Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna (59 page)

N
OTES AND
S
OURCES

For historians and enthusiasts alike, there is a wonderful collection of primary sources about the Congress of Vienna. First, there are the protocols, memoranda, treaties, minutes of meetings, and other documents of the conference itself, published by E. J. B. Chodzko, the Comte d’Angeberg,
Le Congrès de Vienne et les traités de 1815
, I–IV (1864), as well as in older editions such as Johann Ludwig Klüber’s
Acten des Wiener Congresses in den Jahren 1814 und 1815,
I–IX (1815–1835). The notes and drafts for many of these records are housed at Vienna’s Haus-, Hof-und Staatsarchiv St. K. Kongressakten Kart.1-16.

Many leading diplomats and foreign ministers also wrote memoirs, reminiscences, or other reflections on their experience at Vienna, including Metternich’s
Aus Metternich’s nachgelassenen Papieren
, edited by his son, Prince Richard Metternich (1880–1884), especially vols. I–II, and Talleyrand’s
Mémories Complets et Authentiques de Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, 1754–1815,
vols. II and III. Both memoirs, originally published posthumously in the late nineteenth century, have been heavily edited for posterity. These valuable though one-sided accounts can be supplemented by many other sources. Talleyrand’s letters to King Louis XVIII during the Vienna Congress,
Correspondance inédite du Prince de Talleyrand et du roi Louis XVIII pendant le Congrès de Vienne,
ed. G. Pallain (1881), is indispensable, as is his correspondence with the acting foreign ministry in Paris, Arnail-François de Jaucourt,
Correspondance du Comte du Jaucourt avec le Prince de Talleyrand pendant le Congrès de Vienne
(1905), which includes some letters that do not appear in the official correspondence of the French embassy in Vienna with the Foreign Ministry in Paris, published in his memoirs.

Essential, too, are Talleyrand’s letters to the Duchess of Courland, published in
Talleyrand Intime, d’après sa correspondance inédite avec la duchesse de Courlande
(1891), and Gaston Palewski, ed.,
Le Miroir de Talleyrand: Lettres inédites à la duchesse de Courlande pendant le Congrès de Vienne
(1976). One helpful source that has not been fully used is an early history of the congress, penned actually by one of Talleyrand’s friends, Abbé de Pradt, and published already in 1815:
Congrès de Vienne,
I–II. Another interesting early chronicle that deserves more attention is from Gaëtan de Raxis de Flassan, a historian who attended the Vienna Congress with the hope of writing its history, which he did in his
Histoire du Congrès de Vienne
(1829). See also the second volume of
Mein Antheil an der Politik,
which was written by a delegate who represented Holland and Nassau, Hans Christoph Gagern,
Nach Napoleons Fall: Der Congress zu Wien
(1826).

Some 616 new letters from Metternich to the Duchess of Sagan between 1812 and 1818 have been made available, thanks to the Czech scholar Maria Ullrichová’s discovery in 1949, and her publication of the correspondence during the end of the war and the peace conference,
Clemens Metternich—Wilhelmine von Sagan: Ein Briefwechsel, 1813–1815
(1966). Some of Metternich’s later correspondence also makes occasional reference to the people or events of our period—for example, with Dorothea de Lieven:
The Private Letters of Princess Lieven to Prince Metternich, 1820–1826.
Among the many other sources, there is another one, almost never used in writing the history of the congress: a memoir of the Vienna Congress from one of Metternich’s assistants, Baron Binder, unpublished, and housed in Vienna’s Haus-, Hof-und Staats Archiv St. K. Kongressakten Kart. 16.

Another one of Metternich’s assistants, Friedrich von Gentz, who had been named secretary of the Vienna Congress, had allegedly written a history of the conference, but seeing how critical the manuscript had become, he later destroyed it. This was unfortunate, because Gentz was an exceptional writer, with a sharp critical mind honed by his studies under Immanuel Kant, and he had an intimate knowledge of many aspects of the congress. Yet some of his many insights, however, can be found in his extensive correspondence. A good place to begin is
Oesterreichs Theilnahme an den Befreiungskriegen: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Jahre 1813 bis 1815,
edited by Klinkowström (1887). His letters to Bucharest, for example, were published by the Comte Prokesch-Osten,
Dépêches inédites du chevalier de Gentz aux hospodars de Valachie pour servir a l’histoire la politique européene,
I (1876),
Briefe von Friedrich von Gentz an Pilat,
I–II, by Karl Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1868), and a few other letters from this time can be found in the third volume of
Briefe von und an Friedrich von Gentz,
edited by Friedrich Carl Wittichen and Ernst Salzer (1913), and some also with his friend Adam Müller, who also came to Vienna in April 1815, in the first volume of
Adam Müllers Lebenszeugnisse,
ed. Jakob Baxa (1966). There is also a surviving fragmentary memoir of the Vienna Congress,
Denkschrift von Friedrich von Gentz,
written in February 1815,
NP
II 473ff, as well as Gentz’s personal diary,
Tagebücher
, I–IV, published by Varnhagen’s von Ense (1873).

One deservedly well-known source for the congress is the correspondence of Britain’s plenipotentiary, Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh,
Correspondence, Despatches and other Papers of Viscount Castlereagh, Second Marquess of Londonderry
(1853), X and XI; the Duke of Wellington’s
The Dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, during His Various Campaigns
VII–VIII (1844–1847), and his
Supplementary Dispatches,
and
Memoranda of Field Marshal Arthur, Duke of Wellington
(1858–1872), variously numbered, though, most commonly, IX and X are also valuable. Among the many other publications of British foreign policy documents from this period, C. K. Webster has an excellent selection in
British Diplomacy, 1813–1815: Select Documents Dealing with the Reconstruction of Europe
(1921). Occasional help has come from the many published accounts of people who knew Castlereagh and Wellington, which swelled into a veritable cottage industry in the nineteenth century, including Countess Granville, Countess Bronow, Lady Shelley, Captain R. H. Gronow, John Cam Hobhouse, Stanhope, Farrington, John Wilson Croker, and Thomas Creevey, to name a few, as well as generally interested observers such as Countess Potocka, Countess Rosalie Rzewuska, Princess Radziwill, and Marquise de La Tour du Pin, wife of a French delegate. Also interesting are Landamman Monod’s
Mémoires du Landamman Monod pour servir a l’histoire de la Suisse en 1815
(1975), the Bavarian Graf Montgelas’s
Denkwürdigkeiten des Bayerischen Staatsministers Maximilian Grafen Von Montgelas (1799–1817
) (1887), and Sweden’s Elisabeth Charlottes Hedvig, particularly the ninth volume of her
Dagbok.

Among the writings of many other leading delegates, Chancellor Karl von Hardenberg’s diary,
Tagebücher und Autobiographische Aufzeichnungen,
was published in a good scholarly edition by Thomas Stamm-Kuhlmann in 2000. Prussian ambassador Wilhelm von Humboldt’s letters to his wife,
Wilhelm und Caroline von Humboldt in ihren Briefen,
IV–V, ed. Anna von Sydow (1910), with many of his protocols and memoranda published in Humboldt’s
Gesammelte Schriften,
XI–XII, and other places such as Angeberg, and appendices 4, 5 and 6 of Webster’s
The Congress of Vienna 1814–1815
(1919). Tsar Alexander I’s letters to the Grand Duchess Catherine, mostly shorter notes from the peace conference, printed in
Scenes of Russian Court Life: Being the Correspondence of Alexander I with his Sister Catherine
(undated). Adam Czartoryski’s
The Memoirs of Prince Adam Czartoryski and his Correspondence with Alexander I
, I–II, ed. Adam Gielgud (1888, 1968). See also his collection of letters,
Alexandre 1er et le Prince Czartoryski: correspondance particulière et conversations 1801–1823
(1865). Baron vom Stein fragementary autobiography,
Die Autobiographie des Freiherrn vom Stein
, ed. Kurt von Raumer (1960), unfortunately ends without much discussion on the congress, but his diary published in the fifth volume of Erich Botzenhart and Walter Hubatsch’s edition of
Briefe und amtliche Schriften
(1957–1974) is revealing. Russia’s Count Nesselrode’s
Autobiographie,
which was published posthumously by his grandson, can be found in vol. II of
Lettres et papiers du chancelier comte de Nesselrode, 1760–1850,
and some letters from the congress in vol. V. See also the correspondence between Count Pozzo di Borgo and Count Nesselrode, published by Pozzo di Borgo’s grandson,
Correspondance Diplomatique du Comte Pozzo di Borgo, ambassadeur de Russie en France et du Comte du Nesselrode depuis la restauration des Bourbons jusqu’au Congrès d’ Aix-la-Chapelle, 1814–1818
(1890), and the second volume of the
Correspondance de Frédéric-César La Harpe et Alexander 1er,
published by Jean Charles Biaudeet and Françoise Nicod (1978–1979), and occasionally some comments in works such as Count Ouvaroff’s
Esquisses politiques et littéraires
(1848).

In addition to the memoirs, correspondence, and writings of leading participants or delegates of the Big Four, I have used the works of many lesser-known figures or leaders of less-prominent delegations that have often been overshadowed by their more famous counterparts, both at the congress and later in historical accounts of it. In addition to the representative of Nassau and Holland cited above, there is also Spain’s Don Pedro Labrador,
Mélanges sur la vie privée et publique du marquis de Labrador
(1849), Sweden’s Löwenhielm’s pithy but interesting document
Berättelse om händelserna, 1814–1815,
Piedmont’s Marchese di San Marzano’s diary,
Diario,
which has been published in Ilario Rinieri, ed.,
Corrispondenza inedita dei Cardinali Consalvi e Pacca nel tempo del Congresso di Vienna
(1903). Geneva’s Pictet de Rochemont’s correspondence with selections from his diary, published by Edmond Pictet in
Biographie, travaux et correspondance diplomatique
(1892), and more fully in Cramer, ed.,
Correspondance diplomatique de Charles Pictet de Rochemont et François d’Yvernois 1814–1816
(1914). The correspondence of the pope’s delegate and secretary of state, Cardinal Consalvi, with Cardinal Bartolomeo Pacca back at the Vatican, cited above, in addition to a few documents printed in the edition of Consalvi’s
Mémoires,
I–II (1864). Hanover’s Count Münster dispatches published by his son, Count George Herbert Münster, in
Political Sketches of the State of Europe, 1814–1867: Containing Count Ernst Münster’s Despatches to the Prince Regent from the Congress of Vienna
(1868), and the Duke of Weimar (soon to be Grand Duke) has correspondence in the third volume of
Politischer Briefwechsel des Herzogs und Grossherzogs Carl August von Weimar: Von der Rheinbundzeit bis zum Ende der Regierung, 1808–1828,
ed. Willy Andreas and Hans Tümmler (1973); Denmark’s Niels Rosenkrantz
Journal du Congrès de Vienne, 1814–1815
(1953), published by Georg Nørregaard, who has also written a helpful study of Denmark’s work at the congress,
Danmark og Wienerkongressen, 1814–1815
(1954).

There are also many fascinating eyewitness accounts of the social life at the congress that, like the minor delegations, have been surprisingly underused. A good place to start are the collections by Hilde Spiel,
Der Wiener Kongress in Augenzeugeberichten
(1965), and Frederick Freksa’s
Der Wiener Kongress: Nach Aufzeichnungen von Teilnehmern und Mittarbeitern
(1914), the first translated by Richard H. Weber in 1968, and the second by Harry Hansen in 1919. These are valuable, though the works sampled have now been published in full. The most famous account of the social scene is Comte Auguste de La Garde-Chambonas’s
Souvenirs du congrès de Vienne
, which has been translated into English as
Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna
(1902), though this omits a few passages that the editor found unsuitable. La Garde-Chambonas, of course, makes many mistakes in his account, but that does not mean that everything in the memoir is worthless, and he can be used with caution, particularly when his observations are supported by other reliable sources. The German publisher Carl Bertuch has a valuable diary,
Tagebuch vom Wiener Kongress,
edited by Hermann Freiherrn von Egloffstein (1916). Friedrich Anton von Schönholz’s
Traditionen zur Charakteristik Österreichs, seines Staats-und Volkslebens unter Franz I
(1914) are acerbic but absorbing, as are the accounts of socialites such as Countess Lulu Thürheim’s
Mein Leben: Erinnerungen aus Österreichs Grosser Welt 1788–1819,
II (1913) and Countess Bernstorff’s
Ein Bild aus der Zeit von 1789 bis 1835: Aus ihren Aufzeichnungen,
I (1896), whose reflections were published by her granddaughter. The antiquarian bookseller Franz Gräffer’s anecdotal
Kleine Wiener Memoiren und Wiener Dosenstucke,
I–II, published in 1845 and again by Gustav Gugitz (1918), contains many reflections about the city and its personalities. The English physician Dr. Richard Bright visited Vienna during the congress, from November to March, and published his impressions from his stay,
Travels from Vienna through Lower Hungary with Some Remarks on the State of Vienna During the Congress in the year 1814
(1818). Some letters and documents from Sir Sidney Smith’s stay are in the second volume of
The Memoirs of Admiral Sir Sidney Smith
(1839), written by Edward Howard with Smith’s sanction, and John Barrow’s ed.
The Life and Correspondence of Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith
(1848), II. See also the soldier Karl von Nostitz’s
Leben und Briefwechsel: Auch ein Lebensbild aus den Befreiungskriegen
(1848), and the Russian “army historiographer” Alexander Ivanovich Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, whose diary was recently found and selections published by Alexander Sapojnikov in Ole Villumsen Krog, ed.,
Danmark og Den Dansende Wienerkongres: Spillet om Danmark
(2002). Among many other soldiers, there are some letters in Field Marshal Prince Schwarzenberg’s correspondence with his wife, published by Johann Friedrich Novák,
Briefe des Feldmarschalls Fürsten Schwarzenberg an seine Frau, 1799–1816
(1913), and the reflections of the Bonapartist aide-de-camp Anatole Montesquiou, published as part of his
Souvenirs sur la révolution, l’empire, la restauration et le règne de Louis-Philippe
(1961). Of the many other sources on the festive side, noted below, see Archduke Johann’s
Aus dem Tagebuche Erzherzog Johanns von Oesterreich 1810–1815
(1891), Caroline Pichler’s
Denkwürdigkeiten aus meinem Leben
(1914), Anna Potocka’s memoir, and the intriguing
Mémoires
of Tsarina Elizabeth’s lady-in-waiting Roxanne Stourdza, who was later known as the Countess Edling (1888).