Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna (64 page)

On the origins of the police and its role in the reforms of Joseph II, Fournier,
Die Geheimpolizei auf dem Wiener Kongress
(1913) xviii, Weil,
Dessous du Congrès de Vienne
(1917), xviiff. My account also draws on August Fournier’s overview in
GPWK
(1–90), along with the monograph by Donald Eugene Emerson,
Metternich and the Political Police: Security and Subversion in the Hapsburg Monarchy
(1815–1830), and Paul P. Bernard’s study of Baron Hager’s predecessor,
From the Enlightenment to the Police State: The Public Life of Johann Anton Pergen
(1991). Francis’s role in enhancing the service, spies working “day and night without respite,”
DCV
, I, xxii, the expansion of services, no. 13, and the increase in budget, Dallas,
The Final Act
:
The Roads to Waterloo
(1997), 147. People likely to be employed, Hager to von Leurs, July 1,
DCV,
I, no. 15. Some additional insight into the structure and functions of the police force can be found in the annexes to the police dossiers cited above.

The plot to kill the emperor is in McGuigan,
Metternich and the Duchess
(1975), 333–334. Fear of Italian secret societies dedicated to removing Austrians from Italy, as German societies had set up against the French, Agent Nota to Hager, October 17, 1814,
GPWK,
188–189, though not appearing in the same entry in
DCV,
I, no. 413. Police chief instructions, Hager to Siber, August 29, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 77, Hager to Agent **, September 24, 1814, no. 125. See also Hager to Siber, July 1, 1814, no. 13. One secret staircase, already suspected for example, N N to Hager, September 29, 1814, no. 186, and Schmidt, October 1, 1814, no. 222.

The protocol for the meeting, September 22, 1814, in
Le Congrès de Vienne et les traités de 1815
(1864), I, 249–251. Helpful discussions on these lengthy early sessions are Enno E. Kraehe,
Metternich’s German Policy,
II (1963–1983), 123–125, C. K. Webster,
The Foreign Policy of Castlereagh, 1812–1815
:
Britain and the Reconstruction of Europe
(1931), 337–338, Guglielmo Ferrero,
The Reconstruction of Europe: Talleyrand and the Congress of Vienna, 1814
–1815, trans. Theodore R. Jaeckel (1941), 144–146, and Gregor Dallas (1997), 171–172, which shows the contrast between Castlereagh’s “open Congress diplomacy” and Metternich’s “closed cabinet diplomacy.” Nicolson’s
The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity, 1812–1822
(1946) has helpful insights in his discussion (133–140), though there are some errors. “General congress” and “all the powers” come from Talleyrand’s
Memoirs
II (1891), 144–146. Objections to opening the congress are reported by Gentz to Karadja,
Dépêches inédites,
October 6, 1814, 109. Metternich stopped using the word
congress,
Kraehe, II (1963–1983), 125. Words on the “deliberative assembly” come from Paul Sweet’s
Wilhelm von Humboldt: A Biography,
II (1980), 179, and “the core of the congress,” 180. Talleyrand’s words on the secret meetings,
Memoirs,
II (1891), 201, and his
TLC,
519–520. Castlereagh to Liverpool, September 24, 1814,
BD,
CIX, 193–195. The first conference lasting five hours, Metternich to the Duchess of Sagan, September 19, 1814,
MSB,
264, and Binder in
Anhang 5
of Griewank,
Der Wiener Kongress und Die Neuordnung Europas, 1814–15
(1942), 311. Binder was still attending the meetings at this point, rather than Gentz, and Binder’s unpublished memoir is at HHSA St. K Kongressakten Kart. 16.

Nesselrode’s background in the navy, by appointment of Catherine the Great just before her death in 1796. Nesselrode,
Autobiographie du Comte Charles-Robert de Nesselrode,
in le Comte A. de Nesselrode, ed.,
Lettres et papiers du chancelier comte de Nesselrode, 1760–1850
(1904–1912), II, 21. Some success of French intrigue, Agent ** to Hager, October 2, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 229, and not behaving as many had expected, with more outspoken or “open opposition,” Nesselrode to Pozzo di Borgo, September 27, 1814 (15th),
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), 81–82, along with other statements on Talleyrand’s likely willingness to go along that summer, for example, his letters to Nesselrode, III and XXIV. The words “That this congress was not a congress…” was one way Talleyrand described it, for instance, King’s Ambassadors, no. 11A, November 6, 1814, in his
Memoirs
(1891), II, 295. Gentz letter on Talleyrand’s imminent participation in meeting, September 29, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 215; report to Hager, October 1,
DCV,
I, no. 217. More on the background to Talleyrand’s invitation to the Big Four meeting, Gentz to Karadja, September 27, 1814,
Dépêches inédites
(1876), I, 97ff, and Labrador’s version, Marquis de Labrador,
Mélanges sur la vie privée et publique
(1849), 34ff. Metternich and others realizing necessity of coming together against Talleyrand influence, Stein’s
Tagebuch,
in an undated entry before the second of October 1814,
Briefe und amtliche Schriften,
V (1964), 319.

C
HAPTER
6. B
ARTERING
D
ESTINY

The epigraph comes from a letter Talleyrand wrote to the Duchess of Courland, May 5, 1814,
Talleyrand intime
(1891), 246. Talleyrand as a late riser is a well-known fact, confirmed not least by many at the time who report arriving only to find him still in bed, or dressing in his ritual. My account draws on a number of people who witnessed the ceremony, such as Count Molé, who saw him “practically every morning” (1924), 208, and Comte Auguste de La Garde-Chambonas, who saw it at the congress,
Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna
(1904), 375–376. The comparison to the elephant trunk in Charles Comte de Rémusat, who witnessed it in 1815,
Mémoires de ma vie…présentés et annotés par Charles-H. Pouthas
(1958–1967), II, 271. “Drawers,” “Combing” and “such in” are in Orieux,
Talleyrand: The Art of Survival
(1974), 495.

Talleyrand worked closely with Spain on eve of congress, Pozzo di Borgo noted in
Correspondance Diplomatique du comte Pozzo di Borgo
(1890), Pozzo di Borgo to Count Nesselrode, June 1/13, 1814, 8. Their relationship, he added, was “inevitable.” But actually it was rather strained from early on, Labrador,
Mélanges sur la vie privée et publique
(1849), 33. The two had met back in Paris when Talleyrand was foreign minister and Labrador Spain’s emissary about to depart for the papal conclave in Venice that would select Pope Pius VII,
Mélanges
(1849), 6–7. For a strong view of Spain’s reliance on France at this time, see Abbé de Pradt,
Congrès de Vienne
(1815), I, 70–71. Labrador’s words on not playing role of marionettes comes from a discussion with an agent on his arrival in Vienna, Freddi, September 18, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 122.

The meeting on September 30 did not take place at the Chancellery as often reported, Nicolson,
The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity, 1812–1822
(1946), 141, but rather at Metternich’s summer villa. On this meeting, see HHSA St. K Kongressakten Kart. 2, Talleyrand’s report to King Louis XVIII, October 4, 1814,
TLC,
12–19;
Memoirs,
II (1891), 202–204 and 227–228, Gentz’s review,
Dépêches inédites,
October 6, 1814 (1876), I, 108, and his diary,
Tagebücher,
I, 312. See also Duff Cooper’s
Talleyrand: A Biography
(1932) (1986 ed.), 249–250; Agent Nota’s account to Hager, October 2, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 231; and an intercepted letter from Prince Bellio to the Prince de Valachia, October 3, 1814, no. 269. Some effects, Nota to Hager, October 3, 1814, no. 249. Hardenberg’s silence on the meeting, other than merely noting the presence of Labrador and Talleyrand, with a comment on the latter’s limp, is revealing,
Tagebücher
(2000), September 30, 1814, 799.

The letter of protest from the Portuguese minister that Castlereagh read is at Vienna’s HHSA, St. K Kongressakten 2. Dialogue from Talleyrand’s letter to the king, cited above, and words “absolute masters,” October 4, 1814,
TLC,
17. “It was necessary to annul all that had been done without France,” Talleyrand,
Memoirs,
II, 200. Metternich and Gentz stroll in garden afterward, Gentz,
Tagebücher,
I, September 30, 1814, 312. “Furiously upset” comes from here, as well as the description of the critical state of their position. Prussian headquarters were on the Graben, but like other delegations, they were spread out around Vienna on the Johannesgasse, Kärtnerstrasse, Herrengasse, Freyung, Wollzeile, Hoher Markt, Naglerstrasse, Judenplatz, and elsewhere. Humboldt was then at 620 Münzerstrasse,
GE
16–18, and
SG
11–12. Humboldt’s arrival in Vienna, analysis of an intercepted letter, Bernstorff to Rosencrantz, August 10, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 61, and Gentz,
Tagebücher,
I, August 8, 1814, 291. Humboldt to his wife, August 8, 1814, Sydow, ed.,
Wilhelm und Caroline von Humboldt in ihren Briefen
(1910), IV, 372. Bagration salon as “gathering place of the beau monde,” Hardenberg, noted in his diary, September 21, 1814 (2000), 797.

Description of Humboldt comes from Paul Sweet’s
Wilhelm von Humboldt: A Biography,
II (1980), his work on the translation of Aeschylus, tour of the battlefield, 151, and “Wars and treaties of peace fade away, but a good verse lives forever” in Humboldt’s letter to his wife, Caroline, December 14, 1813 in
Briefe,
IV (1910), 197. By the end of December, he had reached the chorus introduction of
Agamemnon,
letter to his wife, December 20, 1814
Briefe,
IV (1910), 442. Humboldt’s “subtleties and paradoxes” and “toying with the world,” Sweet (1980), II, 160–161, and also Gentz to Karadja, March 8, 1815,
Dépêches inédites,
62–63. Awarding an Iron Cross, Sweet, 165, and “lions,” Talleyrand to Louis XVIII, October 13, 1814,
TLC,
46. Talleyrand’s strong opinion on the delegation, Prussians as a nasty people and none more than Humboldt, Talleyrand to the Duchess, October 13, 1814,
TLI,
55. Prussia the most suffering “in proportion to its size,” F. M. Kircheisen,
Napoleon,
trans. Henry St. Lawrence (1932), 686, and the kingdom, of course, much more exposed in the west and east than the south, as Brendan Simms shows well in his
The Struggle for the Mastery of Germany, 1779–1850
(1998). More of the background can be found in, among others, James J. Sheehan,
German History, 1770–1866
(1994), and Hajo Holborn,
A History of Modern Germany, 1648–1840
(1968). The Copenhagen-Rome-Warsaw-Paris illustration is in Joachim Menzhausen, former director of the Green Vault, in his essay “Five Centuries of Art Collecting in Dresden” in
The Splendor of Dresden: Five Centuries of Art Collecting
(1978), 15. The king of Saxony’s still refusing to surrender any territory, King of Saxony to King Louis XVIII, September 19, 1814, printed in appendix, 582, and protest in
Le Congrès de Vienne et les traités de 1815
(1864), II, 401–403. Castlereagh’s poor knowledge of geography, including “military topography,” Talleyrand to King Louis XVIII, January 19, 1815,
TLC,
270–271. King of Saxony captured and made prisoner, though unfortunately with few details, Nesselrode,
Autobiographie,
in Nesselrode, ed.,
Lettres et papiers du Chancelier Comte de Nesselrode, 1760–1850
, II, 106.

C
HAPTER
7. “E
UROPE,
U
NHAPPY
E
UROPE
”

Chapter title comes from Talleyrand to King Louis XVIII, October 4, 1814,
TLC,
23. My account of Metternich and Duchess of Sagan builds on Ullrichová’s edition of their correspondence,
MSB
; Pflaum’s
By Influence and Desire: The True Story of Three Extraordinary Women—the Grand Duchess of Courland and Her Daughters
(1984); and especially Dorothy Guis McGuigan’s
Metternich and the Duchess
(1975). Emperor Francis words on regarding the Duchess of Sagan as most necessary ingredient, Metternich to Duchess of Sagan, August 14, 1814,
MSB,
260.

The discovery consisted of some 327 letters from Prince Metternich and 278 from Duchess of Sagan, and other supplements, from February 1812 to December 1818
MSB,
11. The Duchess’s “bitterest regret,” migraines, and depression are in McGuigan (1975), 26–27, Sagan to Metternich, January 21, 1814,
MSB,
187, and more on Vava, Pflaum (1984), 166–167. Armfelt’s wit was recognized by many, including Princess Radziwill,
Forty-Five Years of My Life (1770–1815
), trans. A. R. Allinson (1912), 187. Description of the Duchess of Sagan’s salon, Pflaum (1984), 165. The Russians gathering at Bagration’s salon, report to Hager, October 14, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 368, and the file, annexe XII, 809–811. La Garde-Chambonas called it “the Russian drawing room par excellence” while also making the comparison to St. Petersburg about 1810,
Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna
(1902), 94. Her salon had long been known for being popular with Russians,
Lettres et papiers du chancelier comte de Nesselrode, 1760–1850
, III (1904), 174. The Metternich and Bagration affair is in Egon Cäsar Corti’s
Metternich und die Frauen
(1948), I, 70–72. Metternich asked ministers if they wanted to discuss in Baden, Gentz,
Tagebücher,
September 15, 1814 (1873), 306. Humboldt had been in favor of this move for a while, Humboldt to Hardenberg, September 3, 1814,
GPWK,
116, and apparently agents were looking for places to rent for Castlereagh and Hardenberg, Gentz to Pilat, September 3, 1814,
Briefe von Friedrich von Gentz an Pilat,
ed. Karl Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, I–II (1868), I, 152. Metternich was visiting Bagration less frequently, as Agent ** summarized it, November 4, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 674, and again on November 22, 1814, no. 849. The tsar and Bagration conversation, “Metternich has never loved you,” Agent Nota to Hager, October 3, 1814,
DCV,
I, no. 252.