The month of February, which had brought us back a few rays of sunshine, had also brought back to the Graben the swarm of idlers and newsmongers who had been dislodged by the cold and the snow. Added to this, there was a considerable influx of newcomers, more numerous perhaps than in the first days of the Congress. These had been attracted to Vienna by the carnival. 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’; and they might easily have written up the words they painted in large characters on the site of the dismantled Bastille, ‘Dancing going on here.’ Prince Koslowski kept me posted in all the particulars of the endless sittings. ‘Are the other arbiters agreed?’ he said, in answer to my question. ‘Not in the least. The Polish question has been settled; but all the others are as far as ever from being settled. The fate of Saxony and of its king is by no means decided. Prussia asks for the ancient Belgian provinces, the territory of Treves and Cologne. France, who is not at all anxious for that neighbour, does not want Prussia on the left bank of the Rhine. On the other hand, she insists upon the throne of Naples being restored to the Bourbon branch. Take it all in all, it is nothing but a tangled skein. And to crown it all, the King of Denmark is joining the throng, and is asking for what each sovereign is pleased to call his indemnities.’ ‘That is certainly an imprudent request. Frederick ought to think himself very lucky to have passed unperceived amidst this chaos of pretensions.’ In fact, among all those sovereigns who were to leave Vienna with the spoils of some of their neighbours, the King of Denmark alone was fated to remain strictly within his old territorial limits. Consequently everybody repeated his reply to Alexander when they parted. ‘Sire,’ said the czar, ‘you carry all hearts away with you.’ ‘All hearts possibly, but not a single soul,’ answered the king, with a significant smile. To understand the witty allusion of the word, I must again remind the reader that the word ‘soul’ means ‘subject,’ and that all the decisions of the Congress were based upon the number of inhabitants of the countries that changed rulers. From that point of view, the King of Denmark had been the least well treated.