Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna (67 page)

My discussion of the book dealers in Vienna draws on Enno E. Kraehe’s
Metternich’s German Policy
(1963–1983), II, 188–189. Kraehe, like virtually every historian who discusses the bookseller delegation in Vienna, identifies the publishing delegate as Friedrich Bertuch. This is incorrect. It was not Friedrich who came, but his son, Carl. Friedrich had backed out at the last minute and was home, ill. The censorship edict of 1810 is in Donald E. Emerson’s
Metternich and the Political Police: Security and Subversion in the Hapsburg Monarch (1815–1839
) (1968), 29. The book dealers are shadowed by several spies, Agent Schmidt, October 7, 1814,
GPWK,
160, as well as
DCV,
I, no. 301. Cotta’s contacts worried Agent H, September 29, 1814,
GPWK,
136, and
DCV,
I, no. 201. Agent H’s reports following Cotta, for example, in
GPWK,
171, as well as
DCV,
I, no. 342, and the audience on the fourteenth of October with Metternich,
GPWK,
180–181. Cotta and Bertuch feared to be associated with the Tugendbund, R to Hager, October 11, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 582. Cotta and Bertuch meeting with Metternich, along with his positive impression of the Austrian foreign minister, Carl Bertuch, October 8, 1814,
Tagebuch vom Wiener Kongress
(1916), 27–28.

For more on the Jewish delegations at this time, see Kraehe (1963–1983), II, 190, where he notes Metternich’s help and previous relationship with Jakob Baruch. Additional background on the delegations is in Max J. Kohler’s
Jewish Rights at the Congresses of Vienna (1814–1815), and Aix-la-Chapelle (1818),
(1918), 4–5, and Salo Baron’s
Die Judenfrage auf dem Wiener Kongress, auf Grund von zum Teil ungedruckten Quellen dargestellt
(1920). Government instructions are in Hager to La Roze, July 1, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 14, and surveillance, for instance, Goehausen report, October 27, 1814,
GPWK,
207, and note to Hager, October 21, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 467. The arrival of the Grand Duke of Baden, Prince Thurn und Taxis, and Prince Nassau-Weilburg was reported in the
Wiener Zeitung,
October 3, 1814. Alexander Ivanovich Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky’s words on Prince of Nassau-Weilburg come from Dr. Alexandre Sapojnikov’s “The Congress of Vienna in the Memoirs of a Russian Officer” in Ole Villumsen Krog’s, ed.,
Danmark og Den Dansende Wienerkongres: Spillet om Danmark
(2002), 148. O’Bearn as a whist player is in Ludwig Hevesi, “Die Wiener Gesellschaft zur Zeit des Congresses,” in
Der Wiener Congress: Culturgeschichte die Bildenden Künste und das Kunstgewerbe Theater—Musik in der Zeit von 1800 bis 1825
, ed. Eduard Leisching (1898), 68. The socialite describing the gambling tables in Madame Frazer’s salon was Anna Eynard-Lullin, Alville’s
Anna Eynard-Lullin et l’époque des Congrès et des Révolutions
(1955), 177–178.

The tour of the battlefield is in
Wiener Zeitung,
October 11, along with many diaries, such as Matthias Franz Perth’s
Wiener Kongresstagebuch, 1814–1815
(1981), October 11, 1814, 52. Castlereagh interview with tsar comes from his letter to Liverpool, October 14, 1814
BD,
CXVI, 206–208. Memorandum attached, and printed, is in
Le Congrès de Vienne et les traités de 1815
(1864), II, 291–293. Phrases “moral duty” and “happiness of the Poles” come from his letter to Liverpool that day just cited, 207. Castlereagh had first learned that his information was correct, and the tsar demanded the Duchy of Warsaw, with only a few exceptions, in his first audience with the tsar, Castlereagh to Liverpool, October 2, 1814,
BD,
CXI, 197. Differences in rank troubled Castlereagh, a follow-up letter that same day,
BD,
CXII, 199–200. The memorandum: Viscount Castlereagh to the Emperor of All the Russias, 208–209, also
WSD,
IX, 329; for more on his view of Poland, see also Castlereagh to Liverpool, October 2, 1814,
BD,
CXI, 197–199, as well as Castlereagh’s “First Memorandum on the Polish Question,”
BD,
209–210, and
WSD,
IX, 332. The interview made the rounds, Gentz,
Tagebücher,
318, and Talleyrand’s overview, Talleyrand to Louis XVIII, October 17, 1814,
TLC,
56–60. The tsar over to Princess Bagration on the thirteenth, Siber to Hager, October 14, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 361, and report to Hager, the same day, no. 368.

Many sources, including Stein’s
Tagebuch,
describe the Polish question as paralyzing the conference, undated entry from early November 1814,
Briefe und amtliche Schriften,
V (1964), 333–334. The description of Poland as the “aching tooth” comes from Maurice Paléologue’s
The Enigmatic Tsar
(1938), 222. For more on background of this question, see notes to chapter 1. Talleyrand’s views on Saxony can be found in many of his letters from the congress: Saxony as significant for both legitimacy and balance of power, Talleyrand to Louis XVIII, January 6, 1815,
TLC,
250–251; the threat of a strong Prussia: “who can foresee the consequences…,”
TLC,
October 17, 1814, 63. Talleyrand’s allies in Germany, including Count Münster, who defended Saxony as it would preserve “the balance, perhaps even the existence of Germany,” (1868) 61, and Count Münster’s dispatches show that he generally agreed. Fear of rising Prussia shared by many others, from the king of Bavaria to Archduke Johann, who often commented on the question in his diary. Russia and Prussia would be less bold in front of a congress, for example, Talleyrand to Louis XVIII, September 29, 1814, 9. Saxe-Coburg defense is in Kraehe,
Metternich’s German Policy
(1963–1983), II, 266, along with Talleyrand’s letters to king Louis XVIII, December 7 and 15, 1814, and
Memoirs,
II (1891), 355 and 363–365.

Castlereagh working with Metternich and Hardenberg to oppose Russia, Castlereagh to Liverpool, October 9, 1814
BD,
CXIII, 201. Hardenberg’s letter of October 10 is in HHSA, StK, Kongressakten Kart 7, and Castlereagh’s response the following day in Angeberg (1864), II, 274–276, with Hardenberg’s comments in turn from his diary also on the eleventh,
Tagebücher und autobiographische Aufzeichnungen
(2000), 801. Gentz translated Castlereagh’s letter into French, and his critique of its “miserable reasoning”
(Armseligkeiten)
is in his
Tagebücher,
October 12, 1814, (1873), 317–318, as well as his account to Prince Metternich the next day,
Briefe von und ab Friedrich von Gentz,
ed. Friedrich Carl Wittichen and Ernst Salzer (1913), III, 303. Danish member Rosenkrantz, who also saw the letter, was not impressed, November 16, 1814,
Journal du Congrès de Vienne 1814–1815
(1953), 80–81. “Metternich is in love,” Talleyrand to the Duchess of Courland, October 2, 1814,
TLI,
40. Gentz’s frustrations in trying to discuss crisis over Saxony and words on Metternich’s liaison,
Tagebücher,
October 14, 1814, 319.

C
HAPTER
12. S
IX
W
EEKS OF
H
ELL

Chapter title comes from Metternich’s letter to his wife, September 19, 1814, Enno E. Kraehe,
Metternich’s German Policy
(1963–1983), II, 124, and Karl von Nostitz’s words from an undated diary entry in December 1814,
Leben und Briefwechsel
(1848), 131. Description of the weather on the day of the festival comes from Jean-Gabriel Eynard, October 18, 1814,
Au Congrès de Vienne: journal de Jean-Gabriel Eynard
(1914–1924), I, 41; Carl Bertuch’s
Tagebuch vom Wiener Kongress
(1916), 35; and Caroline Pichler,
Denkwürdigkeiten aus meinem Leben
(1914), III, 33. My reference to the summer holding out refers to late September through October 21, and does not include August, which had many rainy days; gray, overcast skies; and frequent thunderstorms. This information comes from a number of diarists who regularly reported the weather.

The words on the hat shops come from Hilde Spiel’s
The Congress of Vienna: An Eyewitness Account,
trans. Richard H. Weber (1968), 96. Metternich’s intentions and the emperor’s orders are in McGuigan,
Metternich and the Duchess
(1975), 365–367. Schwarzenberg’s complaints on last-minute change, letter to his wife, October 15, 1814, is in Johann Friedrich Novák, ed.
Briefe des Feldmarschalls Fürsten Schwarzenberg an seine Frau, 1799–1816
(1913), 408. The celebration was described as “military celebration” Hardenberg, October 18, 1814,
Tagebücher und autobiographische Aufzeichnungen
(2000), 802, and Stein, who watched from the balcony of the pavilion, noted how it left the tsar annoyed and somewhat disturbed, October 18, 1814,
Briefe und amtliche Schriften,
V (1964), 324.

The handrailings are in Heinrich Graf zu Stolberg-Wernigerode’s
Tagebuch über meinen Aufenthalt in Wien zur Zeit des Congresses,
October 18, 1814 (2004), 64. The pyramid is in Carl Bertuch,
Tagebuch vom Wiener Kongress
(1916), 35, and the “
waffenobelisken
” and trophies are also in Schönholz’s
Traditionen zur Charakteristik Österreichs, seines Staats-und Volkslebens unter Franz I
(1914), II, 105–106. The carpets, the flowers, and the celebration of High Mass are in Comte Auguste de La Garde-Chambonas,
Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna
(1902), 25–28. The setting for the Festival of Peace can be found in many other sources, for example, Countess Bernstorff’s
Ein Bild aus der Zeit von 1789 bis 1835: Aus ihren Aufzeichnungen
(1896), I, 158–159, Countess Lulu Thürheim’s
Mein Leben: Erinnerungen aus Österreichs Grosser Welt 1788–1819
(1913), II, 107–109. Stolberg-Wernigerode was not impressed with the trophies, though he praised the food (2004), 63–64. The menu appears, for example, in Matthias Franz Perth’s
Wiener Kongresstagebuch 1814–1815
(1981), 58–60 and, with some variation, in the
Wiener Zeitung
the following day, with more description of the event following in its edition for October 21. The toast and the sergeants serving the food are in Gregor Dallas’s
The Final Act: The Roads to Waterloo
(1997), 206. Countess Edling’s praise of the tsar’s toast is in
Mémoires
(1888), 182. The size of the Vienna garrison at celebration is in Enno E. Kraehe’s
Metternich’s German Policy
(1963–1983), II, 196.

The setting for Metternich’s party, including balloon ascent and temples to Apollo, Athena, and Mars, are in
Programme de la fête de la paix pour être exécuté dans les jardins de son excellence le prince Metternich auprès de Vienne,
which can be found in
NP
, I, 266–268. Other views of the illumination and the tents at the party are in Eynard’s journal, October 19, 1814 (1914–1924), I, 42, as well as Bernstorff (1896), I, 158–159. Reference to palace in
1,001 Nights
was made by Anna Eynard, Alville
Anna Eynard-Lullin et l’époque des congrès et des révolutions
(1955), 181; and Karl August Varnhagen von Ense likewise praised its magnificence,
Denkwürdigkeiten des Eignen Lebens
(1987), II, 599. Talleyrand did not attend the commemoration of the Battle of Leipzig, of course, because it celebrated a victory over France, even if Napoleonic France, but he did not miss Metternich’s Peace Ball. Nor did Gentz, who noted the magnificence and his late departure in his diary, October 18, 1814, in
Tagebücher
(1873), I, 320–321. That Metternich’s festival surpassed everything one guest had seen in France, including under Napoleon, is from Jean-Gabriel Eynard’s journal, October 19, 1814 (1914–1924), I, 43. A different view of the party is in Countess Edling
Mémoires
(1888), 181–182. Metternich’s garden at the time of the congress was much larger than today, stretching all the way to today’s Russian embassy. His home is now the Italian embassy in Vienna, and special thanks to H. E. Raffaele Berlenghi, Ambassador, Patrizia Fusco, and Cristina Morrone for the wonderful tour.

Breakfast with Metternich the morning after the Festival comes from Gentz’s
Tagebücher,
October 19, 1814 (1873), 321. Alexander at Metternich’s Peace Ball, with comments on too many diplomats present, report to Hager, October 20, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 457. Repeating the words, too, when he noticed that Archduke Johann was in the vicinity, Archduke Johann observed, October 18, 1814,
Aus dem Tagebuche Erzherzog Johanns von Oesterreich, 1810–1815,
ed. Franz, Ritter von Krones (1891), 178–179. Metternich’s “our child,” for example,
MSB,
January 21, 1814, 185, and six days later, 196. Armfelt as “a scoundrel,” March 25, 1814, 237–238, and his death reported by the
Wiener Zeitung,
September 25, 1814. Troubles that autumn are in McGuigan,
Metternich and the Duchess
(1975), 359–361. Gentz still working hard on this case, as made clear by his reference to Wratislaw, who served as the attorney recruited for the case, October 20, 1814,
MSB,
321. The Talleyrand-Metternich conversation, with the question “How have you the courage to put Russia like a belt?” is not from September 23 [Nicolson,
The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity, 1812–1822
(1946), 156], the day Talleyrand arrived in Vienna, but October, and his words advising Austria to resist the Prussian takeover of Saxony, “justice, propriety, even safety,” Talleyrand to Louis XVIII, October 19, 1814,
TLC,
72.