XIV. 1814. CHAP. Supported this proposal, and M. de Metternich did the same. In consequence of this division in the parties to the treaty of Chaumont, the representatives of these eight Powers were admitted to a deliberative vote, while those of Murat, King of Naples, and the Kings of Bavaria, Sicily, Saxony, the Netherlands, Hanover, besides the Swiss and Genoese republics, though not admitted to the conference of the greater Powers, were to be present at Vienna to attend to their interests, and make their wishes known to such of the greater Powers as might be inclined to support them. The representatives of the great Powers were, for Austria, Prince Metternich; for France, Prince Talleyrand; for Russia, Count Nesselrode; for Prussia, M. de Hardenberg; for Great Britain, Lord Castlereagh ; for Spain, M. de Labrador; for Portugal, M. de Palmella; and for Sweden, M. de Lowenhielm. At a meeting of these ministers, held on the 8th October, it was determined to postpone the opening of the Congress till the 1st November; to give time for some understanding to be arrived at on the principal points at issue.1 1 Congrès de Vienne, i. 49; Cap. i. 65, 66; Thiers,xviii. 517. 19. of the Con committees. Previous to the formal meeting of the Congress on Separation 1st November, however, several committees were apgress into pointed, intrusted with the task of bringing, by the interchange of confidential communications, the most important questions to such a degree of maturity that they could be submitted to the final determination of the Congress of the greater Powers. The two most important of these were, the committee on the affairs of Germany, and that on those of Poland and the conquered territories. The first consisted of the representatives of the five principal German Powers, and the duty with which it was charged consisted in arranging the conditions of the great confederacy which had been agreed on by the treaty of Paris of 30th May. With regard to the second, it was agreed amongst themselves that the disposal of the territories. which had been wrested from France by conquest should be at the disposal of the four great Powers which had CHAP. XIV. 1814. conducted the war and the duty with which they were intrusted was immense; for the territories which they had at their disposal contained 31,000,000 of inhabitants. France and Spain were nominally to be consulted, but only after the real resolutions had been taken in secret by the four Allied Powers. The disposal of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, including the general settlement of Poland, was also left to Austria, Russia, and Prussia, with Great Britain as umpire; a situation which, from the known divisions between the great Powers on that subject, gave the representative of the latter Power a great degree of importance. The affair of Saxony was devolved upon the same Powers, upon the principle that its territories had been won by conquest, and therefore were at the disposal of the conquering Powers. Practically speaking, the arrangement of the conquered territories was intended to lie with the Powers which had signed the treaty of Chaumont; for although France, in the instructions to Talleyrand, had1 Hard. xii. enjoined him to contend for the principle, " that the rights Cap. i. 75, of conquest should not be considered as binding, except xviii. 457so far as recognised by treaty;" yet, as her territories 460; Conwere, generally speaking, reduced to the ancient limits Vienne, i. by the treaty of 31st May, her weight in the disposal of 248-251. the conquered territories could not be very considerable.1* The Cabinets of Vienna and Berlin had concerted together the basis of the German confederation which was submitted to the German committee on 14th October. * "La France n'apporte au Congrès aucune vue d'ambition ou d'intérêt personnel. Remplacée dans ses anciennes limites, elle ne songea plus à les etendre, semblable à la mer qui ne franchit les rivages que quand elle a été soulevée par les tempêtes. Ses armées, chargées de gloire, n'aspirent plus à de nouvelles conquêtes. Delivrée de cette oppression dont elle avait été bien moins l'instrument que la victime, heureuse d'avoir retrouvée ses princes legitimes, et avec eux le repos qu'elle pouvait craindre d'avoir perdu pour toujours, elle n'avait point de prétentions qu'elle voulait former. Elle n'en a enlevé; elle n'en élèvera aucune; mais il lui restait à désirer que l'œuvre de la restauration s'accomplit pour toute l'Europe comme pour elle; que partout et pour jamais l'ésprit de la Révolution cessat."-Note confidentiel, M. DE TALLEYRAND à M. DE METTERNICH, Decembre 19, 1814; Congrès de Vienne, iv. 231; CAPEFIGUE, i. 77. 453-455; 76; Thiers, grès de 48, 49, and CHAP. XIV. 1814. 20. Formation man Consti tution. Oct. 14. It contained the great and important elements of union against external aggression, and the prohibition of internal wars. To avoid the endless confusion arising from a multiplicity of votes, it was agreed that the committee of the Ger- should consist of five Powers, and that their representatives should form the congress. The persons chosen for that high office were the most illustrious on the Continent for statesman-like wisdom and practical experience.* They did not experience so much difficulty in their labours as might have been anticipated, though some of the points embraced in their declarations were those on which the movement and conservative parties were directly at issue, and which, in after times, produced such divisions as well nigh split the confederacy in pieces. But the importance of the points was not then generally appreciated, and the world was too thankful to have escaped from the terrible nightmare of French oppression to disquiet itself with any anxieties with which its morning prospects might be clouded. It was laid down-"1. That the States (Die stände und freie städte) including Austria and Prussia for their German possessions, should be united in a confederacy bearing the name of the German Confederacy. 2. The object of the confederation is, the guarantee of external security and independence, as well as of the constitutional rights of every class of the nation. 3. In forming that union, which has for its object the good of the common country, the members of the confederation, all and each of them, reserve to themselves the full and entire enjoyment of their rights of sovereignty, in so far as those rights are not limited by the preceding article, it being understood that these rights are to be formally announced in the federation act. 4. The object of the confederation was to be attained by the establishment of a The States and representatives forming the German committees were as follows:-1. Austria, Prince Metternich and Baron de Wessenberg; 2. Prussia, Prince Hardenberg and Baron Humboldt; 3. Bavaria, Field-Marshal Prince de Wrede; 4. Hanover, M. Le Comte de Hardenberg, minister; 5. Wirtemberg, Baron Linden.-Congrès de Vienne, i. p. 54. XIV. 1814. federal diet, combined with the division of Germany into CHAP. a certain number of circles; that diet to be composed of a council of the chiefs of circles, and of a council of the other States; and by the influence which the federal diet will accord under the surveillance of the diet to each chief of a circle over the States of his circle." Various minute regulations followed for fixing the Princes and States which were to compose these circles, and the powers they were respectively to enjoy. to enjoy. But the important points of prohibiting private wars among each other, or external wars, by individual states, on Powers beyond the limits of the confederacy, as well as the privileges to be granted to the inhabitants of the different States, were provided1 Congrès de Vienne, i. for in separate articles which, from their great import- 61-64. ance, must be given in the original.1* *"9. Pour empêcher qu'un état de la Confédération ne compromettre la sûreté extérieure de l'Allemagne, chaque état n'ayant pas de possession hors de l'Allemagne s'engage à ne faire la guerre pour son compte contre des Puissances étrangères, ni de prendre part aux guerres de celles-ci, ni de conclure, sans agrément de la Confédération, des traités d'alliance ou de subside, ou d'autres conventions relatives à une cession de troupes. Lorsque les états ayant des possessions étrangères sont enveloppés dans une guerre avec d'autres Puissances, il dependra de la Confédération d'y prendre part si l'état belligérant le demande. "10. Les princes d'Allemagne renoncent également au droit de faire la guerre entre eux et soumettent leurs differens (en tant qu'ils ne peuvent pas être vidés par une instance austrégale) d'après des formes à determiner à la sentence qui prononceront à la fois les chefs de cercle et un tribunal fédéral. Ce tribunal prononcera aussi sur les plaintes qui y seront portées pour violation de l'acte fédératif en tel ou tel pays. "11. L'acte fédératif etablit la necessité d'une constitution d'états dans chaque état de la Confédération et fixe un minimum des droits des états en s'en remettant aux nombres de la Confédération, non seulement pour accorder une plus grande etendue de prérogative à leurs états, mais aussi de leur donner une organisation analogue aux coutumes et au caractère des habitans et à l'observance."-Articles Concertés entre l'Autriche et la Prusse, 16 Octobre 1814; Congrès de Vienne, i. 61-66. It was finally determined that the diet of the Confederation was to be always presided over by Austria, and was to consist of two bodies. 1. An ordinary assembly to be formed of seventeen members-one from each of the separate states, except some of the very small ones, who were grouped together to elect one, and the four free towns of Frankfort, Bremen, Lubeck, and Hamburg, who also combined to return one member. This assembly was to be permanent at Frankfort, and to settle all ordinary matters. 2. A general assembly to decide upon all important organic and general subjects, to be composed of sixty-nine voters each state returning a number of voters in proportion to its territorial magnitude and importance.-Acte pour la Constitution Federale de l'Allemagne, du 8 Juin 1815; Congrès de Vienne, v. 301-309. Aliment of this great confederacy, embracing mal fare and ping alike for external i amal pear, was so obvious an adM :: what stay occurs in such Le Tsunee to any considerable change is 1 is met with very little oppoSer of all focus was the most important and jennom made arodved by the Congress of Vienna, de and the one or with the liessed peace of forty years ▼21 520 espel s heir to be ascribed. But the sune operi vas far from being evinced on the next CARD DESDOO vich presented itself and that was the fresh of Band and Sammy. These two questions in one irmei za boe, so entirely were the Cabinets US Pasher and Berlin at che in regard to the course to be pursued movin' these two States. To incorporate All Found or toe state, of wish he was to be the head, and olema Prussia by the whole of Saxony and Austur lake, vis, is already stated, the fixed determimama of the Court in with be was cordially supported by the King of Prussia and his Cabinet. On the very threshold of this question, however, they were met by a formidable objective. As the whole of Poland had been shared out between the partitioning Powers, it was impossible to restore it without taking considerable territories from some or all of them; and in this resumption Austria and Prussia would be the sufferers, without any equivalent, if not found elsewhere. Alexander, indeed, londly insisted on his disinterested policy in agreeing to surrender by far the largest portion of old Poland—viz., Lithuania, with its nine millions of inhabitants, to form the basis of the restored state; but it could not escape notice that this generosity was apparent only and delusive: that if Russia agreed to the severance of Lithuania from her imperial domains, it was only that it might form part of the kingdom of Poland, of which, with vast additions, her sovereign was to become the head; and that, if the liberties of Europe were to be endangered by the Muscovite Power, |