All the stud farms of Germany had been requested to send their most magnificent horses. The grand dignitaries of the crown held ‘open house’ each day for the eminent personages of the suites of the various sovereigns. The Court had invited the Paris Opera dancers of both sexes to come to Vienna; and the Austrian Imperial Company had also been reinforced. The most celebrated actors of Germany had likewise been ‘commanded,’ and they appeared in new pieces, appropriate to the universal rejoicing, and calculated to prevent that joy from getting fagged.
Emperor Franz had thrown open his palace to his illustrious guests. At a rough calculation, the imperial residence held, at that particular moment, two emperors, a similar number of empresses, four kings, one queen, two heirs to thrones (one royal, the other imperial), two grand-duchesses, and three princes. The young family of the emperor had to be relegated to Schönbrunn. Attracted by the novelty of all this, an immense crowd surrounded the palace at all hours, eager to catch a glimpse of the members of a gathering unique in the annals of history.
The Viennese seemed justly proud of having had their city selected for the holding of these grandiose states-general. In fact, the forgathering in the self-same capital of the first powers of Europe constituted one of the most extraordinary events of all the ages. The Congresses of Münster, of Ryswick, and Utrecht had only been plenipotentiary conferences. One had to go back for three centuries, as far as 1515, to find a similar assembly of crowned heads, when in that same city of Vienna Maximilian had entertained the Kings of Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland. And it was remembered that the presence of these monarchs had been attended with the most salutary results to the grandeur of Germany.
In order to convey an idea of the expenses of the Austrian Court, it will suffice to say that the imperial table cost fifty thousand florins per day. This was keeping ‘open table’ with a vengeance. Hence, it is not surprising that the extraordinary expenses of the fêtes of the Congress, during the five months of its duration, amounted to forty millions of francs. It remains to be asked whether the purport of that great gathering, and the gravity of the circumstances, justified such joyous lavishness immediately after the termination of a war which had lasted for a quarter of a century and which seemed to have dried up the sources of wealth and of pleasure?
If we add to the expenses of the Court those of more than seven hundred envoys, we may get something like an accurate idea of the extraordinary consumption of all things in Vienna, and of the immense quantity of money put into circulation. In fact, the influx of strangers was such as to increase the prices of all commodities, and especially of wood for fuel, to an incredible degree. As a consequence, the Austrian Government was obliged to grant supplementary salaries to all its employés.
In the long run, the imagination was at fault in projecting new entertainments for each day: banquets, concerts, shooting parties, masked balls and musical rides. Following the example of the head of their noble family, the princes of the House of Austria had distributed among themselves the various parts of hosts, in order to entertain their company of illustrious guests with becoming pomp and dignity. There was such a dread of an interruption of those pleasures as to prevent the Court from going into mourning for Queen Maria-Caroline of Naples.[24] It should be said, though, that this last daughter of Maria-Theresa ended her life before the arrival of the sovereigns. To save appearances, they avoided notifying her demise officially, lest the sombre hues of mourning should cast a sad note on gatherings devoted exclusively to joy and freedom from care.
The intercourse of the sovereigns was marked by a condition of unparalleled intimacy. They vied in showing reciprocal friendliness, attentions, and in anticipating each other’s wishes. Not a day went by without interviews conducted with a cordial frankness worthy of the age of chivalry. Were they bent upon disproving all that had been said about the want of mutual understanding, the ambitious views, the motives of personal interest which generally distinguish a congress of crowned heads? Or did they yield to the novelty and charm of a mode of living and a feeling of brotherhood contrasting so forcibly with the frigid etiquette of their Courts?
In order to avoid the restraint of a rigorous ceremonial and of questions of precedence, it had been arranged between them that age alone should decide points of priority in everything, at their entering and leaving apartments, at the promenades on horseback, and in their carriage drives. The decision, it was said, was due to the initiative of Emperor Alexander. The following are the ranks as they were settled according to age:—
1. The King of Würtemberg, born in 1754.
2. The King of Bavaria, born in 1756.
3. The King of Denmark, born in 1768.
4. The Emperor of Austria, born in 1768.
5. The King of Prussia, born in 1770.
6. The Emperor of Russia, born in 1777.
This precedence was, however, only observed in the pleasure parties. As for the official deliberations of the Congress, the sovereigns did not attend any.