Prangins, and was demanding his expulsion.
4. "The Duc de Berry has asked me whether you said anything to me concerning his mariage; he displayed some annoyance at the papistical and Roman rigidity of the King. I replied that you said nothing to me about it. I suppose the birth of the Due de Nemours has inspired him with this matrimonial avidity." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 29th October, 1814. "The Duc de Berry is much occupied about his marriage, no matter with whom; and on this point he is right: it is necessary that he should marry and have children. It is your affair, Prince, to get him married, in the interests of France." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, Ist November, 1814.
"I have just left Monsieur (the Count d'Artols, afterwards Charles X.). At the close of the conversation he returned to the themes of Vienna and the marriage of his son, who has quite made up his mind to that important step. If one were to search for the cause among the smaller feelings hidden in his heart, I think the birth of a prince in the family would be found to have contributed to it. Monsieur asked me whether you had written to me about the Emperor Alexander's sister. He said, 'It is this chapel business, on which it seems there is to be no concession, that is stopping everything. And, after all, I do not know why so much importance is attached to a political marriage. I don't believe in the results. Has M. de Talleyrand said anything to you about the King of Saxony's niece? You might question him concerning her, that is to say, after having taken the orders of the long.' " -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 9th November, 1814.
No. 17.
Vienna, 20th December, 1814.
I have received the letter with which your Majesty has deigned to honor me, bearing date the 10th of December, and numbered 12.
I have the honor to forward to your Majesty copies of the Note of Prince Hardenberg to M. de Metternich, on the subject of Saxony, the tables attached to it, and the official letter written to me by Count Metternich, which accompanied them. There was also a note in his own hand, 1 in which he repeated to me, but less explicitly, what he had already said in conversation, i.e., that this document should be the last to proceed from the coalition, and added that he was happy to find himself side by side with your Majesty's Cabinet in the defence of so good a cause.
I earnestly desired this communication for the reason which I have had the honor to explain to your Majesty in my previous letter; I was also anxious for it, because it would give me a perfectly natural opportunity of making such a profession of faith as would place the principles, views, and resolutions of your Majesty beyond the possibility of doubt. I had long been seeking for an opportunity, I had tried in many ways to create one, and so soon as it offered, I hastened to turn it to account by making the answer of which I have the honor to send your Majesty a copy herewith. 2
I pointed out what the question of Poland might have been for us, and why it had lost its interest, and I added that the fault had not been ours.
In dealing with the question of Saxony, I refuted the revolutionary arguments of the Prussians, and those of Mr. Cook in his "Saxon Point," and I think I have proved what, up to the present time, Lord Castlereagh either could not or would not understand -that, as regards the balance of power, the Saxon question was more important than that of Poland in the terms to which the latter is reduced. The equilibrium of Germany would be destroyed if Saxony were sacrificed, and it is evident that she could not then contribute to the general balance of power.
While doing my best to convince, I was careful to say nothing that could offend him. I attributed the opinions which I contested to a kind of fatality, and praised the monarchs who maintain, in order to lead them to abandon, them.I did not bestow any praises upon your Majesty; I only set forth the instructions with which we have been honored. What more could I have said? The facts speak for themselves.I am assured that the Prussians had, on their side, prepared a Note in answer to that of M. de Metternich, and that it was very strong; but that the Emperor of Russia, to whom it was shown, would not have it sent. Lord Castlereagh is like a traveller who has lost his way, and does not know how to find it. He is ashamed of having narrowed the Polish question, and, after having expended all his efforts on that question in vain, being duped by Prussia, in spite of our warnings, into giving up Saxony to her. He knows not what to do. He is also very uneasy about the state of public opinion in England, and intends, it is said, to return thither for the opening of Parliament, leaving Lord Clancarty here to carry on the negotiations.The affairs of Italy are getting on pretty well. I am disposed to think that the Queen of Etruria will get the advantage over the Archduchess Marie Louise in the matter of Parma; and I am endeavoring so to dispose things that these arrangements shall be made without touching the Legations.The Commission of Precedence, 3 for which I have nominated M. de la Tour du Pin, to whom I have given instructions on this subject in conformity with your Majesty's, will probably be in a condition to make its report in ten or twelve days from the present.Your Majesty will perhaps consider my Note addressed to M. de Metternich rather long; but I could not make it shorter, having calculated upon its being published and read in England as well as in France. Every word that I used has a special object which your Majesty will recognize in my voluminous correspondence.
I am, etc.
1. At the beginning of December, Austria joined France on the question of Saxony, by sending to Prince Hardenberg a Memorandum from Prince Metternich, in which Austria pronounced against the incorporation of the whole kingdom of Saxony with Prussia.
M. de Metternich transmitted this Memorandum to M. de Talleyrand on the 16th December, 1814. He ended as follows:
"I congratulate myself on being on the same side as your Cabinet on a question so worthy to be defended." On the 19th of December, 1814, M. de Talleyrand replied to M. de Metternich: "I am enabled to answer for the satisfaction with which the King will learn the resolutions announced by this Note, by comparing them with the orders given by his Majesty to his ambassadors at the Congress:
"' France does not bring thither any ambitious project or personal interest; she is replaced within her former boundaries, and she no longer thinks of extending them. Her armies, crowned with glory, aspire to no fresh conquests. Delivered from that oppression of which she was rather the victim than the instrument, happy to have recovered her legitimate princes, and with them the repose that she might have feared was lost for ever, she has no claims to make, she advances no pretensions, nor will she advance any; all that remains for her to desire is that the restoration of the whole of Europe should, like her own, be accomplished.' " -- D'Arenberg, p. 140.
This Commission was nominated to fix precedence, the rank of the Crowned heads present or represented at the Congress, and other matters of State etiquette.
No. 13.
Paris, 23-24th December, 1814.
I have received your No. 16, and have heard with much satisfaction of the firm and noble conduct of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Count Münster. You know how much I think of the latter, and the Duke, in addition to the ties of kindred between us, is brother to a princess for whom I entertain a great affection, the Duchess Alexander of Würtemberg; but this satisfaction does not prevent me from regretting that the Note was not signed. Verba volant, scripta autem manent. I am also pleased with your interview with Prince Adam. You will have seen by my last number that I am desirous of a definite answer in the matter of the marriage, but that I am far from wishing to give it the character of a bargain.
The affair of the Slave Trade seems to me to be going well. As for that of Naples, which concerns me much more nearly, a very vexatious report was spread in Vienna at the departure of the Duc de Richelicu -- a report which was confirmed by private letters, but which your silence hinders me from crediting: no other than that Austria had declared openly in favor of Murat, 1 and was endeavoring to induce England to do likewise. The success of your letter to Lord Castlereagh, and that of the steps which I have ordered to be taken in consequence, will speedily apprise me of what I have to hope or to fear. Nothing can be better than what you propose in that letter, but I am not free from uneasiness respecting certain promises made to Murat. Even if we should find the plainest proofs -- of which I feel by no means certain, for Bonaparte had many things destroyed at the last -- we know too well that a crafty policy can always draw what deductions it chooses from anything. Let us, however, pursue our own course; I shall never be found making a backward step.It was for the advantage of Berne that I consented to the exchange of a portion of Gex; but since the conditions which I required are not acceptable, I shall absolutely refuse my consent; and neither will I accord it to an arrangement by which something more would be taken away from the King my brother-in-law. 2 On which, etc.
1. "general who is still almost in the service of Murat, whose wife is still at Naples, and who will re-enter the King's service if the freedom with which he has answered Marshal Soult has not ended his military career -- came to see me. He even told me that Murat had begged him to do so; that he reckoned on the pledges formerly given by Austria and recently renewed; that it was a mistake to have refused to come to an understanding with him. . . . You know more about that than Murat, and probably more than Prince Metternich. As for me, I speak only of the late (feu) Murat; not even of the former (ci-devant) General Murat." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 14th February, 1814. 2. Victor Emanuel, King of Sardinia.
No. 14.
27th December, 1814.
I have just received the news that a treaty of peace and amity between England and the United States was signed on the 24th. 1 You will, no doubt, be informed of this before the present despatch reaches you, and I feel sure of the steps which you have taken in consequence. Nevertheless, I hasten to charge you, in congratulating Lord Castlereagh on this happy event, on my behalf, to call his attention to the purpose to which Great Britain may turn it. She will be henceforth free to use all her resources, and what nobler use can she make of them than to secure the repose of Europe upon the only solid basis, that of equity? And how can she do that more effectually than by uniting herself closely with me? The Prince Regent and I are the most impartial in this affair; for Saxony never was the ally of France, Naples never was in a position to assist her in any war, and the same is the case with regard to England. It is true that I am the nearest relative of the two Kings, but I am, above all, King of France and father of my people. It is for the honor of my crown, it is for the welfare of my people, that I will not consent to allow a germ of European war to be sown in Germany; that I will not tolerate in Italy a usurper, whose existence is a disgrace to all the Sovereigns and a menace to the tranquillity of all their States. The Prince Regent entertains similar sentiments; and it is with the utmost satisfaction that I find him in a better position to act upon them.I have just spoken to you as a King, and now I cannot refrain from speaking to you as a man. There is a case, but I must not forecast it, in which I could think only of the ties of blood. If the two Kings, my cousins, were, as I was for so long, wanderers on the face of the earth, deprived of their sceptres, then I would hasten to receive them, to supply their wants, to mitigate their ill fortune by my good offices -- in a word, to imitate on their behalf what several sovereigns, and especially the Prince Regent, did on mine; and, like them, I would consult at once both my feelings and my dignity. This case, however, will never arise. I have a sure guarantee for that in the generosity of some and the interests of all.
1. Under President Madison, war was declared against England by the United States, which defended the principle of the freedom of the seas ( 1811-1814). Peace was concluded at Ghent on the 24th of December, 1814, on the footing of the status quo ante bellum. "In my opinion," Jaucourt wrote to Talleyrand, 28th of December, 1814, "the Duke of Wellington had a great deal to do with the conclusion of the peace."
No. 18.
Vienna, 28th December, 1814.
While I was writing the letter to Prince Metternich, of which I have had the honor to send your Majesty a copy, the Prussians were replying to his Note of the 10th of December, referring to that which he had addressed to them on the 22nd of October, and showing that he was contradicting himself. They endeavor to justify their claims on Saxony by authority and example, and they especially challenge the correctness of the calculations on which M. de Metternich relies.
Lord Castlereagh came to me, bringing this answer from the Prussians, which he had obtained permission to communicate to me. (It will be given to me, and I shall have the honor of sending it to your Majesty by the next post.) He read it to me. I pointed out the sophistry of their reasoning, and showed that their authorities had no weight and their examples no force, the times and the circumstances being quite different. Then, in my turn, I made Lord Castlereagh read my Note to M. de Metternich. He read it very attentively, and quite through, and then handed it back to me without a word either of approval or dissent.
The object of his visit was to talk to me about a Commission which he wants me to have appointed for the verification of the calculations that are produced by Prussia and Austria respectively. I told him I had no objection to make to this, but that if we were to set about accomplishing the object, as we have done in so many other cases up to the present time, we should not arrive at any result; that we must begin by laying down principles; that before these calculations were verified, the rights of the King of Saxony must be recognized; and that we -- M. de Metternich and I -- might come to an agreement on this subject. "An agreement?" he repeated. "It is, then, an alliance that you are proposing?""This agreement," said I, "can very well be made without an alliance; but it shall be an alliance if you wish. For my part, I have no objection." "But an alliance supposes war, or may lead to it, and we ought to do everything to avoid war." "I agree with you. We ought to do everything, except to sacrifice honour, justice, and the future of Europe." "War," he replied, "would be regarded with disfavor among us." "War would be popular with you if it had a great object -- one truly European," "What would that aim be?" "The restoration of Poland." 1 He did not reject this idea, but merely answered, "Not yet." I had only given this turn to the conversation in order to sound him, and to find out how he would be inclined in a given case. "Whether it be," said I, "by a Convention, or by Notes, or by a protest signed by you, M. de Metternich, and myself, that we recognize the rights of the King of Saxony, is a matter of indifference to me. I do not care about the form; the thing only is important."" Austria," he answered, "has officially recognized the rights of the King of Saxony; you have also recognized them officially; I recognize them vehemently. Is the difference between us, then, so great that it requires an act such as you demand?" We parted, after having agreed that he should propose the formation of the Commission, for which each of us was to nominate a plenipotentiary.
The following morning, he sent Lord Stewart to tell me that every one consented to the formation of the Commission, and that the only objection made was to a French plenipotentiary being included in it. "Who opposes that?" said I to Lord Stewart, sharply. "It is not my brother.""Who is it, then?" He answered me hesitatingly, "Well -- it is -----" and then he stammered out the word "Allies." At that word my patience gave way, and, without allowing my expressions to go beyond the limit I was bound to observe, I put more than warmth, more than vehemence into my tone. I drew a picture of the course which, under circumstances like the present, Europe had a right to expect such a nation as the English to follow, and going on to speak of what Lord Castlereagh had never ceased doing since he came to Vienna, I said his conduct should not remain unknown; that it would be judged in England, and how it would be judged, and I hinted at the consequences to him. I dealt no less severely with Lord Stewart himself for his zeal for the Prussians, and I ended by declaring that, if they persisted in being men of Chaumont, and in promoting the coalition, France would owe it to her dignity to retire from the Congress; and that if the projected Commission was formed without a French plenipotentiary being summoned to it, your Majesty's embassy would not remain a single day at Vienna. Lord Stewart was quite confounded, and, with an air of alarm, hurried off to his brother.
In the evening I received a note from him, written by his own hand, in which he said that, having learned my wishes from his brother, he had hastened to make them known to our colleagues, and they all acceded with great pleasure to what they were informed would be agreeable to me.
The same evening, M. de Metternich, whom I had seen during the day, made a proposal, which I had suggested to him, to the Powers who were to co-operate in the formation of the Commission. This was that they should agree to grant the authority and force of an adjudicated matter to the estimates made by the Commission. He added two other proposals, to which I readily subscribed: one was that the valuation should comprise all territories conquered by France and her allies; the other was that it should bear only upon the population. But I requested it to be added that the population should be estimated not by numbers merely, but by its condition also; for a Polish peasant, without capital, land, or industry, ought not to be placed upon a par with an inhabitant of the left bank of the Rhine, or the richest and most fertile districts of Germany. 2
The Commission, on which I had nominated M. de Dalberg, met on the following day. It is working unremittingly, and Lord Clancarty exhibits the same zeal, firmness, and uprightness which have distinguished him in the Commission for the affairs of Italy, of which he is also a member.
It is but just to say that Lord Castlereagh has been weak rather than ill-intentioned in this matter; but his weakness has been all the more inexcusable in that the opposition, of which he has made himself the mouthpiece, proceeded from the Prussians only.
My Note to M. de Metternich was pleasing to the Austrian Cabinet on two points: the declaration that France does not claim and does not demand anything for herself, and the conclusion. After he had read the Note, the Emperor of Austria said to M. de Sickingen, "All that is written in that I agree with."
The Emperor of Austria having asked him whether he had read the reply of the Prussians to M. de Metternich's Note of the 10th of December, he answered, "Before reading it, I had taken my own line, and I adhere to that line more strongly, after having read it." It is said that he added, "Settle the affair, if it be possible; but I beg your Majesty not to talk to me any more of these 'factums.' "
He said to the King of Bavaria, "I am an Austrian born, but my head is Bohemian" (this answers to the French phrase, "a Breton head"). "My line is taken in the Saxon affair, and I will not deviate from it." Prince Czartoryski, to whom I had communicated my Note to Prince Metternich, had a copy made of it, which he submitted to the Emperor Alexander. The Emperor was satisfied with the portion that related to him and his interests. He acknowledges that France is the only Power whose language has not varied, and which has not deceived him. Nevertheless, he thought he discerned that he was indirectly reproached with having departed from his principles, and he sent Prince Czartoryski to tell me that his principle was the welfare of the people; to which I replied that such was also the principle of the leaders of the French revolution, and at all its stages. The Emperor was also seized with a scruple arising from the fear that the King of Saxony, if maintained as we wish him to be, will be very unhappy. He compassionates him, not in his actual position, as a captive and despoiled, but in the future, when he shall have reascended his throne, and re-entered the palace of his ancestors. This scruple means that he is more firmly resolved than before to avert such a misfortune from the King.
The Prussians, by consenting to the formation of the Statistical Commission and sending their plenipotentiaries thither, have evidently subordinated their claims upon Saxony and their hopes to the result of the labors of the Commission, and that result will, most probably, be favorable to Saxony.
Thus, the affair of Saxony is in a better position than it has yet been.
That of Poland is not concluded, but its termination is talked of.
Counts Rasoumowski and Capo d'Istria will act for Russia; M. de Metternich will be the Austrian plenipotentiary. It has been resolved that a thoroughly official character shall be given to these conferences. M. de Wessenburg is to draft the protocol; M. de Hardenberg will be the Prussian plenipotentiary; he will be alone. As boundaries only are to form the subject of this negotiation, the matter ought to be arranged in a few days.
Although I had given Lord Castlereagh my letter to M. de Metternich to read, I have thought it well to send him a copy of it, so that it may be placed among the documents which he may be called upon to lay before Parliament, and I have sent with it, not a letter of advice, pure and simple, but one of which I have the honor to subjoin a copy. 3 The great problem which the Congress is to solve is therein stated under a new form, and reduced to its simplest terms. The premises are so incontestable, and the consequences are deduced so inevitably, that I cannot think any reply to it is possible. I was not, therefore, at all surprised when M. de Metternich told me that Lord Castlereagh, who had shown him my letter, seemed much embarrassed by it.There exists in Italy, as in Germany, a sect of "unitarians," or people whose aspiration is to make of Germany one single State. Austria, being warned of this, had a great number of arrests made, all in one night. Among the persons arrested are three generals of division. The papers of the sect have been seized at the house of a professor named Rosari. It is not known from whence Austria got the information; some believe that Murat was the informer, 4 and that he has betrayed men with whom he was hand in hand, in order to curry favor with the Austrian Court.Your Majesty will have perceived, by the documents which I have had the honor to forward, that I do not lose sight of the affair of Naples. Neither do I forget the delenda Carthago; but it is not possible to commence in that way. I am also mindful of the marriage. Circumstances have so changed, that while a year ago your Majesty might have desired that alliance, it is now for the Emperor of Russia to desire it. But the matter requires explanations which I must beg your Majesty's permission to reserve for a special letter, which I shortly shall have the honor to write.When this letter reaches your Majesty, we shall have entered upon a new year. I shall not have the happiness of being with you, Sire, on the first day of it, and of offering your Majesty my respectful congratulations and best wishes in person; but I beg to be permitted to make them, and that your Majesty will accept my homage.
I am, etc.
1. "Of all the questions which are to be treated at the Congress, the King would have regarded that of Poland as the first, the greatest, the most eminently European -- as, indeed, beyond comparison with any other -- had it been possible for him to hope as reasonably as he desires ardently that its ancient and complete independence might be restored to a people, so worthy, by reason of its antiquity, its valor, and the services which it has rendered to Europe, of the interest of all other peoples. The partition which erased Poland from the number of the nations of Europe, was the prelude to, the cause of, and, up to a certain point, the excuse for, the convulsions of which Europe has been the victim. But when the force of circumstances, overriding the noblest and most generous inclinations of the Sovereigns to whom the provinces which were formerly Polish are subject, had reduced the question of Poland to a mere matter of partition and boundaries, which was discussed among themselves by the three interested Powers, and from which France was excluded by their previous treaties, it only remains for the latter, after having offered, as she had done, to support the most equitable claims, to wish that you may be satisfied, and in that case to be so herself." -- Letter from Talleyrand to Metternich, 19th December, 1814.
In his letter to Metternich of the 19th of December, Talleyrand refers to the following passage from Montesquieu: "Athens had the same forces within her, during her rule in pride and glory, and during her servitude in shame. She had twenty thousand citizens when she defended the Greeks against the Persians, when she contested for supremacy with Lacedemonia, and invaded Sicily; and she had twenty thousand when Demetrius of Phalaris counted them, as slaves are reckoned in a market."
See D'Angeberg, p. 570.
"A secret sympathy with revolutionary principles acts in his favor. A man like us is the king for plebeians. He inspires them with a feeling of private satisfaction, which they will regret to part with. To the nobles such a being is an object of ridicule, but the cause of the nobility is at least difficult to defend. -- We raise our hands to Heaven during the fight; that is all we can do." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 28th February.
No. 15.
30th December, 1814.
I have received your No. 17. I am pleased with M. de Metternich's Note, because it positively pledges Austria; but I am still more pleased with your answer. I do not know whether it could be abridged; but I know quite well that I should not wish it to be shorter; first, because it says everything, and nothing but what ought to be said; and secondly, because I think that more of the amenity so useful and frequently so necessary in affairs, is displayed by amplifying one's ideas a little than in stating them too laconically.
What you tell me of the difficulty in which Lord Castlereagh finds himself, proves to me that I was right to send you my last despatch; it is possible that he may fail to perceive how excellent an opportunity for retracing his steps is afforded him by the peace with America. 1
I am very glad that the affairs of the Queen of Etruria are assuming a more favorable aspect; but I regard that point as only an ad- vance towards another, far more excellent, and to which I attach much greater value. M. de Jaucourt is, no doubt, informing you of what M. de Butiakin has said to him; you have much better means than I have of learning the truth of what he reports on the subject of Vienna; but if it be true, as it seems likely, that the amour propre of the Russian nation, which counts for something in spite of the aristocracy, is excited on behalf of the marriage, let that nation remember that he who desires the end desires the means. As for me, I have given my ultimatum, and it is irrevocable.On which, etc.
1. "The Due de Berry said to me this morning (31st December), that he had seen the Duke of Wellington, who had spoken to him of Murat, and that he had given him to understand that it would be for England, in the position in which she was now placed, to settle the destinies of the world. "The Duke of Wellington replied by acquiescing in these assertions, undertaking to write, and even, if the Due de Berry is to be believed, so far pledging himself as to say that he would bring it to pass."
- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 31st December, 1814.
No. 19.
Vienna, 4th January, 1815.
I have received the letter of the 23rd of last month, with which your Majesty has deigned to honor me.
On the 21st of the present month, the anniversary of a day of horror and eternal mourning, a solemn expiatory service will be celebrated in one of the principal churches of Vienna. I am having the preparations made; and, in giving orders for them I have acted not only on the impulse of my feelings, but from a sense that it becomes the ambassadors of your Majesty, while acting as the interpreters of the sorrow of France, to proclaim that sorrow aloud in a foreign land and before the eyes of assembled Europe. All, in this sad ceremony, must bear proportion to the grandeur of its object, the splendor of the Crown of France, and the quality of those who are to witness it. All the members of the Congress will be invited, and I am assured that they will come. 1 The Emperor of Austria has had me informed that he will be present, and no doubt his example will be followed by the other Sovereigns. All that is most distinguished in Vienna, of both sexes, will feel it a duty to attend on the occasion. I do not yet know what it will cost, but the expense is a necessary one.
The news of the signature of peace between England and the United States of America was announced to me on New Year's Day by a note from Lord Castlereagh. I hastened to offer him my congratulations, and I also congratulated myself on the event, feeling that it may influence both the disposition of the minister and the resolutions of those with whose pretensions we have hitherto had to contend. Lord Castlereagh showed me the treaty. It does not affront the honor of either of the two parties concerned, and consequently it will satisfy both.
This happy intelligence was only the precursor of a still more fortunate event.
The spirit of the coalition and the coalition itself had survived the Peace of Paris. My correspondence has, up to the present time, supplied your Majesty with repeated proofs of this. If the plans which, on arriving here, I found had been formed, had been carried into execution. France might have stood alone in Europe without being in good relations with any one single Power for half a century to come. All my efforts were directed to the prevention of so great a misfortune, but my most ardent hopes did not reach the height of a complete success.
Now, Sire, the coalition is dissolved, and for ever. Not only does France no longer stand alone in Europe, but your Majesty already has a federate system such as it seemed that fifty years of negotiation could not have procured for her. France is in concert with two of the greatest Powers, and three States of the second order, and will soon be in concert with all the States which are guided by other than revolutionary principles and maxims. Your Majesty will be in reality the head and the soul of that union, formed for the defence of the principles which your Majesty has been the first to proclaim.
So great and happy a change is only to be attributed to that special favor of Providence, which was so visibly marked by the restoration of your Majesty.
Under God, the efficient causes of this change have been --
My letters to M. de Metternich and Lord Castlereagh, and the impression which they have produced;
The suggestions which I gave Lord Castlereagh, relative to a union with France, and of which I gave your Majesty an account in my last letter;
The pains I have taken to lull his distrust by exhibiting perfect disinterestedness in the name of France;
The peace with America, which, by releasing him from difficulty on that side, has left him more liberty of action, and given him greater courage;
Lastly, the pretensions of Russia and Prussia, as set forth in the Russian project, of which I have the honor to subjoin a copy, and especially the manner in which those pretensions were advanced and argued in a conference between their plenipotentiaries and those of Austria. The arrogant tone of that insolent and nonsensical document so deeply offended Lord Castlereagh, that, departing from his habitual calmness, he declared that the Russians were claiming to lay down the law, and that England was not disposed to accept it from anybody.
All this had influenced him, and I took advantage of the disposition of his mind to urge the union concerning which I had so often talked to him. He received all I said with animation, and proposed that he should write to me his ideas on the subject. The day after this interview, he called on me, and I was agreeably surprised when I saw that he had put his ideas into the form of articles. Up to the present, he has been very little accustomed to praise from me, and he was therefore all the more pleased with the compliments which I bestowed upon his draft. He requested that M. de Metternich and I would read it with attention. I made an appointment for the evening, and, after we had made a few slight alterations, we adopted it under the form of an agreement. In certain particulars it might have been more carefully drawn up, but in dealing with weak people delay is dangerous; so we have signed the document to-night. I hasten to forward it to your Majesty.
Your Majesty had authorized me by your letters in general, and by particular instructions of the 25th of October, to promise to Austria and Bavaria your Majesty's most active co-operation, and as a consequence to stipulate for such aid in favor of those two Powers as would probably be rendered necessary by the forces which would be opposed to them in case of war. Your Majesty had authorized me to do this, even supposing that England were to remain neutral; now, England has become an active party, and with her the United Provinces 2 and Hanover; thus the position of France is a superb one.
General Dupont having written to me on the 9th of November that your Majesty would have a hundred and eighty thousand men available on the 1st of January, and a hundred thousand more in the month of March, without having recourse to a fresh levy, I thought that an auxiliary corps of a hundred and fifty thousand men might with propriety be stipulated, as England engages to furnish the same number of troops, and France could not do less. The agreement 3 being made for defensive purposes only, the succors should not be furnished except in case of attack, and there is every reason to believe that Russia and Prussia will not run that chance.
Still, as this case might arise, and render a military treaty necessary, I beg that your Majesty will be pleased to give orders for General Ricard's being sent here to assist me. He enjoys the confidence of Marshal Soult; and, having been for a long time in Poland, and especially at Warsaw, he has local knowledge which may be very useful in arrangements likely to occur. The report that has been made to me of his worth and ability leads me to prefer him to any other; but it is necessary that he should come incognito, and that the Minister of War, after having given him the requisite documents, should enjoin the profoundest secrecy upon him. According to what I have been told of him, he is a gentleman, one to whom your Majesty might, if you thought proper to do so, give your orders in person.
I entreat your Majesty to be pleased to command that the ratifications of the treaty be expedited, and sent to me as soon as possible. 4 Your Majesty will no doubt think it well to impress upon M. de Jaucourt that none but men of well-tried discretion ought to be employed in that business.
Austria does not wish to send a courier to Paris to-day, lest suspicions should be aroused, and as it is desirable that her minister should be acquainted with the treaty, she requests that M. de Jaucourt will let M. Baron Vincent read it, and will also tell him that it is to be kept strictly secret. 5
I hope your Majesty will add these two papers to those which I have previously had the honor to forward.
The object of the agreement which we have just made is to complete the provisions of the treaty of Paris in the manner most in conformity with its true spirit and the greatest interest of Europe; but if war were to break out, it might be given an aim which would render its success almost infallible, and procure incalculable advantages for Europe. France, by a war thus nobly waged, would completely reconquer the esteem and confidence of all nations; such a conquest is better worth having than that of one province, or of many; for their possession is, happily, not necessary either to her real strength or to her prosperity. 6 I am, etc.
1. "The day before this ceremony, the Emperor of Russia stated that it served no useful purpose, and his envoy at the Austrian Court alleged sundry pretexts for not being present at it." -- Letter from the French plenipotentiaries to the Department, 24th January, 1815.
2. The former Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which was shortly to be called the kingdom of the Netherlands.
3. M. de Talleyrand's celebrated report of the 25th of November, 1792 [the report which, in the sitting of the Convention of the 5th September, 1795, Chčnier invoked in support of his petition to be allowed to re-enter France], was supposed to have been lost. It has been our good fortune to recover it. In it we find the following words:
"In principle, an alliance is a reasonable and just act only when it is reduced to a treaty of mutual defence. It is then, first, on the probability of attack, and afterwards on the calculation of the chances that in such or such time may bring about a success, that a treaty of this kind depends for a nation."
4. "Augustin, the courier who brought the original instruments of the treaty of the 3rd of January to Paris, arrived here (at Vienna) on the 19th, and brought me back the ratifications." -- Talleyrand's letter to the Department, 21st January, 1815.
5. " Baron Vincent notified to me yesterday, when we met at dinner at the Danish ambassador's, that he would come this morning, to read the treaty. I have a suspicion that M. de Butiakin has a suspicion of something, for he eyed me, observed me, and listened to me, and also to Baron Vincent, persistently." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 13th February, 1815.
6. "After having recognized that the territory of the French Republic suffices for its population, and for those vast industrial combinations which the genius of liberty will call into being; after having been convinced that the territory could not be extended without danger to the welfare of the former as well as the new citizens of France, we ought to reject without reserve all the projects of foreign union and incorporation which may be proposed by the zeal of gratitude, or attachment more ardent than intelligent. It ought to be understood that any acceptance, or even any public desire of this kind, on the part of France, would in the first place counteract, without either honor or profit, and afterwards with peril to her, those renunciations so solemnly and gloriously made, and which Europe is far from expecting to find inoperative just at the moment when she is giving her best wishes for the success of a cause which she believes can be soiled neither by ambition nor by greed. France ought then to remain circumscribed within her own boundaries; she owes this to her glory, to her justice, to her reason, to her interest, and to that of the nations who shall be made free through her."
-- Talleyrand's Memoir of the 25th of November, 1792.
No. 20.
Vienna, 6th January, 1815.
The courier by whom I had the honor to send to your Majesty the treaty signed by M. de Metternich, Lord Castlereagh, and myself on the 3rd of January, had been twenty-four hours gone when I received the letter of the 27th December, with which your Majesty has deigned to honor me. By augmenting my hopes that I had not on that occasion done anything that would not meet the views and intentions of your Majesty, it has richly rewarded my efforts to obtain so happy a result, which has hitherto been so far from probable; and it has made me feel more deeply how sweet it is to serve a master, whose sentiments, as a King and as a man, are so generous, so impressive, and so noble.
I had just received your Majesty's letter when Lord Castlereagh called on me. I thought it right to allow him to read the passages which refer to him and to the Prince Regent. He was extremely gratified, and as he wished to make the terms in which your Majesty speaks of the Prince known to his Court, he begged me to let him take a note of them; to which I consented, induced by the double consideration that the matter would be, as he assured me, an inviolable secret, and that the praises bestowed upon the Prince Regent by your Majesty might produce an excellent effect under present circumstances.
The Emperor of Russia is sending General Pozzo back to Paris, 1 after having kept him here for two months and a half, during which time he saw him only once; and some people say that he sends him away as a too plain-spoken censor, of whom he wants to get rid. The Emperor of Russia would like your Majesty to think that it is out of regard to your Majesty, and in order to do something agreeable to you, that he has started the idea of giving the King of Saxony some hundreds of thousands of souls on the left bank of the Rhine, as a substitute for his kingdom. 2 General Pozzo is no doubt charged to try and obtain your Majesty's consent to that arrangement.
But your Majesty is aware that the question of Saxony cannot be regarded merely in relation to legitimacy -- that it must also be considered with respect to the balance of power; that the principle of legitimacy would be violated by the enforced translation of the King of Saxony over the Rhine; that the King of Saxony would never consent; lastly, that, legitimacy apart, Saxony could not be given to Prussia without sensibly altering the relative strength of Austria, and entirely destroying all equilibrium in the Germanic body.
The attempts of the Emperor of Russia at Paris, as well as at Vienna, will then be defeated by the wisdom of your Majesty, who has made it your glory to defend those principles without which there can be nothing stable in Europe, nor in any State, because they alone can guarantee the security of each and the tranquillity of all.
The language held by General Pozzo di Borgo at Vienna, was too favorable to France to harmonize with what the Emperor of Russia wanted to do here. The General is to leave Vienna on Sunday, the 8th, or Monday, the 9th.
I persist in believing that the case of war to which the agreement made between your Majesty, England, and Austria relates, will not arise. Nevertheless, as it is prudent to foresee the worst and be prepared for every event, I have thought it necessary to consider the means of strengthening that union, if the case does arise, and making other Powers enter into it. I have therefore proposed to Lord Castlereagh and M. de Metternich to act conjointly with us upon the Ottoman Porte, so as to induce it to make a useful diversion, at need. They have adopted my proposal, and it has been agreed that we shall draw up in concert instructions to be given to the ministers of each of the Courts at Constantinople. 3 I think it would be well that your Majesty should hasten the departure of your ambassador.
It would probably be advantageous to establish a similar concert with Sweden, but the means of arriving at it require to be well weighed, and I must reserve my exposition of them to your Majesty for another letter. 4
The commemorative service of the 21st of January will be performed in the cathedral. The Archbishop of Vienna will officiate at it. He is an old man of eighty-four; the Emperor was brought up by him. Nothing shall be neglected that can render the ceremony imposing.I am, etc.
1. On the 4th of April, 1814, the Emperor Alexander, when accrediting MajorGeneral Pozzo di Borgo to the Provisional Government in the capacity of Commissary-General, said of him -- "He enjoys my entire confidence, and he will surely justify it again on this occasion, by neglecting no means of cementing the relations of peace and amity so happily established between Russia and France."
2. Count Nesselrode's Note of the 31st of December, 1814, proposed to give Saxony to Prussia, and to form a separate State with a population of seven hundred thousand souls on the left bank of the Rhine. That State would have been given to the King of Saxony with full rights of possession and sovereignty for himself and his descendants, according to the order of succession which it should have pleased him to fix. In this system the King of Saxony occupied a place in the first Council of the Germanic Diet, and the fortress of Luxemburg became a strong place of the Germanic League.
3. The Marquis de Rivičre ( France), Mr. Liston ( Great Britain), M. Sturmer ( Austria), then represented these three Powers at Constantinople.
4. "We have once more to call your attention to the French journals, and in particular to what they report concerning the Prince of Sweden. They deal with him as with Murat, and ignore the difference between the positions of the two, and their engagements with us. The present state of Europe, which has much to fear from the encroaching spirit of the Russian Cabinet, and everything to hope from a unanimous agreement between the former Cabinets, demands great consideration towards Sweden on our part, and seems to lay it upon us as a law that we should neglect no means of maintaining a good understanding with that country. . . . We think it right to report to you certain observations of an almost official character, addressed to M. de Noailles, by Count Löwenhielm, Swedish plenipotentiary to the Congress. We quote his exact words:
" 'The ci-devant King of Sweden proposes to go to France. I have reason to believe that he wishes to do so; and the Gazettes say so. We were witnesses of what he did for the House of Bourbon; we cannot imagine that the King of France, whose generosity is known to us, will refuse him an asylum. We only ask for a communication of some kind on the subject, and we shall be satisfied.
" 'The Prince Royal is completely established in Sweden since the union with Norway. He has great influence, and is extremely popular. He wishes to form bonds of friendship with France. We ask very little of you. The Prince of Sweden knows his origin; he will always have a feeling of uneasiness; he has need of some tokens of consideration. He is a parvenu, and he has the sensitiveness of one; we cannot prevent that. But he will be very sensible of the least attention; for instance, an act of kindness on the part of the King towards the Princess Royal, who is in Paris, would deeply affect him, and produce the best effect.
" 'Your journals are constantly speaking of the Prince Royal in a most unbecoming manner, and quoting articles which may injure him, with the addition of their own stinging comments. The Department of Foreign Affairs has influence over the press in every country. Prevent those invectives, then, which do not proceed from the Cabinet. I reiterate this request; I conjure you to grant it.' " -- Letter from the French plenipotentiaries to the Department, 8th February, 1815.
No. 16.
Paris, 7th January, 1815.
I have received your No. 18. I am very glad of your conversations with the two brothers. I confess I thought the time for attempting to exclude my plenipotentiaries from the most important deliberations was past. Your firmness has entirely prevented its recurrence. But we must not go to sleep on our success; the root of the evil will remain so long as the Powers, whose alliance ought to have come to an end last April, regard it as still existing. Your letter to Lord Castlereagh is perfect, and I defy any one to deny its conclusions; but I acknowledge that I tremble when I find false pity turning against the King of Saxony the sophism which Robespierre used to hasten the consummation of the greatest of crimes. I am well pleased that the Emperor of Austria's "Bohemian head" should defend the right in Saxony, provided he does not let it do the same with respect to usurpation at Naples. He does not know, perhaps, how much he is involved in the matter; and yet the discoveries recently made, and the measures recently taken, ought to have taught him that: these are cards which you may play in demonstrating to him that there will never cease to be "unitarians" in Italy while the focus of the sect is permitted to exist. They talk of pledges; they pretend to want proofs that these engagements have not been kept. But it is not that which injures the good cause, -- it is another motive, more shameful than any which history has hitherto recorded; for, if Antony basely abandoned his fleet and his army, at least it was himself, and not his minister, whom Cleopatra had captivated. 1 Despicable as this obstacle is, it is none the less real, and the only remedy is to supply him whom we would restore to himself with such great motives, that they may help him to contend against his little weaknesses.
I am impatiently expecting your letter about the marriage. That object seems to be of secondary importance when compared with those for which you are treating at Vienna; but it is urgent, in the interests of France, that the Duc de Berry should marry, and to that end it is necessary that the Russian affair should be settled.I receive with pleasure, and reciprocate, your good wishes for the new year.On which, etc.
1. At Actium Antony abandoned his army and his fleet to follow Cleopatra. Madame de Rémusat says of Metternich (as we have previously quoted a few pages back): "He seems to have become attached to Madame Murat, and he entertained feelings for her which for a long time kept her husband upon the throne of Naples."
No. 21.
Vienna, 10th January, 1815.
I should not have the honor of writing to your Majesty to-day, but that I have to reply to a question put to me in your Majesty's name by Count de Jaucourt, on the subject of the satisfaction demanded by the Court of Madrid for the dismissal of M. de Casaflores. 1 My opinion, since your Majesty deigns to desire that I should express it, is that no sort of satisfaction is due, because satisfaction implies a wrong, and the Cabinet of your Majesty has not committed one; and also that if any satisfaction is to be given, it cannot be that which the Court of Madrid has thought proper to demand. 2 I will not importune your Majesty with the repetition of the motives on which I base this opinion, having fully explained them in the letter which M. de Jaucourt will have the honor to lay before your Majesty. The theory of extradition, which M. de Cevallos 3 wants to set up, after the law of the Hebrews and the practice of some ancient nations, is altogether extravagant. M. de Labrador, to whom I showed his letter, groaned over it. I am inclined to think that the Court of Madrid has some cause of annoyance, at which I cannot guess, apart from the dismissal of M. de Casaflores, which only serves as a pretext. I judge of this by the complaints which it makes of not being supported here by France in the affairs of Naples and the Queen of Etruria. Spain is, I think, the only country not thoroughly acquainted with the fact that your Majesty's embassy began by demanding the restitution of Naples to its legitimate sovereign, and has renewed that demand at every opportunity, by speech and in writing, confidentially and officially. M. de Labrador has protested to me that he never has, in any of his despatches, given any reason for the belief that we do not second them to the utmost. The Court of Madrid is, then, making complaints which it perfectly well knows to be unfounded.
Affairs have made no sort of progress here since my last letter. We shall have a conference to-morrow, I believe; it has been retarded several days by the Prussians, who were not ready. The subject will be the affairs of Polandyy and Saxony.
Of the two principles involved in the question of Saxony, one, that of legitimacy, will be absolutely respected, and this is the most important to us. The other, that of equilibrium, will be less completely safe. Lord Castlereagh has not entirely relinquished his former ideas. He has still a great leaning towards the Prussians. He persuades himself that a serious effort to restrict the King of Saxony's sacrifices would drive Prussia into incalculable displeasure. He is naturally weak and irresolute; his Note of the 10th of October embarrasses him; he does not wish, as he has told me, to contradict himself too much, like M. de Metternich, who, according to him, has no character to sustain. As for the latter, he changes his mind without any difficulty. On the 10th of last month he considered that it was quite enough to give Prussia four hundred thousand souls out of Saxony; now he would give double that number without any scruple; on the 22nd of October he was for total destruction. The question of Saxony, in relation to the equilibrium, concerns Austria more than any other Power, but M. de Metternich treats it with carelessness and levity which always astonish me, no matter how well used to them I may be.
As for us, Sire, so that we may not contradict ourselves, and change our tone from day to day, we have only to do exactly what your Majesty has commanded us. This is the advantage of acting upon principles which do not change, and not on ideas which are constantly changing.
It is decided that the service of the 21st of January shall take place in the cathedral. The archbishop, who has been ill for some days, is better, and nothing but a serious relapse will hinder him from officiating. I am, etc.
1. On the 31st December, 1814, M. de Jaucourt writes. "The affairs of Spain are going as you may judge from the Marquis de Cevallos' letter. We are paying for the blunder which the princes (the King's nephews) made us perpetrate in dismissing the chargé d'affaires, instead of having him formally recalled, as I said and repeated over and over again. . . . The King wants to have your opinion: write to him; and also acquaint me with it if you have no objection to doing so. Prince de Laval is in a false position as regards diplomatic affairs, but in a good one personally and as a domestic ambassador. It seems to me, then, that ten days may be allowed for a decision without committing us to anything. So that to-day (the 31st) I have the honor to write to you. On the 7th you will have the letter; on the 9th you will write to me; on the 17th we shall have your answer, and if the King has not yielded to some impulse there will still be time to follow your advice or to repent of not having followed it."
2. "This morning, a fresh memorial from M. de Cevallos. He agrees that M. de Casaflores shall return to take leave; that an agreement shall be made to the effect that the State criminals on both sides, especially the men of Mina's gang and Mina himself, shall be given up. Notwithstanding the absurdity of these principles, which he tinkers up with the history of the Maccabees and a great deal of Latin, I think that we shall bring him to a compromise." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 25th December, 1814.
3. "Cevallos, who was for a brief space minister to Joseph Bonaparte, is driving at popular, that is to say monkish measures; and when you read his memorial you will see that it is the doing of the priests."
-- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 4th January, 1815.
No. 17.
11th January, 1814.
I have received your No. 19. This letter will be short; entire satisfaction with your conduct, complete approbation of the treaty, the ratification of which will reach you by this post -- that is all it contains. I am about to send off General Ricard with all possible celerity, and with the secrecy that I feel to be necessary.
I am deeply affected by the intended celebration of the service of the 21st. You will learn with similar sentiments that, on that same day, the precious remains of the King and those of the Queen will be removed to Saint Denis.
On which, etc.
12th -- Morning. -- I reopen my letter to tell you that General Ricard is at this moment at Toulouse, where he is in command of a division. I have despatched a courier with orders for his immediate return to Paris.
No. 18.
15th January, 1815.
I have received your No. 20. In my last, believing myself more hurried than I really was, because I had not correctly calculated the time required for the ratifications, I was very laconic. Be, however, assured that my feelings on reading your No. 19 were similar to yours on receiving my despatch of the 27th December. I do not slumber, and I never will slumber, upon such interests as those which are in course of discussion at the Congress of Vienna. And yet I might feel as safe as Alexander. 1 I have indeed had something like his security; for I did not tell you to communicate a part of my letter to Lord Castlereagh, being quite sure that you would do that of yourself.
I ardently desire the realization of the hope which your letter to Count de Jaucourt affords, that Prussia may be satisfied without usurping Saxony; then there would be an end, and the glory would be ours of having cut the Gordian knot without resorting to the sword. Nevertheless, I approve of the negotiations with the Porte, 2 and I am about to hasten the departure of the Marquis de Rivičre. He is not yet entirely convalescent after a severe illness, but I know his zeal.
I await without misgiving the arrival of General Pozzo di Borgo. If this were a question of a Prince not already Sovereign, I might regard his forming a small State in my neighborhood with satisfaction; but in the case of the King of Saxony, even were he to consent to the exchange, I could not lend my hand to it.
To be just towards one's self is a sacred duty; to be so towards others is no less so, and one who refused to relinquish his rights when he had nothing but alms to live upon, 3 will not be false to rights as legitimate as his own 4 now that he rules twenty-five millions of men, and has to defend the interests of Europe, as well as justice.The question of Sweden is a very delicate one. The last treaty has placed Russia in such a position that she can reach Stockholm without much difficulty. Is it prudent to involve a kingdom in so dangerous a war, without securing for it in case of defeat indemnities, which it would be difficult even to find? Gustavus IV. has said to me more than once that he regarded his uncle as the legitimate King of Sweden, but has the unfortunate prince, in abdicating for himself, been able to abdicate for his son? Admitting this hypothesis, which would legitimize the doctrine of Bernadotte, does the existence of the latter involve any consequence which should make one hesitate to ally one's self with him? I shall read your observations on these various points with interest.The existence of Bernadotte recalls that of Murat, which is much more dangerous. My despatch of the 27th of December dealt with Naples and Saxony: we are in very good case with respect to the latter; let us strive for the former with equal zeal and success. 5 The Sardinian ambassador has requested an audience; Count de Jaucourt will inform you of its result.
On which, etc.
1. This is an allusion to the deep sleep of Alexander before the battle of Arbela. Bossuet, in his celebrated funeral oration, had said of the great Condé: "This second Alexander had to be awakened."
2. "I have reason to believe that the Emperor of Russia will consent to include Turkey in the general guarantees which it is purposed to stipulate for all the Powers, after the settlement of the affairs which are occupying the Congress." -- Talleyrand to the Department, 15th January, 1815.
3. Louis XVIII. makes an allusion here to his wandering and precarious life in Italy, Courland, Prussia, Poland, and England.
4. In 1814 he said to the Emperor Alexander, who was surprised at his resumption of the old formula, "King of France and Navarre by the grace of God" --
"Divine right is a consequence of religious dogma, and of the law of the country. Owing to that law the monarchy has been hereditary in my family for eight centuries. Without Divine right, I am nothing but an infirm old man, long proscribed, reduced to beg for shelter; but by that right the proscribed old man is King of France."
5. "They say he ( Murat) is very uneasy; that he constantly says he will not go and be buried alive in an island of Elba, but talks confidently of his troops. of the public spirit of Italy, and of sixty thousand men ready to arm for independence, if Austria does not respect her pledges." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 15th January, 1815.
"The King appeared to be, as usual, very well satisfied with your progress, and with the success which seems probable in the case of Saxony; but he said to Monsieur (with whom I had exchanged a few words behind the King's chair, and whose answer was the question, 'Do you not think Prince Talleyrand will soon come back?'), 'But after this battle is fought, there is another to come; what about Naples?' Monsieur replied, hesitating a little: 'I fear Murat will not be so easy a matter.'
I say the same. Murat does not seem to me an easy matter. He is attacked by a mortal malady, but it Is a lingering one; the best chance that can be offered to him, in my poor opinion, is that of fighting as soon as possible. If you destroy the feeling with which his people regard him in hope of their independence; if you isolate him; if you create federal States with national representation, the great Joachim Murat is no longer necessary, and he becomes ridiculous: but what is useful and necessary is never really ridiculous."
-- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 20th January, 1815.
THE KING TO PRINCE TALLEYRAND. No. 19.
19th January, 1815.
I have received your No. 21. I was not uneasy about your views on the Spanish affair, but I am very glad to find that they are in conformity with the measures which I have taken, and also that M. de Labrador does not share the insensate ideas of his Cabinet; I hope he may be able to inspire it with others more reasonable, and in accordance with its true interests.
Last week, I was very well satisfied, but now I cannot but regard the tendency of Lord Castlereagh to his former weaknesses, and the versatility of Prince Metternich, with some uneasiness. Lord Castlereagh ought to bear in mind that the path of honor is a firm adherence to what is right, or a prompt return to it if unhappily there has been any straying from it. Prince Metternich forgets that to augment the share of Prussia is to weaken Austria. As for me, I will never lend myself, as you know, to the entire spoliation of the King of Saxony. I know that he will have a certain surrender to make, but if such concessions were required from him as would reduce him to being a fourth-rate, or even a third-rate Power, I am not disposed to consent to that. I await with equal impatience the result of your conference and the opening of the great affair of Naples.
These are days of mourning and sadness. I should have wished to be present at the ceremonies which are to take place on Satur. day; but I am prevented by the dread of the gout. One does not suffer less, however, in giving the orders for such ceremonies, than in witnessing them. You will thank the Archbishop of Vienna, on my behalf, for having officiated at the service.
On which, etc.
No. 22.
Vienna, 19th January, 1815.
I have received the letter of the 7th of this month, with which your Majesty has deigned to honor me, and I have derived fresh encouragement to zeal and energy from the expressions of kindness which it contains.
I have the honor to write to your Majesty to-day only because I do not wish that there should be too much interval between my letters, for I have nothing new to announce to your Majesty. We make but slow progress in our affairs, and yet we are not idle.
Bavaria has joined the triple alliance; Hanover and Holland will come after. The Grand-Duke of Darmstadt joins Bavaria with a like purpose, and promises six thousand men.
The Commissions on the affairs of Italy, Switzerland, and the statistics are in full work. My letter to the ministry, which will be laid before your Majesty, will inform you of the state of affairs in this respect, the obstacles which have to be encountered, and the reasons why everything cannot be arranged in the most desirable manner.
Austria, England, Bavaria, Holland, Hanover, and almost the whole of Germany are agreed with us upon the maintenance of the King and the Kingdom of Saxony. Saxony will therefore be maintained, although Prince Hardenberg has ventured once more to demand the whole kingdom in a plan for the reconstruction of the Prussian monarchy, which he recently sent in. M. de Metternich was to reply to this plan, and I awaited his answer before despatching my courier; but it is not yet complete. I have only seen the elements of it; these are very good. The mere inspection of the Prussian plan leads to the conclusion that what Prussia had in 1805, and which is all she is entitled to demand, may be restored to her, and one million five hundred thousand subjects be preserved to Saxony. But Prussia claims that she ought to have six hundred thousand more than in 1805, under the pretext of aggrandizement obtained by Russia and Austria.
All that concerns the principles of legitimacy has been agreed upon between Lord Castlereagh, M. de Metternich, and me. We have only to arrive at a complete understanding touching the equilibrium to be enabled to make a joint proposal. With this we are occupied daily, and again to-day I have had a conference with them on the subject. M. de Metternich was at first ready to make unlimited concessions, but I checked him in that direction by placing before him the consequences to himself of a readiness which would endanger his Monarchy, and he now warmly defends what he would previously have relinquished. I have advised him to bring some of the best-informed Austrian officers to our conferences, to give their opinions and the reasons upon which they are founded; and, to induce him to take my advice, I told him that, if he did not act upon it, I would proclaim that I had given it. He made up his mind to act on it. Prince Schwarzenburg will have a conference with Lord Stewart, and will afterwards attend with some of his officers at a conference which we are to hold the day after to-morrow. It is unfortunate that Lord Castlereagh, in addition to the remains of his former liking for Prussia, and his fear of compromising what he calls his character, by consenting to leave only a small portion of that kingdom in the hands of Prussia, after having given up the whole of Saxony by his Note of the 10th of October, has such imperfect, and I may say foolish, notions about everything relating to military topography, and even about mere continental geography, that, while it is necessary to convince him in even the smallest things, he is extremely difficult to be convinced. A story is told of an Englishman who was here in the time of Prince Kaunitz, and who talked a great deal of nonsense in his presence about the States of Germany. Prince Kaunitz exclaimed, in a tone of the utmost amazement, "It is prodigious all that these English do not know." How many times have I had occasion to make the same remark to myself in my conferences with Lord Castlereagh!
We have some reason to hope that in the arrangement of the affairs of Italy which is in preparation, the Archduchess Marie Louise will be limited to a liberal pension. I must tell your Majesty that I lay great stress on this, because the name of Bonaparte will be by that means expunged from the list of Sovereigns, now and for all future time, as the island of Elba is the property of the dweller in it for his own life only, and the son of the Archduchess cannot possess any independent State.The preparations for the ceremony of the 21st are almost finished. So great is the general eagerness to witness the service, that it is difficult for us to answer the applications, and the church of St. Stephen, the largest in Vienna, could not hold all who wish to attend.All the Sovereigns have been apprised of the ceremony, and all, with the exception of the Emperor 1 and Empress of Russia, whose answer has not yet been received, have made known their intention of being present.The Empress of Austria, whose health does not permit her to attend, wished her excuses to be presented to your Majesty (I use her own words). The Archduchess Beatrix, her mother, will be present. The ladies will all be veiled; this is the mark of deepest mourning. General Pozzo is still awaiting his instructions. He was told to hold himself in readiness, and he has been prepared for a week past; but the instructions do not arrive. General Andréossi passed through Vienna on his return from Constantinople. He speaks us fair, and made to me a profession of faith such as I desired. He is a clever man, who has filled important posts, and might be employed with advantage. 2
I am, etc.
1. "The Emperor Alexander only, without sending a refusal, made a simple observation. He said that nobody could doubt what were the sentiments of Europe towards the unfortunate Louis XVI., nevertheless this ceremony was a party demonstration, which, while it was very impolitic in Paris, was at Vienna a clumsy and und gnifled imitation."
-- Thiers, "Consulat et Empire", vol. xviii. p. 588.
No doubt La Harpe had reminded his royal pupil of the following passage from Tacitus: "Valerius Messalicus proposed to erect a golden statue in the temple of Mars the Avenger; Cecina Severus, to raise an altar to Vengeance. Cćsar opposed both. 'Monuments of this kind,' said he, 'were made for foreign victories. Domestic misfortunes ought to be hidden beneath a veil of mourning.' "
-- Burnouf's Tacitus, Book iii. p. 105.
2. "We shall receive General Andréossi as your satisfaction with him prescribes. We are your echo; but we should like to be that of your thoughts, and to divine them is not given to everybody."
-- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 30th January, 1815.
No. 23.
Vienna, 21st January, 1815.
I am to-day to have the honor of writing to your Majesty respecting the ceremony which was celebrated here this morning.
I have had a circumstantial but simple account of it drawn up, to be inserted in the Moniteur, 1 if your Majesty approves of it. I thought it best merely to narrate the facts, but to abstain from offering those reflections which will come naturally to the minds of all readers, and, because they are withheld from expression, will impress themselves all the more deeply.
The address of the curé of St. Anne, who is a Frenchman by birth, 2 is included in this narrative. It is not a funeral oration; it is not a sermon; it is a speech. He had only a few days in which to prepare it, to adapt it to the object of the ceremony, and to the quality of the principal personages among the spectators; it was less necessary that it should be eloquent than that it should be prudent, and those who heard it are agreed that in this respect it was all that was to be desired.
The ceremony lacked nothing, neither the pomp befitting its object, nor quality in its spectators, nor the sorrow which the event that it recalls must ever awaken. By evoking the memory of a great misfortune it affords a great lesson. Its aim was both moral and political, and personages of importance who dined with me after it had taken place have led me to believe that its aim has been attained. 3
I cannot speak too highly of the kindness and graciousness with which the Emperor of Austria permitted and indeed prescribed every arrangement that could add to the orderliness and the dignity of the ceremony. He alone attended at the church in black; the other sovereigns wore uniform.
Count Alexis de Noailles in particular seconded my efforts; but I was admirably assisted by all.
M. Moreau, the architect who was entrusted with the preparations, has acted with equal intelligence and zeal. The music was very fine; it was composed by M. Neukomm, who conducted the performance of it, conjointly with the first Kappelmeister to the Court, M. Salieri.
I entreat your Majesty to be pleased to give those three artists, and also M. Isabey who has been very useful, a mark of your satisfaction, by sending me decorations of the Legion of Honor for them.I also entreat your Majesty to be pleased to grant the same grace to MM. Rouen, Damour, Formont, Saint-Mars, and Sers, attachés to your Majesty's embassy, with whose conduct I have reason to be extremely pleased and who only, of all the attachés to the embassies of the Congress, have no decorations.On Wednesday I purpose to send off a courier, by whom I shall have the honor of writing to your Majesty on the subject of the marriage. I feel all the importance and have never lost sight of that subject.
I am, etc.
P.S. -- General Pozzo's departure is, it seems, fixed for Saturday, the 24th.
1. The Moniteur published this account, on the 30th January. 1815, under the form of correspondence from Vienna. On the 22nd the following appeared: "At the corners of the catafalque were placed four statues, representing France sunk in grief, Europe shedding tears, Religion holding the Will of Louis XVI., and Hope raising her eyes to heaven."
2. The Moniteur gives his name, Abbé de Zaignelins, and publishes his address in full.
3. "You will hear so much, Prince, of the effect which you produce at Court, among private individuals, as well as in the royal family. that my little tribute of special praise will not be very interesting to you. It was a grand and fine idea to make a political stroke out of a ceremony quite simple and natural in appearance, and a regular affair of Congress out of a religious act. Joachim would be very glad to get rid of it with only the cost to pay, and your 'speech' will do him more harm than the Austrian army. As I am nothing if not critical, I confess, to praise you in strict conscience, that I would have changed the phrase 'sixty years of unbelief,' for if we have been unbelievers for sixty years, we can only be hypocrites to-day, and if, as you afterwards say, the innovators have brought nothing but evils and errors among us, we ought to have back again Church Lands, parliaments to try us, and Jesuits to teach us Latin."
-- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 1st February, 1815.
"I wind up by once more admiring your expiatory, monarchical, European idea; the idea which has given the Congress its first result: the meeting of the Sovereigns at a solemn requiem for Louis XVI. . . . We call you the prince of diplomatists."
-- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 25th January, 1815.
No. 24.
Vienna, 25th January, 1815.
I was present yesterday at a conference with M. de Metternich and Prince Schwarzenburg, for the purpose of deciding, according to the judgment of the Austrian military authorities, what points of Saxony may, and what points may not, be left to Prussia, without endangering the safety of Austria.
The Emperor of Austria wished this conference to take place, and desired that I should be present at it.
Two plans were proposed.
The first would leave Torgau to Saxony, with the sole condition of razing the fortifications of Dresden.
The second would give Torgau to Prussia, but razed. Dresden would also be razed.
In either case Prussia would keep Erfürth.
It was agreed that the two plans should be submitted to his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, and that a draft of a Memorandum upon that which he adopts should be made; this draft the Emperor himself will hand to Lord Castlereagh, as it is Lord Castlereagh whom it is essential to convince.
Russia has offered Austria the restoration of the district of Tarnopol, containing four hundred thousand souls. Austria renounces it on condition that a similar population shall be given to Prussia in the contiguous portion of Poland, so as to diminish by so much the sacrifices which Saxony will have to make. This will be explained in the memorandum.
I do not know which of the two plans has been adopted; but I know that Lord Castlereagh is to go to the Emperor of Austria this evening. I will send an account of what shall have taken place at that audience, by the first post.
Your Majesty will judge of the amount of confidence that is placed by the Emperor of Austria in his minister, on learning that he sent Count Sickingen to me this morning, to ask whether the report which M. de Metternich had made to him of the conference of yesterday was the truth.
The Emperor Alexander, with his liberal ideas, has made so little way here, that it has been found necessary to triple the police
force in order to prevent his being insulted by the people in his daily walks.I have the honor to send to your Majesty an article from the Beobachter, which I have had drawn up by M. de Gentz. 1 I subjoin the translation that he has made; it is very well done. It seems to me that the article might appear in the Moniteur with advantage, under the heading of "Vienna;" and that it would be well if the other journals were to copy it. 2
I am, etc.
1. This article from the Observer (Beobachter) of Vienna was reproduced by the Moniteur on the 2nd January, 1815. The King informs Talleyrand of this in a later letter.
2. "Our journals have a much stronger influence abroad than that which is exercised by the Press in other countries, because it is well known that ours are under the supervision and censorship of the Government." -- Talleyrand to Jaucourt, from Vienna, 24th November, 1814.
"The journals think proper to give, on what authority nobody knows, a list of the persons who compose several of the Commissions formed here for the different objects that are in negotiation, and they do not name any French plenipctentiary, just as if France were excluded from affairs, whereas a French plenipotentiary, who is present at the conferences, and whose opinion, I am able to assert, carries some weight, is attached to each Commission. Then, they say that the Emperor of Austria wished to defray all the expenses of the service that was celebrated on the 21st of January; whereas he never even thought of making such an offer, and France paid, as it was fitting she should pay, the whole cost. A newspaper, which is, I believe, published under the auspices of one of the ministers, announces that I attend the receptions (cercles) of the Archduchess Marie Louise. Now, she never receives. I have not seen her even once, and she has certainly no desire to see me. I can understand that newspapers should be left entirely free -- that they should not be meddled with in any way; that is a system which may, like any other, have advantages as well as drawbacks; but that they should be supposed to be supervised and directed, and yet be neither, is for a Government to take upon itself the blame of the untrue and uncalled-for things which they report; in fact, to render itself responsible, without any utility, for all the ill effects which they produce."
-- Talleyrand to Jaucourt, 7th February, 1815.
No. 24 (A).
Vienna, 25th January, 1815.
It seems likely that General Pozzo di Borgo will leave Vienna this week, on his return to Paris. He will probably have received orders relative to the marriage from the Emperor Alexander. I think it my duty to lay before your Majesty to-day some observations upon a matter which is so delicate, and in many respects so serious.
Your Majesty requires, and is quite right to require, that the princess, whomsoever she may be, to whom the Duc de Berry shall give his hand should enter France as a Catholic princess. Your Majesty makes, and could not dispense with making, this an absolute condition. 1 The Most Christian King and Eldest Son of the Church cannot carry concession on that point farther than Bonaparte himself was inclined to do when he asked for the hand of the Grand-Duchess Anne.
If this condition were accepted by the Emperor Alexander, and supposing that your Majesty had given your word, your Majesty would certainly not feel yourself free to retract it; but it seems that the Emperor, while he does not oppose his sister's change of religion, does not choose that it should be imputed to him, and there would be fair grounds for such an imputation if the change were a stipulation. He wishes the adoption of the Princess by Catholic Faith to be regarded as the result of a resolution of her own, arrived at when she had passed under other laws, and he therefore wishes the change to follow, instead of preceding, the marriage. He requires, then, that his sister shall proceed to France accompanied by her "chapel," 2 but consents that the pope, who is to attend her, shall wear lay costume. The reasons which lead him to adhere to this are his own scruples -- for he is deeply attached to his creed -- and his fear of wounding the susceptibilities of his people on so delicate a point. By persisting in these views he will himself release your Majesty from any engagement into which you may have entered, and he will furnish the means of release if he delays his consent to the conditions which your Majesty has imposed. Now, I have no hesitation in acknowledging to your Majesty that anything which may tend to set you free in this matter seems to me most desirable.
Eight months ago, when, even amid the general joy of the actual moment, and the happy hopes which we all formed for the future. it was, nevertheless, impossible to regard that future with security untroubled by any fear, a family alliance with Russia might well appear, and did appear to myself, to offer advantages whose utility would outweigh those considerations which, in a different position of affairs, I should have placed in the first rank and regarded as decisive.
But now that the throne, so marvellously restored by Providence, has also been established by the same power; now that it is girt and guarded by the love and veneration of the people; now that the coalition is dissolved, that France has no further need to count on foreign aid, but that, on the contrary, it is from her that the other Powers expect succor, your Majesty has no longer to sacrifice any of the convenances which are essential to this kind of alliance to the necessities of circumstances, but may consult them only.
The Grand-Duchess Anne is considered the handsomest of the five daughters of the Emperor Paul, 3 and beauty is a most precious and desirable quality in a princess who may be called by the course of events to ascend the throne of France. No people are so tenacious as the French of being able to say of the princes who rule them --
"Le monde en les voyant reconnaîtrait ses maîtres."
The Grand-Duchess appears to have been very carefully brought up. To personal charms she adds, it is said, a good disposition. She is twenty-one years old, so that the frequently injurious effects of a too early marriage are not to be apprehended in her case. She was destined for the present reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg, before Bonaparte asked for her hand. It was entirely Bonaparte's own doing that the marriage did not take place; for it is certain that they would not have asked better than to give her to him, if he could and would have waited. I do not know whether these two circumstances could be held to raise a sort of objection to the marriage of the princess with the Duc de Berry, but I must say, that if the marriage is to take place, I should prefer their not having existed. . . .
Its being necessary, not that the Grand-Duchess should change her religion, but that she should change it in such fashion that it would appear impossible to attribute the act to any except purely political motives, is, it strikes me, a strong objection, for such an impression would inevitably tend to foster the religious indifference among the people which is the disease of the age we live in.
As marriage binds not only those who contract it, but their families also, suitability between the latter ought to be the first consideration even in the marriages of private individuals, and with still greater reason in those of kings, or princes who may be called to occupy thrones. That the House of Bourbon should ally itself with houses which are inferior to it is a necessity of the case, since Europe does not possess a house which is its equal. I will not therefore object that the House of Holstein, although it occupy the three thrones of the North, is comparatively new among kings. But I may say that when the House of Bourbon honors another house by its alliance, it is better it should be a house which holds itself to be honored, than one which might pretend to equality by pretending that nobility and antiquity of origin can be balanced by extent of possessions. One of the four sisters of the GrandDuchess Anne married an Austrian Archduke; the other three married petty German princes.
Is Russia, who has never been able to place any of her princesses upon a throne, to see one of them called to that of France? I venture to say that such a prospect would be good fortune too great for her, and I should not like the Duc de Berry to find himself brought by means of this kind into close relations of kindred with a crowd of princes in the lowermost ranks of sovereignty.
The chief object of Russia in marrying her princesses as she has done has been to secure pretexts and means for intervention in the affairs of Europe, to which she was almost unknown a century ago. The effects of her intervention have made the danger of her influence sufficiently evident. 4 How greatly would that influence be increased if a Russian princess were called to ascend the throne of France!
A family alliance is not, I am aware, a political alliance, and the one does not necessarily bring about the other. The projected marriage would certainly not make France favor the ambitious views and the revolutionary ideas of which the Emperor Alexander is full, and which he seeks to disguise under the specious name of liberal ideas; but how are we to prevent foreign Powers from being of a different opinion, and conceiving mistrust of us? How are we to prevent the ties between ourselves and them from being weakened in consequence, or their being deterred from forming any; and Russia from availing herself of all this for the accomplishment of her purposes?Such, Sire, are the objections to which the marriage of the Duc de Berry with the Grand-Duchess Anne appears to me to be open. I was bound to lay them unreservedly before your Majesty, but I have not exaggerated them. Your Majesty's wisdom will judge whether they have all the weight with which I invest them.I must add that it appears to me the greatness of the House of Bourbon would be most fittingly displayed, especially at this time, when all its branches, buffeted by the same tempest, have been simultaneously raised up again, by seeking the means of perpetuating itself in its own bosom only. I hear a young princess of Sicily, the daughter of the Prince Royal, very highly praised. Portugal, Tuscany, and Saxony offer princesses, among whom your Majesty might make a choice. I have the honor to subjoin a list of them.If the negotiation for the marriage with the Grand-Duchess should be broken off in consequence of the impossibility of arranging the religious difficulty, or if your Majesty should think fit to relinquish it, I would entreat your Majesty to be pleased so to manage matters that the affair shall not be irrevocably decided until we have brought the others with which we are occupied here to a conclusion; for if the Emperor Alexander has shown us so little good will, notwithstanding the hope of such a marriage for his sister, that hope being so flattering to himself, what might we not expect from him if he had lost it?
I am, etc.
1. "The Due de Berry asked me whether you spoke to me of his marriage; he let me see that he is annoyed by the papist and Roman rigidity of the King." -- Talleyrand to Jaucourt, 29th October, 1814.
2. "I gave a dinner yesterday, among others to M. Butiakine, the Russian chargé d'affaires. . . . We talked about the marriage, which I suppose you discuss with the King, and of which the Duc de Berry speaks to me every day, while I, not knowing what to say, do not say a word. Marry him, however, to some one or other, for that is just now his idée fixé, and nothing can turn him from it. M. Butiakine spoke to me of the extreme facility with which the princess might be brought to perfect submission to the Roman Church, but said that it was indispensable to the dignity due to her rank that she should have a chapel, or the equivalent of one, at least in her apartment."
-- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 22nd November, 1815.
3. The Emperor Paul had six daughters: 1. x, died young; 2. Alexandra,
wife of the Archduke Joseph, died in 1801; 3. Helena, wife of the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, died in 1803; 4. Mary, Grand-Duchess of Saxe-Weimar, died in 1859; 5. Catharine; 6. Anne.
"From thenceforth ( 1806-1807) M. de Talleyrand felt great alarm at the importance which Russia might assume in Europe; he constantly urged that an independent Power should be set up between us and the Russians, and he was in favor, with this view, of the ardent though vague desires of the Poles. 'It is the kingdom of Poland,' he always said, 'which ought to be created; there is the real bulwark of our independence; but it must not be done by halves.' "
-- Mémoires de Madame de Rémusat, tom. iii. p. 90.
Austria. Archduchess Léopoldine, born 22nd January, 1797; Archduchess Marie Clémentine, born 1st March, 1798.
1 Tuscany. Archduchess Marie Louise, born 30th August, 1798.
2 Saxony. Princess Marie Amélie, born 17th August, 1794; Princess Maria Ferdinanda, born 27th April, 1796 (daughters of Prince Maximilian).
3 Portugal. Princess Maria Teresa, born 29th April, 1793 (widow of Pedro Carlos, Infante of Spain); Princess Isabella, born 9th May, 1797; Princess Maria Francisca, born 22nd April, 1800.
4 Savoy-Carignan. Princess Maria Elizabeth, born 19th April, 1800 (sister of the prince).
5 Two Sicilies. Princess Maria Caroline, born 5th March, 1798 (daughter of the hereditary Prince).
6 There are no other unmarried Catholic princesses over fourteen and under twenty-five years of age.
1. Both daughters of Francis II., Emperor of Austria, and his second wife, and, consequently, sisters of the Empress Marie Louise. The Archduchess Léopoldine married the Emperor of Brazil, Don Pedro I., and died in 1826; she was mother of Dońa Maria II., Queen of Portugal, of Don Pedro II., of the Countess d'Aquila (Two Sicilies), and of the Princess de Joinville. The Arch. duchess Maripe Clémentine was married 28th July, 1816, to the Prince of Salerno (Two Sicilies); she became a widow in 1851. Her daughter married the Due d'Aumale.
Daughter of the Archduke Ferdinand ( 1769-1824), successively Grand-Duke of Tuscany ( 1790), of Salzburg ( 1813), and of Wurzburg ( 1806), and again GrandDuke of Tuscany ( 1814). She did not marry, and died in 1852. Both daughters of Prince Maximilian (who died in 1838), father of Augustus III. and Anthony, successively Kings of Saxony, and of a Princess of Parma, and aunts of the present King of Saxony. The first did not marry; she died in 1870. The second married, in 1821, Ferdinand, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, and died in 1865. All three daughters of Juan II., King of Portugal ( 1816-1826). Maria Teresa, Princess of Beďra, was the widow of the Infante Pedro Carlos from 1812; on the 2nd of February, 1833, she married the Infante Don Carlos, the chief of the Carlists and widower of her second sister. Isabella was the second wife of Ferdinand VII., King of Spain, and died in 1834; she was mother of the future Condé de Montemolin and of the Infante Don Juan, and grandmother of the present Duke of Madrid.
The prince to whom Talleyrand alludes here was Charles Albert, father of Victor Emanuel II., and afterwards King of Sardinia. His sister Marie Elizabeth married, in 1820, Regnier, Archduke of Austria, Viceroy of the LombardoVenetian kingdom, and died in 1856. His daughter, the Archduchess Marie Adelaide, married Victor Emanuel II., and was mother of Humbert I., the present King of Italy; of Amadeo I., ex-King of Spain; of the Princess Clotilda Napoleon Bonaparte; and of the present Queen of Portugal, Maria Pia, wife of Dom Louis I. Carolina Ferdinanda Louisa, daughter of Francis I., King of the Two Sicilies, and of an Archduchess of Austria, granddaughter of King Ferdinand I., married the Duc de Berry in 1806, became a widow in 1820. The children of the marriage were Mademoiselle, afterwards Duchess of Parma ( 1809-1864), and the Duc de Bordeaux (Comte de Chambord), the present head of the elder branch of the Bourbons. Of the eleven princesses whom Prince Talleyrand destined for the Duc de Berry, the only one now living is the Archduchess, widow of Leopold, Prince of Salerno.
THE KING TO PRINCE TALLEYRAND No. 20.
28th January, 1815.
I have received your No 22. Long before this reaches you, you will have seen the Duke of Wellington, the selection of whom to replace Lord Castlereagh has been very agreeable to me. I saw him before his departure; I could not have been better pleased with him, and I think he has gone away not ill satisfied with me. 1 The Duke also has a character to sustain, that, not of a king-maker, but of a king-restorer, which is better. 2 Besides, he is not committed by the acts of his predecessor, for while walking in his footsteps he has, so to speak, the choice between two extremes. I do not know exactly what is the total population of Saxony. I think the King ought to consent to a reduction of fifteen hundred thousand; but if it be proposed to diminish the number still more, bear in mind what I wrote to you lately. Count Jules de Polignac 3 arrived here on Sunday. His report, which agrees with those. I had previously received from various sources, describes Italy as in a state of ferment, and the existence of Murat as very dangerous. I have reason to believe that England would enter into a compact to secure a pecuniary provision for this man on his relinquishing his pretended throne. I would gladly lend myself to a measure of the kind, provided it be agreed at the same time that, if he prove obstinate, force shall do that which negotiation has failed to effect.The sorrowful and consoling ceremony of Saturday passed off very well. I charge you to express my feelings to the Sovereigns who took part in the solemnization at St. Stephen's, and in particular to say to the Empress of Austria how deeply I am affected by her wish to attend, and by the regret which she has been good enough to express to me on this occasion.On which, etc.P. S. -- General Ricard has arrived, and will be at Vienna shortly after this letter.
1. "The Duke of Wellington starts for Vienna to-morrow evening. He had a private audience of the King at half-past eleven this morning. In this audience the King was very gracious to the Duke, and even treated him, it seems to me, with some cajolerie. The King expressed his intentions, principles, and sentiments very strongly. The Duke of Wellington responded to the King's overtures with a respectful friendliness, but nevertheless maintained the strictest reserve. 'Fate destines you,' the King said to him, 'to bring the greatest affairs to a termination, when it does not charge you with them throughout. You know my intentions; I shall never depart from them. They are -- to restore his crown and his States to the King of Saxony; to drive out Murat, and form a ministry which shall guarantee peace. This is what I want to do. For these ends Prince Talleyrand has zealously worked; he will work still better in concert with you.' "
-- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 25th January, 1815.
No doubt an allusion to the Earl of Warwick, called "the King-Maker," who was killed at the battle of Barnet ( 1471) in the Wars of the Roses.
Jaucourt wrote to Talleyrand on the 19th of December, 1814: "This is the history of M. de Polignac's journey. Some days ago he came to ask me whether, before going to Munich, he might not have a month's leave of absence. . . . "I promised him that I would ask the King's pleasure. He then told me that his purpose was to go to Rome. I talked with him, and found that he knew all about the affairs of the Concordat as well as I did; it was not difficult for me to perceive that he was being sent, by whom, and with what intention. Then I came to the conclusion that the best means of regulating his conduct and fixing his ideas, was to put him in thorough relations with us."
No. 25.
Vienna, 1st February, 1815.
The audience given to Lord Castlereagh by the Emperor has had no effect, beyond making the former say that the Emperor appeared to him to be full of loyalty and candor. Otherwise, Lord Castlereagh remained unshaken in his opinion that Prussia must be great and powerful, and that a large portion of Saxony, and the fortress of Torgau in particular, should be given to her. 1 I wanted to save. Torgau, and the Austrians were of the same mind at first, but they finally relinquished it, according to their usual custom. In consequence, neither one nor the other of the two plans which I have had the honor to lay before your Majesty has been adopted. A third has been formed, and according to it a population of seven hundred and eighty-two thousand Saxons is given over to Russia. This plan of the Austrians has been drafted and sent to the Prussians, who have taken it ad referendum; they have not yet replied to it.
We had announced from the first our consent that from four to five hundred thousand souls should be taken from Saxony. Lord Castlereagh, after having abandoned Saxony, and just because he had abandoned it, obstinately required that a million should be taken. Although I was very ill supported by the Austrians, I have succeeded in obtaining very nearly the middle term between those two numbers, and I am still astonished at my success. The Saxon Minister, who is here, had drawn up a table of those portions of the kingdom that might not be considered absolutely essential to its existence. The population of these portions amounted to seven hundred and fifty thousand souls. The new project cedes only thirty-two thousand more than that number, and of the portion ceded certain parts would revert, by exchanges, to the ducal houses of Saxony.
The Prussians are said to be little disposed to be content with what is offered to them, or else to be feigning discontent. It is not only a question of territory with them, it is also one of amour propre. After having demanded the whole of Saxony, and that quite recently; after having occupied it; after all the Powers with the exception of France had abandoned it to them; after having so many times declared that they would never renounce it, it must be painful to them to forego their claim to two-thirds of that kingdom. But they will not make a struggle without the co-operation of Russia, and the Emperor Alexander, who has got what he wanted in Poland, and whose interest in the matter is solely one of amour propre, will, according to all appearance, advise the Prussians to accept the proposals that are made to them, and there is reason to believe that they will be accepted with very few changes.
Never did the fate of a country appear to be more irrevocably fixed than that of Saxony, at the moment of our arrival here. Prussia demanded the whole of it for herself, and Russia demanded it for Prussia. Lord Castlereagh had completely abandoned it, and so had Austria, with the exception of certain frontier arrangements. Your Majesty undertook singly the defence of the King and the kingdom of Saxony; your Majesty only has sustained principles. Your Majesty had to win a triumph over passions of every kind, over the spirit of coalition which existed in all its strength, and, perhaps a more difficult task, over the amour propre of all the Great Powers, who had so far committed themselves by their pretensions, their declarations, and their concessions, that it appeared as though they could not retreat from the position they had assumed without disgrace. Your Majesty's noble resistance to an almost consummated injustice has gloriously vanquished all these obstacles; and not only has it achieved that triumph, but the coalition has been dissolved, and your Majesty has entered into an agreement with two of the greatest of the Powers, which will probably save Europe 2 from the dangers with which it is threatened by certain States. 3
The kingdom of Saxony, which was a third-rate Power, will continue to hold that rank. Its population, added to that of the ducal possessions, and to that of the Houses of Reuss and Schwarzburg, which are inside the bounds of the kingdom, will form a compact body of two millions of inhabitants interposed between Prussia and Austria and between Prussia and Bavaria.
The affair of Saxony being terminated, I shall devote myself entirely to that of Naples, and I will bring to it all the energy and skill of which I am capable. England will not oppose us in this instance, but she will not serve us openly and in a decided way, because she has again committed herself in the matter, as your Majesty will see by the document which I have the honor to send herewith. Lord Castlereagh has received instructions from his Government with respect to this, given in the sense that I have just indicated.
Lord Castlereagh will remain here with the Duke of Wellington for a week only. I am convinced, by despatches received from his Court, which he has shown me, that his partiality for Prussia, and his tenacity on the Saxon question, are to be imputed to Lord Liverpool as much as to himself. Lord Bathurst tells him that he must be liberal towards Prussia, and that, after having advanced so far with respect to Saxony, the honor of the British Government would be compromised by a too retrograde step. For the rest, the treaty which he has concluded is entirely approved, and he is informed that the ratifications are to be sent out immediately.
He dwelt upon his desire to see the best understanding established between France and England. He does not delude himself to the point of believing that the result of the arrangements which shall be made here can be a peace of long duration; he only desires that war should not break out for two years to come. Then, if it must take place, he would wish France, England, and Austria to be united; and as he thinks it necessary that all should be in readiness, and that we should concert measures beforehand, he proposes to maintain a direct correspondence with me. But he looks upon a change of ministry in Austria, where the ministry is very weak, to say the least of it, as desirable. 4
I am, generally speaking, satisfied with the disposition he has manifested.
He proposes to solicit an audience of your Majesty on his way through Paris.
I am, etc.
1. Torgau was, in fact, given to the kingdom of Prussia.
2. A secret treaty of defensive alliance, concluded at Vienna, between Austria, Great Britain, and France, against Russia and Prussia, 3rd January, 1815 (see D'Angeberg, p. 589).
3. "I am quite convinced of all that you have the goodness to tell me respecting the principles that govern the Cabinet of France said the success which will attend them. The very dangerous design of drawing back our frontiers, binding ourselves to Russia, sacrificing Saxony, and making matters up with Murat was probably a preparation for fresh adventures.
"If, as I think, you have founded peace; if you have restored Europe to a spirit of conservatism and wisdom; and if to that, Prince, you enable us to unite those principles that the Revolution laid down, and which must either remain for the welfare of nations, or bring about fresh revolutions if they be attacked, I believe your life will be the greatest and the most illustrious of your epoch." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 8th February, 1815.
4. "Persons well acquainted with Viennese politics have told me that everybody is tired of M. de Metternich, and want to have him replaced by M. de Stadion; that you are co-operating in this, and that the change would expedite affairs which are delayed by his indecision and frivolity." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 28th December, 1814.
No. 21.
Paris, 4th February, 1815.
I have received your Nos. 23 and 24. I did not answer the first immediately, as it did not deal with official matters, but I was none the less gratified and affected by its contents. Neither St. Denis nor any of the churches of Paris, except that of St. Thomas Aquinas, where the preacher simply read out the will of the Martyr King, re-echoed to a discourse at all worthy of comparison with that which was delivered at St. Stephen's in Vienna, and I desire that you will make my compliments upon it to the author. I was also much pleased with the extract by M. de Gentz, and had it immediately inserted in the Moniteur. 1 I have given Count de Jaucourt the necessary orders on the subject of the marks of approbation which you wish to have bestowed upon the artists engaged in the ceremony of the 21st.
The cession of Erfürth to Prussia affects me little, but I should
regret to see the fortifications of Dresden razed, especially if Torgau be left to the Kirg of Prussia. 2 I wish the Emperor Francis had given the preference to the first plan, and had got Lord Castlereagh to adopt it; but he is no longer at Vienna. You know how pressing the Duke of Wellington has been about the abolition of the slave-trade; you will very soon be made acquainted with the report on St. Domingo, made to me on Monday at the Council by Count Beugnot. 3 I confess that I begin to reconcile myself with the idea of the advantages that may ensue from the almost instantaneous relinquishment of a traffic which it seems to me very difficult to maintain beyond the epoch fixed by the treaty. Marshal Soult has written to you on the subject of Bouillon. 4 The matter is one of protection and not of possession, and for that reason it is important that the duchy should belong to Prince de Rohan, who besides has right on his side a hundredfold, notwithstanding the English patronage.
On which, etc.
P.S. -- Your ideas on the marriage are identical with my own. I shall await the coming of General Pozzo di Borgo, and not hasten anything. 5
1. See the Moniteur of the 2nd February, 1815.
2. "The positions on the Elbe were of more importance than the extent of the soil. One was hotly contested -- that of Torgau. It was a grave matter, after having given up Wittenberg, to give up Torgau, which, according to the well-known opinion of Napoleon, and one which he had himself acted upon, had become the principal fortress of the Upper Elbe. Prince Schwarzenberg and M. de Talleyrand wanted to resist, but as they were deserted by Lord Castlereagh, they were constrained to yield."
-- Thiers, "Histoire du Consulat et de l'Empire", tom. xviii. p. 590.
3. In 1664 France had occupied the western part of the island of St. Domingo. A terrible insurrection broke out in 1791. Spain ceded the eastern part of the island to France by the Treaty of Basle. The First Consul sent General Leclerc (his brother-in-law) to Hayti; he captured Toussaint Louverture, but died of yellow fever. The French were completely expelled in 1809, but France did not recognize the Republic of Hayti until 1825. An indemnity was then stipulated for by the French Government.
4. According to the Treaty of Paris, which replaced France within the boundaries of 1792, the canton of Bouillon, acquired in 1792, could no longer be considered as belonging to France. Admiral Philippe d'Auvergne disputed the right over Bouillon with Prince de Rohan Guéméné. A prolonged arbitration assigned it to the latter on the 1st of July, 1816. He required an indemnity from the King of the Netherlands, who incorporated the duchy with his States (see D'Arenberg, p. 1206). "The letter (private) to the King has remained in his heart, for the Duc de Berry said to me yesterday, 'Does Prince T -- not speak to you of it?' 'Provided he speaks of it to the King, Monseigneur,' I replied, 'that is all that is necessary.' 'Tell me only whether there is a breaking-off with Russia.' 'Monseigneur, at the distance at which things are placed, no one wishes to take another step.' 'Come, come,' said he, 'write to Prince Talleyrand that a line must be taken.' "
-- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 4th February, 1815.
No. 26.
Vienna, 8th February, 1815.
The Duke of Wellington arrived here on the evening of the 1st. At ten o'clock the next morning the Emperor of Russia went to see him, and began by saying, "Things are going on very badly in France, are they not?" 1 "By no means," replied the Duke. "The King is much loved and respected, and behaves with admirable circumspection.""You could have told me nothing," rejoined the Emperor, "which could have given me so much pleas ure. And the army?""For foreign wars, against any Power in the world," said Wellington, "the army is as good as ever it was; but in questions of internal policy it would probably be worthless." From what Prince Adam told me, these replies struck the Emperor more than he allowed to appear. They certainly influenced the decision which he was anxious to make on the affairs of Saxony, which, on the arrival of Wellington, were still in much uncertainty. They may now be considered as settled.
It is not only to the Emperor of Russia that the Duke of ' Wellington sounds your Majesty's praises. He repeats them in every direction, not alone in general terms, but entering into details, quoting facts, and thus adding to the great estimation in which your Majesty's character is held here. He treated the affair of St. Roch as a trifle. 2 The German newspapers had much exaggerated its importance. He owns that everything in France is not exactly as he would have it, but he adds that all will come right in time. According to him, the thing wanted above all others is a ministry. "There are," he says, "ministers, but no ministry." 3
The conclusions that we may draw from his language are, that as the army cannot yet be relied on in questions of home policy, every care must be taken not to raise questions in which the army would have to take part, and, with regard to any remaining agitation in the public mind, we should be neither astonished nor annoyed by it. Too sudden a conversion would be suspicious. I myself gave utterance to this observation, and its justness was acknowledged by every one.
On Saturday last I gave a great dinner to the Duke of Wellington. All the members of the Congress were present. I was glad that he should be introduced to them through the medium of the French Legation. The Austrian proposal, which I had the honor of mentioning to your Majesty in my last letter, did not satisfy the Prussians. They wanted more: especially Leipsic. The King of Prussia, in an audience he granted to Lord Castlereagh, expressed himself with much warmth, declaring that, after having had Saxony given to him, and having occupied it with his troops, it was making him play a sorry part to allow him to keep only a portion of the country; that he had conquered Leipsic, and that, after the battle, all the Allies had considered the town as belonging to him, and had congratulated him thereupon.
Lord Castlereagh, always convinced that Prussia ought to be strong, and wishing above all things to avoid war (the Duke of Wellington himself believes that England could not make war at the present moment, and that France alone is in a position to do so), maintained that in order to calm down Prussia it was necessary to give her something more. To increase the share awarded to them, a hundred thousand souls have been taken from Holland and fifty thousand from Han. over. Fulda has been added to it. The Emperor of Russia, to do him justice, wished also to contribute to this settlement, and restored Thorn to Prussia, so that the affair may be considered as arranged, although it is not finally settled.
Saxony will be reduced to less than one million five hundred thousand souls; but, besides this population, that of the duchies of Saxony and the States of Schwarzburg and Reuss must be counted; they are enclosed within the kingdom, and, if it had been Prussia instead of Saxony, would doubtless have been acknowledged as belonging to her in fact. But if our consent had been withheld to the reduction of Saxony to less than one million five hundred thousand souls, we must have formally protested. By protesting, the principle of legitimacy, 4 which it was so important to preserve, and which we have preserved as if by a miracle, would have been compromised; we should in reality have given to Prussia two millions of subjects, which she could not have acquired without danger to Bohemia and Bavaria; and the captivity of the King, who will now be at liberty, would have been indefinitely prolonged. (I asked Prince Hardenberg to allow the King to repair to Austria, and that orders might be immediately issued to this effect. He consented, and gave me his word that it should be so. The necessary order will be despatched to-morrow to Berlin, and the King may leave at once). Although we have not succeeded in obtaining all we wanted for Saxony, she will remain a third-rate Power. If it be an evil that she has not a few hundred thousand more subjects, it is a comparatively slight one, and one which is possibly not irremediable; while if Saxony had been sacrificed in the presence of Europe unwilling or unable to save her, the evil would have been extreme and fraught with most dangerous consequences. The important thing, therefore, was to save her, and the glory of having done so belongs solely to your Majesty. There is no one who does not feel and say this; and we have obtained our object without quarrelling with anybody, and it has even been the means of giving us supporters in the Naples affair.
Lord Castlereagh, whom I told, in order to flatter him, that I had been honored by your Majesty's command to express your Majesty's desire to see him as he passed through Paris, has thereby been determined to take that route. He had at first intended to go by Holland. Lady Castlereagh hopes that she may be permitted to see the Duchess of Angoulęme. They will not be able to stay more than twenty-four hours in Paris. Their intention is to start on Monday, the 13th, but not without Lord Castlereagh's having made some overtures with regard to the Naples affair that I think it would be advisable to have made by him. The Duke of Wellington is sound upon this question. I hope that we shall also have Russia and Prussia on our side. Nevertheless I foresee more than one kind of obstacle, and I will strain every nerve to overcome them.
It would complicate and spoil this affair to mix it up with that of Bernadotte, which is of a totally different character.
Bernadotte did not succeed in Sweden by conquest, but by the adoption of the reigning sovereign and the consent of the country. He is not a king, but only an heir-presumptive. He cannot be attacked without attacking the King who adopted him, a King whose legitimacy is acknowledged even by the man 5 whom he has displaced, and whom your Majesty has also recognized, having made peace directly with him. As long as the King lives, Bernadotte has only eventual rights, which relatively to Europe are the same as non-existent, and consequently any dispute concerning them is in no way the business of Europe or of the Congress. It is undoubtedly an evil, a very great evil, that that man should have been called upon to succeed to the throne of Sweden. But it is an evil which, if ever it can be remedied at all, can only be remedied by time and the events that time will bring.War, which is desired by no one, which probably scarcely any Power is in a position to make, will most probably not take place. There will therefore be no need to ask Sweden for her alliance, nor for Sweden to ask us for a guarantee, which your Majesty would shrink from granting. General Ricard has arrived, but I now hope that his journey will prove unnecessary. General Pozzo's departure will not take place yet. I have even asked him to take no step to hasten it; he is of use to me as a medium of communication with the Emperor of Russia.I hear that the King of Sweden is to go to Presburg, and to stay there until the conclusion of negotiations.In a conference held to-day the affairs of the blacks were settled. Spain and Portugal will definitely give up the slave-trade in eight years. For these two countries eight years are a much shorter time than five years were for us, taking into consideration the enormous difference in the respective possessions, and, above all, in the progress of intelligence. We have yielded nothing, and yet the English are satisfied with us. Lord Castlereagh thanked me in the public conference for the assistance I had rendered to him. Another conference took place to-night, in which the Prussians replied to the proposals which have been made to them. The substance of their answer is that they accept. They will get neither Luxembourg nor Mayence. 6 Your Majesty's instructions were that they were not to obtain the latter; they will not have Luxembourg either.The next few days will be employed in drawing up and signing the articles included in the protocol concerning the arrangements agreed on for Poland, Prussia, and Saxony.I am, etc.
1. "During the last few days I have seen the Abbéz de Montesquiou and M. d'André. Neither of them appeared to me to be satisfied with the progress which affairs are making, or with their present position. There is a general cause for this in the divergence of opinions. The great, the very great majority of the nation wishes to be guided by a constitutional charter, i.e. to adopt the ideas, opinions, modes of looking and judging, which the advance of intelligence has for nearly a century gradually introduced in Europe, especially in France, but which in our country are the results of twenty-five long years of calamity and bloody experience. In opposition to this immense majority is a party feeble in point of numbers, but strong by virtue of the influence, the power, the places to be given away, and the confidence of the sovereign -- the ancient nobility -- which is always preaching the return to the old monarchy, to its abuses, its customs, its fundamental prejudices. This party is gradually taking possession of the important posts in the administration, and giving the inferior places to its adherents, endeavoring by these means to propagate its opinions. The daily dismissal of the men whom I call, but in the most honorable sense of the term, the men of the Revolution estranges those who have been sent away, disturbs those who have not yet been dismissed, and alarms everybody. Add to this that the majority of the new placemen are totally unversed in administration, so that their ignorance reacts upon the general progress of affairs, while their counsels influence the opinions of those over whom they are set. Here is the real evil. The struggle can have, however, no doubtful issue: it is clear that the majority will carry the day; but if the majority has power as well as firmness, it is clear that there will be a fight for it, and who can say what this may lead to? This state of affairs, and some tidings which are said to have come from Italy, and which have been spread abroad during the last few days, have revived the hopes of the Bonaparte faction. Savary, who came to see me three days ago, said to me with an air of extraordinary conviction, "We shall see Bonaparte again, and it will be entirely their fault (speaking of the Bourbons). I tried to disabuse him, to prove to him that he was wrong in entertaining the slightest hopes of the return of any member of that family, which is so justly detested by the French, and, indeed, by the whole of Europe. I saw that my efforts did not succeed in persuading him. I feel that Daru and Maret agree with him. The latter is kept accurately informed as to all that is going on by little Monnier, formerly his private secretary, whom some unknown fatality has placed at the side of M. d'André, and who is considerably trusted by him. I am assured that M. d'André is beginning to find out that his surroundings are bad, and that he says so. But why, then, does he hesitate to get rid of those who embarrass him and do him harm?
"Another cause which seems unimportant, but the effects of which are daily and keenly felt because it concerns the vanity of the nation, is the sort of humiliating position in which the Government places us with regard to foreigners. The English and Spanish newspapers are filled with gross insults to us. We are forbidden to reply: we are forbidden to insert in a French newspaper a single word against England or Spain. From a tragedy written and acted in 1769, this line has been suppressed --
'In all times England has been fruitful in crime.'
What happens when this tragedy is performed? The line is recited by the whole pit. We ask each other with reason if the Comte de la Châtre would dare to ask in London for the suppression of a single line of Shakespeare; and if even he did venture, whether the Government would accede to his request. All this increases the exasperation against the English, and those who came to Paris, or who still a e in Paris, must often have been aware of it. Of course, it would be much more proper if neither party insulted the other. But as we are a mark for all the most offensive things which hatred can inspire in our neighbors, let us at least be permitted to answer them.
"It is round you that all the partisans of the charter and of what I still call liberal ideas (although the term has been so much abused) rally. Your position at Vienna has magnified you in the eyes of the public, and your long absence has made your presence all the more eagerly desired. Believe me, there is not a shade of flattery in all this." -- D'Hauterive to Talleyrand, 14th February, 1815.
"We are far from doing things as well and as vigorously as you do at Vienna. The funeral of poor Mademoiselle Raucourt was a mischievous and ridiculous misadventure. That curé of St. Roch has the misfortune of always giving trouble. The King was asked what he thought would be proper. He replied with his usual perfect good sense and judgment, 'I do not in the least object to Mademoiselle Raucourt's body being received in the church, but I will not give any orders to the clergy,' Neither the officials, nor the Ministry for Public Worship, nor the friends of Mademoiselle Raucourt warned D'André, and D'André accordingly expected the ceremony would not take place until the following day, and that he would have due notice of it. Neither Maison, nor Grundeler, nor any other authorities were informed. The body was, notwithstanding, on its way to the cemetery, when about twenty people turned it back. When it reached St. Roch, the procession was ordered to pass on by half a dozen gendarmes sent by the police. But at the Rue de l'Échelle, four or five hundred people assembled, brought it back, and, finding the principal door shut, took it in by a side door. No impiety or scandal was committed; the police officer only went to the curé. The curé had already sent to M. de l'Espinasse, who, like the curé, thought that nothing ought to be conceded to an old grand vicaire. The police officer easily proved the danger of this resolution, and the curé allowed them to have a priest, four acolytes, an ophicleide, and the officer put on a blue scarf, got up on a chair, and announced that they were going to sing or say (I forget which) the absolution and the De profundis. When the officer showed himself. the church resounded with cries of 'Vive le Roi!' The priest got over the business as quickly as possible; the funeral procession started again, and all was finished. But they say that the curé had considered Mademoiselle Raucourt a sufficiently good Catholic to accept from her the pain bénit p0165.* last month, and a purse containing three or four hundred francs for charitable purposes."
-- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 20th January, 1815.
"If we make haste, if at length we manage to understand the position of a ministry in a representative Government, we may gain sufficient time to allow you to come back. But we really are going on very badly, and we must do better if we do not wish to perish utterly." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 25th Januuary, 1815.
The word "legitimacy" is, in this sense, a creation of Talleyrand himself, who meant to express by it dynastic right as opposed to the right of conquest. (See Thiers, "History of the Consulate and the Empire", tom. xviii. p. 5.) Gustavus IV.
Which was distributed in the Parisian churches on Sundays. -- TRANSLATOR.
Luxembourg and Mayence were federal fortresses, but the one belonged to the King of the Low Countries as Grand-Duke of Luxembourg, and the other to the duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt.
No. 22. 11th February, 1815.
I have received your despatch No. 25. Lord Castlereagh's praise of the Emperor of Austria would be flattering if spoken of a private individual, but when addressed to the sovereign who has just been manifesting extraordinary weakness, it resembles irony. As for me, I ought certainly to be satisfied, when I consider the condition of affairs four months ago, with the fate of the King of Saxony; but I hoped better things from the Emperor Francis, and I shall be uneasy until I see at least his last plan definitely adopted.The document1 added to your despatch is by no means reassuring for the King of Naples, in whom I take a much greater interest than in the King of Saxony; but, although it unfolds the secrets of the most shameful policy that ever was heard of, I am not discouraged, and I continue to be convinced, with a steadfast belief which I will never abandon, that in the end we shall destroy the scandal and the danger of Murat.I am astonished that the Duke of Wellington had not already arrived at Vienna on the 1st of this month; but I fancy he cannot have long delayed, so I suppose that Lord Castlereagh will reach Paris towards the end of next week. To speak truly, I am not much edified by his behavior at the Congress; but I have too much reason to preserve the alliance which I have just formed to omit treating him so as to insure his satisfaction with the reception I shall give to him.
On which, etc.
1. The treaty of the 11th of January, 1814, between the King of Naples and Austria, in which Austria guaranteed to Joachim the possession of his kingdom, and promised him a similar guarantee from the other allies, as well as the renunciation by Ferdinand IV. of his rights on Naples.
No. 27.
Vienna, 15th February, 1815.
Lord Castlereagh starts to-day (the 18th), and although he intends to sleep every night on the road, he expects to reach Paris on the eighth day of his journey. 1 He will spend the whole of the next day there, and will set off again on the following day, so as to be in London on the 1st or 2nd of March.
The fate of the duchy of Warsaw, of Saxony, what we call here the reconstruction of the Prussian monarchy, the additions to be made to Hanover, the demarcation of the United Provinces, which are to take the name of the kingdom of the Netherlands, are points which are now entirely settled. They were the most complicated, and the only ones which might have caused war. Lord Castlereagh therefore carries with him to England the assurance that peace will be maintained.
Saxony is left with a population of one million three hundred thousand. 2 The King, to whom a courier has been sent, will, towards the end of this month, be, not at Presburg (I represented that the choice of this town would be very like an exile), but at Brünn, on the road to Vienna, where nothing will prevent his arriving as soon as he has given his consent to the cessions which the Powers have agreed upon.
The duchy of Luxembourg, with Limbourg and the adjacent territories, will be given to the Prince of Orange, as an indemnity for the old hereditary provinces which he yields to Prussia, 3 and the latter will not touch our frontier on a single point. 4 This appeared to your Majesty to be an object of the highest importance. The duchy of Luxembourg will, however remain German territory, and the fortress will remain a federal fortress.
The retrocessions Austria asks from Bavaria, and the equivalent to be granted to the latter, are the most important, and even the only important, territorial arrangements which remain to be settled in Germany. 5 The two Courts, on each side, ask for our support. The one will yield nothing without a perfect equivalent, and will not give up the things which the other covets ardently. From different motives we are almost equally interested in conciliating them both, which renders the part of arbitration very delicate. I hope, however, the difficulty will not surpass our power.
With regard to the territorial arrangements in Italy, the Commission charged with drawing up the plan proposed to restore to the Queen of Etruria Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla, and the legations to the Holy See; and to give to the Grand-Duke of Tuscany Lucca, the State of Presidi, the sovereignty of Piombino, and the reversion of the island of Elba. The Archduchess Marie Louise was to have only a pension paid by Tuscany, and certain fiefs belonging formerly to the German Empire, and now in the possession of the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, to whom they were given by the Diet of the Empire as part of his indemnity. These fiefs, which are in Bohemia, afford a revenue of four hundred thousand florins. This scheme was presented to the Congress by our influence. It was found to possess two advantages: one that of diminishing the number of petty principalities in Italy, and the other, far more important, of keeping away the son of the Archduchess, and depriving him of all hope of reigning.
Austria let a whole month slip by without explaining herself. 6 The Emperor at last decided on restoring the duchies to the Queen of Etruria, saying that he could not with propriety take for himself or any member of his family one of the States of the House of Bourbon, with whom it was his interest and his desire to keep well. But, knowing that his daughter was anxious to have an independent establishment, he selected Lucca, and desired his minister to negotiate the affair with the Archduchess, and to this effect he gave instructions containing the arguments which the minister was to use. Prince Metternich, under the Emperor's instructions, has presented us with a counter-project, which suits us in most respects, as the Archduchess' son is not mentioned in it, and the reversion of Lucca would fall to Austria or Tuscany. Although we shall have to make several objections, I thought I perceived in my conversation with Prince Metternich that he would give way.
This counter-proposal states that the duchies should be restored to the Queen of Etruria, with the exception of Piacenza, with a circumference round the town containing a population of thirty thousand; that Lucca be given to the Archduchess for her life only, with two pensions, the one chargeable on Austria, the other on France, and that Austria should receive and hold permanently-1st, Piacenza and the circumference above stated; 2nd, the part of Mantua on the right bank of the, Po; 3rd, the Valtelline; 4th, Lucca, after the Archduchess; and, finally, the imperial fiefs, as much in compensation for Parma and Piacenza, with its enciente, as to afford material for exchange.
The proposal of charging a pension on France in compensation for things which France is never to receive, that of making Lucca revert to the Austrian Empire and that of putting the imperial fiefs. even those enclosed in the neighboring States, at the disposal of Austria, were almost equally inadmissible, and Prince Metternich seemed pretty well aware of this. There would have been fewer objections to surrendering to Austria the part of Mantua on the right of the Po, and even Piacenza, which, from what General Ricard told me, is, from its position and in the present state of Italy, of little importance.
It is not essential to deprive Austria of the Valtelline, 7 as that territory is no longer indispensable for her communication with Lombardy. But Switzerland, to whom the Valtelline once belonged, has demanded it, and has been promised its restoration. The Emperor of Russia, as I shall have occasion further on to inform your Majesty, seems anxious to give it back.
Prince Metternich presented his counter-project, and discussed it with me before he had seen the Archuchess. His great presumption and shallowness prevented his foreseeing that he would not obtain complete success. But at the very first word the Archduchess Marie Louise showed her indisposition to content herself with Lucca, or even to care at all about that principality, where, she said, it would not be agreeable for her to reside as long as Napoleon was at Elba. She, or rather her counsellors, 8 stipulate for the right conceded to her by the treaty of the 11th of April. She does not ask to keep Parma, but she wants something equivalent, or nearly equivalent. The only way to satisfy her would be to give her the Legations, reserving the reversion to the Holy See. But the Court of Rome, which cannot reconcile itself even to the loss of Avignon, 9 would cry out loudly, and would perhaps even have recourse to employing force, which would recoil upon itself. Prince Metternich has asked me for three days in which to make up his mind for the one course or the other, and to give me his answer.
When once these difficulties are raised, the only serious objections will be in regard to the question of Naples, to which I am coming by-and-by. The arrangements relating to the free navigation of rivers are as yet barely sketched in; but the principles have been decided on, and they will secure to commerce all the advantages that European industry could ask for, and particularly it will secure to France, by the navigation of the Scheldt, all those which the possession of Belgium could give her. 10
Finally, the question which is an object of passion, even of frenzy, for the English -- the abolition of the slave-trade -- has been yielded by the only two Powers who had not yet given it up. 11
Lord Castlereagh is therefore armed against all attacks of the Opposition, and he carries with him all that is necessary to flatter public opinion. 12 But, as I have taken care to point out to him, ministers in a representative Government have not only to please the popular party; they must likewise satisfy the Government, and this "you can effect," I told him, "only by acting in concert with us, and in a new direction in the question of Naples."
I spent the last eight or ten days in exciting his interest in this question, and if I have not quite persuaded him to adopt a policy (which he does not consider himself free to do), I have brought him to desire almost as ardently as we do the expulsion of Murat, and he leaves us with the resolution of doing all he can to induce his Government to concur in it. He is embarrassed by two considerations: first, to see how to declare himself against Murat without appearing to violate the promises made to the latter 13 (this is what Lord Castlereagh calls not compromising his reputation); the other, to choose the means of execution, so as to make sure of success in case of resistance, without compromising interests or wounding prejudices, and without exciting alarm in any quarter. He promised me that on the third day after his arrival in London he would send a courier bearing the decision of his Court, and, armed with all our arguments, he hopes that the decision will be favorable. What I wish is, that without entering into discussions, all of which weaken the principal object, the Duke of Wellington may be authorized to declare that his Court recognizes Ferdinand IV. as King of the Two Sicilies. It is in this sense that I entreat your Majesty to be kind enough to speak to him in Paris. In the latter days of his stay in Vienna, Lord Castlereagh lent himself very obligingly to making the overtures I was anxious for. He spoke against Murat to the Emperor of Russia, whom he saw at the same time with the Duke of Wellington. He said to the Emperor of Austria, "Russia is your natural enemy; Prussia is devoted to Russia; the only Power you can possibly depend upon on the Continent is France: it is your interest, therefore, to keep well with the House of Bourbon, which you cannot do unless Murat is turned out."
The Emperor of Austria replied, "I feel the truth of all you say." Finally, he told Prince Metternich, on whom he and the Duke of Wellington called together, "You will have a sharp contest on the question of Naples; do not think that you can escape it. I warn you that it is a question which will be brought before the Congress. Take, therefore, measures in consequence; send troops to Italy, if necessary." Each told me separately that this declaration had thrown Prince Metternich into great dejection -- these were their words and your Majesty will understand Prince Metternich's dejection still better after reading the secret articles of his treaty with Murat, of which I have the honor of enclosing a copy. 14 That he should have guaranteed the kingdom of Naples to him under the circumstances existing at that time, is easy to conceive; but that he should have carried his humiliation so far as to allow a clause to be inserted in the treaty, stating that Murat has the generosity to renounce his rights to the kingdom of Sicily, and to guarantee that kingdom to Ferdinand IV., is a fact which seems incredible even though it be proved. 15
Your Majesty will probably learn, not without surprise, that attachment to the principle of legitimacy enters little into the calculations of Lord Castlereagh, or even of the Duke of Wellington, with regard to Murat; it touches them very feebly; they do not even seem quite to take it in. In Murat it is the man whom they detest more than the usurper. The principles on which the English act in India prevent their having any exact ideas as to legitimacy. Nothing has made so much impression on Lord Castlereagh, who wishes above all things for peace, as my declaring to him that peace would be impossible if Murat were not driven out, for that his occupation of the throne of Naples was incompatible with the existence of the House of Bourbon.
I have also seen the Emperor of Russia. It was on Monday morning, the 13th instant. I wished to speak only of Naples to him, to remind him of the promises he made to me on this subject; but he took the opportunity of talking to me of many other things which I must report to your Majesty, whom I would ask to allow me, as I have already done in several other letters, to employ the form of dialogue for that purpose.
I began by telling the Emperor that I had long refrained from troubling him, out of respect for his occupations, and even for his pleasures; that the carnival having put an end to these, and the others being now arranged, I had asked for an audience. I added that even the Congress had only one more affair of the first importance to settle.
"You wish to speak of Naples?" "Yes, Sire." And I reminded him that he had promised his support. "But you must help me." "We have done so as far as it depended on us. Your Majesty is aware that, as we could not think of completely re-establishing the kingdom of Poland, we did not help her private arrangements when they clashed with the views of your Majesty, who must surely have forgotten that in the beginning of the Congress the English were rather ill-disposed on this question." "In the affairs of Switzerland?" "I do not known that we have ever been in opposition to your Majesty in the affairs of Switzerland. It was our plan to use every endeavor to calm excitement. I do not know to what extent we have succeeded, but that was our only aim. The Bernese were the most irritated; they had lost most and demanded most. An indemnity which they considered very insufficient had been offered to them; we induced them to put up with it. 16
All I know is that they ask the whole of the bishopric of Basle, and that they are determined not to accept less." "And what will you do for Geneva?" "Nothing, Sire." "Ah!" (in a tone of surprise and reproach). "It was not possible for us to give her anything; the King will never give up French subjects." "And can nothing be got from Sardinia?" "I am perfectly ignorant on the subject." "Why do you give the Valtelline to Austria?" "Nothing, Sire, has been decided on that subject. The Austrian affairs have been badly managed." "It is her fault," replied the Emperor; "why does she not choose skilful ministers?" "As Austria has had to make great sacrifices which must have cost her much, I should think it natural, especially in matters of such importance, to endeavor to please her." "The Valtelline was promised to be restored to Switzerland, to whom it belonged." "The Valtelline has been separated from Switzerland for the last eighteen years; it has never known anything of the government to which your Majesty would restore it. To give it back to the Grisons, to which it formerly belonged, would be to make it miserable. It seems to me that it would be best to make a separate canton of it, unless Austria obtained it."
"This will be arranged. And what will you do with Prince Eugčne?" 17 "PrinceEugčne is a French subject, and in that character he can demand nothing. But he is the son-in-law of the King of Bavaria -- he owed this to the position and influence of France at that time; it is therefore right that France should try to obtain for him all that it would be reasonable and possible for him to obtain in consideration of this alliance. We wish, therefore, to do something for him; we wish him to receive an appanage from the House of Bavaria, and that the King's share of the territories still undisposed of may be increased for this purpose." "Why not give him a sovereignty?" "Sire, his marriage with a Princess of Bavaria is not a sufficient motive. The Prince Radziwill is brother-in-law to the King of Prussia, and he has no sovereignty." "But why not, for instance, give him Deux-Ponts? That is a small thing." I ask your Majesty's pardon; the duchy of Deux-Ponts has always been considered as something considerable, and, besides, the territories remaining at our disposal are scarcely sufficient to fulfil the engagements already entered into." "And the marriage?" "The King has done me the honor of informing me that he still ardently desired it." "And so do I," replied the Emperor. "My mother 18 is also equally anxious for it; she speaks of it to me in the letters I have had lately." "The King," I said, "has refused several other proposals while waiting for your Majesty's answer." "I have also refused one, but I have also been refused myself. The King of Spain asked for my sister, 19 but on being told that she must have a chapel, and that this was a peremptory condition, he retracted his offer." 20 "From the conduct of the Catholic King, your Majesty may see what are the obligations of the Very Christian King." "I wanted to know what I was to think." "Sire, my last orders resemble what General Pozzo told you." "Why do you not execute the treaty of April 11th?" 21 "As I have been absent from Paris for five months, I do not know what has been done in this respect." "The treaty has not been executed; we ought to insist on its execution. Our honor is at stake; we cannot possibly draw back. The Emperor of Austria insists upon it as much as I do, and I assure you he is hurt at its not being executed." "Sire, I will report all that you have done me the honor of saying to me; but I must observe that in the unsettled state of the countries round France, and particularly of Italy, it may be dangerous to furnish the means of intrigue to persons who we think it probable may take advantage of them." 22
At length we returned to Murat. I recapitulated briefly all the reasons of justice, morality, and propriety which ought to unite Europe against him. I distinguished his position from that of Bernadotte, which particularly affects the Emperor, and in support of my words I quoted the Royal Almanack, 23 which I had just received. He begged me to send it to him, adding, "What you tell me gives me the greatest pleasure. I feared the contrary, and Bernadotte also was very much afraid of it. The Emperor then spoke of Murat with the utmost contempt. He is a vulgar rascal," he said, "who has betrayed us all. But, he added, "when I meddle with an affair, I like to be sure of the means of success. If Murat resists, he must be driven out. I have spoken of it," he added, "with the Duke of Wellington. He thinks that a considerable force would be wanted, and that, if it were necessary to send one, there would be great difficulties in the way." I answered that I did not ask for troops (for I knew that they would not be given to me), but a line -- a single line -- in the new treaty, and that France and Spain would undertake the rest. On which the Emperor replied, "You shall have my support." 24 During the whole of the conversation the Emperor was cold, but, on the whole, I was rather satisfied with him than otherwise.
Lord Castlereagh also spoke to me warmly about the treaty of the 11th of April, and I have no doubt he will mention it to your Majesty. This subject has been revived lately, and is now in every one's mouth. I ought to tell your Majesty that it is con stantly recurring, and in a disagreeable way; its influence is felt in the question of the Mont de Milan, 25 which interests co many subjects and servants of your Majesty.
It seems to me, however, that your Majesty might get rid of all that is most embarrassing in the treaty of the 11th of April by coming to an agreement with England.
In the beginning of my sojourn here Lord Castlereagh expressed his desire that France should at once renounce the slave-trade, offering in return certain indemnities. It is generally more easy to obtain pecuniary than any other indemnities in England. At that time I thought it necessary to elude this proposition without decidedly rejecting it, reserving to ourselves the right of taking it into consideration later on. In speaking recently of Murat, and of the provision which could not be withheld from him if he submitted to the adverse decision of Europe, Lord Castlereagh did not hesitate to assure me that England would willingly undertake to assign an income to Murat out of the English funds, in case France consented to give up the slave-trade. If such an arrangement were considered practicable, I have no doubt that it would be easy to include the pensions stipulated by the treaty of the 11th of April in the payments charged upon England.
This arrangement would, in consequence of the passion of the English for the abolition of the slave-trade, have certainly the advantage of uniting England closely to our cause in the question of Naples, and of inducing her to second us in every way.
It remains to be seen whether, considering the present state of our colonies, the sacrifices France would make by renouncing the slave-trade for the four years and three months which it has yet to run would be greater than the advantages she would probably derive from the arrangement I have just suggested. I venture to ask your Majesty to have this closely examined into, so as to express your Majesty's intention on the subject to Lord Castlereagh, who will probably not fail to mention it.
I could have wished that the treaty of the 3rd of January, which, when once the Congress is over, will have no further meaning, had been postponed for a longer or shorter period, if only by common consent. Lord Castlereagh finds some difficulty in the way, as he has no confidence in Prince Metternich; but he assures me that, even after the expiration of the treaty, its spirit will survive. Above all things, he is anxious to give no umbrage to the other continental Powers, which does not prevent his desiring that a great intimacy may be established between the two Governments, and that they may continue to concur in peaceful and conservative views. 26 In one word, he left Vienna in a frame of mind which I can only praise, and in which he cannot help being confirmed by all that he will hear from your Majesty's lips.
I see that my letter Is enormously long, and I fear lest your Majesty should consider it too long for what it is worth; but I had rather run the risk of being too diffuse than suppress any details which your Majesty might think necessary.
By the next courier I shall have the honor of enclosing the treaties of the coalition, which I have succeeded in procuring. 27 I would ask your Majesty, after looking through them, to give them to M. de Jaucourt, to be preserved at the Foreign Office.
General Pozzo has again been spoken to about his departure.
I am, etc.
1. "Lord Castlereagh arrived last night in Paris. The King honored his Excellency to-day with a private audience." -- Moniteur Universel, 27th February, 1815.
2. "The portion of the kingdom of Saxony which has been preserved, joined to the ducal territories, will altogether interpose a tract covered by two million inhabitants between the Prussian and Austrian monarchies." -- Talleyrand to the Department, 8th February, 1815.
3. M. Himly says, in his History of the Formation of the States of Central Europe, vol. ii. p. 509, "They wish to make Luxembourg an equivalent for the German patrimonial possessions which have been given up by the line of Nassau-Orange, and to assure their reversion to the line of Nassau-Nassau. This is why it was treated as joined to the kingdom of the Low Countries only by a personal tie, so personal that the King was authorized to transmit it to any one of his sons." 4. The events of 1815 seem to have determined the Powers on establishing an absolute contact between Prussia and France.
5. The question of the retrocession of the provinces of the Inn and Hansruck, of the duchy of Salzburg, and of Berchtolsgaden had been referred to the Congress of Vienna, which did not settle it definitely. By the treaty of Munich, on the 14th of April, 1816, Bavaria accepted the territories which were to be disposed of on the banks of the Rhine as an indemnity. She also refused to give up Berchtolsgaden, which is still in her possession (see Himly, vol. i. p. 461). The principle followed out in these territorial arrangements of Bavaria with Austria had been already mooted in Paris.
6. "The Italian affairs make no progress; they all stop in the bureau of Prince Metternich." -- Letter from the French plenipotentiaries to the Department, 24th January, 1815.
7. The Valtelline (Val Tellina) is a little valley about three thousand three hundred kilomčtres in extent, and containing ninety thousand inhabitants. It is divided by the Adda; its chief town, Sondrio. The Bishops of Coire gave it up to the Grisons in 1530. Spain wanted to take it to establish permanent communications between the Italian possessions and those of the House of Austria in Tyrol, but Richelieu succeeded in driving out the Spanish troops ( 1624). This was one of the most important acts of his glorious administration In 1814 Austria incorporated it in the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom. Since 1859 it has belonged to the kingdom of Italy.
8. The position of the Archduchess Marie Louise was long a cause of anxiety. On the 9th of August, 1814, Talleyrand wrote to Prince Metternich:
"On your last visit to Paris, my dear Prince, you told the King that you did not approve of the visit of the Archduchess Marie Louise to Aix-les-Bains.
"As soon as it appeared that these waters would be of benefit to her, the King shut his eyes to any inconveniences attending this journey, if indeed there were any to be seen. But you, my dear Prince, thought that it might give rise, not to intrigues, but to gossip. You know how they cackle at watering-places; you know how idle people are there, and all the consequences of idleness. Some thoughtless heads have even been known to compromise themselves, and it is this that we must avoid. Joseph Bonaparte, who lives not far from Aix, has committed follies which he would never have thought of in another neighborhood. All this has little importance, and the King attaches none to it, but the rumor of it reaches Paris; it is talked of in every direction, by diplomatists among the rest. People try to impute very secret and grave motives to perfectly simple and natural actions.
"I fancy, my dear Prince, that you will think it advisable, both for you and for us (the Archduchess's cure being now complete), that she should not prolong her stay at Aix. You will not, I am sure, misapprehend the motives which prompt my speaking to you in this way. . . .
" Adieu, dear Prince; preserve a little friendship for me, and believe in my very sincere attachment to you.
" Prince BENEVENTO."
9. The Holy See acquired the marquisate of Provence (Comtat Venaissin) in 1271 by the will of Alfonso, Count of Artois and Toulouse, and in 1848 Avignon was purchased by Pope Clement VI. from Jeanne of Anjou, Queen of Naples and Countess of Provence. During the Revolution it was occupied by the French, and the Comtat and Avignon itself were formally reunited to France. On the 19th of February, 1797, Pope Pius VI. renounced his ancient right to both (Treaty of Tolentino). The Court of Rome, in the name of that very principle of legitimacy, which Talleyrand tried to use as a factor in the affairs of Europe, redemanded Avignon.
10. "By the fifth article in the Treaty of Paris the signatory Powers contracted the engagement to consider at the future Congress the principles on which the navigation of the Rhine should be regulated in the fairest and most favorable manner for the commerce of all nations. The special Commission, charged with this part of the negotiations, has adopted a basis in agreement with the Treaty of Paris, and, among other questions of importance to French commerce, it decided that the tariffs should not be raised, and that the Powers should each receive their share of the funds produced by the octroi in proportion to the distance watered by the river in their respective territories. As only one bank of the river belongs to France, she will share the sum due to her with the opposite bank.
"It was not, however, on this question that we had most difficulty in gaining our point. The right which was disputed to France of sharing in the administration of the octroi, and of sending a French delegate to the Central Committee which will direct this administration, was the object of the most lively discussion. But the firmness and pertinacity which enabled his Majesty's embassy to succeed in still more important affairs have also assured its success on the present occasion. This is the more satisfactory, as the obstacles were more difficult to vanquish; for, besides private interests, it was necessary to overcome the ill will which some of the intervening Powers bore to France in this question." -- Letter to the Department, 3rd March, 1815.
11. Spain and Portugal.
12. The conduct of the English Cabinet, and of its plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna, was at that time the object of the most violent attacks in both Houses of Parliament. In the sitting of the 21st of January Lord Grenville said to the Lords, "England is affording the unique spectacle of a nation which is granting subsidies not only to her allies, in support of her own interests or to attain some great object, but which grants them also to every nation to enable it to uphold against some other nation interests which that other is paid to at- tack. England, since the Treaty of Paris and for a year after the conclusion of the peace, subsidizes every power, whether military or not, on the Continent." * And, in truth, in the supplementary Convention signed ( 29th May, 1814) between Great Britain and Russia, England bound herself to maintain her army on a war footing, not only as long as her own interests required it, but also as long as the negotiations were not terminated between the other Powers, so that the engagement had no limit.
The transfer of Genoa to the King of Sardinia had also raised a very ardent opposition in the House of Commons.
The English Cabinet was reminded that in September, 1806, Austria had declared that the occupation of Genoa by Bonaparte was a sufficient reason for declaring war; that in the month of May, in the same year, Russia had refused to mediate between France and England for the same reason; that at the Peace of Amiens Austria had demanded that the Ligurian Republic should be restored to the independent position it held in 1795; that finally, the Treaty of Chaumont had solemnly declared that a general treaty of peace should be negotiated, and that the rights and liberties of every nation should be established by it, and that by virtue of this treaty Lord William Bentinck had promised independence to Genoa in the proclamation he made on his entry into Italy.
It was in this House of Commons that a member of the Opposition quoted the following principle from Vatel's "Rights of Nations:" "If during a war a nation has been unduly oppressed, the first care of the victorious nation should be, not to change the ruler of that people, but to restore to the oppressed nation its ancient liberties."
14. "A general who is still almost in the service of Murat, whose wife is still at Naples, who is a clever man, and who intends to return to the King's service, unless indeed the freedom with which he answered Marshal Soult does not hang him, called upon me. He even said that Murat had asked him to do so, and he told me that Murat was determined to fight and to die sword in hand, but that he depended on the promises of Austria; that they were of ancient date and had been renewed; that the Allies, in his opinion, were wrong in never having come to an understanding with Murat, for he would have sold himself soul and body, etc., etc., but that to this day he was sure of Austria, the proof of which was that he had not seized the Roman States and set Italy in a blaze." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 14th February, 1815.
15. Treaty between Austria and Naples, concluded on the 11th of January, 1814. Secret Articles signed by Metternich, Campo-Chiaro, and Cariati (see D'Angeberg, p. 81, et seq.).
" PrinceMetternich has all sorts of intrigues with the Queen of Naples. It is certain that he acts in concert with her."
-- Letter from Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 4th January, 1815.
16. Talleyrand forgets that at the time when Metternich negotiated and signed the treaty of the 11th of January, 1814, with Murat, there had not been any question between the Allies of overthrowing Napoleon and the dynasties established under the Empire. Austria would not otherwise have founded and settled this negotiation on the basis of the maintenance of Napoleon's own brother-in-law.
* These are not the exact words of the speech; the French of which this is a translation gives only the substance. -- TRANSLATOR.
16. "The canton of Berne had formerly been so vast and so wealthy, and was so little of either at the present time, that there was both justice and prudence in compensating it. The French Empire, whose remains were used at that time to put everybody in good temper, had left unoccupied some fragments of the territory beyond the Jura. They were Porentruy and the ancient bishopric of Basle. Together they formed an indemnity which was offered at once to Berne and finally accepted."
-- Thiers, "History of the Consulate and the Empire," tom. xviii. p. 305.
17. The eighth article of the treaty was in these words: " PrinceEugčne, Viceroy of Italy, shall be given a suitable establishment out of France."
18. Paul I., after the death of his first wife, a Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, married, on the 18th of October, 1776, the Princess Dorothea Sophia Augusta ( Marie Feodorowna), a rincess of Würtemberg, who was the mother of the Emperors Alexander and Nicholas. She died on the 5th of November, 1828.
19. The Grand-Duchess Anne.
20. " Monsieur wishes you to tell us about the Princesses of Prussia, Saxony, and Portugal, as he wants you to arrange a marriage for him; he has reproached me for forgetting to tell you about, etc. I did not forget, but I trusted to Pozzo and to the compromise which you might arrange with Heaven."-Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 13th February, 1815.
21. At the end of the conference held in Paris on the 10th of April, 1814, between the plenipotentiaries of the Emperor Napoleon and those of the Allies, between Caulaincourt, Metternich, Castlereagh, Hardenberg, Nesselrode, Ney, and Macdonald, the same plenipotentiaries concluded the treaty of the 11th of April, called the Treaty of Fontainebleau, between the Emperor Napoleon, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. It contains the following articles:
"Art. 1. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon renounces for himself, his successors, and descendants, as well as for all the members of his family, all right of sovereignty and dominion, as well as to the French Empire and the kingdom of Italy, as over every other country."
"Art. 3. The isle of Elba, adopted by his Majesty the Emperor Napoleon as the place of his residence, shall form, during his life, a separate principality, which shall be possessed by him, in full sovereignty and property; there shall be besides granted, in full property, to the Emperor Napoleon an annual revenue of two million francs, in rent-charge, in the great book of France, of which one million shall be in reversion for the Empress."
"Art. 4. The duchies of Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla shall be granted, in full property and sovereignty, to her Majesty the Empress Marie Louise; they shall pass to her son, and to the descendants in the right line. The Prince, her son, shall from henceforth take the title of Prince of Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla."
"Art. 6. There shall be reserved in the territories hereby renounced, to his Majesty the Emperor Napoleon, for himself and his family, domains or rentcharges in the great book of France, producing a revenue, clear of all deductions and charges, of two million five hundred thousand francs. These domains and rents shall belong in full property, to be disposed of as they shall think fit, to the Princes and Princesses of his family."
Most of these articles were still unexecuted when Napoleon returned from the island of Elba.
-- D'Angeberg, p. 148, et seq.
It was this violation of the Treaty of Paris of which the Commission of the Presidents of the Conseil d'État complained, when they were called upon for their opinion on the declaration of the 13th of March, 1815, to authorize and legitimatize Napoleon's return from Elba.
22. I must tell you that, according to him [M. d'Osmond, French ambassador at the Court of Sardinia], the distribution of the Bonaparte family all over Italy, at Trieste, Bologna, Parma, Florence, Rome, and Naples, seems inconceivable. . . ." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 11th February, 1815.
23. It is true that the Royal Almanack of 1815 does not mention Murat as King of Naples, but mentions Bernadotte as Prince Royal of Sweden, without omitting his wife, Mademoiselle Joséphine Clary. On his return from the island of Elba Napoleon published, in May, a supplement to the Royal Almanack of 1815, excluding the Bourbons and mentioning Murat, who had already been driven out of his kingdom, as King of Naples.
24. The Emperor of Russia had formally promised us his support. I hear, nevertheless, that his language to those who are around him is not much in harmony with this promise. Not being able, he says, to make the whole of Italy independent, he wishes that there should be a strong power in that country, under the influence neither of France nor of Austria. As this power can only be Naples, it is evident that, in order to attain this object, Naples must not belong to the House of Bourbon. He therefore intends to support Murat."
-- Talleyrand to the Department, 27th February, 1815.
25. Mont de Milan. See note in the Appendix at the end of this volume.
26. "Lord Castlereagh seemed to me to be full of confidence in you and esteem for your character, disposed to concur in your views, and to combat the unfriendly disposition of the two nations by a durable system of peace and alliance. There seem to be the conflicting sentiments of a desire for peace and extreme vanity in the English nation with respect to the Congress."
-- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 4th March, 1815.
27. The treaties of Kalisch, Reichenbach, Teplitz, and Chaumont (see D'Angeberg, vol. i.).
No. 23.
18th February, 1815.
I have received your letter No. 26, and I received it with great satisfaction. I certainly should have preferred that the King of Saxony should have kept all his territories, but I did not hope it, and I consider it as a miracle that, being as little seconded as we were, we have been able to preserve for him all we have done. Another thing on which it gives me great pleasure to express my satisfaction is, that Prussia has obtained neither Luxembourg nor Mayence; such a neighbor would have been dangerous to the future peace of France. Let us, therefore, leave the sword in the scabbard; General Ricard will have taken an unnecessary journey, but one which will have proved to my allies my eagerness to set myself right with them.The Duke of Wellington's conduct at Vienna touches me, but does not astonish me. He is an honorable man. Your reflections on his language are very just.I expect, as you do, difficulties in the affair of Naples, but they must be conquered. Putting aside all sentiment, Murat's position seems to me to become every day more threatening. 1 That of Bernadotte is peculiar, but when once the principle has been conceded the consequences must be admitted.Newspapers are full of the admirable conduct of the Governor of Kcenigstein (whose name escapes my memory at this moment). 2 I should like to make him a commandant of the Legion of Honor: but I wish to know, first, if the facts are true; secondly, if the King of Saxony would approve of my giving this decoration to his officer: and I ask you to obtain information on both points.On which, etc.
1. "Our anxiety respecting Rome is not without grounds, but it seems that the report that Murat was on the march to seize it was untrue. It is very possible that you may have had some share in this plot, but I have too much respect for my minister to venture a too curious glance into his -- shall I dare to call it? -- diplomatic game-bag?"
-- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 8th February, 1815.
"You will see, from Mariotti's despatch, that on the 2nd of March Italy was perfectly tranquil. Nevertheless, the consul, who arrived this morning, assures me that the public mind is stirred up, and carries the desire for independence to the utmost. He does not believe that Murat was in league with Bonaparte in this affair. Murat was still convinced of the hidden protection of the Emperor Alexander and of the certain support of Austria; he was therefore careful not to offend those Powers. But if Bonaparte throws himself with his troops into Milan, if he raises the people, Murat will act with all his might."
-Jancourt to Talleyrand, 8th March, 1815.
2. The name of the Governor of Kćnigstein was Saares de Saar. He refused to yield up the fortress, which was the private property of the King of Saxony, to Prussia.
LETTER LV. No. 28.
Vienna, 20th February, 1815.
I have the honor of sending to your Majesty the papers announced in my last despatch. If they are not a complete collection of the treaties between the Allies, they are at least the most important.They are
1. A convention in the form of a Note exchanged between Austria and Russia, on the 29th of March, 1813, called the Convention of Kalisch.
2. The treaty of peace and alliance between Russia and Prussia. This has often been called the Treaty of Kalisch, because it was negotiated and even minuted down there; but it was signed at Breslau on the 26th of February, 1813.
3. The Treaty of Reichenbach 1 of the 27th of June in the same year, between Austria, Russia, and Prussia.
4. The Treaty of Teplitz 2 of the 9th of September between the same Powers, and the secret articles of this treaty.
5. Finally, the Treaty of Chaumont, 3 which was intended to continue the alliance against France for twenty years after the war, and which it was proposed to renew before the expiration of this term, for the purpose of perpetuating the coalition which has been dissolved by the treaty of the 3rd of January.
It may be agreeable to your Majesty to look over these different papers. In them will be found an explanation of some of the difficulties we have had to struggle against, and the reason for the embarrassment experienced by the Allies themselves, particularly by Austria, for want of having made, when it depended entirely upon her, stipulations which the most ordinary common sense would have shown her to be indispensable.
I entreat your Majesty to be kind enough to give these papers, after reading them, to M. de Jaucourt, to be kept in the archives of the Foreign Office. I have already had the honor of announcing to your Majesty that the Kings of Bavaria and Hanover had acceded to the alliance of the 3rd of January. I intended not to have sent their acts of agreement until I could have sent with them that of Holland, but the latter has not yet been forwarded, and Prince Wrčde is so anxious for me to exchange the ratifications of that of Bavaria, that I have the honor of sending the enclosed at once to your Majesty. I also send duplicates of the acts of acceptance which I have signed. The last two acts are those which ought to be ratified by your Majesty.
I entreat your Majesty to transmit them to M. de Jaucourt, in order that he may, if your Majesty thinks proper, prepare the ratifications.
A courier has just arrived, bringing me the letter with which your Majesty has honored me, dated the 11th of this month. I shall await with lively impatience the one containing the result of Lord Castlereagh's conversations. I should like the article on Naples to be such as I may show to Prince Metternich. It cannot be too explicit.
I am, etc.
1. Prussia and Austria became reconciled at Reichenbach. On the 27th of June, 1813, the convention was signed there between Great Britain and Prussia for defining the nature and extent of the subsidies and mutual assistance they were to afford each other ( D'Angeberg, p. 59).
2. The treaty was signed in the old hotel of Guillaume Rose, now occupied by the mint. By this treaty the allies decided to restrict France to her limits before the Revolution ( D'Angeberg, p. 116).
3. See D'Angeberg, p. 59.
No. 29.
Vienna, 24th February, 1815.
Joachim's minister here has received from his master an already executed Note, with instructions, after communicating the contents to Prince Metternich (which he has done), to address it to me.
The object of this Note is to demand an explanation of the steps I have taken against him, so he expresses himself, at the Congress, and a declaration specifying whether your Majesty considers yourself at peace with him or not.
As Joachim's minister has no doubt that this letter was written, and the order to transmit it to me given, only in consequence of the communication he himself made to Joachim while under the belief that we should not come to an understanding about Saxony and that war was imminent, he therefore thought that now that this supposition is falsified, he could no longer make use of the Note without hurting the interests of his master instead of serving them. He has therefore taken upon himself to suppress it, and it will not be sent to me.
I learnt these details from the Duke of Wellington, with whom I considered what advantages we could derive from Prince Metternich's having been made acquainted with the note.
We agreed to ask Prince Metternich to profit by it by announcing, in a declaration addressed to me as well as the Duke of CampoChiaro, that Austria will not allow any foreign army to pass through her territory; and to support this declaration by recalling the troops which are actually on the frontiers of Poland, and sending them to Italy.
The Duke of Wellington spoke to this effect to Prince Metternich, whom I saw afterwards, and to whom I held similar language.
The result is that this very day the Emperor of Austria has issued orders for a hundred and fifty thousand men to march into Italy, and that the declaration which I mentioned above will be placed in our hands to-morrow.
Austria's chief pretext for adjourning the question of Naples was that she was not ready, and that she feared Murat might excite a revolution in Italy. 1 This objection was not without force, and made an impression on the English and the Russians; but it will be powerless as soon as the Austrians have a considerable army in Italy. We may thank Joachim's Note for this result, which makes me think the incident very useful.
The fact of this Note not having been handed in, because it was ill-timed and opposed to the interest of the writer now that the affairs of Saxony have been arranged, proves that we may congratulate ourselves on their having been settled; and, in fact, Austria would not otherwise have been able to march a considerable force into Italy.
If I can procure a copy of the Note through Prince Metternich, I shall have the honor of sending it to your Majesty.
This being the state of affairs, does not your Majesty think that there might be some advantage in collecting, under some pretext other than the real one, a considerable force in the south of France?
According to all probability, the affairs of Switzerland will be terminated in a few days, with a single exception, that of the Valtelline, which the Powers seem to have resolved to leave in suspense-at any rate, until they have obtained the acquiescence of the cantons to the proposals which will be made; for it has been decided to offer the terms which are considered most expedient to the cantons before taking measures for enforcing them in case of a refusal.
Austria and Bavaria are in negotiation for the retrocession demanded by Austria of the countries occupied by Bavaria, and the compensation to be given to the latter. As the two Powers are far from being agreed, it has been proposed to take France and England as arbitrators. But it seems to me that by leaving the honor of this arbitration to England alone, France would be able to influence the arrangement without committing herself with regard to either of the two Powers, which it is equally her interest to conciliate. Prince Metternich has come to ask me very mysteriously to give him a respite for the affairs of Italy until the 5th or 6th of March, by which period he supposes that I shall have received your Majesty's commands, after Lord Castlereagh's visit. Although I do not quite understand his motive for this demand, it did not seem to me possible to refuse. But, on the other hand, I should see a great objection to Austria arranging everything that concerns her, with the exception of Italy, and that the affairs of that country, which are those which most affect us, should remain exposed to chance, and ourselves to all the impediments which Austria may raise up against us. I-hope, therefore, that the affairs of Bavaria may not be hurried. Therefore, although my impatience to be once more with your Majesty, after such a long absence, did not require to be increased by the ennui which seems to have fallen upon Vienna ever since the opening of the Congress, I find myself obliged to hurry nothing at present, to slacken even, as far as depends upon me, the progress of events, and to wait.I annex to this letter the act of accession of Holland, 2 which has just been signed. I entreat your Majesty to be pleased, after ratifying the act of acceptance, to order it to be returned to me by M. de Jaucourt.
I am, etc.
1. "In a private conversation with M. de Jaucourt, the Marquis of St. Élie -recognized here as the Chamberlain, and virtually, although not recognized in that character, chargé d'affaires of Murat at Paris -- said to him: 'It is a great mistake to suppose that Austria can take an active part against Russia, serve the plans of France, and free Saxony, if the kingdom of Naples is not united with this project. Believe me, Austria knows for certain that Italy is on a volcano, and that nothing but the fidelity of the King of Naples to the mutual engagements which unite the two countries can allow Austria the free disposition of her forces. The duke of Campo-Chiaro has, no doubt, told all this to Prince Talleyrand; but telling and persuading are very different things, and I can once more assure you that the devotion of the King of Naples to the King of France, a devotion which the King can command, can alone be a guarantee for executing the political views of Prince Talleyrand.' "
-- Letter from Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 27th November, 1815.
1. Note of the plenipotentiaries of the Low Countries in reply to the Note addressed to them by the plenipotentiary of Great Britain, innviting the sovereign princes of the Low Countries to accede to the treaty of defensive alliance concluded an the 3rd of January, 1815, between Great Britain, Austria, and France. Vienna 2nd January, 1815 (see D'Angeberg, p. 692).
No. 30. Vienna, 26th Febmary, 1815.
SIRE, I have the honor of sending to your Majesty a copy of Prince Metternich's Declaration mentioned in my last despatch, with the answer I have just written to him.
Your Majesty will see that this answer agrees entirely with the letter I wrote to Lord Castlereagh, in which I told him that we had no intention of passing through Italy in order to put down Murat.
I could have wished Austria to declare herself more explicitly against Murat. But they feared to give him a pretext for hostilities, the Austrians not being ready in Italy. Orders have been given to send troops thither.
They will have one hundred and fifty thousand men there, and another fifty thousand in reserve in Carinthia, which will be enough to keep Murat quiet or baffle his attempts. But as everything is done very slowly here, Prince Schwarzenberg asks for seven weeks to enable all his troops to reach their destination.
The Note which determined their being sent still seems to me to have been a fortunate incident.
I go to-morrow to Presburg to see Madame de Brionne, 1 who received yesterday the last sacraments, and who has sent for me. I shall return on Monday night, and public affairs, which make no progress, will not in any way suffer from these two days' absence.
It is settled that General Pozzo leaves on the 1st or 2nd of March: he will be ten days on his journey.
The Emperor of Russia is very active in the affairs of the Archduchess Marie Louise; he has made a scheme for taking away almost all the Legations from the Pope. This brings him into opposition with the principles agreed on by the plenipotentiaries of the Great Powers. His new scheme has hitherto remained in M. d'Anstett's portfolio.
I am, etc.
1. M. Beugnot says of her in his Memoirs, vol. i. p. 57 ( Paris, 1867), "Madame de Brionne had been one of the most beautiful women of her time. Before the Revolution she was intimate with the Ahbé de Périgord, Bishop of Autun." On the 22nd of March, the day after her death, Talleyrand wrote to M. de Jaucourt:
"Tell Madame de Vaudemont, or get some one to tell her, that Madame de Brionne died yesterday. Her sufferings were terrible during the last days. I regret her deeply. She was one of the supports of my youth; during more than fifteen years she tended me as if I had been her own child. I took the Duke of Wellington to see her; she made herself delightful to him. Good-bye. At our age sorrow and anxiety try us much."
NOTE SUBJOINED TO LETTER LVII (No. 30).
The undersigned, Minister of State and for Foreign Affairs of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, is commanded to address the following official communication to his Highness Prince Talleyrand.
During the course of the negotiations at Vienna between the plenipotentiaries of the Powers who signed the Treaty of Paris, the undersigned has never ceased affording, in the name of his august master, the Emperor, proofs of his Imperial Majesty's desire to obtain for Italy a condition of peace and security which is directly bound up with that of Europe and his Empire.
The tension still subsisting between the Courts of France and Naples has all the more attracted the Emperor's attention, as, at the present moment, large bodies of troops are occupying the frontiers of the kingdom of Naples, and equal numbers are concentrated in the south of France.
Although far from attributing hostile intentions that might compromise the peace of Italy, and consequently that of an important portion of the Austrian monarchy, to either of these Powers, the Emperor-King has thought it well to renew the declaration that the undersigned found it necessary to make in one of the first conferences, of his Majesty's firm determination never to permit the peace of his provinces, or of those governed by princes of his house, to be troubled by the entrance of foreign troops into Italy; the Emperor being obliged to consider all views or measures contrary to this determination as directed against his interests, and consequently against himself.
The undersigned, while informing Prince Talleyrand that he is addressing a similar Declaration with the same objects to the Court of Naples, entreats his Highness to accept the assurance of his deep respect.
(Signed) PRINCE METTERNICH
Vienna, 25th February, 1815.
The undersigned, Ambassador of his Majesty the King of France and Navarre to the Congress, and Minister and Secretary of State in the Department of Foreign Affairs, has received the declaration which his Highness Prince Metternich has done him the honor of addressing to him, dated to-day.
If circumstances should exact that, in defence of the principles constantly professed at the Congrcss of Vienna by the ambassador of his Most Christian Majesty relating to Naples, French troops should be obliged to advance, those troops would not march through the Austrian provinces in Italy, nor through those which are governed by the princes of the House of Austria. It has never entered into the mind of his Most Christian Majesty to undertake anything which could disturb or compromise the peace of those provinces, a peace in the maintenance and consolidation of which he takes, on the contrary, the most lively interest.
The undersigned hastens to transmit this assurance to his Highness Prince Metternich, and at the same time renews the assurance of his deep respect.
(Signed) PRINCE BENEVENTO.
Vienna, 25th February, 1815.
THE KING TO PRINCE TALLEYRAND. No. 24.
Paris, 3rd March, 1815.
I have received your Nos. 27 and 28. I did not write to you last week, first, because I was expecting Lord Castlereagh every minute, and also because I had (as is usual with me in the beginning of a fit of the gout) a good deal of fever, which is not very favorable to dictation. Lord Castlereagh arrived on Sunday evening. I saw him on Monday and Tuesday. I found him very sound in principle on the Naples question, but rather overscrupulous in his official capacity, and always very partial to the Cabinet of Vienna. After repeating to me all that, as you told me, he said to Prince Metternich, he came to certain proposals on which he was at one mind with Prince Metternich. Their substance is that the Court of Vienna asks for nothing better than to co-operate in the expulsion of Murat; "but," he said, "while yielding in the south of Italy, she expects the same compliance from us with regard to the north, and she wishes Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla to belong to the Archduchess Marie Louise, and that the three Courts of the House of Bourbon should undertake to indemnify the Queen of Etruria." 1 I replied that the State of Parma was an hereditary succession brought into my family by the Queen Elizabeth Farnese, 2 and had nothing in common with France, Spain, and the kingdom of Naples, and that, setting aside family interests, justice alone forbade me to allow a branch of my family to be dispossessed; that, nevertheless, if Austria insisted upon the executioa of the convention of the 11th of April, with regard to the Archduchess Marie Louise, I would consent to the Queen of Etruria, or rather her son, receiving Lucca and the State of Presidi in exchange, provided that the sovereignty of Parma was recognized as her property, to revert to her on the death of the Archduchess, at which time Lucca and the State of Presidi should be reunited to Tuscany. He did not seem at all averse to this arrangement, which, however, concerns Austria more than England.
I saw yesterday Baron de Vincent, who had a direct and secret mission to me. He gave me a confidential Note, of which the principal article, with regard to which, he said, his instructions were very precise and very inflexible, was the one relating to Parma that I have just mentioned to you. I answered by a counter-proposal to the same effect as my reply to Lord Castlereagh. We separated, each holding our ground, but I think it will not be difficult to arrange the affair. He said that after this first overture addressed personally to me, Prince Metternich wished the negotiations to be carried on at Vienna, but directly between you and him, without admitting any other member of the diplomatic body. As I saw no objection I promised that it should be so managed.I will send you a copy of the documents I have mentioned, with a few notes of instructions, by the next courier.I add a line to say that your conversation with the Emperor of Russia interested me very much, although I thought that on his side it was very vague and shallow. I am perfectly satisfied with the manner in which you answered him.What I must not forget to tell you is that Lord Castlereagh -- who pressed me very closely,
1. on the article in the treaty securing the payment of the British claims;
2. on the execution of the conventions of the 11th of April, relating to the Bonaparte family (a subject to which I shall recur in my next letters) -- did not say one word about the slave-trade.My gout is going on well, and I have reason to think this attack will not be as long as usual.
On which, etc.
P. S. I have this instant received your No. 29. I agree with you in thinking the incident of Murat's undelivered Note very favorable to us. You will find in this letter (and you will have further details in the next) the key to Prince Metternich's mysterious request.
1. The Queen of Etruria had an agent at Vienna, M. Goupil.
2. Parma was given by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ( 1748) to Don Philip, second son of Philip V. and Elizabeth Farnese, and ancestor of the Bourbons of Parma.
No. 31.
Vienna, 3rd March, 1815.
The Duke of Saxe-Tetschen, who went to meet the King of Saxony at Brünn, came back here this morning. The King will stop to-day at two stages from Vienna, and will go to await at Presburg the departure of the two northern sovereigns, who would certainly be much embarrassed by his presence here, and whom he probably does not care to meet. It was thought that he would be too far off at Brünn, and there was no suitable residence to offer him between Brünn and Vienna; for which reasons Presburg was chosen, in spite of the objections I had the honor of mentioning to your Majesty in one of my preceding letters.
The Emperor of Russia talks of his departure; preparations are even being made for it. At first it was said to be fixed for the 14th of this month, then for the 17th; and now they speak of the 20th. The Emperor has promised to be at home for the Russian Easter, 1 and I think this is the only one out of his many promises that he will keep, because it would be personally inconvenient to him to break it. When he is gone the other sovereigns will not stay. The Emperor of Austria, on his side, has long meditated a visit to his Italian provinces, and he would not like to put it off later than the month of April. This desire on the part of every one to go away will expedite the conclusion of affairs.
In accordance with my promise to Prince Metternich, I allow the Italian question to sleep, until I have news of Lord Castlereagh's visit to Paris and arrival in London.
Austria and Bavaria are agreed, with one exception, that of Salzburg, of which Austria wants to have the whole, and Bavaria to keep a portion. I exhorted the two negotiators severally to try to come to an understanding, in order to give Russia and Prussia no loophole for intervention, which would be inevitable if they could not come to an agreement. I think my advice will not be without effect, and I gave it to escape the necessity of pronouncing in favor of either, which could not possibly have been done without offending the other, while it is almost equally essential for us to keep well with both.
The affairs of Switzerland are, or will soon be, ready to be car- ried from the Commission which has been preparing them, to the conference in which they will be settled. There is no longer any question of keeping Porentruy in reserve. It will be ceded, as we wished, with the rest of the bishopric of Basle, to the canton of Berne. The fate of the Valtelline alone will remain in suspense until the affairs of Italy are settled; even the Russians agree to this.
The philosopher La Harpe, who thinks he can never do enough harm to the Bernese, took it into his head to prevent Berne 2 from becoming one of the sovereign cantons, and he inspired his illustrious pupil with this mad idea. Consequently, a Russian minister went to one of the ministers of Ferdinand IV., whom he did not know, and said to him, "Try to obtain the consent of France to the exclusion of Berne from the number of sovereign cantons, and the Emperor Alexander, who is exceedingly anxious for the concession of this point, will be very favorable to you." The same minister went on the same day to Prince Metternich, to whom he said, "The Emperor Alexander has not yet made up his mind respecting Murat; he will help you to support him according your wishes, if you will contribute to excluding Berne from the number of governing cantons." Prince Metternich replied that what he asked was not feasible; I had, on my side, rejected the proposal at the very first word. The Russians have in consequence relinquished their scheme, and derived from their attempt only the shame belonging to such gross duplicity, which they probably think an instance of the most delicate and admirable diplomacy.
At the outset, when the Emperor Alexander asked for the greater part of the duchy of Warsaw, 3 it was, he said, to form into a kingdom with which to console the Poles by this shadow of their old political existence, and to diminish, as much as possible, the outrage to morality caused by the partition. 4 He afterwards abandoned this idea, but he announced that he would give a special constitution to that part of the duchy which would fall to his share, and now he hesitates even on this point. Prince Adam Czartoryski, whose penetration is far from equalling his honesty, begins to suspect that he was amused by a chimerical hope, and he complains of it. It is probable that the Emperor will escape from his difficulty with the Poles by staying only a very short time at Warsaw, and with Prince Czartoryski by taking leave of him coldly and refusing all explanations with him.
Your Majesty may judge of the regret which the Emperor will leave behind him here by what has happened during the last few days.
In the perplexity of finding some way of passing the time now that we no longer dance, and to divert the ennui which consumes us all, we have recourse to all sorts of games and amusements. One that has become the fashion in several houses is to establish lotteries. Each person belonging to the society brings a prize; in this way every one contributes, and every one wins. On the day before yesterday there was a lottery of this kind at the Princess Marie Esterhazy's; she wished, and her conduct in this respect was severely criticised, to contrive that, by special management, the four chief prizes should fall to the lot of the ladies especially distinguished by the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia, who were both present. But this combination was upset by the young Countess Metternich, 5 the minister's daughter, who went to the basket which held the tickets, and took one out of her turn. Her ticket proved to give her the claim to the most magnificent prize, which the Emperor of Russia had himself brought. The Emperor could not conceal his annoyance, and all present were much amused by it. (Your Majesty will remember that the Emperor latterly gave up going to Prince Metternich's balls, and did not speak to him when they met in other places.)
Everything turned out ill for the Emperor that evening. A prize which had been brought by the young Princess of Aversberg, for whom the Emperor seems to have a preference, was gained by an aide-de-camp of the King of Prussia. The Emperor proposed an exchage; the aide-de-camp refused. The Emperor insisted -- he even hinted that the prize was intended for him; the aide-de-camp replied that it was too precious then to be parted with. This delighted everybody, so much so that the Emperor begins to think that the parties at Vienna are no longer in such good taste as they were when he first came.
I have just received the roll of the troops which are marching towards Italy. There are one hundred and twenty battalions and eighty-four squadrons, all complete, and forming a hundred and twenty-nine thousand infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry. The generals in command are Bianchi, Radetsky, Frimont, and Jérôme Colloredo. There is besides a reserve of fifty thousand men in Carinthia, Styria, etc.
General Pozzo is expecting a last despatch from the Emperor before he goes.
I am, etc.
1. The Russian Easter in 1815 fell on the 30th of April.
2. This Directory, as is well known, was composed of Berne, Zurich, and Lucerne.
3. "We have been told in the most positive manner that Russia abandons none of her pretensions to Poland; she declares that the whole of Warsaw is occupied by two armies, and that she would have to be driven out of it. . . . Prussia has given up to Russia what she calls her rights upon the country, and is seeking for an indemnity in the kingdom of Saxony."
-- Letter from Talleyrand to Jaucourt, 29th September, 1814.
4. In 1830 Prince Talleyrand wrote from London: "The events which have taken place in Poland remind me of what, when I was still very young, I and all France felt on the occasion of the partition. It is impossible to forget the impression it made in the last century; the political honor of France was tarnished by it, and neither the Duc d'Aiguillon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, nor the Cardinal de Rohan, ambassador at Vienna, ever overcame the shame of having taken no notice of the negotiations which preceded this great act of injustice and spoliation. Later on, a most favorable occasion presented itself for restoring the kingdom of Poland; the Emperor Napoleon might have restored its independence, which was so important to the balance of power in Europe, but he would not. . . .
"In 1814 the chances of war brought us to the point of being unable to think of anything but our own existence, and we were obliged to be silent when the servitude of Poland was consummated."
5. This lady was Metternich's eldest daughter, by his marriage with Marie Eleonore de Kaunitz. Countess Marie Léopoldine was born on the 17th of January, 1797; she married Count Joseph Esterhazy in 1817. On the 2nd of April, 1811, Talleyrand wrote to Metternich: "Be so good as to present my compliments to Madame de Metternich and your divine Marie."
Instructions addressed by the King to Prince Talleyrand.
Paris, 5th March, 1815.
Prince Talleyrand is to make every effort to hasten the conclusion of a second treaty between France, England, and Austria, in conformity with the principles adopted in the Memorandum No. 1 presented by Lord Castlereagh, and with the propositions contained in the counter-project No. 2.
The points on which it is most necessary for the prince to insist are --
1. The settlement of an early period for executing the plan agreed upon. It seems that on this point there will be no obstacle in the way.
2. The recognition of the hereditary rights of the Infante Charles Louis to the sovereignty of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla, while adopting for the Archduchess Marie Louise the temporary arrangements mentioned in the counter-project. It is probable that the cession of the Presidi will be the principal difficulty raised by Austria. In this case Prince Talleyrand must try to obtain for the Infante and his mother, the Queen, an equivalent, in which the possession of Lucca and its territory shall be included, under the condition of its reversion to Tuscany.
None of the other articles of the proposed treaty seem open to discussion. The reunion of the Valtelline to the Milanese was already considered as almost inevitable, and, consequently, all that can be done is to treat it as a very important concession on the part of France.
With regard to the Austrian acceptances, 1 Prince Talleyrand is authorized to pledge himself to the extent of twenty millions, the amount defined in the offers which England may make with regard to the same object, and on the advances in kind which may be agreed upon. Prince Talleyrand will treat directly with Prince Metternich and the Duke of Wellington on all these points, not admitting any member of the French Legation to join in the negotiations, and he will carefully set aside every proposal differing from the bases already established in the project and counter-project, by which bases he is to be guided, as well as by the present instructions.
(Signed) LOUIS.
1. "The Austrian funds are falling rapidly. According to the opinion of business men, they cannot fail to go on falling day by day. The last quotation was three hundred. To illustrate the state of the public funds in Austria a man who in 1811 (when by a royal decree paper suffered a reduction of fourfifths) had fifteen hundred francs, saw them diminished to three hundred; and nowadays those three hundred francs would not be equivalent to a hundred francs. Therefore the public has lost since that period fourteen-fifteenths of its revenue, or 93 to 94 per cent." -- La Tour du Pin to the Department, 30th January, 1815.
No. 25. 7th March, 1815.
I have received your No. 30. I think that Prince Metternich's declaration, which would not satisfy me under any other circumstances, is explained by what I told you the other day, and by the papers I annex. The instructions show you my wishes so clearly that it would be superfluous to add anything to them here.I intended to-day to have once more gone over with you the convention of the 11th of April last. Bonaparte saves me the trouble. Before you receive this letter you will no doubt have heard of his audacious enterprise. 1 I took at once the measures which I judged most calculated to make him repent of it, and I am confident of their success. 2 This morning I received the ambassadors, 3 and addressing them altogether, I asked them to tell their Courts that they had found me not in the least uneasy in consequence of the news I had received, and firmly persuaded that the tranquillity of Europe would no more be disturbed by it than I was myself.My gout has made considerable progress for the better since the other day.
On which, etc.
1. The Moniteur of March 8th announced the landing of Napoleon at St. Juan on March 1st.
2. "I proposed to the King: 1st. To send off a courier as soon as the news arrived; he wished to delay. 2nd. To address a circular to the ambassadors and ministers. I send you a copy; it has been sent with the Moniteur. 3rd. I proposed to the King to inform you of his intention to proclaim Bonaparteout of the pale of the International Code of Europe, and to instruct you to propose this to the Congress. Yesterday evening he told me of his letter to you of this morning; I took the liberty of asking him if he had spoken of my proposal to you. We were alone, and he said, 'No, but I desire you to mention it to him. The consequence of this measure would be to obtain the consent of those sovereigns who are not at the Congress. "We gained an immense victory by persuading the King to convoke the Chambers. I believe that even if events should prove favorable to us and against Bonaparte, there might be enormous difficulties in the way of the Government. The proclamation and coronation will cause constitutional monarchy to be adopted into the heart and language of the whole nation. The Chancellor, M. de Blacas (who at first had favored it), and especially the Marshal, were against us; we declared that we should consider the public safety endangered without this measure. The King made up his mind to it.
"An address to the King will be proposed to-morrow to the Peers and Chamber of Deputies. The session will open naturally and simply.
"Marshal Soult lost (I think on purpose) twenty-four hours in sending Marshal St. Cyr. The latter left his château in an hour, and two hours after his arrival in Paris was on his way to Lyons. He will find, and this is what Soult wanted, all preparations made, and the generals already stirring at Lyons. I cannot hell) thinking that the object was to give a personal success to Monsieur, and to give it to him with the assistance of a few persons, without any constitutional aid; but our firmness has baffled these petty and very dangerous calculations." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 8th March, 1815.
2. The ambassadors and chargés d'affaires accredited to the court of Louis XVIII. were:
Baron Vincent (Austria).
Mr. Crawford (United States).
Baron Woltersdorf (Denmark).
Count Peralada (Spain).
The Duke of Wellington (England).
Baron Ompteda, (Hanover).
General de Fagel (Low Countries).
Marquis Marialva (Portugal).
Count Goltz (Prussia).
General Count Pozzo di Borgo (Russia).
Marquis Alfieri Sostigno (Sardinia).
M. de Signeul (Sweden).
Count Zeppelin (Würtemberg).
No. 32.
Vienna, 7th March, 1815.
I believe that your Majesty must know already, or will have heard before the arrival of this letter, that Bonaparte has left Elba, but in any case I hasten to inform your Majesty. I learned it first from a note of Prince Metternich, 1 to whom I replied that I saw, from the date, that Bonaparte's escape was connected with Murat's asking Austria to permit his troops to pass through her provinces. The Duke of Wellington showed me afterwards a despatch from Lord Burghersh, of which I have the honor of enclosing a translation, as well as of an extract from a letter of the vice-consul of Ancona, 2 also communicated to me by the Duke of Wellington.
It was at nine o'clock in the evening of the 26th that Bonaparte embarked from Porto Ferrajo. He took with him about twelve hundred men, ten pieces of cannon, of which six were field-pieces, some horses, and provisions for five or six days. The English, whose duty it was to watch his movements, were guilty of a negligence which they will find it difficult to excuse. 3 The direction he has taken -- that of the north -- seems to indicate that he is directing his steps towards Genoa or the south of France. I cannot believe that he would dare to make any attempt upon our southern provinces. He could not venture to do this unless he had confederates there, which we can hardly suppose possible. It is, however, equally necessary to take precautions in that quarter, and to send thither chosen and perfectly safe troops. For the rest, any attempt of his on France would be the act of a brigand, and it is thus that he ought to be treated, and every measure lawful against brigands ought to be employed against him.
It seems to me much more likely that he will choose the north of Italy as his field of operations. The Duke of Wellington tells me that there are at Gcnoa two thousand English and three thousand Italian troops, who fought in Spain, and who have entered the service of the King of Sardinia. He has no doubt but that these troops, which he says are excellent, will do their duty. The King of Sardinia is at this moment at Genoa, and must have his guards with him. There are also three English frigates in the harbor. If, therefore, Bonaparte made a descent upon Genoa with his twelve hundred men, he would fail. But it is to be feared that he will cross over the mountains towards Parma and Lombardy, and that his presence may be the signal for an insurrection which has been long prepared, to which the bad conduct of Austria and the false policy of her Cabinet have been only too favorable -- an insurrection which, if supported by the troops of Murat, with whom Bonaparte is probably in league, will set all Italy in a blaze. Both Prince Schwarzenberg and Prince Metternich have told me that if Bonaparte appeared in the north of Italy, they would be greatly embarrassed, because they are not yet ready for him. Last night express messengers were sent to all the corps intended for Italy, with orders to hurry their departure; but, however much haste they make, they will take a full month to reach their destination, and in a month much may take place. It seems that Prince Schwarzenberg will be ordered to repair himself to Italy.
In any case your Majesty will certainly think it necessary to assemble sufficient forces in the south, to be ready to act according to circumstances.
The consequences of this event cannot yet be foreseen, but they may be fortunate if we know how to turn them to account. I will do all in my power to keep people here from going to sleep, and to induce the Congress to depose Bonaparte from a rank which, by an inconceivable weakness, he has been suffered to preserve, and to render him at length incapable of preparing fresh disasters in Europe.We have been deliberating on the manner of acquainting the King of Saxony with the cessions which the Powers have decided on his making to Prussia, and for which his consent is necessary. We have determined to extract from the general protocol the articles containing the cessions, and to make them into a private protocol, which, to show greater respect, will be delivered to the King by the Duke of Wellington, Prince Metternich, and myself. We shall all three go to Presburg for this purpose on the day after to-morrow. Any resistance on the part of the King of Saxony would be useless for him and very annoying for every one else, especially at a time when it is imperative to unite all minds and all opinions against the attempts of the man of Elba. We shall do, therefore, all that is requisite for inducing the King of Saxony to submit with a good grace to what this juncture renders necessary.We have come to an agreement on the affairs of Switzerland. The Russians, forced to give up the idea of excluding Berne from the number of directing cantons, have asked that it may be at any rate advised to modify its constitution by introducing partially the representative principle. All the Powers joined in this demand, which is in harmony with modern ideas, and France was not able to refuse, as the letters of MM. de Watteville and de Mullinen showed that this refusal would entail no serious difficulties on Berne; and the Bernese envoy, M. de Zerleder, is of the same opinion.
I am, etc.
1. "When the ministers came to me they were still ignorant of the event. Talleyrand entered first. I made him read the despatch I had received from Genoa. He did not change countenance, and we held the following laconic conversation: " Talleyrand. Do you know whither Napoleon is going?
"I. The report says nothing.
" Talleyrand. He will land somewhere on the coast of Italy, and throw himself into Switzerland.
"I He will go straight to Paris." -- Momoirs of Metternich, vol. i. p. 206.
2. M. Dumorey.
3. In the sitting of the House of Commons of the 7th of April the English minister said --
"We have been asked why Bonaparte was not watched more closely in the island of Elba.
"The reason was that Bonaparte was not there in the character of a prisoner. That island was assigned to him as a sovereignty." (See Hansard.)
Article 3 of the Treaty of Paris of the 11th of April, 1814, was in these words: "The island of Elba, adopted by his Majesty Napoleon I. as his place of residence, shall form, during his life, a separate principality, which shall be possessed by him in full sovereignty and property." (See d'Angeberg, p. 148.)
Article 17 of the treaty ran thus:
"The Emperor shall be allowed to take with him and retain as his guard four hundred men, volunteers, as well officers as sub-otheers and soldiers." -- From the Annual Register for 1814.
No. 32 (A).
Vienna, 7th March, 1815.
General Ricard is returning to Paris, in consequence of the orders he has received from the Minister of War, in case his presence here should no longer necessary. His journey hither has not attained the object for which it was undertaken, and this cannot be a subject for any regret; but it has been useful in many other respects. General Ricard has been presented to the sovereigns; he has seen the principal ministers at the Congress; many questions have been asked him, and his answers, and in general his language and his behavior, have given a just and favorable idea of the situation of France, and particularly of the army. I beg your Majesty to express your satisfaction to him on this subject.
I am, etc.
No. 33.
Vienna, 12th March, 1815.
I have received the letter with which your Majesty has honored me, dated the 3rd of this month. I am waiting for the one which your Majesty is pleased to announce to me, as well as for the instructions relating to the affairs of Parma, to open this matter to Prince Metternich, who has already asked me if I were not yet ready to treat it. The mystery with which he tries to surround it, the overtures which he made, unknown to me, to your Majesty, his wish to settle it with me alone, are in consequence of his being as well aware as any one else of the objections to be made to his scheme. By agreeing to it your Majesty will certainly be making a sacrifice, and one which, in my opinion, may not be without serious consequences. I own, however, that I shall not think it too great if Austria, in return, co-operates loyally with us against Murat, and if Prince Metternich is faithful to his offers and promises.
The Duke of Wellington, Prince Metternich, and I started for Presburg on Wednesday evening, and arrived there at 4 a.m. At noon the King of Saxony received us all three, took the protocol Prince Metternich presented, and handed it without opening it to his Minister, who was present, telling us that he would take cognizance of its contents; and drawing nearer to us, he addressed us in very polite terms, but very coldly. At one o'clock we had the honor of dining with him and the Queen. In the evening he received us each separately -- Prince Metternich at four, me at five, and the Duke of Wellington at six. He expressed his gratitude to your Majesty several times over. On the next day we all three had a very long conference with his minister, Count Einsiedel, who does not understand French well, and who speaks it even worse. In this conversation we exhausted all the means which ought to induce the King to make the concessions agreed upon by the Powers in favor of Prussia. The King and his ministers brought forward nothing but objections. They seemed to nourish a hope that the terms which have been agreed upon were still open to negotiation. As this hope was renewed in the Note addressed to us by the King's minister on Saturday, we thought it necessary to destroy it by a positive declaration in the answer we gave him just as we were leaving Presburg. I have the honor of annexing copies of these two documents. 1
When we delivered our account of our mission at the conference of the five Powers, the Russians demanded that the part of Saxony which has been accorded to them might at once pass from under martial law to ordinary civil rule, and that the other portion might for the present remain under martial law.
This demand, which it would be difficult to refuse, will probably decide 2 the consent of the King of Saxony, who, according to the information which we have obtained, wishes to consent, but at the same time wants to appear in the eyes of his people to have yielded to extreme and invincible necessity.
When we were at Presburg the news reached us that Bonaparte, repulsed by the guns from Antibes, which he had summoned to surrender, had landed in the Bay of St. Juan; these are the last tidings we have received of him. It was supposed that he had no confederates either at Marseilles or Toulon, as he did not present himself there, nor at Antibes, which has repulsed him. These reflections seem reassuring. But the Powers have nevertheless thought it right to set on foot preparations enabling them to offer assistance to your Majesty, if it should be necessary. The English, Prussian, and Austrian troops in the neighborhood of the Rhine have been ordered to concentrate and to hold themselves in readiness. The Emperor of Russia has ordered the Russian troops which had returned to the Vistula, and to draw near to the Elde and the Oder.
So long as no one knew whither Bonaparte was going, or what were his intentions, no declaration against him could be made. We tried to get one adopted as soon as we knew. The draft has been prepared by the French Legation and communicated to the Duke of Wellington and Prince Metternich. It will be read tomorrow in the committee of the eight signatory Powers of the Treaty of Paris, and it will probably undergo some alterations. When it has been adopted, I shall have the honor of transmitting it to your Majesty by a courier, who will leave a copy with the Prefect of Strasbourg, whom I shall ask to have it printed and distributed in his and the neighboring department. I shall do the same with Metz and Châlons. I shall desire M. de Saint-Marsan to take similar means for distributing it in Nice, Savoy, and Dauphiny.
The Emperor of Russia, who, on the whole, has behaved very well at this juncture, is sending off General Pozzo, 3 and will entrust him with a letter for your Majesty, to whom he offers his whole army. It would be sad if France were obliged to accept this offer, which must not be positively refused, but which your Majesty will assuredly not think of accepting except in an extreme case, and one which I hope will not occur.
I have no doubt that your Majesty has ordered troops to be sent to the south. If I ventured to offer an opinion as to the general whom it would be most advisable to set over them, I should men- tion Marshal Macdonald, as a man of honor, who can be trusted, and who possesses the confidence of the army; and likewise, because, as he signed the treaty of the 11th of April on Bonaparte's side, his example will have all the more weight when he marches against him.I have seen a list of the generals appointed to command the thirty thousand men whom your Majesty has ordered to be assembled between Lyons and Chambéry. The names of several of them are unknown to me; but there are some among them in whom I can have no confidence, among others General Maurice Matthieu, who, I believe, was the devoted servant of Joseph Bonaparte.The presence of the latter in the Pays de Vaud cannot fail to be dangerous at the present moment. I shall try to induce Russia, England, and Austria, who have influence over that canton, to ask that he may be sent away. 4 The Emperor of Russia, to do him justice, has already, without prompting, ordered the new cantons 5 to be written to in the way that we wish. I have mentioned this to M. Auguste de Talleyrand, 6 and advised him to come to an understanding with the Russian chargé d'affaires, Baron Krüdener.This in other respects very disagreeable event of Bonaparte's appearance in France will have at least one advantage, that it will hasten the conclusion of affairs. It has doubled the diligence and the zeal of every one. The committee for drawing up the treaty will set to work actively. The end of our stay here may therefore be several weeks nearer. 7 I am, etc.
1. See D'Angeberg, p. 908, 909.
2. The King of Saxony did not give his adhesion to the treaty until the 20th of May, 1815. From the date of the provisional establishment of a Russian administration he refused the subsidy which had previously been assigned to him. 3. "We want General Pozzo. Send him to us; he may be of use to us, and I think that M. Butiakine is very anxious to have him." -- Jaucourt to Talleyrand, 8th March, 1815.
4. "I had the honor yesterday of writing to you that I had asked Prince Metternich and Count Nesselrode to take measures for obliging Joseph Bonaparte to leave the Pays de Vaud, and to keep at a distance from the French frontier. They hastened to take these steps, and Austrian and Russian officers have already been sent to Switzerland for this purpose, and have even been desired to take Joseph Bonaparte to Grätz as soon as the canton of Vaud shall have compiled with this request." -- Talleyrand to the Department, 4th March, 1815.
A letter from Jaucourt to Talleyrand, dated the 18th of October, 1814, says, " M. Dessoles has shown the King a letter from Joseph Bonaparte, who submits, if the order is peremptory, to going away, but only for a time and without selling his property. An answer to this effect was approved by the King and despatched by Dessolles."
2. The new Swiss cantons in 1814 were the Valas, Neufchâtel, and Geneva.
3. M. de Jaucourt writes of him on the 8th of December, 1814: "Old as I am, I still love danger; but I have a sovereign contempt for worry; all fidgety people are intolerable to me. I hope I shall not offend you by saying that Count Auguste de Talleyrand is one."
"Things here are in such a state that I think we shall finish them towards the end of the month, although there are several matters which have not yet been settled. The King of Saxony has not yet accepted the arrangement by which a large portion of his dominions will be given to Russia, but I think that he will accede to it. The subjects under discussion between Austria and Bavaria have not yet been arranged, but we have the materials for settling them, and the end is approaching. The Italian question has not yet been attacked. I do not think, however, that it presents any very great difficulties. I wish you could have been here last night and have seen Labrador conferring with the plenipotentiaries. He is a perfect representative of Spain, and the portrait you drew of him was excellent.
"You must have heard of Bonaparte's escape from Elba and landing in France, near Antibes. We are going to issue here a proclamation, of which I will send you a copy if I can get one before I close my letter. If we find that the King of France is not able to make an end of him alone, we shall set in motion all the armies of Europe. Every one is very zealous and profuse in offers; and I think that even if Bonaparte should succeed in re-establishing himself in France, the forces directed against him, as well as the influence of opinion, would be so considerable that we should certainly succeed in overthrowing him. "I am, dear Henry,
"Yours most affectionately,
" Vienna, 12th March, 1815.
This letter is addressed to the Marquis of Wellesley, British Minister at Madrid. (N.B. -- I have not had the opportunity of collating the above with the original English. -- TRANSLATOR.)
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