ABSTRACT
First published in The Examiner, VII, 16 October 1814, pp. 657–8. This lead essay appears within a series of Hunt articles on the Congress of Vienna, including the Political Examiners for 23 October 1814, pp. 673–4; 27 November 1814, pp. 753–4; 18 December 1814, pp. 801–3; 25 December 1814, pp. 817–18 and below, pp. 333–6. See also The Examiner, VII, 11 December 1814, p. 789, and The Examiner, VII, 18 December 1814, pp. 804–5. The Congress of Vienna, one of the most important European political summits ever held, sought to redraw the national boundaries of Europe following two decades of nearly constant warfare. Diplomats and rulers began streaming into Vienna in August, and though there was no official opening ceremony, discussions were underway by September. Although numerous potentates and their representatives were invited from all regions of the continent, meaningful negotiations were only conducted in private by the four chief Allied powers – Austria, Prussia, Russia, England – and the French. They were represented at the highest levels, by Klemens Von Metternich, Austrian prince (1773–1859); Prince Karl Von Hardenberg of Prussia (1750–1822); Tsar Alexander I of Russia; Lord Castlereagh, English foreign secretary; and Charles-Maurice Talleyrand-Perigord (1754–1838), head of the new French government. Territorial acquisition, consolidation of power and restoration of pre-revolutionary power structures remained the prominent concern in these debates, as the great powers carved up Europe in their own interests. Interminable disputes stalled the negotiations for some time (see Hunt’s complaint in a December Political Examiner, below, pp. 333–6) until Napoleon’s return to power in late February 1815 stirred the negotiators toward a final settlement, which was reached on 9 June 1815 just a week before Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. Historians today agree that the self-serving policies of the great powers at the Congress frustrated the national aspirations of many smaller groups (such as the Italian provinces), which helped precipitate the 1848 European revolutions, and even fomented the return of Napoleon to power. Hunt typically comments on the opening phase of the Congress by warning of the dangers of political self-interest, the importance of justice and liberty in settling territorial disputes, and the need to resist any movement backward to the old pre-revolutionary systems of monarchial and aristocratic despotism (see headnote above, pp. 309–10).
