HISTOIU UMMf OF CALtfOWttA RIVERSIDE Untv. of California Withdrawn ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY Z/siitippe, Jung of t/ie ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY MAJOR JOHN HALL AUTHOR OF "THE BOURBON RESTORATION" " The history of the day before yesterday is the least known, it may be said, the most forgotten, by the public of to-day." GUIZOT, Memoires, viii. p. 5 1 5 WITH A PORTRAIT LONDON SMITH, ELDER & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 1912 All rights reserved PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED LONDON AND BECCLES TO S. H. '/' PEEFACE IN this volume the story is told of the first entente cordiale and of the circumstances which led to its disruption. The questions which occupied the attention of the French and the British governments at that period have now passed into the domain of history. The resentment evoked by the Egyptian crisis of 1840 and the controversies raised by the Spanish marriages has died away. The attitude towards the Liberal and national movements in Europe, adopted, on the one side, by Louis Philippe and M. Guizot and, on the other, by Lord Palmerston, can, at this distance of time, be reviewed dispassionately. In the light of the knowledge of to-day, the difficulties which beset the " Citizen King " may be estimated, and the in- justice of many of the attacks made upon the policy of Palmerston can be demonstrated. Kesearches in the diplomatic correspondence of the period, both in London and in Paris, have enabled me to place in print, for the first time, many docu- ments bearing upon the part played by Talleyrand in the Belgian question and upon the secret policy of Louis Philippe in the same affair. In these pages some new light has, I venture to think, been thrown upon the situation in Spain during the regencies of Christina and Espartero, and during the early years of the rule of Isabella. In connection, also, with Palmerston's Eastern policy, certain facts, hitherto unpublished, are now presented for consideration. vii PREFACE During the eighteen years covered by this volume the Whigs were, for the greater part of the time, in office. Amidst the Russells, the Greys, the Spencers and the other powerful Whig families Palmerston was an interloper. Nor was he ever a Whig. In external affairs he remained always a Canningite. Some of the worst miscalculations of Louis Philippe and his ministers were due to their inability to grasp the fact that the foreign policy of the Whigs was in the hands of the most "un- Whiggish " of statesmen. The period was one of political unrest, the precursor of great wars and revolutions. France was disenchanted and profoundly dissatisfied with her " Citizen King." In Germany and Italy Metternich still maintained his system, but there were symptoms that the end of his long rule was fast approaching. In Spain the transition from autocracy to constitutionalism coincided with a fiercely disputed succession to the throne. Turkey, in the words of Nicholas, was " the sick man of Europe." J. H. Sept., 1912. Vlll CONTENTS GHAPTEE I LOUIS PHILIPPE PAGES The Revolution of July, 1830 Louis Philippe Louis Philippe and the military democratic party First communications with the Sovereigns 1-13 CHAPTEE II THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING Effect of the Revolution of July in England Character and system of Metternich The chiffon de Carlsbad Metternich's policy towards the Germanic Confederation and Prussia Hostility of Tsar Nicholas to the new rigimc in France Revolution at Brussels Talleyrand in London France proclaims the principle of non- intervention The Duchesse de Dino and the Comte de Montrond Great Britain proposes that the Belgian question be submitted to a conference Mol6 and Talleyrand Change of government in France and England 14-39 CHAPTEE III THE CREATION OF BELGIUM The Whigs in office Talleyrand insists upon the necessity of establishing a good understanding with England Palmerston's distrust of the French Liberals State of Europe Revolution at Warsaw" The Frenchmen of the North " Belgium declared independent and neutral Candidates for the Belgian throne ix CONTENTS PAGES should enter Spain Mendizabal dismissed Military revolution in Spain Scene at the Palace of La Granja Resignation of Thiers The "No mention." incident Why Don Carlos retreated from before Madrid Dissensions among the Carlists fomented by Villiers Palmerston's suspicions of Louis Philippe Muiiagori Reasons which compelled Maroto to bring the war to an end Soult The Convention of Bergara Don Carlos driven across the frontier Cabrera andEspana The Municipal Bill Espartero Christina and Espartero Abdication of Christina . . . 171-218 CHAPTER VII SULTAN AND PASHA Efforts to prevent a renewal of the struggle between' the Sultan and the Pasha Strained relations between Great Britain and Russia Wellington and the Dardanelles Ponsonby at Constantinople Durham at St. Petersburg M. Thiers M. de Lesseps Secret negotiations General Chrzanowski The Pasha's monopolies Ponsonby negotiates a commercial treaty Indian government occupies Aden Importance of the victories of Mehemet Ali over the Wahabites The Pasha announces his intention of declaring his independence Russia and the Court of Teheran The Shah lays siege to Herat Palmerston protests Disavowal of Simonitch and Witkewitch The general situation in the East Mahmud resolves on war Policy of Lord Palmerston French government obtains a credit of 10 millions of francs Harmony of French and British relations Self-restraint of Mehemet Ali Ibrahim defeats the Turks at Nezib Death of Mahmud and suspension of hostilities The Turkish fleet treacherously surrendered to Mehemet Ali Strange conduct of the French admiral France seeks to isolate Russia The Collective Note of July 27, 1839 Satisfaction of Palmerston and uneasiness of the French government Conversation between Bulwer and Louis Philippe Palmerston does not share in the general illusion respecting the military strength of the Pasha Brunnow's mission to London The Treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi France scouts the Russian proposal The French party in the English Cabinet Return of Brunnow Palmerston's letter to Sebastiani Guizot in London Thiers, President of the Council and Minister for Foreign Affairs Guizot's despatches Thiers mediates in the sulphur dispute Remains of the Emperor to be removed to France Proceedings of " Bear " Ellice Metternich alarmed Palmerston accepts the Austrian proposal Attitude of M. Thiers M. Coste and the French agents at Constantinople and Cairo Princess Lieven in London Palmerston tenders his resignation Insurrection in Syria The Quadrilateral Treaty of July 15, 1840 Palmerston informs Guizot of the treaty . . . 219-278 xii CONTENTS CHAPTER VIII THE ISOLATION OF FRANCE PAGE* Language of M. Thiers and Louis Philippe on learning of the conclusion of the treaty Warlike declamations of the French press Attitude of different parties in England Thiers' instruc- tions to Guizot The conference at the Chateau d'Eu Louis Philippe seeks to alarm Queen Victoria Louis Napoleon at Boulogne Guizot at Windsor Castle Leopold's proposals Ibrahim suppresses the insurrection in Syria Palmerston's despatch of August 31 The Sultan's ultimattim Movements of the British fleet Theatening language of M. de Pontois The French armaments Warlike language of Louis Philippe and M. Thiers Mehemet Ali invokes the protection of France Interview at Auteuil between Thiers and Bulwer Intrigues against Palmerston in London A Cabinet crisis impending Why Lord John Russell " disappointed " Greville Meeting of the Cabinet of October 1 Bombardment of Beyr out Warlike excite- ment in Paris Henry Reeve Lord John Russell calls a Cabinet for October 10 Two despatches from Thiers A Cabinet crisis averted French government reported to have designs upon the Balearic Islands Melbourne writes to King Leopold Louis Philippe and M. Thiers Resignation of M. Thiers Thiers' proceedings reviewed M. Guizot's plans Palmerston's com- munications with Guizot Successful progress of the operations in Syria Proposals to Mehemet Ali Napier's convention and his disavowal Mehemet Ali submits The firman of February 13, 1841 M. Guizot manoeuvres to bring back France into the Concert of Europe Nicholas' proposal Palmerston's reply Policy of M. Guizot Bourqueney and Palmerston The Convention of the Straits drafted and initialed Mehemet Ali refuses to accept the firman of heredity Ponsonby's advice to the Porte Procrastina- tions of the Porte Mehemet Mi accepts the amended firman Convention of the Straits signed Unsatisfactory character of the criticisms passed upon Palmerston 279-330 CHAPTER IX THE CORDIAL UNDERSTANDING Aberdeen and Palmerston contrasted Why Guizot would not conclude the right of search treaty with Palmerston The Chamber refuses to ratify the slave trade treaty of November 20, 1841 Conpiracies in Paris against Espartero The question of Isabella's marriage Designs imputed to Louis Philippe by Bulwer xiii CONTENTS PAGES Insurrections in Spain Tho Spanish government demands the expulsion of Christina from France The Salvandy affair Pageot's mission Count Toreno and Lord Cowley Louis Philippe connives at the Spanish plots Insurrection at Barcelona Conduct of M. de Lesseps Military revolution in Spain Fall of Espartero Aberdeen alarmed Queen Victoria at the Chateau d'Eu "The cordial understanding " The Duo de Bordeaux in Bclgrave Square Admiral Dupetit-Thouars in the Pacific France proclaims a protectorate over Tahiti Mr. Pritchard Queen Pomare deposed and Tahiti annexed Dupetit-Thouars disavowed The Prince de Joinville's pamphlet The Tsar Nicholas in London France quarrels with Morocco Imprison- ment and expulsion of Mr. Pritchard Excitement in London Guizot and Aberdeen Bombardment of Tangier Violence of the press in both countries The Comte de Jarnac The Pritchard affair settled France concludes peace with the Emperor of Morocco Louis Philippe at Windsor Castle Condition of Spain The descendants of Philip V. Bulwer and Bresson at Madrid Montpensier to marry the Infanta Queen Victoria's second visit to Eu The compact with Louis Philippe State of affairs at Madrid The Memorandum of February 27, 1846 Christina and Narvaez The Queen-Mother entrusts to Bulwer her proposal to the Duke of Saxe-Coburg Aberdeen reprimands Bulwer and informs M. Guizot of the negotiation The Whigs once more in office . 381-380 CHAPTER X THE SPANISH MARRIAGES Lord Palmerston in Paris Louis Philippe and M. Guizot disconcerted by Christina's proposal to the Coburgs Palmerston's despatch of July 19, 1846 Bresson's letter to Guizot of July 12 Anger of Louis Philippe Bulwer implores Palmerston to promote the Coburg marriage Palmerston puts forward Don Enrique Effect at Madrid of the despatch of July 19 The double marriage announced Correspondence between the French Queen and Queen Victoria Guizot's letter to Lord John Russell Louis Philippe's letter to his daughter Queen Victoria's reply Palmerston's protest founded upon the renunciations at Utrecht Attitude of the Northern Courts Palmerston's despatches of October 31, 1846, and January 8, 1847 Debates in the French Chamber and the British Parliament Christina's conduct reviewed Louis Philippe's Bourbon policy Why Louis Philippe broke the compact of Eu Palmerston's Spanish policy from 1834 to 1846 Weakness of Aberdeen 381-405 xiv CONTENTS CHAPTER XI PALMERSTON AND THE REVOLUTION OF '48 PAGES Annexation of Cracow Political unrest in Europe Charles Albert and Pius IX. Enthusiasm in Italy Attitude of French govern- ment Revival of French and British rivalry Guizot sends a secret agent to Vienna Metternich realizes the danger in Italy The Roman plot and occupation of Ferrara Palmerston's despatch of September 11, 1847 Minto's mission Prince Consort's Memorandum The situation in Switzerland Sym- pathies of the absolute Courts with the Sonderbund Palmerston's attitude Probable reason of Morier's recall Palmerston's despatch of October 29, 1847 The French proposal Palmerston's counter-proposal Palmerston master of the situation Battle of Lucerne and dissolution of the Sonderbund Crafty designs imputed to Palmerston Policy of the Swiss Radicals Stratford Canning at Berne The absolute Courts and France present the identic note Haughty reply of the Swiss Diet Alarm of the absolute Courts Coloredo and Radowitz in Paris Revolution in Paris, Berlin and Vienna Charles Albert in Lombardy Une revolution de m&pris Why the rupture of V the cordial under- standing" displeased the French middle-classes Effect of M. Guizot's rapprochement with Austria Palmerston and Thiers Palmerston's policy substantially the same as Aberdeen's Why " the cordial understanding " failed to justify expectations . 406-444 INDEX 445-452 XV ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY CHAPTER I LOUIS PHILIPPE THE spontaneous rising of the French people to expel their King, Charles X., who had ventured to infringe the Constitution, aroused the enthusiasm of Liberals all over Europe. But the real character of the move- ment which brought about the downfall of the elder branch of the Bourbons was, at the time, very imper- fectly understood. It was not a determination to preserve at all costs the parliamentary system which animated the combatants in the " glorious days of July." " Long live the Charter " was the watchword of the peaceful bourgeois. " Down with the Bourbons " was the war cry of the men of the barricades. Outside the limited circle of the old Royalist families the restored monarchy had never been popular. Yet it was unquestionably the best and freest form of government which the country had ever enjoyed. The reason of the unpopularity of the Bourbons lay in the circumstances which had attended their return to France. By the large majority of Frenchmen their restoration was deeply resented, as one of the humiliat- ing conditions imposed upon their country by the allied sovereigns, after Waterloo. 1 u RNGLAiTE)-AHn-THE ORLEANS MONARCHY In respect to her frontiers, France in 1815 had been replaced in the position which she had occupied in 1789. Seeing the expenditure of blood and treasure which her wars had entailed upon Europe, these terms cannot be regarded as onerous. Nevertheless, it is not surprising that the treaties of 1815 should have been extremely distasteful to her. They were con- ceived in a spirit of suspicion and were directed mainly towards securing Europe from a fresh outbreak of her aggressiveness. Nor were the barriers, by which it was hoped to confine her within her boundaries, the only cause of her irritation. Her vanity and love of military glory had been dangerously stimulated by the Republican and Imperial wars, and it was a bitter blow to find that, in the final settlement, France, alone of all the great Powers, was to acquire no increase of territory. Vexation at these conditions was not con- fined to Republicans and Bonapartists. Hatred for the treaties of 1815 was the one political sentiment which Liberals and Royalists possessed in common. In 1830, there was *no Bonapartist party, but a strong Bonapartist spirit existed throughout the country. Veneration for the memory of " the man " l constituted the whole political philosophy of many thousands of Frenchmen. It was to the Bonapartist element that the Liberal party owed its chief strength and influence. Notwithstanding that the Liberals had opposed the Emperor during the Hundred Days, and had insisted upon his abdication after Waterloo, their alliance with the Bonapartists was cemented in the early days of the second Restoration. A common hatred of the Bourbons was the bond of union between them. In the Masonic and Carbonari lodges the bolder spirits of the two parties plotted together against the monarchy. When the reigning dynasty should have been over- 1 H. Heine, Letters from Paris (translated by Leland), I. pp. 62, 63, 66, 67, 68, and 854. 2 LOUIS PHILIPPE thrown, the conspirators proposed to proclaim the sovereignty of the people and to declare once more the tricolour the national flag. Then, and not till then, could France regain her " natural frontiers." 1 It was the practice of these military democrats invariably to assert that the Bourbons were responsible for all the misfortunes of 1814 and 1815. They believed, or professed to believe, that the loss of territory, which France had sustained, was the price which the Bourbons had agreed to pay for their restoration. So long as a Bourbon was upon the throne Waterloo must go unavenged and France must submit to be deprived of her natural boundaries. It was this spirit which had animated the combatants in the Revolution of July. Men who understood and cared nothing for constitutional questions took up arms, believing that a victory over Charles' guards would be a first defeat inflicted upon the allied sovereigns, and that a success- ful invasion of the Tuileries would be followed by a great national war upon the Rhine. 2 The enthronement of the Due d'Orleans was the strange termination of a revolution, carried out mainly by men who were animated by sentiments such as these. Even on the evening of the third day's fight- ing, when the Royal troops had been driven from Paris and when the people were in possession of the Tuileries, the Duke's name was still unmentioned. Most of the Liberal deputies were disposed to make their peace with their lawful king, and to be satisfied with the withdrawal of the unconstitutional ordinances aud with the dismissal of the Prince de j^olignac and his colleagues in the government. The extreme party, the old soldiers, the members of the former Carbonari lodges, the students of the poly technique, the men who 1 The "pre carre," the sea, the Rhine, and the Pyrenees. 2 N. Senior, Conversations ivith Thiers, Guizot, etc. t I. pp. 288, 823, and 334. 3 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY had borne the burden of the struggle, were not pre- pared with an immediate solution of the question. Beyond declaring that they would take up arms again, rather than accept any concessions at the hands of Charles X. or the Dauphin, they had no definite plan to bring forward. Louis Philippe was to owe his crown to a skilfully worded placard, the work of Laffitte the Liberal banker, and of Thiers, a clever young journalist, which on the following morning, greeted the Parisians at every street corner. In this proclamation the enthronement of the Due d'Orleans was held up as the one solution which would restore public order without further bloodshed. A republic, it was declared, would entail both internal strife and war abroad, whilst Charles X., the monarch who had shed the blood of the people, must be adjudged un- worthy to retain his crown. The Due d'Orleans, on the other hand, was a prince devoted to the cause of the Revolution, who had never borne arms against his own countrymen, but who, on the contrary, had worn the tricolour at Valmy and at Jemmappes. Let the people call for him and the Duke would come forward, content to accept the Charter and his crown from their hands. The prospect of concluding the revolution in this fashion was eagerly adopted by the Liberal deputies and by the middle classes generally. But the more turbulent members of the so-called Hotel de Ville party indignantly repudiated the notion of allowing their glorious achievements to culminate in the en- thronement of " another Bourbon." The allusions in Laffitte's and Thiers' placard to the tricolour, to Valmy, and to the crown as the free gift of the people, left them cold. Nor were they to be mollified by a second proclamation, in which it was boldly asserted that the the Due d'Orleans was a Valois, not a Bourbon. 1 No 1 L. Blanc, Histoirc de dir ana., I. p. 883. 4 LOUIS PHILIPPE sooner was the Duke put forward as a candidate for the throne, than the demagogues began to exhort the people to call upon La Fayette to assume the presi- dency of the republic. The old man was, as he had been forty years before, in command of the national guards, and was once more the hero of the mob. He was, however, little disposed to undertake the responsi- bility which his ultra-democratic friends wished him to assume. Under these circumstances, Kemusat and other of his colleagues in the Chamber, assisted, it is said, by Mr. Hives, the American minister, had little difficulty in persuading him that, were he to play the leading part in founding a Liberal monarchy, it would be accounted, throughout the Old and the New World, the most honourable act of his declining years. Accord- ingly, on the following day, July 31, 1830, he agreed to receive the Due d'Orleans, the Lieutenant- General of the Kingdom, at the Hotel de Ville. Upon his arrival he led him to the window and, placing the tricolour in his hands, embraced him warmly before the dense crowd upon the Place de Greve. When this ceremony had been completed the elect of the people rode back in triumph to the Palais Royal, exchanging enthusiastic handgrips with citizens along the road. For the moment, even the most truculent democrats were willing to accept La Fayette's assurance that in an Orleans monarchy they had found " the best of republics." Ten days later, on August 9, 1830, the Duke having sworn fidelity to the Charter was formally invested with sovereign power in the Chamber of Deputies, under the title of Louis Philippe, King of the French. At the time of the Revolution of July Louis Philippe was in his fifty-third year. He was the son of Ec/alite, and had been educated according to the Liberal views of his father and of Madame de Genlis. Although in 1794 he had deserted from the national 5 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY armies along with Dumouriez, his commander-in-chief, he could assert truthfully that, throughout the long years of his subsequent exile, he had never turned his arms against his own country. During his wanderings in America and upon the continent, he had mixed with men of all sorts and all conditions. In Switzer- land, indeed, he is said to have earned a livelihood by teaching in a school. In 1814 the idea of conferring the crown upon him, rather than upon Louis XVIII. , had found favour in some quarters. But although, from this time forward, there had always existed some kind of a party, to which the name of Orleanist might have been applied, the Duke himself would appear to have been innocent of any participation in the pro- ceedings of his adherents. After Waterloo the plan of substituting him for Louis XVIII. had an increased number of supporters. Louis, who had never liked him, began from this moment to treat him with great suspicion. Both in England, where he continued to reside in a kind of disgrace till 1817, and at the Palais Royal, after his return to France, he was beset constantly by the spies of the police. 1 Charles X. had no share in his brother's dislike and distrust of the Due d'Orleans, and one of his first acts, after his accession, was to raise him to the rank of a Royal Highness. But, notwithstanding that, from the beginning of the new reign, more cordial relations were established between the Tuileries and the Palais Royal, there was never any real intimacy between the King and his sagacious relative. Charles was a man of limited intelligence and a bigot in re- ligion. Politically he had not changed since the time when, as the Comte d'Artois, he had emigrated to Coblentz, and had called upon the Powers to assist him with men and with money to re-establish the old 1 F. Daudet, Revue des deux mondes. l er decembre, 1909. " La police politique sous la Bestauration." 6 LOUIS PHILIPPE regime in France. The Due d'Orle'ans, on the other hand, was a well-informed man of the world, a Liberal, who was neither a friend nor an enemy of the clergy. It is clear that during the whole period of the Restoration the Due d'Orle'au.s was at pains to impress upon the public how greatly he differed in all matters, both great and small, from his cousins of the elder branch. When the return of Bonaparte from Elba compelled the Royal family to fly once more from France, he had not joined Louis XVIII. at Ghent, but had gone to England and had resided, throughout the Hundred Days, in complete retirement at Twickenham. Moreover, before quitting Lille he had addressed a farewell letter to the general officers serving under him, bidding them act, after his departure, in whatever manner might appear to them the most calculated to promote the highest interests of their country an in- junction which aroused as much indignation among the " pure Royalists " as it elicited commendation from the majority of Frenchmen. As they grew up, his sons, the young princes, were educated like ordinary citizens at the Lycee, and at the Palais Royal a simplicity was observed which contrasted strongly with the ceremony maintained, on all occasions, at the Court and in the apartments of the Dauphin. Nor could it fail to attract remark that men whose fidelity to the reigning dynasty was doubtful and prominent members of the Opposition were his habitual guests. But, although there may be some circumstances of a suspicious nature in Louis Philippe's conduct under the Restoration, it is improbable that he ever seriously harboured any thoughts of usurping the crown. His general behaviour is capable of a different explanation. He had tasted the bitterness of poverty, and appears to have been haunted constantly by the dread that his chil- dren might, some day, be reduced to the straits under which he had suffered in the early years of his exile. He 7 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY was too clear-sighted a man not to perceive that the restored monarchy had no place in the affections of the people, and that the first serious mistake on Charles' part would be the signal for his overthrow. It became, therefore, his policy to dissociate himself, as far as possible, from the Court in the hope that, should the Bourbons be expelled, he might escape from the neces- sity of sharing in their misfortunes. It is scarcely doubtful that the true motives of his somewhat equi- vocal attitude, at this period, should be ascribed to a keen desire to be allowed to remain in possession of his great estates, whatever political changes might take place, rather than to any deep-laid schemes of personal aggrandizement. 1 At the time of the promulgation of the famous ordinances of July the Duke was with his family at Neuilly. For the past four months he had viewed Charles' obstinate determination to retain his ministers, in defiance of the Chamber, with alarm. Nevertheless, the King's coup d'etat seems to have taken him com- pletely by surprise. His chief endeavour, from the moment that it became apparent that the execution of the ordinances would lead to serious trouble, was to avoid committing himself with either party. Between Monday, July 26, the day on which the decrees were published in the Moniteur, and Friday, July 30, when the success of the revolution was assured, he would not appear to have had any communication with either the Court at Saint-Cloud or the Liberal deputies in Paris. Indeed, on Wednesday, July 28, when the fighting in the streets assumed a very serious character, he secretly withdrew from Neuilly and went into hiding at Le Raincy, another of his residences near Paris. Thiers, in consequence, when he visited Neuilly on Friday morning, was unable to see him, and it was only at last, after repeated messages had 1 Guizot, Mcmoircs, II. pp. 12-16. 8 LOUIS PHILIPPE been sent him by Laffitte and other supporters, that he ventured to emerge from his retreat and to return secretly, and in the dead of night, to the Palais Royal. It is said that in arriving at this decision he was greatly influenced by his sister, henceforward to be generally known as Madame Adelaide, to whose opinion in political matters he was accustomed to attach greater weight than to that of his wife, the sweet-natured and dignified Marie Amelie. After a few hours in Paris any doubts and hesita- tions with which he may have been beset vanished completely. The old King was in full flight from Saint Cloud, his guards even were demoralized and were deserting him. From country towns came the news that the tricolour had been hoisted, amidst the greatest enthusiasm, and that the revolution was spreading rapidly. When, on that Saturday afternoon, the Due d'Orleans mounted his horse to meet La Fayette at the Hotel de Ville, he was fully determined to seize the crown, which his unfortunate kinsman had let fall into the gutter. Legitimist historians and others, professing to write in a more impartial spirit, have commented most adversely upon his conduct in this, the supreme crisis of his eventful life. It must, however, be admitted by everybody who studies the question with an open mind that France was irrevocably resolved to expel the Bourbons. It has, nevertheless, been contended that, had the Due d'Orleans consented to undertake the regency, no serious objections would have been made to the enthronement of the Due de Bordeaux, 1 in whose favour Charles and the Dauphin had abdi- 1 The son of the Duchesse de Berri. The Due de Berri had been murdered at the Opera House on February 13, 1820, and his son had been born in the following September. The Due de Bordeaux was therefore the grandson of Charles X. and the nephew of the Due d'Angouleme, the Dauphin. He is better known by the title of the Comte de Chambord. 9 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY cated on August 2. Unfortunately, however, it was notorious that this young prince was the pupil of the Jesuits, and the prejudice against him, on that account, was unquestionably very strong. Without doubt, had the plan been given a trial, it must have speedily ended in disaster. In addition to the many and great difficulties with which Louis Philippe was confronted, during the whole course of his reign, he must, as Regent, have been perpetually exposed to the suspicion of acting under the inspiration of the young King's family, and that suspicion would quickly have proved fatal. There were, therefore, but two alterna- tives, either a republic or an Orleans monarchy. Seeing the dispositions of the continental sovereigns and the condition of France in 1830, the proclamation of a republic, if it had not entailed war, must certainly have produced anarchy and brought untold misery upon the people. On the other hand, the statutory monarchy, at the time when it was set up, had the support of the best elements of the nation, and Louis Philippe, by accepting the crown, can justly claim to have preserved France from the imminent danger of civil and foreign war. Louis Philippe was a man of more than usual courage. In his early life he had displayed it at a critical moment upon the battlefield. In his middle age, in his famous progress to the Hotel de Ville, he had never hesitated to ride, without a military escort, through an armed and hostile mob. No liing has probably been the object of attacks upon his life of so determined a character as Louis Philippe. The ever- present danger of assassination is said to have broken down the nerves of some of the boldest of men. But, throughout his reign, the " citizen king " always con- fronted this particular peril, to which he was so con- stantly exposed, with a serene and lofty courage. In the face of political difficulties, however, he was as 10 LOUIS PHILLIPPE timid as lie was brave when it was a question of meeting physical danger. His attitude towards the Jacobinical spirit, which the " glorious days of July " had so greatly stimulated, is characteristic of his weak- ness in this respect. It is not improbable that in his heart he was secretly convinced of the ultimate triumph of revolutionary principles. Be that as it may, he appears to have shrunk from attacking Jacobinism openly and boldly. He seems to have looked upon it as a most dangerous monster which it was advisable O to coax and to humour, in the hope that, by careful handling, it might be temporarily subjugated. 1 In the days which intervened between La Fayette's acceptation of him and his actual enthronement, he lost no opportunity of putting his theory into practice. Youthful Eepublicans were admitted into his presence, and he submitted to be questioned about his political principles. 2 It is probable that in some of these dis- cussions he was induced to promise far more than he afterwards found it convenient, or even possible, to perform. On many occasions afterwards he was, in consequence, reminded of a more or less mythical Hotel de Ville Programme, with the conditions of which he was accused of having broken faith. But of all the difficulties by which he was confronted in these early days, the demand for a vigorous foreign policy was by far the most serious to deal with. The con- vinced democrats, who had been so bitterly opposed to his enthronement, were now the most vehement in insisting upon the adoption of a spirited course of action abroad. Without doubt, these men represented only a small minority of the nation, but, when they talked of military glory and of " natural frontiers," they appealed to sentiments which a " king of the 1 L. Vitet, "La monarchic de" 1830, Bevue des deux moniles. l er dtkembre, 1860. 2 L. Blanc, Histoire de dix ans., I. pp. 384-388. 11 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY barricades " could not afford to disregard. It was a matter of indifference to the demagogues of the party that the flower of the army was in Algeria, that many of the regiments at home were demoralized by their recent collision with the people, and that France had neither allies nor financial credit. The war for which they clamoured was to be conducted upon strictly revolutionary principles. " Peace with the nations, war with the kings," the old cry was to be raised once more under cover of which, in former days, France had acquired her coveted boundaries. Apart from the question as to whether the con- ditions of France and of Europe, in 1830, were such as to render it probable that a repetition of the methods of 1793 would be attended with success, the fact that the first shot fired on the frontiers would be the signal for the opening of the floodgates of revolutionary pro- pagaDdism, made it of vital moment to Louis Philippe to avert the outbreak of hostilities. In a war, having for its loudly proclaimed object the destruction of kings, what hope could he have that his throne, resting upon new and untried foundations, would escape the general ruin ? But although he was resolved to use every effort to maintain the peace, it was thoroughly in accordance with his habitual practice to cajole and flatter the faction which desired war. Accordingly, in his replies to the numerous patriotic addresses which were presented to him, he would dilate in fulsome language upon the heroic conduct of the citizens in the recent street fighting. All his speeches and his public utterances teemed with references to Valmy and Jemmappes. When the band struck up the Marseillaise, he would beat time with his finger, " casting ecstatic glances at the tricolor like one who has found a long- lost mistress." 1 Yet, whilst he was thus appealing to 1 H. Heine, Letters from Paris (translated by Leyland), I. pp. 141, 142. 12 LOUIS PHILIPPE the revolutionary recollections and flattering the mili- tary vanity of the people, all his thoughts were bent upon obtaining his recognition by the great European Courts. No sooner, therefore, was he enthroned, than he sent oft' emissaries, upon whose discretion he could depend, bearing letters to his brother monarchs an- nouncing his accession. But in these communications, intended only for the eyes of the sovereigns and their confidential advisers, he was careful to speak of the "glorious revolution" as a lamentable catastrophe which he sincerely deplored. 1 1 Metternich, Memoires, V. pp. 26-28. 13 CHAPTER II THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING IN 1830 England was still suffering acutely from the financial crisis of five years before. The losses of the capitalists entailed distress upon the working classes in the shape of unemployment and diminished wages. The misery of the people led to the commission of acts of violence and incendiarism upon a scale unparalleled in the recent history of England. The advocates of parliamentary reform drew their best arguments, in support of their cause, from the wretched condition of the country. The elections, rendered necessary by the death of George IV., began in the very week which saw France in the throes of her revolution. By the Opposition the victory of the Parisians was acclaimed enthusiastically as the triumph of a neighbouring people over despotism and aristocratic privilege. The downfall of Polignac was celebrated as a crushing blow to Wellington. The belief that the Duke had connived at, if not directly inspired, the French King's attempted coup d'etat, was not confined to ignorant people, but was professed by the leaders of the Whig party. 1 Whilst this supposed connection of Wellington with Polignac increased the voting power of the Opposition, Tory patrons of rotten boroughs, incensed at his Catholic policy, withheld from him their support. 1 Affaires ^trangdres 681, Angleterre, Baudrand a Mote, aout 28, 1830. H. Bulwer, Life of Palmerston, I. p. 330. Edinburgh Review, October, 1830. Stockmar, Memoirs, I. pp. 131-134. C. Greville, Journals, II. pp. 94, 95. Correspondence of Princess Lieven with Earl Grey, II. Grey to Princess Lieven, July 29, 1830. 14 THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING The Duke returned from the elections with a diminished majority, and one, moreover, which, such as it was, in no way represented the real opinion of the country. Wellington had been chiefly instrumental in effect- ing the restoration of the Bourbons after Waterloo. The news of their expulsion could not, under these circumstances, fail to cause him some personal regret. But, in addition, he was too well acquainted with French affairs not to be aware that the triumph of the democratic party was a grave menace to the peace of Europe. On the other hand, however, far from being, as was supposed, upon confidential terms with Polignac, the French expedition to Algiers had strained seriously the official relations which alone subsisted between them. But any reluctance, which he and his colleagues might have entertained, to recognizing the new regime in France, had to give way before the popular enthu- siasm which the revolution called forth throughout England. The Duke, accordingly, lost no time in advising the King to acknowledge Louis Philippe. It was a policy, he maintained, which not only offered the best prospect of preserving peace, but which would meet with the approval of all the great Powers. 1 Consequently, when on August 22 General Baud- rand arrived in London, bringing with him a letter from Louis Philippe to William IV., he was accorded a good reception in ministerial circles. Although he fancied he could detect a little coldness in Wellington's manner, his mission achieved a complete success. After a stay of about a week in London he returned to Paris, taking back with him King William's answer together with a box ornamented with a portrait of that monarch set in diamonds. 2 Meanwhile, on 1 DespatcJies and Correspondence of Wellington, VII. Wellington to Aberdeen, August 12th, 1830, pp. 162-169, Memorandum upon Relations with France. C. Greville, Journal, II. p. 21. 2 Affaires e'trangeres 631, Angleterre : Baudrand a Mole, 23 aout, 1830 ; Vaudreuil a Mole, 28 aout, 1830. 15 August 18, Charles X. and the members of his family had arrived at Spithead on board The Great Britain, the American vessel chartered by the French govern- ment to convey them to England. The state of public feeling made it inadvisable that they should proceed to London or even land at Portsmouth, and they were, in consequence, taken, a few days later, by steamer to Lullworth Castle, in Dorsetshire, which had been prepared for their reception. The mob which had cheered exultingly as Castlereagh's body was borne through the streets to its last resting-place at West- minster Abbey, which, two years later, was to threaten Wellington with violence on the anniversary of Waterloo, would have shown scant respect for the misfortunes of the fallen King. Ever since the days of her crowning disaster at Wagram, Metternich had directed the foreign policy of Austria. Clement Wenceslas von Metternich, Chan- cellor of the Court and of the State, was descended from a family of counts of the empire and was born at Coblentz in 1773. His predecessors in office, old Kaunitz, the minister of Maria Theresa, Thugut, Cobenyl, and Stadion, had in vain attempted to cope with republican and imperial France. Without doubt, Metternich in the final struggle with Bonaparte was assisted by circumstances not of his own creation, nevertheless he unquestionably proved himself, on many occasions, a crafty, wary adversary, who could await his opportunity patiently. The flattery which was lavished upon him at the peace and the prominent part which he was enabled to play in the great terri- torial settlement at Vienna stimulated greatly his natural vanity and presumption. In addition, as he grew older, he began to indulge more and more in long philosophical disquisitions upon every kind of political subject. But under his pedantic manner, he retained always his alert resourcefulness and shrewd 1C THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING common sense. In the words of Sir Frederick Lamb, who had transacted much business with him, " he was far too practical a man to regulate his conduct by his doctrines, and far too ingenious a one to be at a loss for a doctrine to cover his conduct." x Without doubt, Metternich was a man of aristo- cratic and conservative instincts, but, had he been differently disposed, the conditions of the Empire must have rendered very difficult the adoption of a Liberal policy. At the Congress of Vienna Austria had re- nounced all claim to her former possessions in the Low Countries and in Western Germany, and had withdrawn to the south and south-east to exercise an uneasy dominion over Slavs and Italians. Progress on national lines was hardly possible in an empire thus constituted, and circumstances contributed to facilitate the imposition of a strictly conservative system. The Liberal impulse, to which the War of Liberation had given birth in Prussia, had no counter- part in Austria, nor had Francis II., like Frederick William III., even in his darkest days, promised constitutional reforms. At the peace, accordingly, Austria reverted uncomplainingly to her old absolutist traditions. In Italy Bonaparte had encouraged deliberately a spirit of nationality. But the patriotic hopes, which he had raised, were extinguished at the Congress of Vienna. Italy, Metternich decreed, was to be hence- forward merely " a geographical expression." By the settlement of 1815 Austria acquired actually the provinces of Lombardy and Venetia, but her influence extended far beyond these districts. Austrian princes ruled over the Duchies of Tuscany, Modena and Parma. Treaties which provided that Piacenza, Commachio and Ferrara should be garrisoned by Austrian troops gave her military control of the 1 F. 0. Austria 243, Lamb to Palmerston, September 3, 1833. 17 c ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY valley of the Po. Tuscany was forbidden to make either peace or war without her consent, and the King of Naples was pledged to introduce no consti- tutional changes, other than those sanctioned in the Austrian dominions. In the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom, as it was termed, it was Metternich's policy to make the Lombards "forget that they were Italians." The Austrian code of laws was introduced without regard to native customs and prejudices. The civil service was composed almost exclusively of Germans, and the most trifling administrative questions had to be referred to Vienna. 1 The stagnation engendered by this system could not fail to have a demoralizing effect. At Venice two-fifths of the population were in receipt of charitable relief, the middle classes were without enterprise, the aristocracy fawned upon the Austrians. On the other hand, in Lombardy and Venetia there were few monks and a comparatively good system of popular education existed. The people, moreover, enjoyed equality before the law which, except in political cases, was justly administered. But as in all Italian States, the police were arbitrary and interfering and the censorship of the press was enforced rigidly. The heterogeneous composition of the Austrian Empire, which demanded a strictly conservative policy at home, prescribed no less urgently the preservation of peaceful relations abroad. Since the conclusion of the great war Metternich's foreign policy had had no other object than the maintenance of the status guo t by the strict observation of existing treaties. The revolutionary spirit was the most serious danger to the settlement of 1815. Bonaparte might be dead or a prisoner at St. Helena, but Metternich was under no illusion that the peril had passed away for ever. The 1 Bolton King, History of Italian Unity, I. pp. 51-61. 18 THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING revolutionary monster still survived and required ceaseless watching. Only, lie conceived, by a Euro- pean Confederation, ruled over by a council of the Great Powers, could complete security be obtained against the common enemy of all established govern- ments. Metternich's combination of the Powers " for the maintenance of everything lawfully existing," ] which has been held up to execration under the name of the Holy Alliance, was an adaptation to practical politics of the fantastic scheme, which Alexander had propounded, on September 26, 1815, after a review of his army on the plain of Vertus. According to the Tsar's manifesto the relations of all European sove- reigns were in the future to be guided by the teachings of Christ. They were to regard each other in the light of brothers and to look upon their subjects as their children. The policy of Metternich's Holy Alliance was set forth in the famous preliminary protocol of the conference of Troppau, signed, on November 19, 1820, by the plenipotentiaries of Austria, Russia, and Prussia. " States," it was laid down, "which have undergone a change of government due to a revolution, the results of which affect other States, shall cease to be members of the European Alliance. If owing to these altera- tions immediate danger threaten neighbouring States, the Powers bind themselves to bring back by force of arms the erring State into the folds of the Alliance." Acting upon this principle, Austria, in 1821, invaded the Kingdom of Naples and abolished the constitution which the Carbonari had compelled Ferdi- nand to accept, whilst Bubna, the Austrian general commanding at Milan, entered Piedmont and sup- pressed the revolution which had broken out at Turin. The Tsar, Alexander, during these operations, held an army upon the Galician frontier ready to march into 1 Metternich, Memoires, IV. p. 222 : Metternich a Esterhazy, 7 aout, 1825. 19 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY Italy, should his assistance be invoked. The same policy, in 1823, dictated the French armed intervention in Spain, when the constitution, which the Liberals had proclaimed three years before, was abolished and the absolute rule of King Ferdinand VII. was restored. O But the determination of England " to abstain rigidly from interference in the affairs of other States" deprived the alliance of that appearance of complete unanimity which Metternich hoped would convince the peoples of the futility of attempting revolutions. The Greek insurrection, the quarrel between Russia and the Porte and the conflict of national interests to which the Eastern question gave rise, completed the work of disruption which Castlereagh and Canning had begun. Metternich received the news of the revolution in Paris and of the downfall of Charles X. at Koenigswart, his country seat in Bohemia. Ever since the termina- tion of the Russo-Turkish war he had been striving to re-establish the concert of the Powers and, more especially, to place the relations of Austria and Russia upon their former friendly footing. Deeply as Austria was interested in all developments affecting the integrity of Turkey, greatly as Metternich mistrusted Nicholas' designs upon the Porte, the spread of Liberalism constituted in his eyes an even graver danger. The Russian government was intensely con- servative and the people were little likely to be affected by the revolutionary spirit of Western Europe. Were a serious crisis to arise it was essential that Austria should be in a position to look to St. Petersburg for support. A visit which Nesselrode, the Russian Chancellor, paid to Carlsbad, in the summer of 1830, afforded Metternich an opportunity of sounding him as to the views of his Court, and it was upon his return from a satisfactory interview with his old friend that he found awaiting him at Koenigswart the first 20 THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING intelligence of Charles X.'s violation of the constitution. On August 6, when the complete triumph of the revolutionists in Paris was known to him, Metternich determined to return at once to Vienna, making another short stay at Carlsbad upon the way. At this, their second meeting, both statesmen affixed their signatures to a short document, which was to acquire a certain celebrity in the chanceries of Europe under the name of the chiffon de Carlsbad. By this agreement the basis was established of the policy which the absolute Powers were to adopt towards France. No attempt would be made to interfere with her, provided that she should abstain from seeking to infringe existing treaties and from disturbing the internal peace of neighbouring States. 1 Soon after Metternich's return to Vienna, on August 26, General *Belliard arrived, bringing with him a letter from Louis Philippe to the Emperor Francis. Some days were allowed to elapse before he was ad- mitted to an audience, but in the interval he had two interviews with Metternich. The Chancellor accepted his assurances that the King of the French would do all in his power to maintain peace at home and abroad. At the same time, however, he gave him plainly to understand that he had no confidence in Louis Philippe's ability to carry out his intentions. Both the private and the official answers of the Emperor were coldly ex- pressed, but they contained the definite assurance that he had no wish to interfere with the domestic affairs of France, in which country he sincerely desired to see tranquillity restored. He was determined to abide by treaties, and was gratified to learn that His Majesty, the King of the French, was animated by the same resolution. As Metternich, on September 8, placed these documents in Belliard's hands he took the opportunity of impressing upon him solemnly that his 1 Metternich, Memoires, V. pp. 10-17. 21 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY Imperial master, although he had decided to acknow- ledge the sovereignty of Louis Philippe, viewed the events which had taken place in France with the utmost abhorrence and was convinced that the new regime could have only a brief existence. In truth Metternich was full of apprehensions, and, in a private letter to Nessel- rode, unburdened himself of the conviction that " the end of old Europe was fast approaching." The Germanic Confederation had been formed with the object of protecting Germany from external and internal dangers. The thirty-eight States and the four free cities of which it was composed were debarred from entering into any alliance with foreign govern- ments against another member of the Confederation and, in case of need, were pledged to furnish con- tingents to the federal army. Austria and Prussia, however, in order to preserve the independence of their foreign policy, brought portions only of their territories into the Confederation, which, in conse- quence, was not committed to the defence of Hungary, Gallicia, Lombardy and Venetia, on behalf of Austria, or to the protection of the Polish provinces of Prussia. Each State was represented at the federal Diet at Frankfort, which assembly was in no sense a federal parliament, but resembled rather a conference of diplomatists, the ministers attending it being strictly bound by the instructions furnished them by their respective Courts. Austria and Prussia had only one vote apiece, Austria, however, held the perpetual presidency. Prussia in 1815 had been regarded as the champion of Liberalism. The Constitutionalists, however, soon discovered that the hopes which they placed in her were not destined to be realized. In the counsels of Frederick William, the influence of Wittgenstein, the leader of the reactionary party, and the friend of 1 Metternich, Memoir, V. pp. 17-30. 22 THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING Metternich, soon superseded that of Stein, Hardenburg and the heroes of the War of Liberation. The con- ditions of the country, it must be admitted, were hardly suitable to the immediate establishment of representative institutions. The inhabitants of the nine provinces which, it had been decreed at the Congress of Vienna, were to constitute the Kingdom of Prussia, were not agreed as to the form of govern- ment under which they desired to live. Until they had become Prussians, the Poles of the Duchy of Posen, the Westphaliand, the Saxons, and the .Rhine- landers had existed under different codes of law and of administration. The imposition of a uniform system upon the kingdom was a matter of urgent necessity, and it was to administrative measures that the Prussian government devoted its attention exclu- sively in the years which followed Waterloo. It is clear that there was no strong demand for a constitu- tion among the mass of the people, and Frederick William III. could listen, in consequence, without much danger, to Metternich's warning that representa- tive institutions must prove incompatible with military strength. Successful as he had been in persuading Frederick William to withhold a constitution from Prussia, Metternich could not prevent certain rulers of the minor States from complying with Article xiii. of the Federal Act, and from establishing representative government within their dominions. In 1816, the Liberal Duke of Saxe-Weimar granted a constitution, and his example was followed by the Kings of Bavaria and of Wurtemburg and the Duke of Baden. A wave of Liberalism swept over Northern Germany. The universities were affected profoundly by the new ideas. In their lecture-rooms, professors denounced existing governments and harangued their pupils in the language of demagogues. The agitation culminated, 23 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY on March 23, 1819, in the murder of the dramatist and publicist Kotzebue, who was said to be in the pay of Russia, by Karl Sand, a student of Jena University and a lecturer to the Burschenschaft. This crime and an attempt to assassinate Ibell, the minister of Nassau, gave Metternich the opportunity for which he had been waiting. In the month of July of this same year he had an interview with Frederick William at Teplitz, in the course of which the King promised never to give Prussia a constitution, to place his confidence only in ministers of the type of Bernstorff and Wittgenstein, and to sanction such repressive measures as the Austrian Chancellor might see fit to suggest. After a con- ference of the ministers of the different States at Carlsbad, Metternich's decrees were submitted to the Frankfort Diet, on September 20, 1819, and adopted forthwith. Under the provisions of the celebrated Carlsbad decrees, the ruler of every German State was bound to appoint commissioners to regulate the universities and to impose a censorship upon all newspapers and matter printed within his dominions. Furthermore, a central tribunal was established at Mainz to inquire into the doings of the secret societies, and upon the members of this court was conferred the power of arresting the subjects of any German sovereign, and of demanding from any law court the production of documents. These decrees, however, did not constitute the sum total of Metternich's measures of precaution. In November, 1819, he convened a council of German ministers at Vienna, when, under the pretext of defining the functions of the Diet, sixty-five new articles of a repressive character were introduced into the Federal Act. The general effect of the Vienna resolutions, as these measures were termed, was to impose upon the Federation the duty of defending absolutism by force of arms in small States in which the sovereigns 24 might prove incapable themselves of maintaining a despotic form of government. Metternich's manipulation of the Diet was the great triumph of his home policy. By converting the Federation from a combination of States into a league of sovereigns against their own subjects, he averted the danger that it might promote the cause of Liberal- ism or of national unity. From this time forward Metternich, to all appearance, dominated the Court and the Cabinet of Berlin, and held in leading strings the minor princes of the Confederation. Nevertheless, the position of Austria as a German Power was weaken- ing steadily. At the Congress of Vienna he had craftily withdrawn the empire from the post of danger, and had thrust upon Prussia the task of protecting the western flank of Germany. To his secret satisfaction, he saw her pour out her treasure to defend the frontier from which Austria had recoiled. He believed that by his Carlsbad decrees and his Vienna resolutions he had rendered national unity impossible, and had condemned Northern Germany to the political stagnation in which the empire appeared contented to repose. But the en- lightened bureaucratic system of Prussia was incompar- ably superior to that of Austria. In educational matters she was the foremost State in Europe, and already she was drawing the minor States into her system of internal free trade the famous Zollverein which was to prove so important a factor in the struggle for Prussian hegemony and national unity. Even in 1830, acute observers could perceive that the people were stifling within the narrow confines of their duchies, and that, when the day of Germany's awakening should come, it would be to the Power standing on guard upon the Rhine that they would look for leadership. 1 But that hour had not yet struck, and, in the question 1 E. Quinet, De VAllemagne. Revue den deux mondex, V. Premier semestre. 25 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY of the attitude to be observed towards France, after the Revolution of July, Prussia, as was her wont, shaped her policy upon that of Austria. The Emperor's acknowledgment of Louis Philippe carried with it, accordingly, Frederick William's recognition of the King of the French. At St. Petersburg it was not until August 19 that any mention of the Revolution of July was allowed to appear in the newspapers. Two days earlier a new levy of two men in five hundred had been called up for service in the army, all Russians had been ordered to leave France, Frenchmen had been refused admission to Russia, and any display of the tricolour had been forbidden. But Lord Heytesbury, 1 the British ambassador, was informed that this increase of military strength had no reference to French affairs, and that the recall of Russian subjects from France was a simple measure of precaution. 2 In the eyes of Nicholas any rising of the people against their lawful sovereign was necessarily a highly offensive proceeding, and in this instance it had the additional disadvantage of disturbing a condition of affairs, the continued dura- tion of which was very favourable to the national policy of Russia. Under the different governments of the Restoration an excellent understanding had been established between the Courts of the Tuileries and of St. Petersburg. The Eastern question, which had brought Russia to the verge of war with England and which had interrupted the smooth course of her relations with Vienna, had, on the contrary, drawn France towards her. When, in the campaign of the previous year, Constantinople had appeared to lie at the mercy of General Diebitsch, politicians as opposed as Chateaubriand and Polignac had been disposed to look upon the situation complacently, in the hope that 1 William A'Court, first Baron Heytesbury (1779-1860). 2 F. O. Russia 186, Heytesbury to Aberdeen, August 17, 18, 19, 1830. 26 THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING the disruption of the Turkish Empire might lead to a readjustment of the map of Europe, which might enable France to rectify in her favour the treaties of 1815. Furthermore, since the intervention in Spain, in 1823, there had been little cordiality between the Cabinets of London and Paris. This estrangement had been intensified by the French occupation of Algiers, the one important measure of foreign policy of the last government of the Restoration. These circumstances rendered it very improbable that Russia in the near future would have to confront a coalition of the maritime Powers. But now that a new regime had been set up in France, the possibility of that dreaded contingency would have to be seriously considered. In spite of the Tsar's military preparations, Lord Heytesbury had no fears that he proposed to attack France. Nicholas informed him that he had directed his ambassador " to remain in Paris, but to remove immediately from the house furnished to the Russian embassy by the government of France." He was constantly to hold himself in readiness to quit Paris at an hour's notice, and to leave at once, should the English, the Prussian, the Austrian or the Dutch ambassadors be compelled to depart. " En dme et en conscience he never would consider the Due d' Orleans in any light except that of a usurper." Nevertheless he had no intention of intervening, unless France were to attempt to disseminate revolutionary doctrines in other countries or to carry her arms beyond her frontiers. 1 In due course Baron Athalin arrived at St. Petersburg, bringing with him a letter from Louis Philippe to the Tsar, and, on September 8, was received in private audience by Nicholas. On this occasion the question of the acknowledgment of the 1 F. O. Eussia 186, Heytesbury to Aberdeen (most secret and confidential), August 20, 1830. 27 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY King of the French was avoided, the Emperor being resolved to reserve the matter for further consideration. But at Tsarkoe Selo, a week later, Nicholas, whilst regretting that the British government should have so hastily decided to recognize Louis Philippe, gave Lord Heytesbury to understand that his own acknow- ledgment of the King of the French would not be deferred much longer. 1 In the meantime, an event had occurred which threatened seriously to aggravate the embarrassments of the situation. The creation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands occupied a most important place in the territorial settlement following the overthrow of Bonaparte. British statesmanship had been largely responsible for the union of Belgium with Holland, and for the formation of a strong State of secondary rank which was to act as a barrier against France. Under Wellington's advice the great Powers, at their own expense, erected a line of fortresses, connected with Prussian territory upon the left bank of the Rhine, to protect the southern frontier of the new kingdom. From a purely military point of view the plan may have been sound, but to propose to mould the Belgians and the Dutch into a nation was to treat as of no account the differences of race and of religion which divided the two peoples. The Belgians soon began to complain that they were very inadequately represented in all branches of the public service. Questions relating to education, taxation, and the freedom of the press increased their discontent. The Dutch, who could look back proudly upon two centuries of independence, despised them as having been constantly under the dominion of a foreign Power. In 1830 it was generally recognized that the attempt to fuse the two peoples into one nationality had failed. The Belgians, however, still remained loyal 1 F. O. Russia 186, Heytesbury to Aberdeen, September 8, 14, 1830. 28 THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING to the House of Nassau and desired only administrative separation under the reigning dynasty. The Revolution of July in Paris created an immense excitement at Brussels. The town was the favourite place of refuge for the political offenders of all countries. Yet in spite of the prevailing unrest the authorities neglected to take the most ordinary precautions against a popular rising. A performance of Scribe's opera, La Muette de Portici, which treats of the insurrection of the Neapolitans against the Spaniards, furnished the spark which was to cause the explosion. Serious rioting began on the night of August 25, and con- tinued throughout the following day. The military commander appears to have acted with a strange irresolution, and on the 28th, the insurgents being complete masters of the town, a deputation of notables carried a respectful address to the Hague praying for the redress of their grievances. The next three weeks were spent in fruitless attempts to arrange a com- promise. The Prince of Orange, who was personally popular, visited Brussels, but his efforts to solve the question met with no success. After the failure of his eldest son's mission the King consented to dismiss van Maanen, the unpopular governor of Brussels. But this concession was made too late. Encouraged by emissaries of the revolutionary clubs in Paris, and emboldened by the weakness of the government, the advocates of complete separation pressed their demands with increasing violence. At last the King ordered Prince Frederick of Orange to advance from the camp of Vilvorde against the town. On September 23 the attack began. The troops penetrated into the park, but failed to carry the barricades which obstructed the streets beyond. After three days' fighting the Prince abandoned the struggle and withdrew from the neighbourhood of Brussels. The discomfiture of his army left King William no alternative but to appeal 29 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY for assistance to the Powers, whilst at Brussels a pro- visional government declared Belgium independent, and convened a national congress. This attempt on the part of a neighbouring people to imitate ''the glorious days of July" was exceed- ingly gratifying to the republicans and the military democratic party in Paris. Their orators and journalists loudly declared that the revolt of the Belgians was an opportunity both for extending the French frontiers, and for effecting a breach in the treaties of 1815. Louis Philippe, however, was resolved not to be drawn into an adventure of this kind. He knew that the powers would never tolerate an invasion of the Low Countries, and he realized that the French army was in no condition to oppose a European coalition. Accordingly, as it was not in his power to silence the cries for intervention or to repress the noisy sympathy for the Belgians indulged in by a large section of the press, he determined to give to foreign governments a practical proof of his pacific intentions by despatching to London, as his ambassador, the aged statesman who, sixteen years before, had figured so conspicuously at the Congress of Vienna. The Prince de Talleyrand was in his seventy- third year. Notwithstanding the great services which, in 1814, he had rendered to the cause of Legitimate Sovereignty, the Bourbons of the elder branch had never been able to forget his conduct under the Republic and the Empire. At the second Restoration he had been appointed President of the Council, but had retired before the Chambre introuvable and the Royalist reaction, and neither Louis XVIII. nor Charles X. had given him a second opportunity of returning to office. Upon the triumph of the popular party in July, he had promptly placed his services at the disposal of Louis Philippe. But, in spite of his Liberal opinions, Talleyrand retained the language, the habits, 30 THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING and the appearance of a noble of the old regime. It might have been expected that all the King's ingenuity would have been required to impose so fine a gentle- man upon a Cabinet, which counted among its members the democratic M. Dupont and the elder M. Dupin, famous for his hobnailed boots and his affectations of middle-class simplicity. Louis Philippe's ministers, however, were agreed upon the necessity of preserv- ing the peace, and, when it was proposed at the Council table that Talleyrand should be sent to London, no opposition was made to the suggestion. Guizot, who was Minister of the Interior at the time, supposes that those who disliked the appointment must have stated their objections to the King in private. 1 But if Louis Philippe and his ministers were determined to abstain from any intervention in Belgium, they were bound to insist that other Powers should adopt the same attitude. It was, therefore, notified to foreign governments that French policy, in the future, would be based strictly upon the principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other nations. It was a system to which both the great parties in England had declared their adherence, and its adoption by France might, in consequence, be expected to facilitate the establishment of cordial relations between the two countries. But the declara- tion of such a principle could not fail to be highly displeasing to the absolute Courts. Already move- ments of troops were in progress in the Rhine provinces which suggested an intention on the part of Frederick William of rendering military assistance to his brother-in-law, the King of the Netherlands. Baron Werther, the Prussian ambassador, although still without official credentials, had been instructed to remain in Paris. Mpl, Louis Philippe's first Minister for Foreign Affairs, accordingly arranged 1 Guizot, Memoires, II. pp. 86-87. 31 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY to meet him at a private house, where he gave him clearly to understand that the entry of a Prussian army into the Low Countries would be regarded as an act of war directed against France. This threat, which evoked much indignation in Berlin and at Vienna, was effectual in inducing King Frederick William III. to renounce any thoughts, which he may have entertained, of reducing the Belgians to sub- mission by force of arms. 1 Talleyrand arrived in London on September 24, and in a despatch, sent off the next day, expressed his satisfaction at the reception accorded him. 2 He was accompanied by the Duchesse de Dino, who officiated as hostess at his table, and presided over his house- hold. In 1807, at the conclusion of the campaign in Poland, Talleyrand, then Napoleon's Minister for Foreign Affairs, had obtained for his nephew, Edmond de Perigord, the hand of Dorothee, the daughter of the last reigning Duke of Courland. After a few years of married life, however, husband and wife agreed to live apart, and Madame Edmond from that time for- ward took up her residence with Talleyrand. She accompanied him to Vienna, in 1814, and brought back from the Congress the title of Duchesse de Dino. In return for the services he had rendered him, the King of Naples had conferred this dukedom upon Talleyrand, who had asked that the title might be assumed by his nephew. The duchess' position in Talleyrand's household was so generally recognized that, upon their arrival in London, King William IV., at Wellington's request, allowed her to take rank as an ambassadress. 3 The Comte Casimir de Montrond, another frequent guest at Valenay, and at the house 1 Broglie, Souvenirs, IV. pp. 41-42. 2 Affaires etrangeres, 631 Angleterre. Talleyrand a Mole*, 25 septembre, 1830. Barante, Souvenirs, IV. p. 9. 3 C. Greville, Journals, II. p. 57. 32 THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING in the Rue Saint-Florentin, followed the ambassador to London. Talleyrand's friendship with this curious individual appears to have begun under the Directory. In the terrible days which preceded the downfall of Robespierre, Montrond had been an inmate of the prison of Saint-Lazare. The fortunate possession of some ready money, a rare commodity at the time, had, however, enabled him to effect his escape, and that of the citizeness Franquetot, the heretofore Aimee de Coigny, Duchesse de Fleury, the heroine of Andre Chenier's poem. 1 After this miraculous deliverance, Aimee de Coigny, who under the emigration laws had divorced the Due de Fleury, married the man to whom she owed her life. But, after a brief and most unsatis- factory experience of matrimony with the gay incroy- able, she again contrived to obtain her freedom. Montrond's introduction to London society appears to date from the year 1812, when, having incurred the grave displeasure of Bonaparte, he succeeded in eluding the French police and in reaching England. He seems to have become very rapidly a well-known and popular member of the fashionable world in London. During all this period of his life he is believed to have been totally without regular means of subsistence, and to have existed solely by play, assisted by an occasional windfall in the shape of employment upon any secret political work which Talleyrand, when in favour, was enabled to procure for him. But from the earliest days of the Monarchy of July his circumstances began, to improve. From this time forward he appears to have drawn a pension of about 1000 per annum from the secret service funds of the French Foreign Office. 2 This 1 La Jeune Captive. * There is an interesting article on the subject of Montrond, by H. Welschinger, in the Revue de Paris of the 1" fevrier, 1895, entitled " Un ami de Talleyrand." His name figures constantly in T. Kaikes' Journal, 33 D ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY allowance is said to have been granted him in order that " he should speak well of Louis Philippe in the London clubs." It was, moreover, strongly suspected that he had obtained knowledge of certain of the King's proceedings during the emigration which His Majesty had good reasons for wishing to keep secret. 1 The uneasiness aroused in London by the first news of the insurrection in Brussels developed into serious alarm, when the triumph of the revolutionists over the Royal troops became known. Wellington openly declared that it was a " devilish bad business," and many people began to fear that a great European war was inevitable. 2 The British government, whilst prepared to accept as an accomplished fact the complete separation of Belgium from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, held that no changes must take place of a nature to interfere with the efficiency of the barrier fortresses, these defences " being necessary for the security of other States." After drawing up instructions to this effect for Lord Stuart de Rothesay, Aberdeen intimated that the government was desirous of conferring upon the situation " in friendly concert with France and the other Powers. " ; Talleyrand was of opinion that it was a matter for congratulation that the first offer of co-operation should have come from England, and strongly recommended that the proposal should be responded to cordially. An entirely passive attitude, he wrote, Chroniques de Madame de Dino, C. Greville's Journals, H. Greville's Diary, Gronow's Recollections, etc. 1 T. Raikes, Journal, I. p. 268, and III. 1 pp. 158-154. Among the papers discovered at the Tuileries, after the Revolution of 1848, and published in the Revue Retrospective, p. 37,|Montrond's name appears opposite a sum of 86,000 francs in the accounts of the secret service funds of the Foreign Office for the year 1842. 2 Affaires e^rangeres, 631 Angleterre, Vaudreuil a Mole, 81 Aout, 1880. Stockmar, Memoirs, I. pp. 144-147. 3 F. O France 405, Aberdeen to Stuart, October 3, 1830. 34 THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING must deprive France "of that influence which they are disposed to ascribe to her over here." Meanwhile, in Paris, notices were appearing in the papers calling upon men to enroll themselves to assist their Belgian brothers. The Society of the Friends of the People equipped a battalion which actually set out for the northern frontier. La Fayette was still the recognized leader of the ultra- Liberals, and his house was a meeting-place for the Carbonari and the revolutionists of every country. But he was occupied chiefly in encouraging insur- rectionary movements in Spain and Italy. The union of Belgium with France was advocated mainly in the ranks of the Bonapartist or military democratic section of the party. The protestations of Louis Philippe and Comte Mole were probably true that the government in no way favoured their designs, and that strict orders had been given to the prefects to prevent the passage of arms into Belgium. On the other hand, however, their assertions to Lord Stuart were untrue that they were innocent of conniving at the proceedings of the Spanish revolutionists. Broglie and Guizot, both members of the Cabinet, admit that in order to compel the King of Spain to acknowledge Louis Philippe, facilities for assembling their followers upon French territory were accorded to the Spanish insur- rectionary leaders. This rather disingenuous policy ap- pears, without question, to have contributed materially to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Paris and Madrid at the end of the month of October. 2 None of the Powers evinced any intention of responding to the King of Holland's request for 1 Affaires etrangeres, 681 (bis) Angleterre Talleyrand a Mole, 3, 6, 8 octobre, 1830. 2 F. O. France 405, Aberdeen to Stuart, October 12, 1830. F. 0. France 414, Stuart to Aberdeen, October 1, 8, 11, 1830. Guizot, Memoires, II. pp. 95-98. Broglie, Souvenirs, IV. pp. 28-29. L. Blanc, Histoire de dix ans., II. pp. 103-il4. 35 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY military assistance to subdue the revolted Belgians. The English proposal that a conference should be held to consider the situation was generally regarded as the best solution of the question. " Austria and Prussia," wrote Talleyrand on October 11, "intend to follow the lead of England with respect to Belgium, and there can be little doubt that Russia will adopt the same course." l The French govern- ment at this time was greatly incensed at the conduct of the Cabinet of the Hague. No official appeal for help had been sent to Paris, but in a letter to Louis Philippe the Prince of Orange openly accused the French authorities of encouraging the disturbances in Belgium, and suggested that the King should make a public declaration of his intention not to meddle with the affairs of the Low Countries. In return, the Prince undertook to use all his influence with the Tsar in favour of the acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the King of the French. At a Council of Ministers it was resolved that Talleyrand should be instructed to bring the affair to the notice of the British Cabinet, and that Mole should draw up a note for presentation at the Hague, expressing surprise at the continued silence observed towards the French government. Two days later, however, the news was telegraphed from Strasburg that General Athalin had passed through the town, bringing with him the Tsar's recognition of Louis Philippe. But, upon the general's arrival, the satisfaction caused by this intelligence was diminished by the cold and formal language of Nicholas's letter, and by his pointed omission to address the King as " his brother," the designation generally employed by sovereigns in their communications with each other. 2 ! 1 Affaires e"trangeres, 631 (bis) Angleterre, Talleyrand 4 11 octobre, 1830. 2 Affaires e^rangeres, 681 (Ma) Angleterre, Mole & Talleyrand, 18 octobre, 1880. F. O. France 414 & 415, Stuart to Aberdeen, 12, 15 October, 1830. 36 THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING The proposal of the English government that a conference should be held upon Belgian affairs having been accepted by the Powers, it remained only to decide upon the town in which the deliberations should take place. London, where for some time past the representatives of Russia, France, and Great Britain had been engaged in settling the frontiers and discuss- ing the future of Greece, appeared to be the capital in which, by reason of its proximity to Brussels, the plenipotentiaries could assemble with the least incon- venience. France alone dissented from this view, and urgently demanded that the conference should be held in Paris. Aberdeen, when Talleyrand communicated to him his instructions upon the subject, would appear to have seen little to object to in the French proposal. Wellington, however, refused to entertain the sugges- tion for a moment. It was highly important, the Duke contended, that matters should be settled promptly, and he was confident that he could induce the ministers attending the conference to agree to the French and English proposals, provided they were to meet in London. On the other hand, were Paris to be the scene of their deliberations, they would insist upon referring every question to their respective Courts. Talleyrand, who considered that there was much sound reason in the Duke's conten- tion, was nevertheless directed to reiterate his demand. But his further representations only evoked the reply that the English Cabinet regarded Paris as un terrain trop agite, and at a subsequent interview, on October 25, in the presence of the ambassadors of Austria and Prussia, the Duke assured him that the Powers were unanimous in opposing the notion of discussing the affairs of the Low Countries amidst the tourbillon revolutionaire of the French capital. 1 1 Affaires etrangeres, 631 (bis) Angleterre, Mole a Talleyrand, 9, 20 37 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY In his conversations with Lord Stuart de Rothesay in Paris, Mole, in order to gain his ends, had recourse to a singular argument. Talleyrand himself, he ex- plained, constituted the true reason why the govern- ment was desirous that the Belgian conference should not take place in London. He never would have been accredited to the Court of St. James' had ministers foreseen how greatly the public would resent his appointment. To allow him to represent France at a very important conference would expose the Cabinet to attacks which must prove fatal to its existence. " This extraordinary reason for objecting to our proposi- tion," wrote Aberdeen, "does not appear to His Majesty's government to be entitled to serious con- sideration." Mole nevertheless continued to press his point with much warmth, and it was only after several more interviews with Lord Stuart that he began to talk of sending a second plenipotentiary to the London conference to be associated with Talleyrand. 1 This plan, which was probably not put forward seriously, was certainly never carried in to execution. At the end of October, the Cabinet was reconstructed, and Mole resigned the portfolio of Foreign Affairs. After his retirement no further allusion appears to have been made to the alleged inconvenience of Talleyrand's presence at the London conference. Mole' was perhaps jealous of allowing him to conduct these important negotiations, in which he probably desired himself to play the chief part. He was a highly cultivated man, with much charm of manner, and of an ancient family, and in Imperial days had enjoyed the favour of the Emperor, and had held important positions. Under the Restoration he had been Minister of Marine in Richelieu's first administration, and in this capacity octobre, 1880; Talleyrand A Mote, 15, 23, 25 octobre, 1830; 1 novembre, 1830. 1 F. O. France 405, Aberdeen to Stuart, October 22, 1830. F. O. France 415, Stuart to Aberdeen, October 18, 22, 25, 81, 1830. 38 THE POWERS AND THE CITIZEN KING had incurred Louis XVIII. 's displeasure by intriguing against his favourite the Due De"cazes. The Cabinet, known as that of August llth, had never been a united body. Guizot, Broglie, Mole and Casimir Perier constituted the Conservative element, whilst Laffitte and Dupont were opposed to all measures which savoured of resistance to progress upon democratic lines. The riots of October 17 and 18, in Paris, the mob's protest against the apparent intention of the government to abolish the death penalty in political cases, in order to save the lives of the imprisoned ex-ministers of Charles X., brought matters to a crisis. Seeing that the King decidedly inclined to the views of Laffitte and the so-called party of laissez -oiler > the Conservatives, advising him to give the policy of their dissenting colleagues a fair trial, tendered their resignations. Laffitte was accordingly charged with the task of reconstructing the Cabinet. 1 On November 2, the day on which the composi- tion of the new French ministry was published in the Moniteur, King William IV. formally opened the British Parliament. In the Speech from the Throne, the Belgians were described as "revolted subjects" and the intention was expressed of repressing sternly disturbances at home. In the House of Lords, Grey deprecated the employment of such language, and, in reply, Wellington made his declaration against Reform. A fortnight later, upon a motion of Sir Henry Parnell for referring the Civil List to a select committee, the government was placed in a minority. The Duke thereupon resigned and advised the King to send for Grey. Lord Grey undertook to form a ministry upon the understanding that he was to bring forward a measure of Reform. 1 Broglie, Souvenir*, IV. pp. 87-91. Guizot, Mrmoirct, II. pp. 128 -135. 39 : THE CREATION OF BELGIUM THE accession to power of Lord Grey was an event justly calculated to raise the hopes of those who wished to see more cordial relations established between France and England. The Whigs had been out of office during the whole period of the Imperial wars ; they had not been concerned in the territorial settlement at the peace, nor were they responsible for the measures which had been taken to ensure the safe custody of Bonaparte after Waterloo. Many prominent members of the party had avowed their sympathy for France, and, moreover, the revolution of July had, unquestion- ably, contributed to the overthrow of the Tories. Under the new rfyime in France political power was to rest with the bourgeoisie. It was by the support of the trading and commercial classes that the Whigs purposed to carry out their scheme of Parliamentary Reform. Nor were these the only circumstances which seemed to indicate that the two countries would, in the future, develop upon parallel lines. Although William IV. had succeeded to the throne legitimately, whilst a revolution had placed the crown upon the head of Louis Philippe, and although no two men could be more different in character, there were, upon the surface, curious points of resemblance between them. Both were, or were supposed to be, Liberals, both were simple and unostentatious in their tastes and habits, both had succeeded sovereigns of reactionary views 40 THE CREATION OF BELGIUM who had been rigid observers of courtly ceremony and etiquette. "England," wrote Talleyrand in a despatch in which he reviewed the situation created by the change of government, " is the country with which France should cultivate the most friendly relations. Her colonial losses have removed a source of rivalry be- tween them. The Powers still believe in the divine right of kings ; France and England alone no longer subscribe to that doctrine. Both governments have adopted the principle of non-intervention. Let both declare loudly that they are resolved to maintain peace, and their voices will not be raised in vain." l Lord Palmerston, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, was in his forty-sixth year. From 1811 he had continuously held the post of Secretary-at-War in succeeding Tory administrations until the year 1828, when, with other Canningites, he had seceded from the Duke of Wellington. He was an excellent linguist ; indeed, in the opinion of so competent a critic as Victor Cousin, there were not twenty French- men who could lay claim to his knowledge of their language. 2 In the course of a visit which he had paid to Paris, in the year 1829, Palmerston had made the acquaintance of most of the prominent members of the Liberal party under the Restoration. From his con- versations with these men, who were now the masters of France, he had carried away the conviction that they chafed bitterly at the treaties of 1815 and were determined, at the first opportunity, to extend the French frontiers to the Rhine. General Sebastiani, who, on November 15, had succeeded Marshal Maison as Minister for Foreign Affairs, had, whilst in opposition, 1 Affaires etrangrres, 631 (bis) Angleterre, Talleyrand a Sebastiani, novembre 27, 1380. 2 N. Senior, Conversations with Thiers, Guizot, etc., II. p. 280. C. Greville, Journals, III. p. 210. 41 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY been one of the loudest advocates of a policy of ex- pansion. 1 The recollection of his boastful language and of the aggressive schemes which he had heard him propound was always present in Palmerston's memory, and was sensibly to influence his conduct of his first negotiations with the French government. The general outlook in Europe in the autumn of 1830 augured ill for the continued maintenance of peace. Great military preparations were reported to be in progress in Russia. Marshal Diebitsch, the hero of the recent war with Turkey, was at Berlin upon a mission which, although it was described as " wholly extra official," 2 excited considerable apprehension in Paris. Insurrectionary movements, the repercussion of the Revolution of July, had taken place in Saxony and other States of Northern Germany. Metternich was said " to have proposed certain armaments to the Diet, wholly out of proportion to the necessities of the situation." The Kins: of Prussia, although he was o o universally credited with a sincere desire for peace, was suspected, nevertheless, " of preparing quietly for war." The alarm was not dispelled by the assurances which, in London, Prince Lieven gave to both Palmers- ton and Talleyrand that the Russian armament was merely a measure of precaution necessitated by treaty obligations with the King of the Netherlands, and that, under no circumstances, would his Imperial master take action except in combination with the Powers. 3 On December 1 the French Chamber voted supplies for a considerable increase of the army. The suspicion that the three Northern Courts were meditating an unprovoked attack upon France was unfounded. As Lord Heytesbury pointed out, the 1 H. Bulwer, Life of Palmer tton, I. pp. 315-316, 322 ; II. p. 8 * F. O. Russia 186, Heytesbury to Aberdeen, September 4, 1830. 3 Affaires e^trangeres, 631 (bit) Angleterre, Maison A Talleyrand, 13, 15, 22 novembre, 1830. F. O. France 416, Stuart to Aberdeen and Palmerston, November 22, 26, 29. 1830. 42 THE CREATION OF BELGIUM cholera, which had made its appearance in the Tsar's dominions, threw an insuperable obstacle in the way of recruiting upon a large scale. Russia indeed, he con- sidered, might almost be looked upon as hors de combat. 1 Nor was Metternich proposing to begin hostilities against France. " Austria's task," he instructed Esterhazy, the ambassador in London, " consists in suppressing any insurrectionary movement in Italy." But should the French interpose in favour of the revolutionists, their action must be resisted vigorously. It was expedient, therefore, for the three great con- tinental Powers to hold their armies in readiness. " The British government must be brought to under- stand that Austria cannot accept the principle of non- intervention. England, as an insular State, can adhere to it without danger, but when adopted by France it imperils the existence of neighbouring Powers. The proclamation of such a doctrine can be compared only to the complaints of thieves about the interference of the police." 1 But, although the absolute Courts were certainly innocent of any desire to provoke a war deliberately, there were serious elements of danger in the situation. The King of the Netherlands, without doubt, looked upon the outbreak of a great European war as the only chance of regaining his Belgian provinces. Charles X. was once more installed quietly in his old quarters at Holyrood, but his adherents, the Legitimists, or Carlists, [as they were more usually termed, were convinced that a war must prove fatal to the new regime in France. Talleyrand suspected that they were in league with the military party in Paris, and suggested that an agent should be sent over to London to watch them. He had no complaints to make about the assistance afforded him by the Home 1 F. O. Russia 187, Heytesbury to Aberdeen, October 12, 1830. 2 Metternich, Memoircs, V. pp. 43-48 and 51-57 ; Metternich a Esterhazy, 21 octobre, 1830. Memoirc pour Orloff, 6 octobre, 1830. 43 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY Secretary, who placed all the information he could obtain about them at his disposal, but, " in a country in which the police system was so bad, such reports had little value." At the Congress of Vienna nearly the whole of those territories, known as the Grand Duchy of War- saw, had been constituted into the Kingdom of Poland and assigned to the Tsar. Under the terms of the treaty, which was guaranteed by the Five Powers, the crown of the Kingdom was to be hereditary in the Imperial family of Russia. The Poles, however, were to be granted a constitution, and were to be allowed to maintain a national army. These stipulations were duly carried out by Alexander. But, as the Tsar's Liberalism waned, the first conditions were consider- ably modified, and, after the accession of Nicholas, the Poles appear to have suspected, with perhaps good reason, that the Imperial Cabinet purposed to abolish gradually all their special privileges. Suddenly, on November 28, 1830, an insurrection broke out at Warsaw. The Viceroy, the Grand Duke Constantine, was driven from the town and several of his generals were murdered. The revolution spread rapidly through the country, and, after some vain attempts to negotiate a compromise, the Grand Duke retreated across the frontier with his Russian troops. On December 5, Chlopicki, a popular Polish general, who had served with distinction under Bonaparte, was proclaimed Dictator. Nicholas, whilst collecting his troops to re- conquer his revolted kingdom, declared that the French revolutionary propaganda and the creation of Lancas- trian schools 2 were responsible for the insurrection. 3 1 Affairs etrangeres, 601 (bis) et 632, Angleterre, Talleyrand A, Mole", 29 octobre, 1830; Talleyrand a Sebastian!, 20 novembre, 1830, 10, 21 novembre, 1831. 2 Schools upon the system advocated by Joseph Lancaster (1778- 1888), i.e. upon the. monitorial system. (Dictionary of National Biography.) 3 Affaires etrangeres, 631 (bis) Angleterre, Talleyrand 4 Sebastiani, 44 THE CREATION OF BELGIUM The rebellion evoked the utmost enthusiasm in Paris. The designation of " the Frenchmen of the North," which it became the fashion to apply to the Poles, tickled the national vanity. It was remembered that they had remained true to Bonaparte in his mis- fortunes, and that the unsympathetic treatment which they had experienced at the hands of the sovereigns at Vienna had been the penalty of their fidelity. Moreover, it was a natural consequence of their hatred of the treaties of 1815 that Frenchmen should feel drawn towards those countries which, like Poland or Italy, had cause for dissatisfaction with the conditions settled at the Congress of Vienna. Unquestionably this was the secret of much of that sympathy for "oppressed nationalities" which, from 1830 onwards, manifested itself so keenly in France. The war party and other factions hostile to the monarchy encouraged the popular ferment. Lord Stuart de Rothesay was dis- posed to think that Louis Philippe and his ministers regarded the excitement with secret approval, in the hope that it would distract public attention from the impending trial of the ex-ministers of Charles X. 1 In addition to Polignac himself three members of the Cabinet, who had signed the ordinances of July, had failed to escape abroad. The King, however, notwith- standing that the populace called furiously for their heads, was determined to save their lives. This merciful intention he was enabled to carry out success- fully. On December 21 the peers adjudged them guilty of high treason but, in deference to Louis Philippe's wishes, sentenced them only to perpetual confinement. Meanwhile Montalivet, the Minister of the Interior, had personally conducted the prisoners back to Vincennes, where they were lodged in safety 28 decerabre, 1830. Metternich, Memoires, V. p. 79, Metternich a Ficquelmont, 31 decembre, 1830. 1 F. 0. France 417, Stuart to Palmerston, December 10, 1830. 45 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY before the mob, which thronged all the approaches to the Luxembourg, realized that it had been baulked of its prey. The satisfactory conclusion of this momen- tous trial was followed by an event of no less happy augury for the future. Nettled by a resolution of the Chamber affecting his position, La Fayette retired from the command of the national guard. The government accepted his resignation with grave misgivings, but, to the general surprise, the fickle multitude saw their hero replaced by Mouton de Lobau with comparative indifference. But of all the questions which threatened to dis- turb the peace of Europe, that of Belgium, by reason of the conflict of national interests to which it gave rise, was by far the most delicate. It is not without cause that, for centuries, the Low Countries have been the chief battle ground of the Powers. Bonaparte is supposed to have described the possession of Antwerp as "a loaded pistol held at England's head." Un- questionably, during the great war, England had had experience of the difficulties of watching the coastline of Belgium and Holland united to that of France. The lesson had not been thrown away upon Lords Grey and Palmerston, who were fully determined to resist, at all costs, the acquisition of any portion of the Low Countries by a first-class military Power. On the other hand France had excellent reasons for objecting to the system under which the Kingdom of the Nether- lands had been created, and the barrier fortresses erected. In the words of General Lamarque, the chief parliamentary spokesman of the war party, these de- i'ences constituted, within four days' march of Paris, a tete depont behind which the armies of a hostile coalition might assemble at leisure. Moreover, France, in 1815, had been deprived of the fortresses of Marienburg and Phiiippeville, both of which had been incorporated into the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and it was hoped 46 THE CREATION OF BELGIUM that in any scheme of re-arrangement these two places would be restored to her. All supporters of the new monarchy were keenly alive to the immense satisfaction with which the smallest modification of the hated treaties of 1815 would be received throughout the country. Men of moderate views, such as Charles de Remusat and Guizot, looked upon " a brilliant diplomatic triumph " or " some acquisition of territory towards Belgium " as conditions essential to the stability of the Orleans throne. 1 On the other hand, it was the policy of Austria, Prussia and Russia, as it was that of Great Britain, to preserve intact the territorial settlement of 1815 and to resist the aggrandisement of France. But the attitude of the Northern Courts was also greatly influ- enced by the marriages which connected the King of the Netherlands and the Prince of Orange with the Royal family of Prussia and the Imperial House of Russia. In addition to these considerations of relation- ship the sympathies of the absolute sovereigns neces- sarily went out to a monarch struggling with a rebellion of his subjects, and they could not but be reluctant to participate in measures tending to legalize a revolution. The first sitting of the conference of the five Powers upon Belgian affairs took place at the Foreign Office in London, on November 4, on which occasion it was decided to impose an armistice upon the con- tending parties. According to the protocol, the Dutch and Belgian armies " were to retire behind the line which, previous to the treaty of May 30, 1814, separated the possessions of the sovereign prince of the United Provinces from the territories which have since been joined to them." : No further step of much importance was taken until December 20, when 1 Baraute, Souvenirs, IV. pp. 174 and 187, Eemusat a Barante, 2 avril, 1831 ; Guizot a, Barante, 8 avril, 1831. Cf. also N. Senior, Conversations with Thiers, Guisot, etc., Conversation with Victor Cousin, May 20, 1856. - State papers, XVIII. pp. 728, 729. 47 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY Talleyrand proposed that the conference should proclaim the independence of Belgium. 1 After a discussion of seven hours' duration, the objections of the plenipo- tentiaries of the absolute Powers were withdrawn, and the plan was acceded to unanimously. A month later, on January 20, 1831, the frontiers of Holland and Belgium were defined, and Belgium was declared neutral under the guarantee of the Powers. At the sitting of January 27, the plenipotentiaries appor- tioned the share of the general debt which each State would be called upon to bear. 2 The difficult question of selecting a sovereign for Belgium was not lost sight of, whilst the delimitation of frontiers had been proceeding. As early as October 19, Mole informed Lord Stuart in confidence that M. Gendebien had brought proposals from the pro- visional government in Brussels for the enthronement of one of Louis Philippe's younger sons. But he assured the British ambassador that, as France was about to confer upon the situation with the other Powers, the offer would not be entertained for a moment. 3 Again Talleyrand, on November 7, reported that "a kind of agent of the provisional government" was in London seeking to ascertain whether the elevation to the Belgian throne of the Due de Leuchtenberg, a son of Eugene de Beauharnais, would be permitted. 4 At first the Powers, France included, had regarded the enthronement of the Prince of Orange as the safest solution of the difficulty. But after the bombardment of the town of Antwerp by the Dutch, at the end of October, he became very unpopular, and, on November 24, the national congress at 1 State papers, XVIII. pp. 749, 750. Affaires etrangeres, 631 (bis) Angleterre, Talleyrand, A Sebastiani, 20 decembre, 1880. -' State papers, XVIII. pp. 759-773. 3 P.O. France 415, Stuart to Aberdeen, October 19, 1830. 4 Affaires Etrangeres, 631 (bis) Angleterre, Talleyrand 4 Maison, 7 novembre, 1880. 48 THE CREATION OF BELGIUM Brussels resolved that all members of the House of Orange-Nassau should be excluded from the throiic. 1 In consequence, possibly, of this action by the Belgian deputies, Lords Grey and Palmerston appear to have mentioned the Archduke Charles of Austria to Talley- rand as a suitable candidate. But he objected, re- minding them that his enthronement would constitute a restoration, which the most famous of Whigs had once described as "the worst of revolutions." More- over, Metternich, who had no desire to extend the influence of Austria in that direction, soon afterwards declared that the Archduke would decline the crown, both for himself and for his children, were it to be offered to him. 2 Talleyrand himself appears to have been the first to suggest that Leopold of Saxe-Coburg might with advantage be chosen to rule over the new State. 3 In putting forward this plan he seems to have been actuated chiefly by a desire to please the British government, but, for reasons which will be explained later, his proposal met with very little response. Meanwhile, the language of Mauguin and Lamarque in the Chamber, and the evident intention of the military party to object to any settlement which should not admit of the future union of Belgium with France, were rapidly impelling Louis Philippe to adopt an attitude of opposition to Great Britain and the other Powers. 4 At the first sitting of the conference it had been decided that M. Bresson, the first secretary of the French embassy in London, and Mr. Cartwright, who held a similar position at the British embassy at the 1 State papers, XVII. p. 1242. 2 Affaires etrangeres, 631 (bis) Angleterre, Talleyrand a Sebastian!, 27 novembre, 1830 ; Sebastiani a Talleyrand, 25 decernbre, 1830. Affaires etrangeres, 190 Belgique, Sebastiani a Bresson, 25 de'c., 1830. 3 Affaires etrangeres, 631 (bis) Angleterre, Sebastiani a Talleyrand, 2 decembre, 1830 ; Talleyrand a Sebastiani, 30 decembre, 1830. 4 F.O. France 416, Stuart to Palmerston, December 31, 1830; January 3, 1831. 49 E ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY Hague, should act as the commissioners of the Powers at Brussels. Cartwright, however, had soon been recalled in order that he might assume the duties of British minister at Frankfort, and Lord Ponsonby had been sent to take his place at Brussels. Ponsonby was the brother-in-law of Lord Grey and was reputed to be the handsomest man of his time. There was a story that as a youth he had been set upon by the mob in the Rue Saint-Honore, in the early days of the revolution, and that it was only the protests of the women, that he was too good-looking to be hanged, which had saved him from " la lanterne" Canning is said to have sent him to Buenos Ayres, in 1826, upon his first diplomatic mission of import- ance, in order to please George IV., whose peace of mind was disturbed by Lady Cunningham's too evident admiration of him. 1 In Belgium, at this time, the two chief political parties were the French party, consisting of the advocates of a union with France, and the Orange party, the members of which favoured the enthronement of the Prince of Orange. The first were unquestionably by far the most numerous, but the Orangists, who were to be found chiefly in business and commercial circles, were not without power and influence. Bresson, from the first moment of his arrival at Brussels, appears to have identified himself closely with the aspirations of the French party, whilst Ponsonby espoused no less zealously the cause of the Prince of Orange. 2 There was, thus, keen rivalry and apparently much personal dislike between these two representatives of the conference. Louis Philippe would never appear seriously to have 1 Lord Lamington, In \tlie Days of the Dandies, pp. 127, 128. Dictionary of National Biography, Ponsonby, John, Viscount (1770- 1855). 2 Affaires Stranger es, 187 Belgique, Bresson & Sebastian!, 19 de'cembre 1830 ; 190 Belgique, Bresson d. Sebastiani, 8, t 14, 18 Janvier, 1831 (particuliere et confidentielle). 50 THE CREATION OF BELGIUM entertained the notion of allowing one of his younger sons to accept the crown of Belgium, or of consenting to the union of Belgium with France. Lord Grey had given Talleyrand, who had been directed to sound the British government upon the subject, clearly to under- stand that the enthronement of a French prince would be regarded as a case for war a declaration, which, in the words of Sebastiani, "had at least the merit of frankness." Of all the possible candidates for the Belgian crown Louis Philippe justly considered the Due de Leuchtenberg to be the most undesirable. To have allowed any one connected with the Bonaparte family to become King of Belgium would have been exceedingly dangerous to the French monarchy. " There are no personal objections to him," wrote Sebastiani to Bresson, " but all considerations must give way before the raison d'etat" ' The candidate for whose success Louis Philippe was in reality most anxious, and whose selection Sebastiani instructed both Bresson and Talleyrand to advocate cautiously, was Prince Charles of Naples. This young prince was a Neapolitan Bourbon, a brother of the Duchesse de Berri and a nephew of the French queen, Marie Amelie, and Louis Philippe was always as desirous as any king of the old regime to promote the aggrandizement of his family. But when Talleyrand mentioned his name to Lord Grey he was told at once that his connection with the reigning House in France constituted an insuperable objection, 3 whilst from Brussels Bresson reported that " the Prince of Naples had no following." * 1 Affaires etrangeres, 631 (bis) and 632 Angleterre, Sebastiani a Talleyrand, 3, 10, 19 Janvier, 1831 ; Talleyrand a Sebastiani, 7 Janvier, 1831. 2 Affaires etrangeres, 190 Belgique, Sebastiani a Bresson, 19 Janvier, 1831. 3 Affaires etrangeres, 632 Angleterre, Talleyrand a Sebastiani, 17 Janvier, 1831. 4 Affaires etrangeres, 190 Belgique, Bresson a Sebastiani, 6 Janvier, 1831. 51 ENGLAND AND THE ORLEANS MONARCHY Hague, should act as the commissioners of the Powers at Brussels. Cartwright, however, had soon been recalled in order that he might assume the duties of British minister at Frankfort, and Lord Ponsonby had been sent to take his place at Brussels. Ponsonby was the brother-in-law of Lord Grey and was reputed to be the handsomest man of his time. There was a story that as a youth he had been set upon by the mob in the Rue Saint-Honore, in the early days of the revolution, and that it was only the protests of the women, that he was too good-looking to be hanged, which had saved him from " la lanterne" Canning is said to have sent him to Buenos Ayres, in 1826, upon his first diplomatic mission of import- ance, in order to please George IV., whose peace of mind was disturbed by Lady Cunningham's too evident admiration of him. 1 In Belgium, at this time, the two chief political parties were the French party, consisting of the advocates of a union with France, and the Orange party, the members of which favoured the enthronement of the Prince of Orange. The first were unquestionably by far the most numerous, but the Orangists, who were to be found chiefly in business and commercial circles, were not without power and influence. Bresson, from the first moment of his arrival at Brussels, appears to have identified himself closely with the aspirations of the French party, whilst Ponsonby espoused no less zealously the cause of the Prince of Orange. 2 There was, thus, keen rivalry and apparently much personal dislike between these two representatives of the conference. Louis Philippe would never appear seriously to have 1 Lord Lamington, In