Napoleon's last battle-field was fought and lost! still Count Pozzo felt uneasy, and with reason, for the army of Alexander had taken no part in these events, indeed it had scarcely reached Germany; and was it not probable that the Duke of Wellington and Blucher, profiting by their successes, might take upon themselves to decide alone upon the fate of France? Pozzo di Borgo sent for a young Russian officer serving in the Prussian army, and said to him, "Spare not your horses, but in forty-eight hours let the czar be informed of this victory! Your fortune awaits you at the end of your journey." Though suffering from his wound, the diplomatist followed the Duke of Wellington closely to Paris: he resumed his office of ambassador to Louis XVIII., but without the same favourable circumstances in regard to credit, as he had enjoyed in 1814. As he had foreseen, the occupation of Paris by the English and Prussian generals had rendered them all powerful there, the Fouché-Talleyrand ministry was almost entirely formed by the Duke of Wellington, and both those political characters were known to be devoted to England. Russia thus played but a secondary part, which it was very desirable should be augmented; but the arrival of the Emperor Alexander at the head of 230,000 bayonets soon changed the face of affairs.
Talleyrand had evidence of this from the very first steps taken towards the preliminaries of peace; the Czar had an old grudge against the French plenipotentiary at Vienna, and he would not hear of any negotiation carried on by him; still Alexander's mediation was indispensable to our interests, in the discussions preparatory to a treaty of peace. England, Prussia, and Germany, exacted the most exorbitant conditions, being apparently desirous of making the most of their victory, and vieing with each other in the pillage of our unfortunate country. Lord Castlereagh's first minutes demanded the cession of a chain of fortresses along the Belgic frontier from Calais to Maubeuge; while the Prussians and Germans claimed Alsace and part of Lorraine; who but the Czar could defend us from the greediness of our conquerors? Talleyrand tried to appease Alexander by promising a high political situation to his ambassador; he offered Pozzo di Borgo the ministry of the interior, combined with that of the police, now vacant by the resignation of Fouché, or any other appointment he might prefer; but Count Pozzo declined his offers, declaring he could only be useful to France as an intermediate agent between the two governments; a Frenchman in his affections, and a Russian in his position and duty, he would appear as a type of alliance between the two cabinets and the two nations. Talleyrand's plans fell to the ground, owing to the invincible objections of the Emperor Alexander, who persisted in his desire of seeing the ministry for foreign affairs intrusted to a man of his choice, and in whom he could place confidence; and he recommended the appointment of the Duc de Richelieu, designating him as the best of Frenchmen, and the most upright of men: Talleyrand was, therefore, obliged to give way; he gave in his resignation to Louis XVIII., who intrusted the Duc de Richelieu with the formation of another cabinet.
From this moment the influence of Russia on public affairs became clearly defined. The Czar placed himself as the intermediary in all questions regarding territory, and he had, in point of fact, some object in wishing to uphold the active power of France in the south of Europe, in order that he might hereafter meet with an ally and supporter there. Pozzo di Borgo's influence increased with that of his emperor, and he always exercised it in a kind and favourable manner towards France. Let us take a retrospective glance of that most disastrous period, when the country, invaded by 800,000 foreigners, was completely crushed under the burden of military contributions; but Alexander threw the weight of his opinion and his power into the scale, as opposed to the demands of the English, Prussians, and Germans, and the question of the cession of Alsace, Lorraine, and a great part of the northern provinces, was at an end.
In the secret conferences of the plenipotentiaries, the Russian minister pressed the necessity of not exercising too much severity in the conditions exacted from France and the new dynasty; because, when dishonour, weakness, or degradation, are imposed upon a king or a nation, a natural reaction takes place against a yoke too oppressive to be borne. The treaty of Paris, the result of these conferences, was no doubt a very hard measure; when the Duc de Richelieu signed it, the trembling of his hand shewed the pain and grief he endured, and he wrote a most noble letter, which is still extant, deploring this cruel necessity; still, compared with the conditions imposed by the Anglo-Prussians, a great step had been gained. France underwent no partition; though she lost some posts on the frontier, though she was obliged to submit to a military occupation, though a contribution of seven hundred millions[23] of francs was levied, at least she could look forward to a limit, however distant, to the evils of war, she neither lost Lorraine nor Alsace, she still was a great nation.
When the Emperor Alexander quitted Paris, he invested Pozzo di Borgo with full power to uphold the government of Louis XVIII., to watch his first proceedings and prevent his first faults. A powerful royalist reaction had taken place; the greater part of the Chamber of 1815 had decided in favour of a system of unbounded energy, in which parties, when left to themselves, are always apt to indulge in the first joy of victory. This chamber was strongly opposed to the Richelieu ministry, and made political order of impossible attainment, though it was the only means of realising the loans, and, consequently, of fulfilling the terms imposed by the army of occupation. Under existing circumstances, moderation was not merely a natural impulse of elevated minds, it was an actual law of necessity; besides which, reactions do not create real resources, they only disturb people's minds, and destroy public prosperity. Pozzo di Borgo upheld the Duc de Richelieu in the plan common to both, of endeavouring to arrest the ultra-royalist movement, which threw obstacles in the way of the fulfilment of their engagements towards the allies; and the ordonnance of the 5th of September altered the course of ideas, and political principles of the Restoration. The despatches of Pozzo di Borgo had prepared the Emperor Alexander for this change, being altogether in favour of the moderate royalist system, which the duke was desirous of following; "It was necessary," said he, "to put a stop to the reaction of 1815;" and the emperor perfectly agreed with him in opinion. The Russian minister considered this ordonnance as an act evincing the royal will, likely to be favourably received in Europe, and thus to advance the deliverance of the country from foreign occupation; the event shewed he was not mistaken, for Louis soon received letters from the Czar, congratulating him upon the act of firmness which enabled his government to pursue the path of salutary moderation.
The Russian influence continued to increase. The military occupation was still in force, and France, which had to arrange pecuniary conventions resulting from various treaties, was exposed to very severe trials: war was succeeded by famine, famine by internal disorders, and simultaneous revolts. In his despatches to the emperor, Pozzo di Borgo endeavoured to convince him of the necessity of alleviating the burden of the military contributions, unless they wished to drive to despair a nation which they might find it difficult to bring into entire subjection. I never met with a collection of documents better reasoned, or more thoroughly imbued with the desire of putting an end to the military occupation of the country; perhaps his strong and patriotic anxiety on that head often made him form too severe a judgment of the royalist party.
The influence of the Russian ambassador was favourable to all the negotiations of the French government, and at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle it assumed the character of a most generous intervention. Before starting for the congress he had received full authority from his sovereign to endeavour to prevail upon the Duke of Wellington to declare himself arbiter and mediator in the delicate question regarding the debts claimed by foreigners from the French government. These liabilities exceeded all bounds; and Pozzo di Borgo, appealing to the generosity and military honour of the Duke of Wellington, persuaded him to give over the military occupation which injured and tormented France, and to make an end of these liquidations, which appeared to have neither limit nor probable termination. Though the Duke of Wellington had an interest in keeping up a command which invested him with such vast authority in France, he consented to become the arbiter of the different interests; and affairs were thus arranged beforehand, that no obstacle might arise to interfere with the resolutions already formed, and which were to be finally settled at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle.
The result of that congress was the liberation of France, the credit and trouble attending which are due to the Duc de Richelieu; but the exertions of Pozzo di Borgo also contributed greatly to calm the fears of Alexander, which had been excited by the liberal tendency at that time so vehement in Europe.
The disposition of the Czar always evinced a greater degree of warmth and generosity than of deep reflection; a bias had been given by education, and he was also surrounded by timid people, constantly ready to be alarmed at the posture of affairs, and more especially uneasy at the excited state of the German universities. During his brief stay in Paris, after the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, Alexander had entered into an explanation on this subject with the French king. According to his ideas, the principal danger in Europe at that time arose from Jacobinism, and this was an evil above all others to be avoided; it was a disorder of a new species, against which the Holy Alliance would have some difficulty in acting so as to preserve the world from its contagion. The instructions left with Pozzo di Borgo bore the stamp of the same opinions; and what must have been the disappointment of the emperor, when, upon his arrival at Warsaw, he received intelligence that the Richelieu ministry was dissolved, and that a political system more decidedly liberal had been adopted by France! The Russian ambassador felt no repugnance for General Dessole, and Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr, who formed part of this administration, for they both belonged to the military opposition which had formed the basis of the restoration; but, when the choice fell upon M. Grégoire, and when the Duc de Berri was assassinated, terror and amazement took possession of the corps diplomatique, and Pozzo di Borgo was not unacquainted with the resolutions which again placed the Duc de Richelieu at the head of affairs. The influence of the ambassador was then neither very strong nor important, for a very simple reason; from the year 1815 to 1818 it was impossible the French government should act independent of foreigners; they occupied the country; it was necessary to consult their diplomatic agents, and be in a great measure decided by their opinion; but, when France was delivered from them, the influence changed its nature, there was then no material action, only a moral, and consequently limited, influence exercised by the corps diplomatique.
The revolutionary spirit began to be manifest in Europe: Spain, Naples, Piémont, had all proclaimed the constitution with arms in their hands; the assassination of Kotzebue, the excited state of the universities, the mysterious societies in the Russian army, the riots at Manchester, the commotions of the active population of Paris in the month of June 1820, all were presages of a popular movement against crowned heads. The thrones of Europe were never more shaken than in those two years of 1820 and 21; it was necessary they should defend themselves. Pozzo di Borgo, therefore, received orders to uphold the royalist system of the Duc de Richelieu's second ministry, and he entered into it with a loyal ardour which proceeded not only from the personal friendship he entertained for that minister, but also from his profound conviction that certain limits would not be overstepped. Nevertheless, from the hands of M. de Richelieu the government fell into those of MM. de Montmorency and De Villèle, the representatives of the ultra-monarchical and religious opinions, and who had a bias towards the English system. Count Pozzo felt some annoyance in viewing the triumph of men with whom he was well acquainted, and whom he had even been called upon to oppose in the ordonnance of the 5th of September; but the orders of his sovereign were imperative, and he became their organ at Paris. He approved of the occupation of Piémont by the Austrians; and his advice principally decided the question of the war with Spain, which had been suggested at the congresses of Troppan and Laybach, and finally resolved upon at Verona.