66 an looked up to with esteem in that court. He | At dinner, on the same day, he had with had gained by his conduct the respect of all him a conversation, which well deserves to parties; Napoleon himself paid tribute to be called "a memorable scene." Towards his bearing in the field, while the devotion the end of dinner, Gentz "bluntly" adof his patriotism added at home sterling lus-dressed his friend, and recounted "the state tre to his brilliant name and rank. Gentz of mind in which he had passed the night." proceeded to address him, as he says, "with Then proceeding to dwell on the opinions the warmth inspired with the gravity of the and expressions indulged in by officers of circumstances." These words were listened the first standing in the empire, Gentz fully to with deep interest, and elicited from the and freely entered, without reserve or amprince an answer that proves an equal degree biguity, upon the disastrous situation of the of confidence. "He said that he had already empire, and the critical conjuncture of the made more attempts than Gentz seemed to moment. "The result was," he says, think for weaning the emperor from his fatal explanation the most complete and lively blindness; that he had almost exhausted all possible. Stadion became so affected at his influence, the more so that as soon as some things I told him that it began to give he began to speak of general affairs, the em- me pain; for a moment I thought of breakperor heard him with displeasure; neverthe- ing off the conversation, but the reflection less, that he was fully determined on still on the greatness of the danger made me go making effort on effort before despairing; on with it again. Two things became clear ... that, like Gentz, he was convinced war to me in this conversation: 1st, that Count would finish the State; that there was not Stadion was far from being sufficiently aware the least chance of succeeding in it; besides of the extent and strength of the military its being utter nonsense to undertake the opposition, which is due somewhat to a execution of a vast and dangerous project certain indifference, but much more to that with such a man as the emperor; . . . that unhappy desultoriness which marks the as regarded the ministers, he attached great whole course of our doings. 2d, that this worth to Count Stadion, whom he consid- man, so enlightened, so upright, so good, ered to be a man of uprightness and capac- was most reluctant to abandon the idea of ity, in spite of the grave mistakes into which carrying on the war: my argument he could he fell at the beginning of the war; but not overthrow; the only thing of any force that Metternich was in his eyes altogether a he said was, that the monarchy being ruined, wretched fellow, who had given a measure under all circumstances, it was as good to of his talents by the conduct he had pursued perish sword in hand as any other way. at Altenburg, and the platitudes he had The end of this conversation has a certain spoken and written; . . . that no sacrifice dramatic interest, which induces me to add was too great at the present time for avert- it in detail. He spoke of something to be ing ruin from the State; . . . that conse- done after a lost battle. I said to him,' But quently there was nothing left but to work what if the monarchy be destroyed then?' for peace, to which end he was ready to He answered, 'It is destroyed.' And at the dare everything." "During the whole of instant as he spoke the word, a servant this conversation," as Gentz remarks with entered to announce-that General Bubna evident emotion, "the prince displayed a had arrived. Thereupon he said to me, truly great character, sound views, noble Well then, soon we shall know more about and exquisite sentiments, and far more in- it;' and I went away in great agitation." telligence and knowledge of men and affairs than I had ever supposed him to possess in the time of my unfair prejudice against the man. Encouraged by the success of his appeal in this quarter, Gentz, after having besides exerted himself to effect an impression on some other influential individual, proceeded to make a great effort upon Count Stadion. As we have already said, he lived on a footing of intimacy with this statesman. ... On the following morning, the 25th September, at eleven o'clock, the council met. It was a moment of intense suspense; for so uncertain and hesitating was the emperor's character, that up to the last moment no one could reckon with any confidence on the issue. The entries in the Diary during this day reflect strikingly the depth of the anxiety to which Gentz was a prey. It was not until eleven at night that he learned the result. The sitting was a stormy one, and to conclude with Napoleon the negotiations full of moving incidents. Count Stadion which had been so long protracted to no himself came from it "in such a state of purpose. "At this moment," exclaims prostration and exhaustion," that Gentz was Gentz, "I felt overcome with the feelings obliged to defer till next morning any in- of one who, after long struggling with the quiry as to what had actually passed. Then waves, at last sees land under his feet." the minister, still in bed, "but having re- Not but what, even after the serious step covered his usual serenity," gave him the taken, the emperor yet repeatedly inclined details of the famous council. The follow- to revoke it, and lent his countenance to ing is the substance. After the emperor contrary counsels, equally preposterous and had stated the subject for discussion, Marshal ruinous. Several days after these plenipoBellegarde spoke, and said that for a long while he had striven to impress on his majesty all the difficulties in the way of renewed war; he now repeated them, to remind him that nothing had been done for their removal, and to prove that it was impossible even to raise the question. Prince Liechtenstein spoke in the same sense with much weight and warmth. The emperor wavered, or rather Count Stadion at once saw that an essential change had been worked in his views. Thereupon he put questions to the emperor; he called upon him to say whether he (Stadion) had not repeated in all the letters he had written while away that he would not make war, that he could not do so with the only means that were forthcoming; whether the emperor had not over and over again written to him that he was bent on making it; if it had not been on the strength of these manifold assurances, followed at last by a positive command, that he had repaired to Dotis (the imperial headquarters); whether the emperor had not directed him, not eight days ago, to write to London, Berlin, and Constantinople, in the sense of war, and whether by that he had not cruelly committed him, etc., etc., etc. ? To the whole of this interrogatory the emperor was obliged to answer in the affirmative, and to accuse himself in the most pointed and humiliating manner.n this scene there followed a number of mutual explanations, in part very stormy, in the course of which Count Stadion, seeing that the emperor had come to a decision, declared that he could not remain minister. Prince Liechtenstein then offered himself to go to Vienna, which measure was in every way supported by Count Stadion, who merely declared that he could not put his hand to the prince's instructions. Thus at last a final decision had been come to, and Prince Liechtenstein, accompanied by Generals Bubna and Meyer, was despatched tentiaries had been despatched, we read of a proposal being taken into consideration to set on foot a general insurrection against the French-a proposal which, according to Gentz, aimed at "organizing massacres, and imparting to the war marked features of cannibalism." So utterly wanting in consistency and clear and steady purpose were the men who then sat at the helm of Austria. Truly it was not due to their merits that the empire was not irretrievably lost at that time. In this particular moment of supreme importance, the government was avowedly without any responsible direction for several days, every one whereof was full of capital events. Count Stadion having refused to withdraw his resignation, given in on the 25th September, and Metternich being appointed his successor only on the 8th October, during the interval both these men, the minister who went out and the minister about to come in, shared in some indefinite degree the attribute of supreme authority, but in a measure so little distinct that neither of them knew the hand that had drawn up the instructions by which Prince Liechtenstein was to act in Vienna. In fact, there was then an interval when it was impossible to know who did and who did not govern; and Gentz is free of his strictures upon what he terms Metternich's thoughtlessness in being ready to undertake the duties of a ministry under circumstances so little calculated to warrant confidence. Indeed, it is plain that Gentz viewed the politician's conduct at this conjuncture with great distrust, and thought him actuated by an unworthy desire merely to supplant Stadion. That minister, on the contrary, once freed from the necessity of having to pick his way amidst the complicated perplexities of a responsibility that had been all along above his strength, now exhibited in its full clearness the thorough uprightness of his generous and noble na ture. No persuasion could make him for a him go away. On the road and during the evening at Comorn I had much conversation with him. He had recovered all his serenity. It must be said that he felt keenly the happiness of being free from so much trouble, so much vexation, so much swinishness Yet even at this point matters did not run smoothly for the negotiation. Napoleon, now perfectly confident of having become master of the position, threw off the moment waver in the duty of persisting in a resignation which he considered imposed upon him by the dictates of honor. Gentz would have gladly seen him remain in office. He dreaded what would come after Stadion. But neither his warm appeals nor sugges- (cochonnerie).” tions from other quarters made the least impression upon the minister; and Gentz was obliged to admit that the arguments put forth by himself in the warmth of friendship were fully refuted by Stadion's answers. dilatoriness by which, for his own purposes, After the degree to which he had deliberately he had hitherto allowed the negotiations to committed himself to a war policy, and iden- be marked, and declaring the Congress of tified himself with the principle of inveterate Altenburg at an end, announced "that he hostility against Napoleon, he felt it incom- looked at all that had been done there as patible with his honor to consent to become null and void, without, however, drawing the instrument for carrying out a policy based upon alliance with this opponent. All that Count Stadion would engage himself to do was, that, if the emperor should once more take up arms, and in that event again call upon him, "then he would return to perish with the emperor, being as convinced that he would then perish by the war as he must perish by the peace." His stay at court was only prolonged until the everwavering and dilatory emperor could be induced to signify in due form his acceptance of the resignation tendered. The very next day Count Stadion left the imperial headquarters, exhibiting in his person a striking example of the desertion which is the fate of a fallen minister: and this at the very moment that he showed himself more truly great and worthy of regard than during his whole tenure of power. Not one of those who had loved to fawn upon him in authority now came to cheer his departure except Gentz, who had yet so often severely disapproved his political conduct. The passage army measuring itself with yours-Russian, in the Diary relating to this event deserves Prussian, etc., etc.—will be beaten. I repeat observation, for it is one which affords an to you once more, that I never had, and insight into the better feelings that he sel- never shall have, the wish to harm you. dom cared to reveal, and in the end almost But how about yourselves? Will you leave entirely lost: "At three in the afternoon me in quiet? I am willing to believe that got into the carriage with Count Stadion. this peace will last five or six years, but after What a moment! How everything was that you will pick a new quarrel with me, if changed! I remembered the day of his de- everything be not changed with you. Why parture from Vienna in April. Then about grieve over the loss of some strips of terria hundred persons were around him; the tory that will some day nevertheless come whole house was filled with people. This back to you? All this may last while I retime-not a dog showed himself. Metter- main. France cannot make war on the nich and Hudelist came to bid him good-by other side of the Rhine. Bonaparte could while we were dining; but not a soul saw do it; but with me all is over." back from his ultimatum." He now insisted upon this ultimatum being either forthwith accepted or rejected in its totality. In fact, we find that Champagny peremptorily informed the plenipotentiaries that not the smallest concession would be made in the terms advanced, and that the instant they might leave Vienna without having concluded the treaty, the French forces would take definitive possession of the already conquered provinces, and the Austrians would thus have to take their chance of what might happen further. Personally, the plenipotentiaries, however, met with affable treatment from Napoleon, who was really anxious for peace. His intercourse with them was again distinguished by much of that easy charm which was one of the great weapons of his astuteness. Talking of the incidents in the foregoing campaigns, and the reasons for peace, he said to them, amongst other things: "Your army would be as good as mine, were I to command it; every other There was only one point to which the well refuse to ratify the treaty made without Austrian plenipotentiaries found themselves his authority. Prince Liechtenstein was not actually authorized by their instructions then without doubt the foremost man in to express their assent. The territories de- every sense in the empire, for personal charmanded by Napoleon, the Emperor of Aus-acter, loyal services, and known patriotism. tria was quite ready to cede without any ex- Moreover, his rank was such as to raise him traordinary grief. Their loss he had brought above all the emperor's other subjects. To himself to look upon with comparative in- look this illustrious nobleman boldly in the difference-comparative, that is, relatively face, and without flinching to chide him for to the payment of money contributions. Yet dereliction of duty, was more than the emupon these Napoleon unswervingly insisted; peror's nerves were equal to. He therefore and the sum which he at first demanded was gratified his ill-will by mumbling "some no less than 134,000,000 francs, while the words about displeasure and disobedience ; " limit prescribed to the Austrian plenipoten- to which Prince Liechtenstein firmly replied tiaries was 50,000,000 francs. Here there that he could not serve his emperor as a was indeed a grave difficulty; for the em- blind machine. But Count Bubna, although peror was notoriously obstinate upon the illustrious for personal qualities, was not point of money; and yet peace was felt by protected against imperial displeasure by the plenipotentiaries to be so necessary to the talisman of that hereditary rank before the empire, that in their hearts they would which in Prince Liechtenstein's case the have been glad to purchase it at the price of emperor's resentment had visibly quailed. the whole sum demanded rather than lose Him accordingly he felt no scruple about its benefits. During several days the claim treating with coarse harshness. "Under a was discussed and contested with vehemence monarchy," the emperor snarled at him, “it on both sides, until Napoleon having been is every man's duty to obey; and as you beaten down into declaring himself willing have not obeyed, you will go back to Pesth, to take 85,000,000 francs, Prince Liechten- there to resume your place at the war-office stein and his colleagues, encouraged by the and the direction of the stud." Afterwards, advices sent them from the imperial head- when the treaty concluded was being carried quarters, especially by Gentz, ventured so out, and the territories ceded were to be far to overstep their instructions as to agree handed over to the French, the emperor's to this additional concession of 35,000,000 spite devised the punishment of charging francs, without which Napoleon would have Bubna with the hateful duty of consigning at once renewed hostilities. For this patri- the Adriatic coast-land to the French. This otic transgression of orders the plenipoten- he did in an autograph letter, that spoke of tiaries were visited with the emperor's ve- "the treaty signed against instructions," hement displeasure, displayed in a manner and alluded "to Bubna's being especially highly illustrative of his pusillanimous and interested in lessening the responsibility mean-spirited temper. Prince Liechtenstein which thereby weighed upon him." had profoundly felt the responsibility of the was the reward," exclaims Gentz, "of the step; he told Gentz "that the resolution to man who saved the monarchy; to whom the sign the peace, which he could only do by emperor owes the preservation of all his overstepping his instructions in reference to crowns, which he is so little worthy to wear." the payment, had cost him no slight effort; The peace thus in a manner forced upon the that he had been unable to hide from Cham- emperor was ratified by him with such bad pagny his agitation as he signed, but that grace, that even after having done so, he the thought of the frightful consequences discussed with the elder Count O'Donnell, that must flow from his refusal had in the the minister of finance, the propriety of still end overcome every other consideration." making an appeal to arms rather than pay Arrived at Dotis, where the emperor was, the money required by France. "Every the prince manfully told him that if he instant," Gentz tells us, "the wretched deemed the peace unworthy of acceptance, character of the emperor makes him relapse he and his colleague Bubna would cheerfully into threatening language, and say right expiate their inadvertent act in the dungeon and left that it will not be long before he beof some state-prison, and the emperor might gins matters afresh." "Thus ended," are "This the year, the last words of the Diary at the close of rather on the surface than in substance. "one of the most memorable Between the Austria of 1809 and of 1862, between the temper that inspired the mere spleen of the former, and the downright disloyalty of the present time, there is a radical difference, which whoever overlooks, must fail in appreciating the full weight of the troubles that now press upon the empire. In the interval between the two periods discontent has made a vast stride. In 1809, only individuals, or, at most, the class of functionaries who by personal experience had had occasion to know the hardships that The consideration of the facts thus nar- result from the connection with dull, narrowrated is at this moment in the highest degree minded, and ungenerous governors, were instructive, when the Austrian empire is once animated against them with a more or less more subjected to the strain of trials that offer keen resentment; while the masses were many points of striking analogy to those of not yet affected in the same way. When 1809. The force that has again produced a Napoleon therefore stood in the heart of the break-down, which everybody in Austria Austrian empire, seemingly the absolute seems at this moment to vie with his neigh- master of its fate, he was practically unable bor in proclaiming, has without doubt, as in to destroy it, because its constituent portions 1809, proceeded immediately from without, escaped from his grasp, and were not malbeing the result of a foreign war, that, end- leable to his hand. But at present the case ing in glaring defeat, suddenly showed in is very different; now the bulk of the provits nakedness the thorough inefficiency of an inces that constitute the Austrian state, so army as vaunted for excellence as it was for- far from being listless to suggestions of aumidable in numbers. We have seen the tonomy, are alive with the desire to break kind of language in which, in 1809, Austrian away from the conjunction on which the officers expressed their bitter sense of the empire reposes. At the former epoch the injustice done them in sacrificing them to governors of Austria had but to conciliate a the incorrigible folly of the imperial dullards, victorious invader, to stay the uplifted arm who, without knowledge, without character, of a foreign foe, and they were safe in their and without spirit, would yet arrogantly in-homes; whereas now, after having been sist upon their native rights to command the thoroughly beaten in the field, they have, armies in the field. moreover, to deal in every quarter with The language which pervades the ranks seething elements of internal discontent. of the Austrian army at the present moment The task of successfully coping with difficulis the very same, even to the most violent ties of this manifold nature and extent must of these expressions. The disastrous humil- certainly be one of the most arduous that iations of Magenta and Solferino are as can be imposed upon statesmanship; the sofreely and generally attributed to the per- lution of which will demand the greatest wisverse folly of the august individual who pre- | dom, clearness of purpose, and freedom from sumed to direct matters, as were the catas-all narrow and arrogant prejudice. The actrophes of Ratisbon and Wagram, and the count bequeathed to us by Gentz of the utter disorganization of the Austrian mili- wretched inability of the imperial councils tary establishment in 1809, attributed by to summon the necessary resolution for actGentz's friends to the miserable inefficiency ing up to the far simpler wants of the crisis of the emperor and archdukes. In turning over the pages of this Diary, it is impossible not to be dumfounded at the exact similarity between the utterances that are there recorded, and those which are now to be heard on all sides in Austria. Yet this analogy between the two periods is one in 1809, is in itself not calculated to inspire us with confidence in their power of dealing with circumstances that imperatively call for far greater vigor and far higher qualities. This feeling of doubt will be further confirmed by the evidence afforded in the pages of this Diary, how the capital evils of which |