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ministers Hardenberg, Wittgenstein, Bernstorff, Ancillon, and others, whatever their names, and that he intimidated Frederick William III., who was in need of peace? What availed it that he endeavoured to galvanise the cumbrous machinery of the impotent Congress of Ambassadors in Frankfort by Ministerial conferences in Carlsbad and Vienna, or that he exerted a pressure over the rebellious Ministers of Bavaria and Würtemberg? This restless activity, this anxious patronage, was of no value to Austria, when, after the death of Alexander I. and the suicide of Lord Londonderry, England and Russia renounced the pseudo-Pentarchy, and signed a protocol (April 4, 1826) behind Metternich's back, which, in spite of all the eloquence wasted at Troppau, Laibach, and Verona, shook the foundations of Austria's policy and sealed the fate of European Turkey in a manner which a powerful Austria would never have endured. And what availed, moreover, all those diplomatic arts of persuasion, all those neatly worded and concordant resolutions, when the July storm burst out in Paris and in a few hours shattered to pieces the carefully re-established throne of the legitimate dynasty?

In politics the greatest evil is not guilt, as Schiller says, but weakness. At times the Austrian Chancellor called to mind this truth, as is shown by his reports to the Emperor. Let anyone read, for example, his report of 1817, in which the German Bund is described as the best combination imaginable for the internal welfare of Austria; or that of 1829, in which, after misfortune had occurred, after victorious Russia, regardless of Austrian interests, had dictated peace, not to say her death sentence, to Turkey at Adrianople, the Emperor Francis is warned that it might, perhaps, be opportune to consider how to put an end to the financial chaos of the Empire, and restore the army, weakened by continual reduc

tions, to a footing which should command respect. Placet,' ran the resolution of the Emperor. But there the matter rested, and no sign was seen in France or Russia, in England or Germany, of Austria's having acquired a commanding position among the Powers.

Standing still means going back, with individuals and with States. A State which thinks only of keeping what it has got, must necessarily go back directly it has to do with neighbours who look chiefly not to keeping but to getting, and are always bent on enlarging their territory, and strengthening their sphere of power.

Thoughtful admirers of Prince Metternich have often asked why the restless, self-sacrificing activity of this man, so far superior to the majority of his contemporaries, and so rich in experience, should have produced no permanent result—why the personal influence over the Cabinets of Europe, which he undeniably possessed in 1815-1825, was not turned to better account in the interests of Austria? It has been attempted to answer these questions by objecting that the verdict of history must still be waited for. For the cause is not yet quite ripe for judgment. Circumstances of an aggravating, but also of an extenuating nature, will be yielded by the study of State papers. Among the extenuating circumstances must be cited in particular the fact that everyone is the child of his time, and the slave of its dominant opinions. The patriarchal theory of princely power was universal, and the national desires and aspirations now current were regarded then in Germany as dangerous innovations, and ominous signs of revolution. The recognition of the full sovereignty of the smaller German princes seemed, therefore, in 1813, to Prince Metternich a not excessive price for their joining the alliance against Napoleon. The more logical view, perhaps, was that taken at

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Kalisch, in the Russian and Prussian head quarters, under Stein's inspiration, which contemplated treating all the territories of the Rhenish Confederation as a conquered country, and mediatising its princes. After the Austrian Cabinet had tied its hands in regard to Bavaria and Würtemberg, it was of course indispensable to treat all the princes who had escaped the Napoleonic deluge as entitled to equal rights, for they flattered themselves in Vienna that they would then be able to subject Prussia also to the dictation of the Diet.

Events are stronger than men. The cannon of Solferino, Sadowa, and Sedan tore to pieces the web spun by the Metternich school. And as the Nüremberg aldermen were always wiser when they left the town council, so it is easier in 1885 to point out what should have been done in 1815 to secure the permanent peace of the world; easier, at any rate, than it was to foresee in 1815 what ought to be done if the Hapsburgs were unwilling to yield to the Hohenzollerns the hegemony of Germany; to the Piedmontese the whole of Italy with its capital, Rome; and to the German nation, united under Prussia's leadership, the honour of vanquishing the nephew of Napoleon I. without the assistance of Austria.

The life of States revolves, like our planet, around two poles-the positive and the negative. The positive is called the struggle for existence,' the negative the 'sweet habit of life.' In Germany, Prussia has represented the former, and Austria the latter. The Imperial crown of Germany, which the Emperor Francis, preferring the sweet habit of life to the struggle for existence, disdained in 1815, King William has conquered in two bloody campaigns, and placed it on his head in the palace of Louis XIV. at the unanimous invitation of the German princes, and amidst the acclamation of the German nation.

Such, as matters now stand, are the results of a peace policy of thirty-three years, which, being destitute at the centre of any real power and creative energy, let loose centrifugal forces, encouraged foreign enemies, and for the time imperilled the very existence of the Austrian Empire.

Facta loquuntur. The rest,' as Hamlet says, 'is silence.'

CHAPTER XIII.

PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE.-1858.

London, Jan. 18: Conversation with Disraeli on the critical Position of the Ministry. London, Feb. 14: State of Tension with France in consequence of Orsini's Attempt on Napoleon.-London, Feb. 21: Defeat of Lord Palmerston's Ministry on the Conspiracy Bill --Lord Derby undertakes the Government.-London, Feb. 28: Retrospect of the Debate on the Conspiracy Bill Secret History of Palmerston's Downfall.-London, June 27: Paris Conferences on the Danubian Principalities-Strained Relations between France and Austria.- London, July 24: Annual Show of the Royal Agricultural Society at Chester.-London, Buckingham Palace, August 9: Letter of Prince Albert to Count Vitzthum-Private Character of the Queen's Visit to Babelsberg. Lisbon, Dec. 29: The Portuguese Ministers-Critical State of Finances.

London: Jan. 18, 1858.

AN hour and a half's conversation with Disraeli has enabled me to give you some trustworthy information about the intentions and expectations of the Conservative party.

6

The leader of the Opposition received me with these words: During your four months' absence the situation has materially changed. So long as I have known you—I may say, indeed, so long as I have occupied myself with politics— I can remember no moment when the Ministry for the time being has found itself confronted with such a menacing and complicated state of affairs. All my gloomy predictions about India,' he continued, have not been only verified, but surpassed by facts. I have only to reproach myself that I did not put the colours on thick enough, but underrated in my speech the danger, and overrated the capacity of the Ministers.