While all this was going on, the uncertainties of the Polish question had ceased. The result of the conferences of the Congress, which both Europe and Vienna awaited with equal impatience, was at last known. Alexander had been proclaimed King of Poland. During four months this had been the exclusive aim of his thoughts. His efforts, the ability of his ministers, the profound correctness of their views, had been crowned with success. The Duchy of Warsaw and the handsomest part of the Polish territory were definitely incorporated with his empire. The gate of the West was open to him. Among the various phases of that negotiation, two things could not fail to strike the mind—the clever diplomacy of the Russian Government, and the confidence of the Poles. When the fall of Napoleon dispelled the last hopes of the Poles, they instinctively turned their regard towards Alexander. Persuaded that he would restore to them their ancient position, that he would reconstitute in Poland an independent kingdom, they transferred to him their affection and their hopes. Neither the recollections of the past nor the lessons of history, nor the warnings of some sagacious minds had succeeded in opening their eyes. Alexander and his ministry, it should be said, had carefully exploited that disposition. A great parade was made of moderation. The most seductive promises were lavished on the Polish nation. Their dreams of independence, their ideas of a free constitution, were constantly flattered. The Russian officers in Poland received orders to show the utmost deference to the civil and military authorities. Finally, in the month of September 1814, even before Alexander crossed Poland to appear at the Congress, when General Krazinski entered Warsaw with his division, the Field-Marshal Barclay de Tolly at the head of his staff had been the first to congratulate him. The most cordial union apparently existed between the generals of the two nations.
But from the first conferences of the plenipotentiaries, and in spite of the protestations of the czar in favour of the Polish nation, Alexander’s system of aggrandisement was soon discovered.
In vain did the King of Prussia, in close agreement with him, support all his demands. The Congress resisted a long while before giving its assent. France, Austria, and England opposed an absolute refusal. We have already seen how Alexander declared one day that he would maintain, arms in hand, his pretensions regarding the freedom of Poland. Finally, thoroughly tired out, the Congress gave way, and the country of the Jagellons and the Sobieskis was united to Russia. The decision had scarcely been made public when Alexander announced it to the government of Warsaw. In an autograph letter to Comte Ostrowski, President of the Senate, the czar expressed himself as follows:
‘In assuming the title of King of Poland, I desire to satisfy the wish of the nation. The Kingdom of Poland will be united to the empire by the bonds of its own constitution. If the supreme interest of a general peace has made it impossible for all the Poles to be united under one sceptre, I have made it a point to soften the rigours of that separation, and to secure for them everywhere a peaceful enjoyment of their nationality.’
Faithful to his system, Alexander shouted very loudly from the house-tops the word ‘nationality’ at the very moment when was accomplished and consecrated the division which was to make havoc of the word itself. Among the Polish notabilities in Vienna who had defended the cause with most intelligence and courage, one must mention in the first rank the Prince Adam Czartoryski. The passionate defender of the independence of his country, he for one moment fostered the illusion of having found the regenerator in Alexander. When the emperor, during his voyage from Russia to Vienna, stopped at Pulawi, the residence of this ancient family, the princess-dowager, her two sons, Adam and Constantine; her two daughters, the Princesse de Würtemberg and the Comtesse Zamoyska, had prepared the most brilliant reception. In their eyes it was Alexander whose hand was to raise their country from its ruin. Alexander, on his side, professed a great esteem for the character of Prince Adam. Even at the Congress the rumour ran for a moment that he was going to appoint him his Minister of Foreign Affairs, instead of M. de Nesselrode, and that he reserved the vice-royalty of Poland for him later on. It was never known how far those rumours could be substantiated. Was it a tribute to the loyalty and talent of Prince Adam? Was it a means of leading people astray? Afterwards Europe learned how that prince became the martyr of the cause to which he had devoted the whole of his life. What, in the future, was to be the upshot of that decision of the Congress? Placed under the sceptre of the Russian autocrat, would Poland once more find her level among the rank of nations, or, like the streams which lose both their name and their substance, was Poland to be swallowed up in the immense boundaries? Such were the questions discussed one day in the most lively manner at Princesse Sapieha’s. Around her were the Comte Arthur Potocki, the Comte Komar, the Prince Radziwill, the Prince Paul Sapieha, the Princesse Lubomirska, the Comtesse Lanskarouska, and several other ladies. Illusion is nowhere so thoroughly permitted as when it becomes a question of country; in that gathering, all hearts were generally open to the hopes of a political restoration, all minds believed in the realisation of Alexander’s promises.
CHAPTER XVII
The Emperor Alexander, the King of Prussia, and the Naval Officer—Surprise to the Empress of Russia—More Fêtes—A Ball at M. de Stackelberg’s—Paul Kisseleff—Brozin—Fête offered by M. de Metternich—The Ball-room Catches Fire—Fêtes and Banquet at the Court—Ompteda—Chronicle of the Congress—The Tell-tale Perfume—Recollection of Empress Josephine and Madame de Tallien—A Romantic Court Story.
One morning the Comte de Witt burst into my rooms holding his sides with laughter. He scarcely waited for me to ask him the reason.