HISTORY OF THE PEACE. BOOK I. FROM THE SETTLEMENT OF EUROPE TO THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE IV CHAPTER I. THE world was at peacevember, 1815, Viscount Castlereagh On the 20th of Peace of Paris, Nov. 20, 1815. and the Duke of Wellington, on the part of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, for himself and his allies, and the Duke of Richelieu, on the part of the King of France and Navarre, put their signatures to the definitive treaty between France and the Allied Powers. That treaty was for the " object of restoring between France and her neighbors those relations of reciprocal confidence and good-will which the fatal effects of the Revolution and of the system of conquest had for so long a time disturbed." At the moment of signing this pledge of peace, the Duke of Richelieu described it as "a fatal treaty.' "" 1 "More dead than alive," he writes on the 21st November, "I yesterday put my name to this fatal treaty." It was fatal in his view, because it contained "an arrangement framed to secure to the allies proper indemnities for the past, and solid guarantees for the future." To France alone did this treaty of the 20th November apply. The settlement of Europe, as it was called, had been effected by the general treaty signed in congress at Vienna, on the 9th of June, 1815. Nothing remained but to carry out the great principles of justice and truth which were to heal the wounds of a bleeding world. Who could doubt that the reign of violence was destroyed forever, when the Emperor Alexander of Russia proclaimed that henceforth the political relations of the powers of Europe were to be founded on the gospel of peace and love? In a manifesto from St. Petersburg, dated "on the day of the birth of our Saviour, 25th December, 1815," the emperor commanded that there 1 Capefigue, Cent Jours, vol. i. Holy Alliance, Sept. 26, 1815. should be read in all the churches a "convention concluded at Paris on the 26th of September, 1815, between the Emperor of Russia, the Emperor of Austria, and the King of Prussia; " in which "they solemnly declare that the present act has no other object than to publish in the face of the whole world their fixed resolution, both in the administration of their respective states, and in their political relations with every other government, to take for their sole guide the precepts of the holy religion of our Saviour, namely, the precepts of justice, Christian charity, and peace; which, far from being applicable only to private concerns, must have an immediate influence on the councils of princes, and guide all their steps, as being the only means of consolidating human institutions, and remedying their imperfections." All crime shall cease, and ancient frauds shall fail, Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend, And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend. POPE. for so this conven was a rhodomon 2 The declaration of "the Holy Alliance tion of the 26th of September was named tade which the Emperor Alexander amused himself by composing, with the assistance of a "white-robed Innocence," (called Madame Krudener,1) whilst the prosaic destinies of Europe were being settled amidst a conflict of jarring interests. The mystical doctrines of political perfectibility had few disciples, although the enthusiastic emperor labored unremittingly for converts. Metternich slyly laughed, and handed it to his master to sign; 2 Wellington coldly bowed, and said that the English parliament would require something more precise. The peace of Europe was settled, as every former peace had been settled, upon a struggle for what the respective powers thought most conducive to their own aggrandizement. We shall endeavor briefly to trace some of the circumstances of the final settlement of 1815. Time has revealed many of the hidden movements by which that settlement was accomplished. The " Treaty of Chaumont, Treaty of Union, Concert, and Subsidy," of the 1st March, 1814, known as the Treaty of Chaumont, was concluded between Great Britain, Austria, Russia, Mar. 1, 1814. and Prussia, whilst the contest with France still remained undecided. The four great powers were negotiating for peace with Bonaparte, whilst war was raging all around them. The Treaty of Chaumont declared that the four powers had "transmitted to the French government proposals for concluding a general peace ; " and "should France refuse the conditions 1 "Clothed always in white, kneeling in the oratories, she seemed one of the Druidesses whose wonderful words commanded the elements."— Capefigue, Restauration. 2 Capefigue, Restauration. CHAP. I.] CONGRESS OF VIENNA. 3 therein contained," that the object of this solemn engagement was "to draw closer the ties which unite them for the vigorous prosecution of a war undertaken for the salutary purpose of putting an end to the miseries of Europe, by reestablishing a just balance of power." But this treaty was not limited to the attainment of peace alone - it contemplated a long alliance for the preservation of what should be attained and established. Its second object was, "should the Almighty bless their pacific intentions, to fix the means of maintaining, against every attempt, the order of things which shall have been the happy consequence of their efforts." To this end the four powers each agreed to keep in the field a hundred and fifty thousand effective men; Great Britain engaged to furnish a subsidy of five millions sterling for the service of the year 1814; and the duration of the treaty was to extend to twenty years. Within one month from the date of this treaty, the counter-revolution of France was effected, and Napoleon was decreed to have forfeited the throne. On the 23d of April, a convention was agreed with the restored government for the suspension of hostilities; of which the second article left no doubt that the just balance of power was to be established by reducing France to the territorial limits of the 1st January, 1792. By the definitive treaty of peace of the 30th May, 1814, some additions were made to these limits. With reference to the final disposal of the ceded territories acquired by France during the war, the treaty was necessarily vague. The larger questions of contemplated aggrandizement by Russia and Prussia were wholly left out of view; all was to be settled in the general congress to be held at Vienna. Treaty of Peace, May, 30, 1814. 1814. The Congress of Vienna was not only the most important assembly that modern Europe had beheld, but it was, Congress of at the same time, the most imposing and ostentatious. Vienna, It was accompanied by all the " fierce vanities" of the last days of feudalism; and the great dramatic poet's description of the splendors of "the vale of Andren" might, with little alteration, be applied to the saloons of Vienna in the latter months of 1814. In that city of pleasure were assembled, in October, the sovereigns of Austria, and Russia, and Prussia, with many of the lesser princes of the Germanic states. Emperors shook hands in the public streets; Metternich and Castlereagh strolled about arm in arm. The royal negotiators vied with each other in the splendor of their entertainments; the British minister, a commoner of England, o'ertopped the magnificence of the proudest royalties. The old Prince de Ligne exclaimed: "Le congrès danse, et ne marche pas." They did not move on quite so easily and agreeably as their outward de lights and courtesies might seem to indicate. Talleyrand came with his profound adroitness to demand that France should take a part in all the deliberations. The parties to the Treaty of Chaumont would have narrowed his claims, but he persevered, and France regained her proper rank in European diplomacy. The ministers of England and Austria had begun to feel that ambitions might arise as adverse to the just balance of power as the humbled ambition of France itself. A voice had gone forth from the British parliament to protest against the annexation of Saxony to Prussia, and the total subjugation of Poland by Russia. The Chancellor of the Exchequer declared on the 28th November, in the House of Commons, that he did not believe that any British minister would be a party to these acts.1 It was clear from his own letters, that up to the end of October the British minister had been a consenting party to the annexation of Saxony; and that he had defended the annexation upon the ground that the king had been guilty of perpetual tergiversations, and ought to be sacrificed to the future tranquillity of Europe. Of the wishes and interests of the people of Saxony he made no mention. Austria, on the other hand, strongly protested against the annexation. For three months Europe was on the brink of a new war. France, having recovered a position of independence at the congress, demanded the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty to the throne of Sicily and Naples, and refused to consent to the degradation of the King of Saxony. The principle of legitimacy was violated, according to Talleyrand, by both these acts. Austria made common cause with France in the discussions upon Saxony. Opposed to these powers were the sovereigns of Russia and Prussia, united by personal friendship, and most potential in their military organization. "Secure me Saxony," said Prussia, "and you shall have Poland; " Secure me Poland," said Russia, "and you shall have Saxony." In these questions Great Britain had no direct interest; but she had the great national interest to uphold, that the weaker states should not be absorbed by the stronger, and that some regard to the people should be shown in those partitions of territory which the wars of a quarter of a century had rendered too familiar. There was a change in the policy of the British minister at congress. Before the end of 1814, England, France, and Austria were united in demanding the integrity of Saxony, and the independence of Poland. On the 11th of December, the Archduke Constantine, who had hurried from Vienna, called upon the Poles to rally round the protection of the Emperor of Rus-sia; the Prussian minister declared that Saxony was conquered by Prussia, and should not be restored; Alexander, in revenge 1 Hansard, November 28, 1814. |