The Diplomatists of Europe

by M. Capefigue

Buonaparte was at the summit of his consular glory when the illustrious name of Richelieu was presented to him; and he who attached a great value to names of historic celebrity, and who was also a great admirer of the iron-handed minister, offered the Duke employment in his army: but he refused it, and is it possible to blame him for so doing? He was a man of high and ancient descent, warmly attached to the House of Bourbon, and resolved not to serve in a French army except under the royal banner: his refusal, however, rendered it necessary he should immediately quit Paris; and on his return to the Emperor Alexander he was entrusted with the execution of rather a difficult task, being appointed to the government of the southern portion of that immense empire. All the provinces on the borders of the Black Sea had been converted into uncultivated deserts by the ravages of war, and the barbarous ignorance of the Mussulman inhabitants rendered them incapable of repairing the mischief—in fact, the old Roman colonies of the Palus Meotides no longer existed except in name; and in repeopling this desert, the closest and most careful surveillance was necessary for the purpose of introducing European customs and civilisation. In the beginning of 1803, the Duke was appointed Governor of Odessa, and he was afterwards employed in the general administration of New Russia—a country where the climate is mild and genial, and which is like Italy, only devoid of the arts and of cultivation: institutions had been commenced, but nothing was completed, and in a city of considerable extent there were hardly 5000 inhabitants.[42] M. de Richelieu, without the slightest hesitation, had recourse to the measures necessary for improving this state of things, even though he sometimes offended ancient customs and selfish interests; but it is only by means of absolute power that great reforms can be accomplished. Every thing appeared to have received new life; commerce, set free from the bonds by which she was before shackled, made a rapid advance, and the population of Odessa was in a short time doubled. The administration of the governor extended from the vast countries of the Dniester to the Kouban and the Caucasus; and the colonies of German Anabaptists, by whom more than one hundred villages were peopled, first set the example of agriculture upon the most enlightened system, so that, in a short time, immense fields of corn displayed their waving verdure on plains which, formerly, scarcely afforded to the Tartars pasturage for their cattle.

It became necessary to establish a sort of feudal system to defend the country against the invasions of the Circassians, armed, as in the time of the Crusades, with golden helms and knightly mail; and the Duke, brave, devoted to his undertaking, and desirous of glory, became the military chieftain of the colony. It was impossible the establishments on the Black Sea should attain their full greatness until Circassia should have submitted to the Russian government; this conquest the Russian cabinet is at present accomplishing.[43]

To set a limit to the depredations of the Circassians, the governor was repeatedly compelled to penetrate into their mountains at the head of some Russian regiments; he neglected nothing that could lead to the diffusion of the benefits of European society in that barbarous country, and several young Circassians, whom the fortune of war or other events had placed in his hands, were carefully educated under his superintendence, instructed in our arts, accustomed to our manners, and then restored to their homes to dwell among their countrymen, whose customs and habits might be softened and improved by their example: such was the custom of the ancient Romans with regard to their vanquished nations. This active administration continued during the plague which devastated Odessa in the year 1813; and the Duke then displayed the utmost firmness and energy, though he was obliged more than once to have recourse to the military power, which in Russia is always confounded with the civil administration. But it would be necessary to visit Odessa to form a just estimate of all he has effected there; he appeared to have inherited the creative genius of the great cardinal.

A new field soon opened before him. The events of 1814 had brought about the restoration of the Bourbons, and the influence of the Emperor Alexander reigned paramount over the proceedings of the senate which prepared the fall of Napoleon. Louis XVIII., who was a prince of a touchy disposition, and very ceremonious habits, had but very little inclination for the Duc de Richelieu, for he could not forgive his having preferred filling a high and important situation in Russia to the dignity of an attendant upon his exiled person; nevertheless, he restored the peerage to his family, as well as the situation of first gentilhomme du roi. The Duke was not in office during the first restoration, and he employed himself in studying the new spirit that had arisen in his country, after so many domestic troubles; for he was sufficiently aware of the state of affairs to comprehend that events exercise an irresistible power in the modification of the character, and that when a person is desirous of bringing a revolution to a close, it is necessary to make incessant concessions to men and circumstances, and submit to unavoidable acts of necessity: these, no doubt, are painful duties, but are we not all called to wear the crown of thorns?

Totally unconnected with the negotiations of 1814, which were entirely in the hands of Prince Talleyrand, the Duc de Richelieu may be said to have spent the first restoration in renewing his acquaintance with his country. He had quitted it a young man, and since then what marvellous events, what a new existence, had taken place! Property had been invaded, the homes of his forefathers pillaged! The domestic hearth no longer existed—even the tombs were violated and the bones of the dead were cast out; and this in the midst of a revolutionary society, which attached guilt even to the tears of the victims! The events of the 20th of March were caused by a fatal reaction in the minds of the soldiery, and a democratic hatred against the unfortunate nobility of France; and the Duc de Richelieu accompanied the ancient banner of his country into voluntary exile.

On his return for the second time, Louis XVIII. intrusted Talleyrand with the formation of a ministry based upon the English system; nevertheless, the chief of the cabinet was well aware that Russia must necessarily exercise very considerable influence over the negotiations relating to France, and he proposed M. de Richelieu as minister of the king's household, with the idea this choice would be agreeable to the Emperor Alexander: the appointment, however, was not accepted, for the Duke had an extreme repugnance to be seated beside the regicide Fouché; besides which, he was well aware that Alexander was displeased at the aspect of a ministry so entirely devoted to England, and which had been formed under the ascendancy of the Duke of Wellington. I have already mentioned the causes that broke up Talleyrand's ministry; after its dissolution, Louis XVIII. considered that the Russian influence would alone be capable of procuring for us some alleviation of the heavy burdens imposed by the invasion, for the Czar was the only party whose interest was not concerned in the affair; and it is necessary to read the diplomatic correspondence of Lord Castlereagh and the German diplomatists to judge how overwhelming were the conditions imposed by the Allies. Their crushing demands, their deplorable ultimatum, had been published; the negotiations did not advance, while, at the same time, the disastrous condition of the country was aggravated by the presence of a million of foreigners. It was in order to obtain the powerful support of the Emperor of Russia that the king appointed the Duc de Richelieu minister for foreign affairs, and president of the council; thus assigning him a double and most difficult office.

Still nobody was better fitted than the Duke to hasten the conclusion of the treaty; nobody had so much reason to hope he might succeed in abating its severity. The Czar felt the utmost confidence in the noble governor of Odessa, and he was not ignorant that France had but little to hope for in point of support from her neighbours, who had been too long irritated by the weight of her power. Russia alone had nothing to claim from her, and she was furthermore inclined to lend her assistance, as to a faithful ally in the south of Europe. The Duke was well convinced of all these circumstances, and he took care to represent to the Czar, that all the importance lost by France would be so much added to the strength and power of her rivals, and would increase the superiority of Austria and Prussia. Alexander's inclinations were favourable to our country, and by drawing out these kindly feelings the Duke was enabled to fulfil the immense task that had been imposed upon him. Let us take a retrospect of the afflicting state of our invaded land in the year 1815. 700,000 soldiers occupied the country, the people of Germany were in a state of extreme irritation, and the remains of the seditious and disorganised army on the other side of the Loire had been disbanded with great difficulty; add to which, the treasury was exhausted, and the course of the contributions interrupted by a long abuse of power. Surely it required a mind of no common energy to grapple with a situation so fraught with difficulty and disaster! In quiet times diplomacy is a work of skill and address, a polished interchange of political generalities, and some plans proposed for future accomplishment; but at this time, when we must recollect that Paris was in the hands of an imperious and vindictive enemy, what could we expect from the magnanimity of conquerors so long humbled and trampled upon by French domination? Under these fearful auspices the course of the negotiation was intrusted to the Duc de Richelieu, just at the decisive moment when, after a most stormy debate, the plenipotentiaries had come to an agreement concerning the sacrifices they were determined to exact from France. The most ruinous projects were maintained by England, Austria, and Prussia, their demands being comprehended between four points, viz. the cession of a territory, including the posts of Condé, Philippeville, Givet, Marienburg, Charlemont, Sarrelouis, and Landau, and the forts of Joux and Ecluse; the demolition of the fortifications of Hunningen; the payment of an indemnity of 800 millions; and the occupation of the frontiers by an army of 150,000 men, kept up at the expense of France for seven years. England insisted particularly that the chain of fortresses on the northern frontier should be so closely curbed, that Dunkirk should be the last in the possession of the French. The country was to be restored to the limits it occupied in the days of Henry IV., and a party, dating its birth from the national excitement which roused Germany against Napoleon, considered it undoubted that Alsace and Lorraine were to be reunited to the Germanic confederation. The map which represented France deprived of these fine provinces had already been designed by the German geographers, and it has since been preserved as a glorious trophy in the Richelieu family.

Deeply affected by these resolutions, the minister drew up a memorial addressed to the Emperor Alexander, and expressed with the conscientious energy of an honest man. "France," said he, "in regaining her sovereigns, ought also to recover the territory they governed, otherwise the restoration would be incomplete." The minister depicted, with the fervour inspired by deep conviction, the despair of a great people, and the prospective consequences to be feared from it; for, at the first opportunity, France would again fly to arms. This remonstrance made a great impression upon Alexander, and though it was not possible to induce the allied powers to agree to the general idea contained in it, at least the Duke succeeded in obtaining that the important posts of Condé, Givet, and Charlemont, and the forts of Joux and Ecluse, should not be included in the territorial cessions. The pecuniary indemnity also was diminished by 100 millions of francs, and it was determined the military occupation should not exceed five years, and might possibly terminate at the end of three. The French minister signed the memorable treaty on the 20th of November, 1815, and it bears honourable witness to the sadness that oppressed his heart.[44] He had succeeded in obtaining great and noble advantages for his country, but he bore the name of Richelieu, and was the great-nephew of the celebrated cardinal who had so greatly augmented the monarchy, and he could not, without pain and grief, see the smallest particle of its grandeur torn away. The speech he made five days afterwards bears the stamp of patriotic sorrow and dignified resignation, and it was impossible, while listening to it, not to feel that the minister had yielded solely because the conquerors were inexorable, rendering the measure of imperious necessity.

The cares incident to so important a negotiation had not led the Duke to neglect the internal administration of the country; and while the chambers sanctioned the extraordinary powers required by the government to repress the old and turbulent spirit of Liberalism, the ministry was occupied in taking just and solemn measures against those who, by favouring the return of Buonaparte, had led to the misfortunes of their country, and authorised these terrible reprisals. The fatal trial of Marshal Ney was the first that took place; and now that political ideas are clearer, and we are no longer carried away by declamation, the motives of the great debate that ensued are easily explained. The marshal was summoned before a council of war, by an ordonnance signed under the ministry of Fouché and Talleyrand; and this council having declared itself incompetent, the marshal ought to have been tried by the House of Peers, this being the natural order of jurisdiction. The Duc de Richelieu, on the 11th of November, 1815, carried to the chamber the royal ordonnance, which constituted it a court of justice, and, with his heart still full of the sad sacrifices that had been exacted from his country, he expressed himself with warmth and firmness against the authors of the revolution of the Hundred Days; for was it not the actions of those people that had brought a million of foreigners into our land? After the condemnation of the marshal, the Duke, desirous of calming the unruly passions that raged in the country, presented a bill for a general amnesty to the two chambers, in which there were no exceptions, except the names contained in a list drawn up by Fouché. During seasons of agitation, parties always go beyond the plans proposed by governments, and upon this project the chamber of 1815 established its system of categories; and the regicides were banished the kingdom, contrary to the personal opinion of Louis XVIII. In the course of the discussion it was proposed to confiscate the property of condemned and banished persons, but Richelieu rejected the measure, saying that "confiscations rendered the evils of war irreparable." And how much generosity was exhibited in this conduct, when we consider that the Duke had himself been deprived, by the most implacable confiscations, of all the property of his family!