Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna (62 page)

Metternich’s personality is in Nesselrode,
Lettres et papiers du chancelier comte de Nesselrode, 1760–1850,
III, 132. His background draws on his comments in the first and second volumes of
Aus Metternich’s nachgelassenen Papieren,
ed. Prince Richard Metternich (1880–1884), as well as Heinrich Ritter von Srbik’s
Metternich Der Staatsmann und Der Mensch
(1925), I, 53ff, and Constantin de Grunwald
Metternich
(1953), 7–14. Metternich’s reputation for grace and tact are in Helen du Coudray’s
Metternich
(1936), 17–18. “I cannot understand” and “if I had not been” are in Dorothy Guis McGuigan,
Metternich and the Duchess
(1975), 18. For more on Metternich’s other affairs, see Egon Cäsar Corti’s
Metternich und die Frauen
(1948), I–II, and Raoul Auernheimer’s
Prince Metternich: Statesman and Lover
(1940), though both of these appeared before the discovery of Metternich’s correspondence with the Duchess of Sagan,
MSB.
“Secret dashes” comes from Paul Johnson’s
The Birth of the Modern: World Society, 1815–1830
(1991), 91.

Loss of family estates on the Rhine and his first visit to Vienna come from
NP,
I, 21. Criticisms of Metternich were well known by the congress, and were soon multiplied, as seen in the police reports, where Agent ** followed the changing fortunes closely—for example, his reports to Hager: October 10, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 324, and October 15, 1814, no. 384. “Butterfly minister” comes from Karl von Nostitz, in his diary, January 16, 1815,
Leben und Briefwechsel
(1848), 151. Another nickname, for example, was Le Comte de la Balance, Agent Freddi to Hager, undated report from September 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 83. “Hateful invention” is in McGuigan (1975), 119; “haughtiness for dignity,” Alan Palmer,
Metternich
(1972), 32; and “tacking, evasion, and flattery,”
NP,
II, 311. The historian praising the success of Metternich’s diplomacy was du Coudray (1936), 83, and his maneuvers are analyzed in Henry Kissinger’s
A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh, and the Problems of Peace 1812–1822
(1957), 62–84.

Metternich on the Battle of Leipzig,
MSB,
81. Tracing the conference back to Tsar Alexander and the Battle of Leipzig is attributed to the historian August Fournier, who apparently draws on an article in the
Berliner Zeitung
after the battle, October 26, 1813, and also in the
Wiener Zeitung
on November 5, Spiel,
Der Wiener Kongress in Augenzeugen berichten
(1965), 31. Article XXXII of the Treaty of Paris, signed May 30, 1814, is in
Le Congrès de Vienne et les traités de 1815
(1864), I, 170. Castlereagh’s impact on the invitation comes from Gregor Dallas,
The Final Act: The Roads to Waterloo
(1997), 135. The delay of the conference first until August 15 and then October 1, on the tsar’s insistence, Edward Vose Gulick,
Europe’s Classical Balance of Power
(1955), 181. Francis’s army and its losses, pun on Julius Caesar, G. R. Marek,
Beethoven: Biography of a Genius
(1970), 106. Austria had fought Napoleon for 108 months, longer than any other power besides Britain (240), Prussia for 58, Russia for 55, not to mention having “the largest contingent” of soldiers in the battles of 1813–1814, Gunther Rothenurg,
Napoleon’s Great Adversaries: The Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army, 1792–1814
(1982), 14.

My account of Talleyrand’s arrival in Vienna and Kaunitz Palace draws upon his
Memoirs,
II, 199, 201, and letters to Louis XVIII, September 25, 1814,
TLC,
1; Talleyrand to the Duchess of Courland, September 25, 1814,
TLI,
35; and Gentz to Karadja, September 27, 1814,
Dépêches inédites,
99. His address on Johannesgasse comes from a report to Hager, September 27, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 161, as well as the
Wiener Zeitung,
September 25, 1814, though the street address is no longer that today. The French embassy headquarters, and prominent staff there,
GE
, 11. Length of journey from Paris is in Rosalynd Pflaum’s
By Influence and Desire: The True Story of Three Extraordinary Women—the Grand Duchess of Courland and Her Daughters
(1984), 213. Some reported that he traveled eight days, but Talleyrand set off from Paris on September 16 and arrived Friday night around midnight on the twenty-third. The earlier arrival of French staff noted by many diarists, for example, Matthias Franz Perth,
Wiener Kongresstagebuch, 1814–1815
(1981), August 30, 1814, 32. Reference to the moths in the mattresses, see surveillance report to Hager, September 20,
DCV,
I, no. 111.

“I shall probably play a wretched role,” Talleyrand said two or three days before leaving Paris to Pasquier, III, 69. Difficulties France faced and the phrase “singularly difficult” come from his
Memoirs
(1891), II, 151. See also his summary of the congress, including his isolation,
TLC,
519–522. Many in Vienna agreed—for example, Baron Méneval,
Memoirs,
III, 384. Talleyrand’s background draws on the biographies by Emmanuel de Waresquiel, Georges Lacour-Gayet, Emile Dard, J. F. Bernard, Jean Orieux, Duff Cooper, Crane Brinton, and Louis Madelin. Talleyrand and the Louisiana Purchase comes from Dallas (1997), 113, and the reference to Talleyrand’s conversational skills is from Germaine de Staël, cited by Jean Orieux,
Talleyrand: The Art of Survival
(1974), 159 and Bernard (1973), 104. Manners, seeming “thoroughly satiated and bored with everything,” Potocka (1900), 79. The dangers of the Napoleonic system, as opposed to international relations based on justice,
TLC,
525–526. Talleyrand’s break with Napoleon is often dated to 1805, though this is debatable. Messenger with invisible ink, coded message, and advice, Nesselrode
Autobiographie,
in Le Comte A. de Nesselrode, ed.,
Lettres et papiers du chancelier comte de Nesselrode, 1760–1850,
II, 113, Baron de Vitrolles,
Mémoires et relations politiques
(1884), I, 66ff, and Chateaubriand
Mémoires d’ outre-tombe
(1951), I, 854–855. Dalberg, who joined Talleyrand in Vienna, played a crucial role in this transaction, as discussed by one of his descendants, Lord Acton (or Dalberg-Acton), in his “Essay on the Mémoires of Talleyrand,” in
Historical Essays and Studies
(1926), 412. Metternich on Talleyrand as a double-edged sword, J. F. Bernard (1973), 291.

C
HAPTER
3. I
LLUSTRIOUS
S
TRANGERS

“A holiday for kings” appears in several variants, for example, Count Auguste de La Garde-Chambonas’s
Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna
(1902), 105, or Baronne du Montet’s
Souvenirs 1785–1866
(1904), 112 and 115. The reference to the burning of Moscow lighting the tsar’s soul comes from Carolly Erickson’s
Our Tempestuous Day: A History of Regency England
(1986), 118. The early morning cannon shots are in Henrich Graf zu Stolberg-Wernigerode’s
Tagebuch über meinen Aufenthalt in Wien zur Zeit des Congresses
(2004), 28; and Metternich’s comments are in Dorothy Gies McGuigan’s
Metternich and the Duchess
(1975), 330. His letter to the duchess is in
MSB,
265.

This account of the tsar’s entry into Vienna draws upon Baron Hager’s report to the emperor, September 25–26, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 124; and Agent Siber, September 27, 1814, I, no. 155. The crowds are in Baronne du Montet (1904), 112; the procession, La Garde-Chambonas (1904), 7—both of which also appear in the description in the
Wiener Zeitung,
September 26, 1814. The appearance of the tsar and the king of Prussia are in, among others, Lulu Thürheim’s
Mein Leben: Erinnerungen aus Österreichs Grosser Welt 1788–1819
(1913), II, 92–97; Jean-Gabriel Eynard’s
Au Congrès de Vienne: journal de Jean-Gabriel Eynard
(1914–1924), I, 327–332; and Countess Bernstorff’s
Ein Bild aus der Zeit von 1789 bis 1835: Aus ihren Aufzeichnungen
(1896), I, 154. The riding arrangements are in Archduke Johann’s diary, September 25, 1814:
Aus dem Tagebuche Erzherzog Johanns von Oesterreich 1810–1815
, ed. Franz Ritter von Krones (1891), 172; Niels Rosenkrantz’s entry that day in his
Journal du Congrès de Vienne 1814–1815
(1953), 27; and Perth (1981), 38–39. The words “perfect order” and “no incident” are by Agent Siber, September 27, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 155. The breakfast that morning is in Hardenberg,
Tagebücher und autobiographische Aufzeichnungen,
ed. Thomas Stamm-Kuhlmann (2000), 797–798. Lively first evening is in Gentz
Tagebücher,
September 25, 1814 (1873), I, 310.

Thomas Jefferson’s words on Alexander come from Alan Palmer’s
Alexander: Tsar of War and Peace
(1974), xvi. The tsar’s education even included the sacred right of resisting tyrants:
Correspondance de Frédéric-César La Harpe et Alexander 1er,
eds. Jean Charles Biaudeet and Françoise Nicod (1978–9), II, 14. The tsar’s relationship with his sister is controversial, though Sir Charles Webster thought Alexander’s correspondence “breathes more than a brother’s tenderness,”
The Foreign Policy of Castlereagh 1812–1815: Britain and the Reconstruction of Europe
(1931), 288. Some of the tsar’s correspondence with his sister, including some notes from the Vienna Congress, can be found in Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovitch’s fascinating
Scenes of Russian Court Life: Being the Correspondence of Alexander I with his Sister Catherine,
an undated publication, though before 1917. The relationship between Alexander and Elizabeth is also in the memoir of a lady-in-waiting, Countess Edling,
Mémoires
(1888), 33ff. Alexander was not concerned about Elizabeth-Czartoryski affair, Henri Troyat,
Alexander of Russia: Napoleon’s Conqueror,
trans. Joan Pinkham (1982), 43–44, and its lack of negative impact on the tsar’s view of Czartoryski, Webster (1931), 334, as well as Marian Kukiel’s
Czartoryski and European Unity 1770–1861
(1955), 22. For more on Czartoryski, see also Zawadzki’s
A Man of Honour: Adam Czartoryski as a Statesman of Russia and Poland, 1795–1831
(1993), and Patricia Kennedy Grimsted’s
The Foreign Ministers of Alexander I: Political Attitudes and the Conduct of Russian Diplomacy, 1801–1825
(1969), 110–113, 147–150, and 221–224.

Early impressions of the tsar’s stance on Poland, Count Münster, September 19, 1814,
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), 187, and the cooperation with Prussia, Archduke Johann, September 23, 1814,
Aus dem Tagebuche Erzherzog Johanns von Oesterreich, 1810–1815
, ed. Franz Ritter von Krones (1891), 170. Castlereagh had some idea of the tsar’s intentions for Poland from the British ambassador in St. Petersburg, Lord Walpole to Castlereagh, August 9, 1814,
CC
X, 83, and the tsar also aware of opposition, and likely Metternich-Castlereagh cooperation, La Harpe to Alexander, August 10, 1814, no. 257, II, 566–567. La Harpe advised him to pretend that he did not know of this intrigue, and more on Poland in late September,
Annexe I
to La Harpe to Alexander, September 26, 1814, II, no. 259, 576–577. Gentz reported the risks of Poland to Karadja,
Dépêches inédites du chevalier de Gentz aux hospodars de Valachie pour servir a l’histoire la politique européene (1813–1828
), ed. Le Comte Prokesch-Osten (1876), I, 93–94. For some background on the tsar’s views of Poland from the perspective of Prince Adam Czartoryski, see
Memoirs of Prince Adam Czartoryski and His Correspondence with Alexander,
ed. Adam Gielgud (1968), II, for example, 11, 53, 165ff, 191ff, and 201ff. Talleyrand’s summary of the dispute from May 1815,
TLC,
509–510.

Metternich, “You cannot” comes from Seward,
Metternich
:
The First European
(1991), 194. Description of the people in his waiting room, Metternich to Duchess of Sagan, September 19, 1814,
MSB,
263–264. Gentz also noted the crowds that morning,
Tagebücher,
September 19, 1814 (1873), 307. Metternich’s office decorations, Pflaum,
By Influence and Desire: The True Story of Three Extraordinary Women—the Grand Duchess of Courland and Her Daughters
(1984), 204, and furniture that summer, McGuigan,
Metternich and the Duchess
(1975), 287. It is sometimes said that Metternich was not named president of the Congress, but that is not what the protocol of the Conference of the Eight for October 30 records, HHSA St. K Kongressakten Kart. 2.

Hardenberg’s arrival was on the seventeenth and not, as sometimes said, the fifteenth (Hardenberg was then at Prague),
Tagebücher
(2000), September 17, 1814, 796. Hardenberg describing Metternich as “invisible” comes from Helen du Coudray’s
Metternich
(1936), 119. The Knights of Malta representatives are in
Le Congrès de Vienne et les traités de 1815
(1864), II, 264, and their memorandum that day, Klüber (1815–1835), I, 85, with more on their efforts at this time can be found in an intercepted letter, September 14, 1814,
DCV
I no. 98. Plight is seen, too, in history of order, H. J. A. Sire,
The Knights of Malta
(1994), and some of the hopes for the congress, such as gaining the idea of Minorca, Marquis de Labrador,
Mélanges sur la vie privée et publique
(1849), 37–39. Desire for restoration of Holy Roman Empire, Gentz to Karadja, September 27, 1814 (1876), 102–103, Stein’s
Tagebuch
is another good source for this question, found in
Briefe und amtliche Schriften
(1957–1974), V, as well as many police reports, for example, the offer of the crown, Siber surveillance report to Hager, September 20, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 109. Hopes grew over time, particularly after the elevation of the Electorate of Hanover to a kingdom, and then again, in March, after Napoleon’s flight from Elba. “Four to six weeks of hell,” Kraehe’s
Metternich’s German Policy
(1963–1983), II, 124.