Klemens Von Metternich - Biography - Foreign Minister - Paris and Italy

Paris and Italy

On 15 June 1815 Metternich was with his coalition allies in Paris once more to discuss peace terms when he read that his son and two daughters had narrowly escaped death after a bridge collapsed. He disliked the enforced separation. After 133 days of negotiations, longer than the turmoil itself, the second Treaty of Paris was agreed to and signed on 20 November. Metternich, who had come to the conclusion that France should not be dismembered, was happy with the result: France lost only a little of its land along its eastern borders, seven hundred million French francs, and the artworks it had captured. It also accepted an army of occupation numbering 150,000 men. In the meantime a separate treaty, proposed by Alexander and redrafted by the Austrian foreign minister, had been signed on 26 September. This created a new Holy Alliance centred on Russia, Prussia and Austria; nonetheless, with its vague liberal sentiments it was a document that Metternich neither pushed for nor wanted. Representatives from most of the European states would come to sign the document, with the exception of the pope, the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire. Shortly afterwards, a separate treaty reaffirmed the Quadruple Alliance and established, through its sixth article, the Congress System of regular diplomatic meetings. With Europe at peace, the Austrian flag now flew over 50% more land than when Metternich had become foreign minister.

Metternich now turned once more to the question of Italy, arriving on his first visit to the country in early December 1815. After visiting Venice, his family joined him in Milan on 18 December. For once it was Metternich who played the liberal, asking, unsuccessfully, Francis to give the region some autonomy. Metternich spent four months in Italy, endlessly busy and suffering from chronic inflammation of his eyelids. He tried to control Austrian foreign policy from Milan and, when there was a serious disagreement between the empire and the Kingdom of Bavaria, he was heavily criticised for his absence from Vienna. His enemies could not capitalise however: Stadion was busy working in his role as finance minister and the Empress Maria Ludovika, a fierce critic of Metternich's policies, died in April. The uncharacteristic gap between the views of Metternich and his emperor was only eased when the emperor accepted some of Metternich's proposals and Metternich withdrew others. Metternich finally returned to Vienna on 28 May 1816, after almost a year absent from the capital. Professionally, the rest of 1816 passed quietly for the tired Metternich, who was wrapped up in discussions over Austria's fiscal position and in monitoring the spread of liberalism in Germany and nationalism in Italy. Personally however, Metternich was rocked in November by the death of a focus of his attentions, Julie Zichy-Festetics. Two years later Metternich was to write that his "life ended there" and his old frivolity would take some time to return. The only consolation was July's announcement that Metternich was to receive new estates along the Rhine at Johannisberg, only 25 miles (40 km) from his birthplace at Koblenz.

In June 1817 Metternich was required to escort the emperor's newly wed daughter Maria Leopoldina to a boat at Livorno. When they arrived they found that the ship was delayed and Metternich spent the time travelling around Italy once more; he visited Venice, Padua, Ferrara, Pisa, Florence and Lucca. Though alarmed by the way Italy was developing (he noted that many of Francis' concessions were yet to be put into practice), he still believed the situation was salvageable and made another plea for decentralisation on 29 August. After this failed, Metternich decided to broaden his efforts into general administrative reform, to avoid the appearance of favouring the Italians over the other peoples of the empire. Whilst working on these, Metternich returned to Vienna on 12 September 1817 to be immediately wrapped up in the organisation of his daughter Maria's marriage to Count Joseph Esterházy just three days later. It proved all too much and Metternich was taken ill. After a delay whilst he recovered, Metternich condensed his proposals into three documents he submitted to Francis, all dated 27 October 1817. The administration would remain undemocratic, but there would be a new ministry of justice and four new chancellors—each with local remits, including one for "Italy". Importantly, the divisions would be regional and not national. In the end, Francis accepted the revised proposals, albeit with several alterations.