[24] She was, nevertheless, an aunt (by blood) of Emperor Franz, and one of his mothers-in-law. Students of history know the adventures of the sister of Marie-Antoinette, of her compromising relations with Nelson, and her strange affection for Lady Hamilton. King Ferdinand had just been restored to his throne when the queen died (7th September 1814).
[25] In Roman Catholic countries the day of the saint after whom the person is named, rather than the birthday, is kept.—Transl.
[26] Frederick VI., King of Denmark, born in 1768, died in 1839. His father, Christian VII., became impaired in intellect, and the Queen Dowager took the reins of government. Frederick deprived her of the Regency in 1784 and ascended the throne in 1808. In the following year, he imposed upon the Swedes, who wished to dispossess him of Norway, the Treaty of Jongkopping. He contracted a durable alliance with France, which was made a pretext by the European Coalition for punishing him by giving Norway to Sweden (Treaty of Kiel). But he received in compensation Rügen and Swedish Pomerania, which in 1816 he exchanged for the Duchy of Lauenburg.
[27] Charles Robert, Comte de Nesselrode, born in 1780, died in 1862; a most able Russian diplomatist. After having filled several posts in Germany and at the Hague, he was Councillor of Embassy in Paris in 1807. As early as 1810 he was enabled to warn his sovereign with regard to the secret armaments of Napoleon in view of a rupture with Russia, and from that moment his credit with Alexander I. grew immensely. Nesselrode was called to the Chancellorship of State, and subsequently shared with Capo d’Istria the direction of Foreign Affairs. It was he who inspired the Coalition against France in 1813, and signed the Convention of Breslau, the Treaty of Subsidies with England, and the League of Toeplitz. In 1814, he accompanied the Czar to France, signed the Treaty of Chaumont, and negotiated the capitulation with Marmont. He played an important part at the Congress of Vienna. Subsequently at Aix-la-Chapelle (1818), at Laybach (1821), and at Vienna (1822) he exercised a preponderant influence. Under Nicholas I., who maintained him in his functions, Nesselrode practically established Russia’s influence on ‘young’ Greece, and was the author of two treaties humiliating to Turkey, viz., that of Adrianople (1829) and that of Unkiar-Skelessi (1833). In 1840 his diplomatic skill kept France excluded from the European Concert. He succeeded in preventing the European Powers from intervening in the affairs of Poland (1830–31), and in 1848, after for some time merely preserving a watchful attitude in Hungarian affairs, he finally flung Russia’s power in the balance in Austria’s favour, and increased his master’s influence in the East. He was a partisan of a peaceful settlement of the difficulties cropping up in 1854, and endeavoured to avoid a conflict between France and Russia. His last political act was the conclusion of peace and the Treaty of Paris, after which he retired, though preserving the titular Chancellorship of the Empire. His despatches are models of conciseness.
[28] The defender of Saint Jean d’Acre against Bonaparte, and one of the signatories of the Convention of El-Arish; Kleber being the other. He assisted the King of Portugal in his departure for Brazil in 1807, and accompanied him thither. He retired from the service in 1810, and spent his time mainly in philanthropic work. Admiral in 1821, died in Paris, 1840.
[29] Subsequently known as the Duchesse de Dino, and afterwards de Talleyrand. She was supposed to be the Egeria of the Prince de Talleyrand, and kept house for him, either at Valençay, Paris, or London, during his embassy in the latter capital in 1830. She was a pre-eminent and exceedingly cultivated woman.
[30] The name of Pahlen recalls the conspiracy of March 1801, which put an end to the days of Emperor Paul I.
[31] The son of Comtesse Sophie Potocka by her first husband.
[32] Frédéric de Gentz (1764–1832) author and diplomatist, the principal projector of the Coalition of the Holy Alliance. He was the defender from conviction of all the absolute monarchies; pensioned by Pitt during the Revolution; Aulic Councillor in 1805 at Vienna, and in the interval staunchly devoted to the interests of Prussia. It was he who was entrusted with the drawing-up of the manifesto of the Powers in 1813. From that moment he exercised great influence on the diplomacy of Europe, and was present, in one or the other capacity, at all the Congresses. He published several political works, one of which was written in French, viz., Journal de ce qui est arrivé dans le Voyage que j’ai fait au Quartier Général de S. M. le Roi de Prusse, Oct. 1806. Mention should also be made of a series of brochures on The Rights of Man, The European Equilibrium, a Life of Marie Stuart, etc. Comte Prokesch-Osten (the son of the friend and confidant of the Duc de Reichstadt), published with Plon in 1870 The Unpublished Despatches of the Chevalier de Gentz to the Hospodars of Wallachia.
[33] Sir John Sinclair was the president of the Agricultural Society of Edinburgh. The story of young Sinclair is in all the Memoirs of the First Empire. See, above all, an account of the whole affair written by young Sinclair himself in the Edinburgh Review of 1826.