Castlereagh's parties at Vienna exceeded in splendour those even of the
Emperor of Austria, and were replete with every pleasure and amusement;
while her ladyship, who was a woman of extraordinary abilities,
afforded considerable assistance to the diplomatic proceedings of
her husband. The bold and rather presumptuous manner of Sir Charles
Stewart, Lord Castlereagh's brother, were tempered by the studied
mildness of Lord Aberdeen and the military profusion of Lord Cathcart;
and the _soirées_ of the English legation were cited as the most
brilliant of the season, not excepting those of the sovereigns. The
English minister, however, was not satisfied with the decidedly Russian
tendency of the congress. He had carefully studied the character of
Alexander, and was well aware that vast ideas and infinite ambition
lay concealed under the religious mysticism he had adopted under the
influence of Madame Krüdner; and looking at it under this point of
view, he naturally came to the conclusion that, if the English policy
had been the means of saving the Continent from the absorbing power
of Napoleon, it would be necessary to guard against a new danger, and
prevent the power of Russia from becoming too great and exercising too
absolute a dominion over the destinies of the world. This feeling,
common to them all, formed a tie between Castlereagh, Metternich, and
Talleyrand, all of whom were equally convinced that the combination of
the three sovereignties would not be too much to oppose the projects
of Russia; and their dissatisfaction increased so much towards the
termination of the congress, that the three plenipotentiaries signed
the treaty of alliance concluded in February, 1815, to guard against
any possibilities that might arise regarding Saxony and Poland. Thus
the man who had been the keystone of the coalition, whose powerful hand
had cemented and directed it, contributed at this moment to introduce
divisions into its bosom, because the common danger had passed away.
This danger, however, appeared again when intelligence was received
of the landing of Buonaparte and his march to Paris; and the English
minister had no hesitation in placing himself at the head of the
coalition, for Napoleon was considered as the general enemy of Europe.
In 1814, Lord Castlereagh had opposed the sovereignty of the island of
Elba being awarded to the ex-Emperor, and now, laying aside all other
considerations, he looked at nothing but at the necessity of restoring
unity to the confederation, and marching at once against the man who
had been placed at the ban of Europe. Reports were in circulation that
England had favoured the return from Elba, in order again to humble
France and to impose heavier conditions upon her; and Lord Castlereagh,
when asking for subsidies, was obliged in the House of Commons to enter
into an explanation upon the subject. He had only to answer, that it
was against his opinion a sovereignty had been granted to Buonaparte;
but that, after he had once been acknowledged as an independent
sovereign, no one had any right to watch his actions and proceedings.
He and the Duke of Wellington now shared the arrangements between
them, the one directing the debates in parliament while the other was
employed in organising the army. Immense subsidies were again required
to assist the coalition, and set a million of men in motion against the
glorious adventurer who had made but one step from the Gulf of Juan to
Paris.
Lord Castlereagh had vowed an implacable hatred to all the ridiculous
dynasties who sheltered themselves under the mantle of Napoleon, and he
revealed to the House of Commons the correspondence between Murat and
the Emperor; thus paving the way for the downfall of that melodramatic
king who was playing his part among the lazzaroni at the palace of
Portici, or at the Villa Reale. In the stormy debates in the House
of Commons he always exhibited the same tenacity of principles and
resolution which had supported him in the imperial crisis, and even the
present situation awakened in his mind the pride of a statesman who
has realised some great thing for his country; for the supreme power
henceforth belonged to England, and no one could dispute with her the
empire of the sea: for a short time she had been at war with America,
but peace had just been concluded, and all these circumstances had
greatly augmented her power.
In the struggle now taking place, his lordship was possessed with one
great object: in 1814 he had made some concessions to France, and he
considered the affair terminated when her ancient limits, augmented
by Savoy and the Comté Venaissin, were assigned to her, under the
government of her ancient dynasty; but he now found all his work had
fallen to the ground, and he concluded from thence that the power of
France was still too great, and predominated too much on the Continent:
for the sake, therefore, of obtaining the applause of Germany and the
support of Prussia, he entered unhesitatingly into all the hatred vowed
to us by them. Waterloo had placed France under the especial direction
of England and Prussia, and deprived her of the Russian influence;
therefore his lordship was at liberty to explain his ideas, and there
was every facility for the execution of his system. His principles
being in perfect agreement with those of the Duke of Wellington, he
communicated to him his opinion about the future condition of France.
In the first place, the ministerial system must be entirely English;
and as a good understanding had existed between him and Talleyrand at
Vienna, he chose him to fill the situation of prime minister. Then
again, the Tories do not like revolutionists; but as these last assumed
a suppliant attitude before the English, and that the patriots, under
the shield of Fouché and of the representative chamber, were at the
feet of the Duke of Wellington, even to obtain a foreign prince, they
decided Fouché should be appointed to the ministry with Talleyrand.
But this was only the commencement of the system. Lord Castlereagh had
observed that the material power of France was too considerable for the
balance of power in Europe, and also that Belgium was not sufficiently
protected; he therefore considered it necessary another frontier should
be adopted, to prevent any irruption on that side; and as England
wanted to secure the good will of Germany, he agreed to support, if
necessary, the proposal for the cession of Alsace and Lorraine to the
Germanic confederation. These ideas gave birth to the hard conditions
insisted upon by England, and rendered it necessary that France should
have recourse to the Emperor Alexander to obtain better terms after her
heavy afflictions.
With regard to Buonaparte, the minister's conduct was perfectly
consistent. In 1814 he had strenuously opposed the idea of an
independent sovereignty in the island of Elba, and the enemy of
England was now again in his power. It has been written and currently
reported, that Napoleon's resolution to throw himself for protection
upon the generosity of England was a free and spontaneous action; but
such was far from being the case: too well did he know the unpitying
and irritated feelings entertained against him by that nation, but he
went on board the English man-of-war because he could no longer escape
the cruisers, and perhaps the sailors in those vessels might have done
him some injury, in vengeance of the sufferings of Captain Wright,
who died in so mysterious a manner in the Temple. His letter to the
Prince Regent was only an attempt to escape his fate by assuming the
position of a free agent, when a few hours later he would have been a
prisoner of war. As soon as Buonaparte was on board the Bellerophon,
Lord Castlereagh hastened to acquaint the plenipotentiaries of
the allied powers, assembled at Paris, with the fact; and then he
naturally returned to his original and favourite idea of placing him
under the charge of the Allies, in some spot sufficiently remote from
the Continent to secure Europe against the risk of any further bold
attempt on his part. This proposal did not arise from any personal
hatred or feeling of animosity, but was the result of a profound and
well-considered conviction. As for the rest, every thing was done
with proper attention and consideration; but no one ever shewed more
sulkiness, ill-humour, and I may say more littleness, than did Napoleon
in adversity. How had he treated the Duc d'Enghien? Had he not pursued
and striven to ensnare Louis XVIII. in every part of Europe? Was it
too much, immediately after his adventure of the hundred days, which
had cost us so dear, to send him to a place of security, from whence
he would no longer be able to torment Europe? Buonaparte took offence
because the title of majesty was refused him, and because he was not
permitted to live quietly like one of the citizen classes in England or
the United States (a proposition he made with just the same degree of
sincerity as his request to be appointed _juge de paix_ of his district
before the 18 Brumaire). Imagine Buonaparte a citizen of Westminster or
Charleston! After so long a drama on the theatre of the world, if a man
has not been able to die he ought to know how to submit to obscurity;
but he, at St. Helena, did not exhibit the greatness that ought to have
arisen from his recollections and his glory, and I would willingly
believe his flatterers garbled his conversations in the narratives
published of his exile.
By the treaty concluded in the month of November, which was the
completion of the transactions at Vienna, a magnificent position
was allotted to England. In the south of Europe her influence over
Portugal was secured, and the family compact was broken; in the north,
a kingdom was constructed of Holland and Belgium, under her patronage,
for the Prince of Orange, one of her generals; Prussia was closely
attached to her system, and the Elbe opened to her the road to Germany;
Hanover belonged to the British crown; she absorbed the factories and
establishments of France in India, and acquired the Cape of Good Hope,
the Isle of France, and Ceylon, besides Malta and the Seven Islands
in the Mediterranean. She had reached the highest degree of power
permitted to a state, and it was the firm and resolute conduct of Lord
Castlereagh that had led to these great results; for had the weak and
unconnected opinion of the Whigs carried the day, had peace been signed
with Buonaparte, based on the terms approved by Fox and Grenville,
never would England have attained to such a pitch of power and
splendour. In mortal struggles like these one party must perish; and
as it was, Napoleon sunk under the efforts of Britain. The captive of
St. Helena was well aware of this, for he never accused any one of his
fall but Lord Castlereagh and the English aristocracy, whom he devoted
to the execration of future ages; no doubt for thus having succeeded in
exalting the grandeur of England, as he had dreamed of doing with the
magnificence of his nation and his race.
In the history of states, two periods usually occur. When there is a
strong inclination to foreign wars, it very seldom occurs that there
is much agitation among parties at home, because when society is
hurried with violence into affairs of great importance, she has no
time for considering her own troubles or inquiring closely into her
domestic afflictions; but when the war is over she turns her attention
upon herself, and internal dissensions take place. This was the case
in England after the treaty of Paris in 1815, extreme irritation was
displayed in her troubles; and this requires some explanation: that
there was much suffering among the various classes of British subjects
is an undoubted fact, and it proceeded from many different causes. The
successive debts she had been obliged to contract had inordinately
increased the taxes; a war, lasting for twenty years, had been suddenly
succeeded by a peace which had injured the interests of many people,
because war, by occasioning an unnatural excitement to industry of
every kind, had given employment to thousands, for the commerce of the
world was in the hands of England. Peace opened an immense competition;
Great Britain, formerly alone in the market, now met with the French
and Americans, and the ports were no longer exclusively open to her
manufactures. Besides this, pauperism, that species of leprosy in a
nation, had greatly increased, and it had now become an actual sore in
the British government, a vermin on the velvet robes of her rulers.
A radical and deep-seated movement had also taken place in the public
mind. Great excitement always leaves a degree of fermentation behind;
the revolutionary doctrines had sheltered themselves behind the shield
of parliamentary reform, and this very reform became a pretext gladly
seized upon by agitators; thus England found herself covered, not with
secret societies, for on her soil people breathe freely, but with
clubs and inflammatory meetings, so that the country resounded with
petitions. On this occasion it again became necessary to display a
degree of firmness; the inflexible character of Lord Castlereagh was
alone capable of opposing to doctrines which manifested themselves by
riotous assemblies of 100,000 men in various cities.
Independent of these domestic troubles, there were also difficulties
connected with foreign affairs that exhibited a no less serious aspect.
Ever since the year 1792 but one great danger had occupied the mind of
Europe, the absorbing and inordinate power of the republic and empire
of Napoleon. England having always been at the head of the implacable
movement which attacked the revolutionary power in France, had also
naturally taken the lead in the political transactions; and Europe did
not stop to examine whether the cabinet of London assumed too great an
influence while protecting the general interest; for Buonaparte excited
alarm, and the assistance of Great Britain was required to oppose him:
but as soon as this powerful Colossus was overthrown, a continental
system was formed under the influence of the Emperor of Russia, and led
to all those congresses, annually repeated, in which England could not
take an active or predominant part. The statesmen of Great Britain,
both Whigs and Tories, rejected all the theories of absolute power;
they had been educated in the principles of 1688, and neither would,
nor could, adopt the maxim of the divine right of kings. Thus Lord
Castlereagh could not unite in all the manifestoes and declarations of
principles which the Emperor Alexander issued in his mystical ideas of
the Holy Alliance. We must not lose sight of this circumstance in the
last four years of the minister's life. The treaty of 1815 had hardly
been signed before a formidable conspiracy of Radicalism in arms arose
in England, not merely easily suppressed riots, but bodies of 100,000,
who broke the power-looms and pillaged the houses, and the ancient
aristocracy appeared threatened with the most imminent danger; yet
such is the spirit of order in that country, and the reliance to be
placed on the English population, that these tumults were not attended
with danger. On this occasion the firm repressive spirit of Lord
Castlereagh was fully manifested; without hesitation, he demanded from
parliament the suspension of all liberty, even of the _habeas corpus_,
that powerful security of the English citizen. The troops ordered to
act vigorously against the rioters, shewed no compassion, because
there appeared no limit to the disturbances. How many accusations
were brought against Lord Castlereagh after the riots at Manchester
and Birmingham! The pamphlets published on the occasion represented
him as a butcher of human victims, and Lord Byron wrote some lines on
the cold impassiveness of his countenance. Was England to be allowed
to perish to please the poets? or were the designs of housebreakers
and destroyers of machinery to be seconded? The minister only did his
duty as a statesman--he saved society, and what do people want more?
He did it even at the peril of his fame--a great sacrifice for those
who devote themselves to the idea of order in the midst of disorder.
Very vigorous bills were passed, on the demand of the minister, against
foreigners, and against the instigators of the disturbances, and
he undertook in parliament the painful task of obtaining repressive
measures. In England there are resources, even in times of the greatest
danger, because there exists a race of statesmen, the Tories, who never
give way to public clamour; in the midst of the most formidable riot a
degree of respect for the laws is still felt, and people submit to the
summons of a constable.
This agitated situation lasted nearly five years; the counties were in
a blaze; and at last the Queen's trial became the pretext for fresh
disorders. No one could take any interest in a queen who, in the
decline of life, had carried on her intrigues in Syria, in Greece,
and in Italy, with true English disregard of public opinion, which is
in itself an eccentricity. Every one was aware of the irregularities
of the Princess of Wales, now queen by the death of George III., and
retaining in her service the witness and partaker of her excesses, her
chamberlain, Bergami. But the Radical party did not look so closely at
the affair; all they wanted was a pretext to excite the public mind,
and they had recourse to the queen's trial as a means of occasioning
riot and disorder. The Tories, deeply sensible of the embarrassed state
of the country, and desirous, if possible, of avoiding a scandalous
trial, proposed a middle course to the princess. Her name was not to
be mentioned in the Liturgy, but she would still be queen, only she
would be required to remain abroad, constantly travelling about, and a
large pecuniary allowance would be made to her; but upon the Radical
party being consulted, the old queen refused all the offers, and a
long and disgraceful trial was obliged to take place. Lord Castlereagh
determined upon the measure with firm and respectful energy; the more
unwilling he had been to resort to this mode of proceeding, the more
vigorously he was resolved to carry it through. When we contemplate
the angelic figure of Anne Boleyn, beside the gross and sensual Henry
VIII., every one feels a strong and lively interest in the unfortunate
victim; but who could have the slightest feeling for a queen grown old
with the most degrading passions?
The minister here again was opposed by his old adversary Canning, who
was then aiming at extreme popularity. He had constituted himself the
Queen's champion, not because he esteemed her, but because this course
furnished him with the means of the most violent opposition to the
ministry over which Castlereagh presided. The trial began, and was
followed by debates, and the disgraceful and disgusting revelations are
too well known. The oratorical fame of Brougham and Canning was greatly
augmented by these proceedings; their popularity became immense, and
their opponents were visited with a degree of reprobation to which men
of distinguished capacity must accustom themselves in the course of
their painful and wearisome task.
All these domestic events occurred at a period when Europe, still
full of agitation, was constantly holding congresses, in order to
declare her principles, or to decide upon general arrangements.
Since the declaration of Alexander, bearing the title of the Holy
Alliance, England had taken up a separate position; her statesmen,
more especially Lord Castlereagh, had declared the principles of that
convention to be too vague to allow the English ministers to admit
them, under their legal responsibility. From this first separation of
interests from the rest of Europe, two political systems resulted: the
one Russian, whose ascendency over the congress was almost absolute;
the other English, which opposed any general deliberation upon
interests now divided.
Lord Castlereagh assumed this position when he attended the congresses
of Troppau and Laybach; he signed the protocols without adopting
the ideas of the Holy Alliance, but simply as the consequence of
the treaties of 1815 and the articles of the congress of Vienna. In
his conversations with Metternich he advanced this principle, that,
although Europe might enter into an agreement to repress disturbances
affecting the security of crowned heads, she neither could, nor ought
to interfere with any modifications which a people might freely and
spontaneously choose to make in their respective governments. This
declaration referred to several very important questions that had
lately arisen: first, the separation of the Spanish colonies from the
mother-country; secondly, the disturbances in Greece; and, thirdly, the
revolution in Spain. The emancipation of the Spanish colonies of an
ancient date originated in the commercial interests of England, which
constantly require to be satisfied; the markets opened by peace must
replace those of war, and a new world was requisite for the overflow of
her manufactures; under this point of view, therefore, the emancipation
of the Spanish colonies secured a market to England, she henceforth
became favourable to their independence, and her consuls resided with
their _exequatur_ in these colonies. Lord Castlereagh's position at
this juncture was rather delicate; for with one hand he favoured the
sedition of the colonies, and with the other he severely repressed the
riots in the English counties.
Being a partisan of the emancipation of the colonies, he naturally felt
no repugnance towards the government of the Cortes at Madrid. What is
considered of importance in England, is not the form of government
adopted by a power, but its tendency with regard to herself and her
interests. She seldom breaks a lance for a mere chivalrous idea. Both
Whigs and Tories are equally actuated by the same spirit of national
selfishness, which is, in fact, patriotism; and, while holding this
doctrine, that England is not to meddle with the internal form of
government, the path remains open, so that they can decide according
as interest advises. With regard to the emancipation of the Greeks,
Lord Castlereagh viewed it in its true light, without weakness, and
without sentimental feelings, allowing the question to rest on the
ground of Russia and Turkey: thus, to emancipate the Greeks would be to
aggrandise Russia, open to her the gates of the Bosphorus, and drive
the Turks into Asia, and this policy would be unfaithful and puerile
as far as the interests of England were concerned; it was, on the
contrary, most advantageous to her to protect the Ottoman empire by the
British flag, to develope her strength, and create in that country a
commercial alliance for herself. Thus at the same time to give a new
world to industry, by the emancipation of the Spanish colonies, to take
no heed of the revolutions at Naples and in Spain, but watch Russia and
restrain any ambitious projects she might have formed, by supporting
the Porte: such were the politics of Lord Castlereagh in the first five
years that succeeded his vigorous contest with Napoleon.