Western Civilization - History Of European Society

The Defense of the Old Regime, 1815–48 459

respect for Louis XVI’s son who had died in prison. The
allies considered Louis XVIII a member of the counter-
revolutionary coalition, so France lost recently annexed
territory (such as Belgium) but kept the borders of 1792
without losing older provinces (such as Alsace).
These treaties were secondary issues to the allies,
who wanted to reconsider the entire map of Europe and
restore the prerevolutionary order. Representatives
from hundreds of states assembled in Vienna in 1814
for this peace congress and to celebrate the end of the
revolutionary era (see illustration 24.1). The decisions
of the Congress of Vienna were made by the four
strongest allies. The most influential statesman was the
foreign minister of Austria, Prince Klemens von Metter-
nich. He was a native of the Rhineland, and he had
been raised in the French language, which he spoke at
home; Metternich only entered Austrian service after a
French army drove him from his Rhenish estates in

1794. His ideas, however, won the confidence of the
      emperor of Austria, Francis I; they agreed that revolu-

tionary ideas were “moral gangrene.” Francis trusted

Metternich to maintain a world with “no innovations”

(see document 24.1). Enlightenment was so unwel-

come, wrote the poet Heinrich Heine, that he should

be remembered as “Prince Mitternacht” (midnight).

The allies shared variants of Metternichian conser-

vatism. Britain was represented by the foreign secretary

of a conservative government, Viscount Castlereagh.

He was such a forceful spokesman for the aristocratic

cause that the poor of London lined the streets to cheer

his funeral procession. Prussia was represented by

Prince Karl von Hardenberg who earned a reputation

for liberalism for Prussian domestic reforms but who

defended Prussian interests and international order with

tenacity. The czar of Russia, Alexander I, the most com-

plex and intelligent monarch of the age, often chose to

represent Russia in negotiations himself. These counts,

viscounts, dukes, and princes stated a guiding philoso-

phy for the Congress of Vienna: the principle of legiti-

macy. Every province in Europe should be returned to

Illustration 24.1

The Congress of Vienna.The peace congress following the
defeat of Napoleon was also one of the most glittering assemblies
in the history of the European nobility. The statesmen portrayed
here redrew the map of Europe in between balls, while other aris-
tocrats celebrated in a party that lasted for months. Prince Met-

ternich, who dominated European affairs for the next generation,

is the dandy in tight white breeches standing at left. Lord Castle-

reagh, whose party life would soon lead him to suicide, is seated

at center with legs crossed. Prince Talleyrand sits at right with his

arm on the table and his crippled foot hidden.