Memoirs of the Duchesse De Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1841-1850

Sagan, May 12, 1850.– Yesterday I had a letter from Berlin of which the following is an extract: "You will see the list of the princes who have arrived, as it is in the Gazette. They are all here except Nassau and Hesse-Darmstadt, but it is not to be supposed that they are all agreed. The Duke of Coburg wished to have a preliminary conference in his own rooms with the other princes before to-day's session at the Castle, whither they were invited by the King to hear a speech and afterwards to dine. The Duke of Coburg was astonished and vexed to find that every prince has his own way of regarding the question, and that they will not submit to his proposals. Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Hesse and Oldenburg declared themselves entirely opposed to the Prussian tactics, and the Duke of Brunswick, though favourable to the Bund,229 has views of his own upon the subject, which are not those of Coburg. Manteuffel is not going to Frankfort, and this question remains unsettled."

M. de Persigny, who has returned from Paris, declares that all parties have gathered to the support of the President, that they propose to take the most energetic measures, and that all danger is passed. Prokesch has been appointed to Constantinople; it is said that his place here will be taken by General Thun.

Sagan, May 13, 1850.– I have received two letters from Berlin, one in German; the following is an extract from it: "The Congress of Princes is proceeding admirably; little business is done, but there is plenty of occupation. Military displays are unending, and are varied by monster dinners, while in the evening there is the opera, The Prophète, parties, and balls. To-day a reception is given by Meyendorff, to-morrow by Redern, on Monday by the Prince and Princess of Prussia, on Tuesday by the Westmorelands, on Wednesday by their Majesties; and then, thank heaven, the conference is closed. The Princess Regent of Waldeck arrived here on Thursday for the great dinner in the White Hall, which was a fresh cause of joy to the spectators. As Princess Regent she has been given precedence of all the princes. The King shows extreme politeness towards his guests: instead of giving his arm to the Queen and leading the way for the other princes, he took in the Princess of Waldeck and the Queen was taken in by the Grand Duke of Baden. The Princess looks very well, is admirably dressed in black on account of her widowhood; but unfortunately, in respect of loftiness of bearing, she in no way yields to General von Neumann and seems even to have borrowed some of his ill-timed affability; I fear that this evening she is likely to become unduly lively at the Meyendorffs' reception, where the support of the Court will be lacking. The ladies will certainly forget the Regent, and will regard her only as a Princess of Waldeck. The Duke of Brunswick was not present at the dinner, as his claim of precedence over the Duke of Coburg was disputed. Yesterday dinners were given by Prince Charles and Prince Albert of Prussia, that the King and Queen might have a breathing-space. In the evening the Opera Hall was magnificent, and the large drawing-room which approaches the royal box was beautifully decorated and illuminated; the boxes for the foreigners had been thrown into the royal box, and proved hardly large enough for the princes and their suites; the audience was so absorbed by the sight of them, that they turned their backs on The Prophète during most of the performance and devoted their attention to the German Union; their interest was naturally increased by the appearance of the King in the large box, where he took the third place by the side of the Princess Regent of Waldeck. The Queen remained alone in her little box, where she was not even in full dress; after the first act the King took the Regent for a few minutes to see the Queen.

"The speech addressed to the Princes by the King is said to have been most dignified. He begged them to consider whether they could follow in loyalty and faithfulness the path which he had taken, adding that if they were of a different opinion, they need only follow another road and diverge from himself, in which case he would feel no vindictiveness; but if they preferred to follow him they must march loyally wherever he carried his flag. Yesterday evening in a session of the Ministers, differences, disputes and quarrels were only too obvious: the Administrative Council was present to listen; Hassenpflug immediately protested against their presence, and eventually it was necessary to close the session almost as soon as it had begun. The result was an interchange of letters in anything but polite tone between Brandenburg and Hassenpflug, but no session; in short, the first attempt at a session made an end of the union."

The other letter is from Lady Westmoreland: "The Princes met in private in the rooms of the Duke of Coburg, who is anxious to take the lead and would like to dominate the rest: offence has already been taken in consequence, by the Duke of Brunswick in particular. The Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who is represented by his eldest son and the Elector of Hesse-Cassel, speaking for himself and for the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, declared their inability to consent to any act which might bring about a Prussian Union, until the Frankfort Assembly had decided the great question which is there under discussion; all the other Princes declared themselves devoted to the Union and to the Prussian policy; they were, however, far from unanimous among themselves, and while they made the same profession of faith, every one wished to interpret it in a different manner; some were anxious to attack the political question in the reply to be presented to the King's speech the next morning, but it was decided only to send a polite and formal reply. Yesterday the Ministers of the Princes held their first meeting and discussed their course of action. To their great astonishment they saw Herr von Radowitz arrive with all the members of the Verwaltungsrat.230 Thereupon the Minister of Hesse, who is violently opposed to all Prussian tactics, as you know, rose and declared that these gentlemen had no concern with the discussions of the Princes' Ministers who could not possibly continue a frank discussion in the presence of men whose acts they would probably have to criticise, and the acts of Herr von Radowitz more than any others: he is then said to have declared that he was there to support the friends of the Union, and that were it not for him the Prussian Government would probably yield beneath the attacks of the hostile Princes; a fine compliment, you see, to Herr von Brandenburg and his Cabinet. The result was great confusion and an interruption of the session before anything had been settled. Such has been the beginning of the Congress. There were some interesting episodes: the Duke of Oldenburg and his son in particular are such enthusiastic partisans of Radowitz and Gagern, &c., that the father delivered some remarks before the meeting of the princes which were generally regarded as far too emphatic. The next day his son happened to be at the house of Meyendorff and delivered so unseemly a tirade against Austria, that Meyendorff was forced to take him to task. The King saw each of the princes separately upon their arrival. He listened very patiently to everything that the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz said to him and replied, to the great astonishment of the latter, that he was quite of his opinion, especially with reference to the proposal that nothing should be done until the result of the Frankfort Assembly was known. I am afraid he may have told every prince that he shared his opinions. In any case nothing will be decided by his opinion, whatever that may be."

Sagan, May 5, 1850.– Letters received give me details concerning Claremont, precisely coinciding with what I already knew: no overtures or suitable measures may be expected from a family which will never pardon the elder branch for becoming its victim, when the younger branch has usurped the rights of the legitimate orphan. As the elder branch has no reason for self-reproach with regard to the Orléans family, it is much more conciliatory and more ready to hold out the hand than the other branch is to offer the little finger. Only great souls or minds of a really high stamp can pardon those whom they have injured.

The entertainment at the Opera at Berlin seems to have been magnificent, but at the supper, by some inconceivable carelessness, no one remembered M. de Persigny: in a fury he left the theatre-hall where the invitations had been sent round. The next day an aide-de-camp was sent to him with apologies.

The Prince of Prussia and the Duke of Wellington will be godfathers to Queen Victoria's last son,231 who is to be called Arthur William Patrick, the last name being a compliment to Ireland.

It appears that the two Mecklenburgs, the two Hesses, the Grand Duke of Baden, and the three free towns have withdrawn from the Union. No positive statement has been issued, as the conference was still in progress, but the rumour seemed highly probable. On this question the Duke of Coburg is in such a fury that he said he would like to strangle the recalcitrants with his own hands. The question of the presence of Radowitz at the meetings has been settled by the King's formal desire that he might have a seat at the meetings in order that he could offer the assembled Princes the advantage of his talents.

Sagan, May 16, 1850.– A letter from Berlin dated yesterday says: "At a long conference yesterday the princes patched up some sort of a reconciliation and the refractory members consented to withdraw their proposals for leaving the Union, in view of the fact that they have all resolved to send their plenipotentiaries to Frankfort under certain conditions; they have also decided to form a provisional government for two months. The majority seem well pleased that they have thus avoided a rupture which would have deprived the Union of so many members. On the other hand Prokesch is furious and declares that Austria will never consent to the conditions of the princes. The calmer spirits on the contrary believe that Austria would be well advised to let them all go to Frankfort and not to force a dissolution which the nature of the situation will inevitably bring about. As the mission of the princes is thus practically finished, they will take their leave to-morrow and the next day, except the Duke of Meiningen who is staying for his son's marriage. Sir Henry Wym, the English Minister at Copenhagen, has arrived for a consultation with Lord Westmoreland and Meyendorff concerning Danish affairs. I have no doubt that a conclusion will be reached."

Sagan, May 23, 1850.– Herr von Meyendorff writes to me from Berlin under date the day before yesterday: "I have this morning received news of an attack upon the King's life which was committed yesterday and full details of which you will see in all the newspapers,232 but the following is a curious fact which naturally will not appear in any newspaper. The King said to some one present who repeated his words to me exactly, 'I was warned of this attempt; it is a plot which also threatens other Sovereigns.'"

Sagan, May 25, 1850.– From a large number of letters which I have received from Berlin I can confidently infer, in spite of the inexplicable efforts which the Government has made hitherto to represent the assassin as a madman acting on his own initiative, that he is simply an emissary from that frightful association of regicides, which has its headquarters at London, and which makes a business of procuring wild fanatics who are given arms and known as "the blind." The Government had received warning of the attempt. There are said to be five of these emissaries in Berlin. Meyendorff and Prokesch rushed to Herr von Brandenburg and Herr von Manteuffel, urging them to take advantage of this providential miracle and of the warning which it provides to close the clubs, adopt strict measures and terrorise the faction meetings; but weakness and cowardice are at their height and the Government think only of saving the criminal. Alarm is reasonably felt in view of the possibility of similar incidents at Warsaw and Vienna.233

Sagan, May 29, 1850.– The King is better, though his arm causes him much pain, but that is said to be a sign of cure. The Queen is pale as death, gentle as an angel and courageous as a lion. It seems that the evidence which shows the assassin to have been affiliated to demagogue societies is so complete and so obvious that the theory of insanity has been gradually abandoned, and that a more serious attempt is being made to penetrate these bloodstained mysteries. The plot is growing clearer: the authorities think that they have more than one clue, but we are not energetic, nor are we capable of seizing the right opportunity. It is God alone who can help us, for certainly we do not help ourselves.

The two correspondents then met at Baden-Baden and their correspondence was interrupted until the month of August, when they again separated. When the Duchesse returned from her journey she had with her companion, Fräulein von Bodelschwing, a lady of Courlande, who was most loyal to her, and remained with her until her death.

Stuttgart, August 4, 1850.– After leaving the platform of Carlsruhe I slept in my carriage as far as Pforzheim, though I sometimes opened an eye to admire the beautiful country in the intervals of sleep. I arrived here at five o'clock amid fresh and smiling valleys. I drove in an open carriage to visit Schiller's monument which pleased me, and through the splendid park which adjoins the castle we then mounted to the little palace of Rosenstein. The situation and the view are splendid, but the palace is very poor. The pictures and statues are quite ordinary and the proportions insignificant. We returned by way of Canstadt and stopped at a mineral spring to taste the water, which I thought detestable. All this neighbourhood is very pretty and far superior, I think, to modest Carlsruhe. We were not allowed to see the Wilhelma, a Moorish garden and palace built by the reigning King, but as we went along the outer wall I was able to catch glimpses of it which consoled me for my inability to cross the threshold.

Ulm, August 5, 1850.– This morning, before leaving the capital of Würtemberg, I visited the chapter church which is interesting, as it contains the tombs of the first Counts of Würtemberg. I then went to the castle: the only part shown is that intended for receptions; we visited the stables and the royal riding school where some Arab horses, newly arrived from their native sand, were being broken in. The heat was such that they might easily have thought themselves in their native climate. I was roasted by the time we reached the villa of the Prince Royal: it is not yet finished, but it will be delightful in the most beautiful renaissance style; it is admirably situated with splendid views, but there is no shade, the garden is badly laid out, and the scene is one of despairing sterility. A messenger from the King arrived bringing us written permission, for which we had not asked, to see the Wilhelma. We accordingly made our way there. There is a Moorish bath and hothouses for tropical plants which took my fancy. The garden is not entirely satisfactory. Generally speaking the Stuttgart gardeners do not seem to me to be very clever. The railway then took us through a fertile country well watered and wooded, full of ruins, churches and villages. Here we have come upon the Sänger-Vereine,234 composed of thirteen hundred singers who blocked up the railway and the little winding streets of the old city of Ulm. We visited the cathedral which is very imposing, the town hall and the Gothic fountain, which are not without interest.

Augsburg, August 7, 1850.– I arrived here yesterday and saw nothing of the town except the part through which we passed. It seemed somewhat curious by reason of its old character as an imperial town in past times. The bronze fountains are very beautiful: there are Roman remains, a prison and a chapel, the scene of the martyrdom of Saint Affre. The hotel in which I am staying, the Three Moors, is the oldest in the whole of Germany, and I am on historical ground. I have seen the chapel in which Charles V. heard mass; the fireplace in which the rich weaver, Fugger, burnt the Imperial receipts, and in short everything that my head, which is swimming in the heat, can take in.

Münich, August 8, 1850.– I arrived here yesterday in the afternoon. I have visited the church of Saint-Louis which reminds me of one of the side chapels in St. Peter's at Rome. I spent the rest of the day visiting the statues of Tilley and Wrede, the Street of Saint-Louis with all its buildings, and the castle garden which is surrounded by arcades painted in fresco. To-day at nine o'clock in the morning we started off and first went to the Frauenkirche where we heard mass, the sound of which came into my room, and was made irresistibly beautiful by the organ with its fine harmonies. We then hastened to the Leuchtenberg Gallery which is only open on special days at certain hours. I was attracted only by a very expressive portrait of Petrarch's Laura, painted by Bronzino; she is depicted half turning in a severe widow's dress, with noble and slightly sharp features and speaking eyes wide open and pure. I then saw an admirable picture by Murillo representing a monk kneeling before an angel who is conferring the bishop's mitre upon him: this is a marvellous composition, both for colouring and design, and as I have always had a great liking for Murillo, I was pleased by this further confirmation of my tastes. From the Leuchtenberg Palace I then went to the Basilica and was struck by the beauty of the frescoes, the richness of the marble and with the perfection both of the materials and of the workmanship. The Basilica has not yet been consecrated. The convent which King Ludwig has built for the Benedictines and which is joined to the Basilica by the crypt, is ready to receive the monks, but is not yet inhabited: the money has been all carried off by the wretched Lola Montes. As I came back I revisited the Church of Saint-Louis with its fourteen beautiful Stations of the Cross, each denoted by a fresco full of religious feeling: the Stations of the Cross in the open air are quite to my taste, and I greatly prefer them to those set up in the interior of churches which form an unpleasant interruption to the lines of pillars and columns. I was delighted to find that certain churches here, the new ones at least, have no chairs as in France and no pews as in Prussia. The Italian churches compel the congregation to kneel upon the flags, a more humble and picturesque position and infinitely more favourable to the architectural effect. Before coming in I saw the church of the Theatins, the parish church for the Court: its rococo style of architecture is so rich as to attain a certain beauty. The church of Saint Michael is very ugly and decorated or rather degraded by horribly tawdry ornaments; but the carved tomb of Prince Eugène of Leuchtenberg235 by Thorwaldsen interested me. Thus, I think I did a good day's work.

Münich, August 10, 1850.– Yesterday I made further explorations among the curiosities of Münich: I visited the Treasury, the chief rooms in the castle, the Hall of the Beauties, who are not beauties at all and look as if they were taken from fashion plates; the fine statues of Schwanthaler in the throne-room delighted me greatly. From the castle I visited the Artists' Tavern: there they meet every evening and drink together and discuss art. The tavern has been arranged in a special way recalling the fifteenth-century Guilds: every artist has contributed some original decoration to the place which, though small in size is most original in appearance; the drinking cups, with each member's name and arms, are neatly arranged upon brackets and shelves modelled and carved from their designs; on several objects the names of Cornelius, Kaulbach, Schwanthaler may be read; in fact the place is quite interesting. I also visited the porter and the tinsmith who make the beer jugs and vessels well known to Bavaria; the most original designs are to be seen, both graceful and grotesque. I also saw the chapel dedicated to All Saints which adjoins the castle, a handsome, noble building, slightly Oriental in style which seems to have been constructed and decorated on the model of St. Mark at Venice. We then drove outside the town to the October-Wiese, in the middle of which rises the great monument of Bavaria, a colossal bronze statue by Schwanthaler, surrounded on three sides by a splendid marble colonnade, above which the statue towers for thirty feet; the scaffolding has not yet been removed, but what I could see is gigantic. As the weather was fine we went two leagues further in the direction of the Isar which flows down from the mountains to water the plain of Münich. A pretty wood led us to the foot of a Gothic castle which Schwanthaler had just finished building when death provided him with a more impregnable defence.

To-day I have visited the Glyptothek, the library and the beautiful palace of the Wittelsbach,236 the winter residence of King Ludwig and Queen Theresa which was only completed last winter. We propose also to see the Pinacothek and the studio of Schwanthaler which his cousin carefully preserves and which is said to be interesting. This evening I shall see a fragment of Norma; and my visit to Münich will then be over. My expectations have been surpassed, my curiosity satisfied and my energies exhausted.

Salzburg, August 16, 1850.– I arrived here the day before yesterday after crossing a most beautiful and picturesque district in charming weather. I propose to plunge yet deeper into the mountains which shut in the town of Ischl. I have seen the cathedral, the Nonnenberg, with its old church and its noble convent, the fortress on its inaccessible rock, and the rooms which are being restored. I have visited Aigen where Cardinal Schwarzenberg is fond of retiring and which he left only ten days ago with great regret. I have seen the castle of Mirabelle and that of Heilbrunn, the beautiful and curious Anif, and finally the very original cemetery of St. Peter.

Ischl, August 17, 1850.– I am not particularly delighted by my stay here. The place upon my arrival seemed pretty enough while the air from the mountains which rise high and give excellent shelter on the north, must be delightful, but Ischl is full of people and, unfortunately, of people whom I know and who exact attention.

I hear from Paris that a crowd of legitimists are going to Wiesbaden to see the Comte de Chambord, and among others M. de La Ferté, son-in-law of M. Molé, who is said to have been specially sent by the Prince.

I have seen Louise Schönburg who is less uneasy on political subjects and readier to accord fair treatment to her brother, Felix Schwarzenberg. She fears, however, that the Minister Bach is a traitor who is cutting the ground from beneath her brother's feet. This Minister Bach is the abomination, primarily of the Austrian lords, but also of all landowners whatever their rank. Countess Schönburg, chief lady to the Duchess Sophia, came to bring me an invitation to dinner to-morrow with her Imperial Highness. As it is the Emperor's birthday there will be a family dinner and I shall see them all, or nearly all of them, to-morrow.

Ischl, August 19, 1850.– I hear from Berlin that Potsdam has treated the Duc de Bordeaux with the most flattering attention and the most marked kindness, to the general and complete delight.237 General Haynau and Mlle. Rachel have divided public attention:238 the General is envious of the place given to the actress, and it is said that this rivalry has produced somewhat comical scenes; in any case people are much more quickly weary of military vanity than of stage vanity.

At dinner with the Archduchess yesterday I was the only stranger apart from the Royal Family and the officers on duty. The young Emperor looks very handsome; his brother Max, my neighbour at table, is very talkative, witty and agreeable. The old Archdukes are all very polite, and the Archduchess Sophia, as usual, is most pleasant and attractive. The Emperor's health was drunk, a salvo of guns was fired and the military band played the National Anthem which was immediately taken up by the people assembled under the windows. At night the summits of the mountains and the town were illuminated with bonfires, with charming effect.