Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of ViennaLa Garde-Chambonas, Auguste Louis Charles, Comte de
History
Anecdotal Recollections of the Congress of Vienna
La Garde-Chambonas, Auguste Louis Charles, Comte de
Congress of Vienna (1814-1815)
The King of Prussia was accompanied by the Princes Guillaume and
Auguste. Baron de Humboldt[11] and the Prince d’Hardemberg presided
at his councils. The beautiful queen who in the negotiations of 1807
employed in vain all her seductive grace and resources of mind against
the will of Napoleon, was no more.
The King of Denmark, Frédéric VI., the son of the ill-fated Caroline
Mathilde,[12] also repaired to the Congress, which, luckily for him,
he was enabled to leave without his modest possessions having aroused
the cupidity of this or that ambitious neighbour.
The Kings of Bavaria and Würtemberg, the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg,
Hesse-Darmstadt, and Hesse-Cassel--in short, all the heads and princes
of the reigning houses of Germany--were there. They also wished to
take part in the political festival, and were anxious to know how the
supreme tribunal would trim and shape the borders of their small States.
The King of Saxony, so ardently worshipped by his subjects, had at
that time retired into Prussia, while the Allied Armies occupied his
kingdom. That excellent prince, whom Napoleon called ‘le plus honnête
homme qui ait occupé le trône,’[13] was only represented at the
Congress by his plenipotentiaries.
The representatives of France were the Duc de Dalberg, the Comte Alexis
de Noailles, M. de la Tour-du-Pin, and the Prince de Talleyrand. The
last-named maintained his high reputation with great dignity under
difficult circumstances, and perhaps conspicuous justice has never been
done to him. The English plenipotentiaries were Lords Clancarty and
Stewart, and Viscount Castlereagh.
Among these notable men it would be ingratitude on my part not to name
the Prince de Ligne, of whom frequent mention will be made in these
_Recollections_; and the reigning Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg [1814]. A
brave soldier, the latter prince earned his grade of field-marshal on
the battlefield itself, and moreover proved his talent as a remarkable
administrator by promoting in many ways the happiness of his subjects.
The whole of this royal company met in the capital of Austria with a
hospitality worthy of it, and worthy also of that memorable gathering.
The Kings of Würtemberg and Denmark arrived before any of the others.
The Emperor Franz proceeded as far as Schönbrunn to welcome each of
them. The interview between those princes was exceedingly cordial, and
free from diplomatic reserve; but the ceremony which by its pomp and
splendour was evidently intended to crown the series of wonders of the
Congress was the solemn entry of Emperor Alexander and the King of
Prussia.
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