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THE DIPLOMATISTS OF EUROPE.

From the French of

M. CAPEFIGUE.

Edited by

Major-General Monteith, K.L.S. F.R.S. &c.

London: G. W. Nickisson, 215 Regent Street.

M.DCCC.XLV.

London: Printed by George Barclay, 28 Castle Street, Leicester Square.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

PRINCE METTERNICH 1

M. DE TALLEYRAND 58

COUNT POZZO DI BORGO 109

M. PASQUIER 172

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON 197

THE DUC DE RICHELIEU 223

PRINCE HARDENBERG 252

COUNT NESSELRODE 289

LORD CASTLEREAGH 327

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

The sketches now offered to the reader have most of them been already published in parts, in magazines and reviews. I have been advised to collect them into one work, in order to make their tendency and their spirit better understood.

The end I proposed to myself at the time I wrote them, was to efface the prejudices which the decrepit schools of the Revolution, and of the Empire, had cast over the vast intellects who have had the direction of the government in various countries, or who still continue to guide the state. This end, I think, was partly gained by the four sketches of the career of Prince Metternich, Counts Pozzo di Borgo and Nesselrode, and the Duke of Wellington. I have considered it the more essential to complete this publication at present, because, for some years past, people appear only to take pleasure in extolling those who have been engaged in the work of destruction. The most illustrious public bodies take pleasure in listening to the praises of those who have ruined the old state of society, and no man is considered clever, learned, or virtuous, unless he has been at least half a regicide. As for me I request a little space for the politicians who create, preserve, or add to a state,--for the men whose works still endure, and survive all those who declaimed against them. I would give all the fame of the Radicals of 1791, of the year III., or the year VIII., for the smallest portion of the abilities of Cardinal Richelieu.

It was not at random that I selected the names of the statesmen of whom an account is here to be met with; they each represent an idea--a system--a policy. Prince Metternich is the creator of the theory of the balance of power and armed neutrality, which has obtained a very exalted rank for Austria among European powers; Prince Talleyrand brought back among us the temperate diplomacy of the Empire, of the first days of the Restoration, and of the Revolution of 1830; Count Pozzo di Borgo personifies the persevering tact of European policy and the Russian system since the year 1814; the chancellor, M. Pasquier, exhibits the administration of the latter part of the reign of Napoleon, and he was, also, the moderate minister of the Restoration; the Duke of Wellington is England under arms, and the active spirit of the Tories; the Duc de Richelieu is the symbol of probity in affairs, and of great unrequited services--he is the man who delivered his country from the dominion of a stranger, and yet with whose name the present generation is, perhaps, less acquainted than with that of any orator at the hustings; Prince Hardenberg represents Prussia at first holding a neutral course, then advancing with her poetical universities; Count Nesselrode has been Chancellor of Russia for the last thirty years; and, finally, I have raised to its proper exalted position the much-belied character of Lord Castlereagh, the faithful interpreter of the views of the Tory party, the worthy successor of Mr. Pitt, and who preserved England and added to her power. These sketches, therefore, by their account of the different ministers, form a vast history of the cabinets of Europe.

Many new details will be found in these portraits, and my admiration for intellectual and powerful minds has made me strive to perfect them. Being quite unconnected with the agitations of the present times, I have not mentioned in these pages any name mixed up with the dissensions of the press and the tribune. Some of the politicians of the present day were, however, the noble friends of the Duc de Richelieu, and others afforded him the aid of their talents and sagacity. May they continue their career, without becoming weary and discouraged in the difficult paths of Conservatism and order! May they persevere, in spite of the misery of holding office in changeful times! The heart of Pitt was often deeply pained while arranging his magnificent work, and England now pronounces him the prince of statesmen. Toil and trouble are the condition of man, and nothing strong or durable ever was created, without raising a clamour of opposition from beings of inferior intellects, violent tempers, and disappointed ambition.

_June 1843._

NOTE.--The following pages being merely a translation, the Editor has found it necessary to abstain from any observations on the work of M. Capefigue, and from offering any remarks upon the sentiments of this able writer, even where he may materially differ with him.

_June 1845._

PRINCE METTERNICH.

The Austrian government, which is composed of old hereditary states and conquests of a later date, a sort of chequer-work of provincial privileges and immunities, may be said to be the creation of a statesman, who must be placed in a superior rank to all others.

It is not only under the aspect of a long and brilliant diplomatic career that we must regard the life of Prince Metternich, we must also look upon him as the head of the executive organisation, which includes so many various interests, and such a diversity of national characters and feelings, under the government of one sceptre.

Cast your eyes over the provinces which extend from the centre of Germany into Poland, from the extremity of Gallicia as far as Venice and Milan, from Zara on the Adriatic to Mantua, the key of Lake Garda and of the Tyrol, an assemblage of richer countries or more opulent cities cannot be met with. To Metternich belongs the honour of having already, for above thirty years, maintained his hold upon these various nations; he has realised the most difficult system of local administration and of a central government, great domestic liberty, with, at the same time, careful surveillance, an active police with very indulgent toleration, the most extensive credit with the least oppressive taxation. One might compare the Austrian government to the father of a family, anxious and rather strict with his children; the elder ones are tractable, the younger sometimes unruly, over whom he keeps a tight rein, in order that it may as seldom as possible be necessary to have recourse to chastisement.[1]

[1] Nothing can exceed the paternal government of Austria to her hereditary states, or the severity of the police in her Italian dominions. In Hungary the Austrian power has never been sufficient to enable her to ameliorate the prominent defects of their still feudal system. The Italians, Sclavonians, and Hungarians, are still far from being amalgamated with the Austrians.

Railways and industrial establishments are becoming numerous in Austria; her navy is increasing on the Adriatic, and is a means of circulating her flourishing manufactures. Metternich has thus caused the age of labour to succeed to that of war and conquest. The ancient constitution of Germany was destroyed at the peace of Presburg, during the time of the contemptible and fragile assembly of the Confederation of the Rhine. The house of Austria then renounced the old imperial crown; but a new existence has opened for it, and, after innumerable reverses under the Republic and Napoleon, it again reared its head with a new state of political life and of military power. Since the year 1813, Austria has been constantly called upon to play a great part in the affairs of Europe, and Metternich has succeeded in giving to her politics a character of perseverance, or, rather, of immutability, the result of an idea nobly conceived, and then worked out like a mission he felt intrusted to accomplish.

The political life of a statesman is bound up in the work he has undertaken. It is not my habit as a historian to adopt the narrow views inspired by party-spirit or worn-out declamation: when a minister has achieved the greatness of an empire, resisted vassalage under Napoleon, and furnished the most extensive field for the page of history, I will not, from a weak patriotism, raise my voice against this master-mind. We may meet with enough men who destroy; we ought to feel respect for those capable of creating, and then maintaining their work.

Clement Wenceslaus, Count of Metternich-Winneburg-Ochsenhausen, was born at Coblentz, on the 13th of May, 1773, of a good German family, whose ancestors have served in former times against the Ottomans. I also find there were several officers of the name of Metternich in the company of Lanzknechts, in the time of the Reformation and of the League. His father, Count Metternich, a man of very moderate abilities, was greatly in the confidence of Prince Kaunitz, and his name is mentioned in all the business transacted concerning the Low Countries. Young Metternich received the names of Clement-Wenceslaus, after the Prince of Poland and Lithuania, Duke of Saxony, who stood godfather to him. At the age of fifteen he went to the university of Strasburg, at that time very celebrated, and the most frequented academy in Europe.

The philosophy of Voltaire, Helvetius, and Rousseau, was then in the ascendant--that empty sensualism which filled young heads with effervescing fancies. The university of Strasburg was under the direction of Koch, the celebrated lecturer upon international law; and, by a singular chance, another youth, whose name has since been well known, was also pursuing his studies at the same university; this was Benjamin Constant de Rebecque. Some degree of friendship sprung up between the students, and it is curious to observe what a different career was opened by the caprices of Fortune to the two pupils of Professor Koch. Count Metternich concluded his philosophical studies in the year 1790; the rest of his education was completed in Germany. When he reached the age of twenty he visited England and Holland, and afterwards went to live at Vienna, where he married Maria Eleonora, of Kaunitz-Rietberg.

Metternich's first entry into the diplomatic corps was merely as a secretary at the Congress of Rahstadt,--a singular negotiation, which had a most tragical termination;[2] he afterwards accompanied Count Stadion in his missions to Prussia and to St. Petersburg, and was at the latter court at the time of the alliance between Russia and Austria, which fell to the ground in consequence of the rapidity of Napoleon's military investment of Ulm, and the revolt of Bavaria,--an admirable campaign, which at once placed the French emperor in the rank of the greatest military commanders.

[2] The French commissioners were attacked on leaving the city and many killed.--_Editor._

Even at this early period it was the opinion of Metternich that the triple alliance between Russia, Prussia, and Germany, would not be too much to restrain the power of Napoleon; and a striking evidence of the importance of France and of her leader had just been afforded by the battle of Austerlitz. Count Metternich was called upon to take a part in all the treaties concluded at this time; and, up to this period, his opinions appeared to belong to the same school as those of Count Stadion, who was shortly afterwards appointed minister for foreign affairs. By him Metternich was proposed as ambassador to the court of Russia; but, the treaty of Presburg having completely altered the position of Austria in Europe, Francis II. preferred sending the young diplomatist to Napoleon; and, on the 15th of August, 1806, the day of the solemn national anniversary, the ambassador presented his credentials, and first appeared before the favourite of fortune and glory.

The political system of which Count Metternich was the representative at Paris was very complicated. Since the first coalition against France, Austria had suffered the most severe reverses, having been twice deprived of the Milanese by Buonaparte, general and consul; then driven back on the banks of the Danube by Moreau, and having a second time entered the lists, after the alliance with Russia, this new coalition was dissolved by the battle of Austerlitz, and the Austrian cabinet was obliged to sign the treaty of Presburg,--a covenant submitted to through necessity alone, which broke up the old empire of Germany, and, in some measure, made an end of that of Austria.

It was the politics of this treaty, so fatal to the interests of the emperor, that Metternich was deputed to represent at Paris. The Confederation of the Rhine had overturned all the German system of affairs, which was as ancient as the Golden Bull. Wirtemberg and Bavaria, instead of being mere electorates, became kingdoms; when Bavaria received, at the expense of Austria, a territory of more than 12,000 square miles, a population of above 3,000,000 of souls, and a revenue of above 17,000,000 florins; and the aggrandisement of Wirtemberg, also prejudicial to Austria, though, no doubt, in a less degree, cost her about 150 square miles. Austria also lost the Venetian states, the Tyrol, the five cities of the Danube, Venetian Dalmatia, and the mouths of the Cattaro.

The act of the Confederation of the Rhine, which was the work of Talleyrand, Otto, and Reinhard, tore away the last remains of the old imperial mantle: and Francis II. was obliged to lay aside this ancient dignity, which would have been, in time to come, nothing but an empty title. Napoleon's system was to invade every thing, and a treaty was to him but an opportunity of launching out into fresh conquests. He had planted his family in Germany by instituting the kingdom of Westphalia; and, by means of marriages, he connected himself with Wirtemberg and Bavaria: all the stipulations in the treaty of Presburg had been insisted upon with the most inflexible haughtiness.

After these terrible reverses, Metternich considered the best means of regaining a little influence in Europe was to keep on good terms with Napoleon, or rather to preserve a strict neutrality, which might allow Austria to trace out an advantageous line of conduct for herself, should any decisive circumstance occur, as it could hardly fail to do sooner or later. The diplomatic system of Metternich was consequently one of expectation and inquiry; his special mission was, to become intimately acquainted with the most trifling peculiarities of this new and singularly constructed court, and to discover the thoughts and even the caprices of the powerful Emperor of the French.

Fresh successes had just crowned the arms of Napoleon. After some unfortunate hesitation, Prussia had cast herself headlong into the Russian alliance; and, after her subsequent defeat at Jena, the peace of Tilsit had laid the foundation of a temporary truce, for treaties with Napoleon could only possess that transitory character. Metternich received orders from his court to endeavour, by means of a respectful deference, to conciliate the favour of the great sovereign. The almost magical influence which Napoleon had obtained over the mind of Alexander at Tilsit had excited great apprehensions at Vienna: an interview was about to take place at Erfurt, and the probable consequences that might result from it were a source of serious alarm to Austria. Metternich was constantly seen at the Tuileries. He was the representative of a very ancient European court; himself a man of good birth, and with aristocratic manners, every thing was in his favour, and he was perfectly successful in his mission. At the court of Napoleon there existed much formality, a tone of society combining at once a degree of constraint with the blunt manners of the camp. It was a mere collection of puerile ceremonies; and a man of good family enjoyed an incontestable superiority there from the good taste and ease communicated by education, and the constant habit of society. The ambassador was then thirty-four years of age, his countenance was noble and intelligent; he went to all the court entertainments, and attracted universal attention by the elegance of his equipage and his expensive habits. Young, brilliant, gifted with a ready wit and an easy flow of language, with a slightly emphatic manner of speaking, Count Metternich had the reputation of being a successful gallant, and highly in favour with the Parisian ladies.

The ambassador had recourse to the pleasing species of politics which reaches the secrets of the cabinet--through the heart. His fascinating manners had gained him the good-will of Napoleon, who took pleasure in distinguishing him in the crowd of foreign ministers, and liked to converse with him, though with an occasional observation that he was very young to be the representative of one of the oldest courts of Europe. "At the battle of Austerlitz you were scarcely older than I am now!" was one day the reply of the ambassador. The Emperor was never hasty in his language to Metternich, for he considered him as the means by which an idea of the French system could be conveyed into Austria; and more than once the subject of their debate was the question of the balance of power in Europe, which assumed in the mind of Napoleon such gigantic proportions. Metternich's scheme was to represent the alliance between France and Austria as indispensable; and he spoke of the treaty of 1736, concluded under the influence of the Duc de Choiseul, as the basis of all political grandeur in Europe. The conference of Erfurt was, however, a source of constant uneasiness to him, and Napoleon had just departed for the meeting which was to reconcile the two empires of the North and the South. Promises had been exchanged between the emperors, and in these plans the sacrifice of Austria was determined upon. They were not ignorant of this at Vienna: had, then, all the efforts of Metternich in Paris been in vain? The Spanish war had just broken out, and another sovereign had been hurled from his throne. Was not this a fresh warning to the House of Austria? The alarms it inspired were confessed at the court of London, and England fed their fears in order to induce them to take a vigorous part in the war; for which purpose a report was circulated of a projected change of succession in the Austrian dynasty, favoured by Napoleon.

The peace of Presburg, by placing every where in the Germanic Confederation French principles, and almost French administration, had excited strong dissatisfaction, and the general detestation had been increased by large military contributions, and numerous vexatious oppressions indulged in by the generals and their subordinates. In every direction burst forth the anti-Gallic spirit in favour of the liberty of Germany, especially among the nobility and the secret associations, which had become formidable as early as 1808. The liberal impulse against Napoleon had been awakened in Europe, and it was not one of the least influential causes of his downfall. England encouraged these views; subsidies were promised to a government deeply involved in debt; the resistance of the Peninsula was pointed out to Austria, and the difficulties thereby opposed to the military power of Napoleon, especially after the capitulation of Baylen. Why should they not take advantage of this opportunity to burst through the conditions imposed by the treaty of Presburg? England engaged to subsidise the Austrian army, if, uniting their efforts to the common cause, they would seize that moment for declaring against France; and she also promised a simultaneous diversion in Holland and Spain. These warlike propositions soon found friends among the German nobility, and Count Stadion entered completely into the English views. The levies were immense, for the fate of the empire was at stake.

At this period the business of the young ambassador was to mask by flattering promises the military preparations that were making in Austria. His papers were full of protestations of confidence: and how could he act otherwise? Is it not the duty of a diplomatist to soften the course of events, and to moderate the first bursts of anger and vengeance of one nation against another? Austria did not wish to engage in war until Napoleon should be completely absorbed in his Spanish expedition. But as soon as the Emperor and the Old Guard had left Paris, to raise the puppet throne of Joseph at Madrid, she no longer dissembled her warlike preparations; hostilities were commenced against Bavaria, the close ally of Napoleon, and the Austrian standard was unfurled at Ulm. Napoleon, informed of this unexpected movement, made but one step back to Paris. Metternich was still there.

The ambassador was now placed in a very delicate position, for the Austrian war had really been a surprise. Napoleon thought himself the dupe of Metternich, and he commanded Fouché, the Minister of Police, to cause him to be seized, and marched from one military station to another, until he reached the frontier. The order was harsh, brutal, and contrary to all diplomatic usages. Is not an ambassador bound to obey the instructions of his government, and to serve its interests? and is it not his duty to conceal every thing that may injure his court? Fouché, with his usual regard to his own interest, and who considered what the future might bring forth, executed the orders of Napoleon with delicacy and politeness. He went to the ambassador's house, told him the occasion of his visit, and expressed the most lively regret for it. A degree of dissatisfaction had already begun to arise in the mind of this minister, who looked forward to the time when the insatiable ambition of Napoleon must have a limit, and he and Metternich expressed to each other, in mutual confidence, their feelings on the miseries of war and the rapacious spirit of Napoleon; and Fouché, whose disposition was generally communicative and incautious, went so far as to give utterance to most singular opinions concerning the probable downfall, or even death, of his master. In order as far as possible to soften the rigorous orders he had received, a single captain of gendarmerie, chosen by Marshal Moncey, accompanied the travelling-carriage of the ambassador to the frontier. Prince Metternich takes pleasure in relating the curious occurrences of this journey, which, like that of the aide-de-camp Czernicheff in 1812, was not devoid of peril.

Then the earth was shaken! The Austrian army, under the Archduke Charles, fought valiantly for the defence of their country and their sovereign, and the battle of Essling menaced the fortunes of Napoleon. The disastrous event of this day was never fully published in France; but elsewhere it was perfectly known. Preussisch-Eylau, the capitulation of Baylen, and the battle of Essling on the Danube, appear to me to be the three culminating points, which first taught the world that the armies of Napoleon were no longer invincible: these battles had a great moral influence upon the affairs of Europe, and Wagram was necessary to restore the powerful effect of the Emperor's name; the field of battle on this occasion was doubtful, but nothing could be more decisive than the result; great discouragement was manifested in the councils of Vienna, and the party in favour of peace carried the day.