Congress of Vienna

“ The promenades, the public places, and the fortifications were positively swarming with people, and the theatres, balls and entertainments, somewhat neglected during the few previous weeks, had recovered all their former favour. It was a revival of pleasure, and as if the whole of Europe had made it a point to send representatives to this joyous pilgrimage at Vienna, there was no longer a mention of the termination of the Congress, so often foretold and so often denied.
It was really the realisation of the Prince de Ligne’s words: ‘The Congress does not march along; it dances along’ ”

“ During the period of the Congress the Prater became more brilliant than it had ever been before. Vienna was so full of strangers, coming from all countries to be the eyewitnesses of an assembly supposed to be the fitting termination to an epoch replete with prodigious events, that the number of carriages had incredibly increased. There was an infinite variety of dresses, Hungarian, Polish, and Oriental, an infinite number of uniforms whose wearers hailed from every part of Europe, and who dazzled the sight with their splendour. ”

“ He joined one of the Cabinets of Fox as Minister of War and of the Colonies, resigned his portfolio in 1806, resumed office in the following year, and became the directing power of England’s policy. He was the relentless enemy of the Revolution and of Napoleon, and granted subsidies to all the powers arrayed against him. At the Congress of Vienna, where he sacrificed Poland, Saxony and Belgium, he incurred great hatred, and his acts were strenuously opposed in Parliament itself. ”

“ Nevertheless, such as it is, the place enables me to escape from the bustle of fêtes, from the fatigue of pleasure, and from the crowd of majesties and highnesses. Here, and here alone, I am enabled to enjoy my own society. I come here to get the fresh air, and to recruit the strength I spend every evening on the incessant festivities of the Congress.’
At the end of the garden, he opened the door of a pavilion, positively suspended over the Danube, and from which the whole of Vienna could be taken in at a glance. ”

“ Her affection for the emperor was such that, when she met with the daughter he had had by Madame Narischkine, she smothered the child with caresses, trying to cheat her own aspirations as wife and mother.
To whatever political opinion one may belong, one is always glad to be able to speak of those who have occupied the world’s stage. Thanks to the Congress of Vienna, it has been vouchsafed to me to approach some of the men who have left their names on the pages of contemporary history ”

“ It ought to be said that for this memorable gathering no other city would have answered so well. Vienna is in reality the centre of Europe; at that time it was its capital. A Viennese who had happened to leave the city a few months before would have had some difficulty in identifying himself and his familiar surroundings amidst that new, gilded, and titled population which crowded the place at the time of the Congress. All the sovereigns4 of the North had come thither; the West and the East had sent their most notable representatives. The Emperor Alexander, still young and brilliant ”

“ The immense mistake of the Congress of Vienna is that it placed a military nation like France in a condition of forced hostility with the neighbouring peoples. I point to all that the foreigners have gained in territory and power, all that we could have taken back in July. A mighty lesson! A striking proof of the vanity of military glory and of the work of conquerors! If one were to draw up a list of the Princes who have increased the possessions of France, Bonaparte would not figure on it ”

“ In fact, the forgathering in the self-same capital of the first powers of Europe constituted one of the most extraordinary events of all the ages. The Congresses of Münster, of Ryswick, and Utrecht had only been plenipotentiary conferences. One had to go back for three centuries, as far as 1515, to find a similar assembly of crowned heads, when in that same city of Vienna Maximilian had entertained the Kings of Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland. And it was remembered that the presence of these monarchs had been attended with the most salutary results to the grandeur of Germany. ”

“ As a disillusioned contemporary admitted, it "prepared the world for a more complete political structure; if ever the powers should meet again to establish a political system by which wars of conquest would be rendered impossible and the rights of all guaranteed, the Congress of Vienna, as a preparatory assembly, will not have been without use." ”

“ To the hundred thousand strangers in Vienna, the Congress was rather an immense pleasure-gathering than a political assembly. Truly, each sovereign had his ambassadors and ministers, but each country had also sent representatives of its best society. Upon the first-named devolved the discussions of international interest and the settlement of international problems; upon the second the more pleasant duty of giving fêtes, entertainments, and holding receptions. Among the plenipotentiaries of this drawing-room diplomacy stood foremost the Comtesse94 Edmond de Périgord for France ”

“ At the moment when the Congress laboured at the consolidation of a general peace, the realisation of his generous plan seemed to recede further into the distance. It was improbable that Europe, even in the interests of Miltiades and Themistocles, would allow the equilibrium to be disturbed and risk once more the world’s repose. One morning I was riding through the Prater, after a stormy night which had burst over Vienna and occasioned much damage. ”

“ Such were the uneasy swayings of the peace of the Congress of Vienna, which were provoked by the reactionary proceedings of the monarchists. The stresses that arose from the unscientific boundaries planned by the diplomatists at Vienna gathered force more deliberately, but they were even more dangerous to the peace of mankind. It is extraordinarily inconvenient to administer together the affairs of peoples speaking different languages and so reading different literatures and having different general ideas, especially if those differences are exacerbated by religious disputes. ”

“ Bones, after all, are firmer than blood; and so, having the reins in their hands, they contrived with very little trouble at Berlin, and with nods of assenting approval from Vienna, to have things their own way, to make the liberal articles of the Congress of Vienna a dead letter, and to prove to the world once more that the promises of politicians, like the vows of lovers, are made only that Jove may laugh at them. ”

“ But, if you please, the Congress of Vienna was one long succession of such absurdities and for many months the question of "short trousers vs. long trousers" interested the delegates more than the future settlement of the Saxon or Spanish problems. ”

“ It will be one of the most brilliant spectacles ever witnessed. To-morrow night everybody in Vienna laying claim to be somebody is going to the Court to see the “living pictures” arranged by Isabey. They will be followed by romances sung and enacted by the handsomest women of the Court, the lovely Duchesse de Sagan, the Princesse Paul Esterhazy, the Comtesse Zichy, and several of our most elegant fair ones. Do not fail to come, gentlemen; you had better take advantage of the joyous hours. It is rumoured that the Congress will terminate on the 15th December. ”

“ Vienna was like an individual who, lulled to sleep by dreams of love and ambition, suddenly found himself violently awakened by the rattle of the watchman or the clanging of the belfry warning him that his house was on fire. The various guests from all parts of Europe could not recall without dread the phases of the416 period that had just gone by. The constantly renewed disasters of a quarter of a century of war; the invaded capitals; the battlefields bestrewn with the dead; commerce and industry paralysed ”

“ It is at the same time a palace and a triumphal arch. It is reached by a double staircase. The view from the principal drawing-room defies description: there are immense masses of green as far as the eye can reach, and at the horizon are the city of Vienna, the course of the Danube, and finally the high mountains whose outlines constitute the background of the magnificent landscape. It is difficult to imagine a more splendid panorama.
The greenhouses of Schönbrunn are perhaps the most beautiful in Europe. They contain precious samples of the vegetation of the universe. ”

“ Just as his high renown, and the authority attached to his name and experience, made themselves felt in the deliberations of European politics, so did his noble manners, the manners of the grand seigneur, and his59 urbanity stamp his private receptions and his daily life with a character of gravity wholly in harmony with his diplomatic rôle. At no moment in Vienna did he deviate from the habits contracted in Paris and in the century that lay behind. ”

“ Among the habitués were the Chevalier de Los Rios, Ypsilanti, Tettenborn, MM. Achille Rouen, Koreff, Danilewski, the Prince Koslowski, Gentz, the secretary of the Congress, the Comte de Witt, Carpani, the poet, ever so many generals, ambassadors, and very often some royal highnesses. Narischkine, the great-chamberlain, came now and again, treating the company to his biting and dreaded sallies. In short, there was a never-failing muster of all that Vienna held within its walls in the way of political, artistic, and social celebrities. ”

“ The attitude of the German and liberal cabinet which had taken office in Vienna in March was one of hatred and fear of the Hungarians, of hatred and contempt of the Slavs. The cabinet of Vienna was, however, entirely powerless, as several government officials and generals, of whom Prince Windischgrätz—who at this moment became commander of the Imperial forces in Bohemia—was the most important, had already planned a return to the former absolutist system of government. In spite of the dangers that threatened them, the Bohemian patriots determined to hold their congress. ”

“ In spite of his eighty-four years, the venerable Archbishop of Vienna, Prince de Hohenwarth, had made it a point to officiate. A profound respect, an intense and reverent emotion, pervaded the immense assembly at the sight of the royal sarcophagus and of the white-haired priest praying for divine pity on the virtuous monarch. It would be difficult to guess the feelings of all those monarchs, reverently prostrated not far from the catafalque, recalling such a great misfortune and such a great event in the history of France. ”

“ The fêtes succeeded each other uninterruptedly; the time not given to pleasure was looked upon as wasted. Every week there was a grand reception and ball at the Court. Taking their cue from highest quarters, the foremost members of Austrian society also had their appointed days for welcoming in their drawing-rooms the numberless strangers whom business or pleasure had brought to Vienna. On Mondays the Princesse de Metternich threw open her house; on Thursdays the Master of the Horse, the Prince de Trauttmansdorff, did the same, and on Saturdays, the beautiful Comtesse Zichy followed suit. ”

“ They practically kept open house to strangers. The splendour of their hospitality was only equalled by its cordiality. The mansion of the Comte de Fries, on the Joseph-Platz, was one of the most beautiful in Vienna, and in no way inferior to the most magnificent palaces. Its owner himself was as famed for his personal elegance and his charming manners as for his immense wealth. The fêtes that were given in those mansions were remarkable even among those of the Congress; and on the evening in question, the scene at Baron Arnstein’s was positively fairy-like. ”

“ The diversity of uniforms, the profusion of orders and decorations were, however, as nothing to the gathering of charming women. If it was true that at the particular moment Europe was represented at Vienna by her celebrities in every walk of life, it was equally certain that female beauty had not been excluded in deference to fame. Never did a city39 hold within its walls as many remarkable women as did the capital of Austria during the six months of the Congress. ”

“ It’s Austria that has won it, and means to keep it. Malta only claims from the Congress its rock and arms to defend itself against all comers: England, it is told, has won it, and means to keep it. Prussia gains Saxony; Sweden gains Norway; Russia gains Poland. Europe in Vienna sits round a table covered with a green cloth ”

“ As far as Strasburg, I had the race-horses of the prince, and from the Austrian frontier I had the horses of his brother, Prince Joseph, from stage to stage, as far as Vienna.
‘I’ll spare you the particulars of my stay in Paris. It was a perfect whirl of excitement from beginning to end. Society was the brilliant reflex of the astounding prosperity of France, of her numerous victories, and her enthusiasm for everything pertaining to art. Our Austrian legation met with a specially cordial welcome. ”

“ What was something more practical was the aid of the Powers and their money. All the sovereigns had promptly proclaimed their adhesion to these philanthropic projects by their subscriptions and their presence at his picnic; all but two, the Emperor Francis and the King of Würtemberg. The first, confined to his room by a somewhat serious indisposition, had sent a donation of a thousand ducats; the second had, two days previously, left Vienna, and his abrupt departure formed the subject of every conversation. ”