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The Congress of Vienna fast of Greenwich THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA A study tn Allied XJmty' 1812-1S22 HAROLD NICOLSON ‘Nothing appears of shape to utdicatc That cognisance has marshalled things tetrene, Or will (such IS my thinking) in my span Rather they show that, like a knitter droused Whose fingers play in skilled unmindfiilness. The Will has woven with an absent heed ’ Since life first was, and ever will so weave Thomas Hardy, The Dynastj ‘Historic sense forbids us to )udge results by motive, or real consequences by the ideals and intentions of the actor who produced them ’ Viscount Morley LONDON CONSTABLE & CO LTD The quotahon from Thomas Hardy on the title-page IS made with the kind permission ofMessts Macmillan <dy Co Ltd THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO ANTHONY EDEN CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY NOTE ------ xi I THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW (OCTOBER 18-DECEMBER 18,1812)- ------- r II ‘the REVIVAL OF PRUSSIA’ (1812-1813) - - - 15 III THE INTERVENTION OF AUSTRIA (JUNE 1-AUGUST 12, 1813) -------- 30 IV THE FRANKFURT PROPOSALS (noVEMBER-DECEMBER 18:3) 46 V THE ADVENT OF CASTLEREAGH (jANUARY-MARCH 1814) - - - 63 VI THE FIRST PEACE OF PARIS (mAY 30, 1814) - - 82 VII LONDON INTERLUDE (jUNE 1814) - - - - lOI VIII THE CONGRESS ASSEMBLES (SEPTEMBER 1814) - - I18 IX THE PROBLEM OF PROCEDURE (OCTOBER 1814) - 1 34 X THE APPROACH TO THE POLISH PROBLEM (OCTOBER 1814) 148 XI THE POLISH NEGOTIATIONS (SEPTEMBER 1814-FEB- RUARY 1815)- - - - - - - 164 -^II. THE ITALIAN AND GERMAN SETTLEMENTS (fEBRUARY- MARCH 1815)- - - - - - -182 -XIII GENERAL QUESTIONS (fEBRUARY-MARCH 1815) - - 201 • XIV THE SECOND PEACE OF PARIS (mARCH-NOVEMBER 1 8 1 5) 221 /xv THE HOLY ALLIANCE (SEPTEMBER 26, I815) - - 242 8-1 lXVI the failure of THE CONFERENCE system (18 1 8 2 2) 2J9 ) LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1 THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA - - - - FrontiSpteCC 2 ALEXANDER I, EMPEROR OF RUSSIA - - FaCWgpage lO - - 3 FREDERICK WILLIAM III, KING OF PRUSSIA 20 4 FRANCIS I, EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA - - - - 36 5 PRINCE METTERNICH 42 6 VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH - - - - - -126 7 PRINCE VON HARDENBERG I70 8 COUNT NESSELRODE 246 (All but the first of these portraits were painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence at the request of the Prince Regent They now hang m the Waterloo Gallery at Windsor Castle and are reproduced by graaous permission of His Majesty the King INTRODUCTION XIU warn us that the Zettgetsi also is subject to invisible muta- tions and delays How came it that the younger generation in Germany, who at the time of the Tugendbund and the War of Liberation, displayed so resurgent a spirit, should have been snuffed out so lastingly by die Carlsbad Decrees? How came it diat the partisan movement in Spam, which had manifested such heroic activity durmg the French in- vasion should thereafter have so surprismgly declined^ How came it that the Italian Ktsorgimento, which seemed so im- mment m the days of Murat and Lord Wilham Bentmck, should have been so long deferred? How came it that the general rismg so confidendy predicted in 1 820 should have been postponed till 1 848? These questions are not answeied by asctibmg the pause which ensued to the mgenuity of Mettermch or the potency of the Holy Alhance They can be explained only by die hidden mterplay of challenges and re- sponses, of energy and exhaustion, of enthusiasm and apathy, of youth and middle age ‘I am left with the impression’, wrote Gentz after attend- ing all the Conferences of his time, ‘that nobody is ever quite right all through ’ If he was referring to the accuracy of human prediction, then I agree widi his conclusion But if he was referring to the efficacy of moral prmciples, then I refuse to subscribe to so defeatist a doctrine I believe m fact that certain principles are absolute and must in the end prevail But I admit that their functiomng is obscure, that no smgle interpretation of the combinations of circumstance can ever be a vahd interpretation, and that if history can teach us anything it can teach us the folly of prophecy and die wisdom of patience H. N. SiSSINGHURST, September i, 1945 — I THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW [October i8-Decctnbet 1 8, 1812] The 29th Bulletin—Napoleon abandons hla army and rcmma to Pans—His journey with Caulaincourt through East Prussia and Poland—His arnval in Dresden He reaches the Tuileries at tnidmght on December i8—The Russian campaign might have proved dcasive—What would have happened if a Cossack patrol had noticed the ford at Studienka?—^If the Tsar had captured Napoleon, what sort of peace would have been made?—Estimate of the character and educa- tion of Alexander I—^The influence of La Harpe—His weakness as Commander in Chief durmg the 1812 campaign—^His consequent loss of popularity—Effect of these circumstances upon his subsequent policy and action—The balance of power as it existed m December i8iz (1) The 29tli Bulletin was issued from Molodetchno on Decem- ber 3, 1812 In It Napoleon confessed that ‘an atrocious calamity’ had befallen the Grande Armee and that his Rus- sian campaign had ended in disaster The Bulletin reached Pans on December 16 and was published on the following mormng (i) ^ Foreseemg the dismay which this news would occasion m France, Napoleon decided to leave the front and to return to his capital with aU speed Only his personal presence m the Tuileries could allay the consternation which the Bulletin was certain to provoke At Smogomi, on the mght of December 5, he abandoned his army and took the road to the west. He reached Pans at midmght on December 18 The details of that secret journey have been preserved in the memoirs of Caulamcouit, Due de Vicence (2) In all the hbrary of Napoleomc hterature there are few passages which illustrate so forcibly the dominance which Napoleon’s gemus, insensitiveness and egoism exerased upon the minds and hearts of those who served him Caulamcoutt had no cause to love or trust his pitiless master He can have had ^ ^ee ‘Notes to the Scvetal Chaptets’ at end ofbook, p 278, 2 THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA [1812 little doubt that Napoleon had sought dehberately to im- plicate him 111 the murder of the Due d’Enghien m 1804 Although uinocent of anything worse than the violation of the neutiality of Baden, the stigma of this incident weighed upon Caulaincourt throughout his honourable life There is no doubt either that Napoleon, m selfish mischief, destroyed Caulaincouit’s domestic happmess by foibidding his marriage to Madame de Canisy for ten long years, only at Fontaine- bleau in 1 8 14, when he had already signed his abdication, did Napoleon accord the consent winch he was then powerless to withhold, with superb devotion, Caulaincourt ^ssed the hand of his fallen master m gratitude for this empty boon For ten long years had Caulamcoutt endured the per- versity of Napoleon’s temperament Havmg been Ambas- sador to Russia, havmg enjoyed the intimacy of the Tsar Alexander 1(5), Caulaincourt was fully aw’^are of Russian poh- tical and social conditions, of the menace of the Russian chmate, and of the strain of obstmacy which flowed like some dark current beneath the gentle ripples of the Tsar’s desire to please (4) Again and agam had he warned Napol- eon against the dangers of a Russian campaign ‘You have no knowledge of such thmgs,’ his master barked at him, ‘you have no judgment in pohtical affairs You are more Russian than you are French, you have been mesmerised by Alexander’s charm A smgle victory, and the Tsar wiU come creeping towards me as he did at Tilsit The great land- ’ owners will rise against hmi, I shall emancipate the serfs Thus did he reject all warnings And when they entered the Kremlm, and found the clocks there still ticking qmetly in the saloons, Napoleon turned in scorn upon his Master of the Horse ‘Well, My Lord Duke, what about this Russian climate of yours? It is imld as a September day at Fontamebleau ’ Caulamcourt bowed his head m silent apprehension Then foUowmd the honors of the retreat, the miiacle of the Beresma The corpses of those who durmg the advance had fallen at Borodmo or outside Smolensk still littered the iSiaJ THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW 3 snou hav“ fields beside die roadway—hummocked now by , mg die appearance m the dim light ‘of vast flocks of sheep’ From time to time Napoleon would leave his carnage and ease his numbed limbs by stamping along the frozen track, a staff cut from a larch tree in his hand The tattered stragglers from his army would stop and stare at his passage and then drop dead beside him on the road Then followed Smogorm and the mtimate drive across an uncertam Europe from Russia into France Caulamcourt tiavelled under his own name as Due de Vicence Napoleon appeared upon their passports as his secietary, under the name of Monsieur de Rayneval The Emperor’s tiavellmg carriage proved too heavy for the snow-bound road and the horses slipped and struggled on the ice On reaching Kowno Caulamcourt discovered an old covered sledge—a mere box on runners which had once been pamted red They abandoned the comfort of the travelling carriage, they abandoned the luggage, even Rus- tam the mameluke and the Emperor’s dressmg case were left behmd Unshaven and alone they pursued their journey day and mght across the snow At Tilsit they entered Prus- sian territory and the Emperor became afraid lest he might be recognised and seized, he cowered back mto the recesses of the sleigh, pullmg his fur cap down upon his eyes, mufflmg himself m the great green velvet bear-skin which he wore They cut across East Prussia mto Poland and on December lo they reached the Hotel d’Angleterre at Warsaw The Abbe de Pradt, the French Ambassador, was summoned to the
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