Secretary Of Europe; The Life Of Friedrich Gentz, Enemy Of Napoleon PDF
Preview Secretary Of Europe; The Life Of Friedrich Gentz, Enemy Of Napoleon
GENTZ AT FIFTY Secretary of Europe THE LIFE OF FRIEDRICH GENTZ, ENEMY OF NAPOLEON By GOLO MANN TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM H. WOGLOM NEW HAVEN YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON • GEOFFREY CUMBERLEGE • OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1946 Copyright, 1946, Yale University Press Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. TO J. F. TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE The translator’s best friend is his author, but in the present instance this refuge and strength has been denied, for Dr. Mann is serving over seas with the armed forces of the United States and, it may be added, serving with unusual distinction. Before entering the army he had been teaching in Olivet College, Olivet, Michigan, and before that had pursued an active editorial and teaching career in Switzerland and France after having taken his Ph.D. in history and sociology at Heidelberg. In his absence it is fortunate indeed that he was able to persuade a friend, Dr. Erich Kahler, himself a historian and an author of note, to assume the responsibility of adviser. Dr. Kahler has faithfully com pared every word of the translation with the original manuscript, and his familiarity with the author’s habit of thought, with the events of the period under discussion, with its literary style, and even with its minor characters has made easy and pleasant what otherwise might have been a well-nigh impossible task. If errors have crept in despite all his care, the fault is the translator’s alone. The English version is an accurate reproduction of the German orig inal. Almost nothing has been omitted, and nothing added save a date here and there, perhaps, or a footnote or supplementary word or two where they seemed to facilitate the argument. In some explanatory material that accompanied the manuscript Dr. Mann points out that Friedrich Gentz has been described by an American author as a fascinating personality, a brilliant and unscrupu lous man of the world who wielded a tremendous political influence; by an English writer as the sole example of a political aspirant who, by his pen alone, achieved a position of social equality with statesmen and nobles in an aristocratic country and under a despotic government. That he was far and away the greatest political writer ever produced by Germany all those who know his work will agree. Yet he was not a purely literary man, nor was he purely German. Since no parliamentary career was possible in his native country he had to make a position of his own, as a private correspondent of ministers and kings, as an inter national adviser, and as a writer of public manifestoes and secret memoirs. For these activities he was paid by the British and Austrian Governments, and at times by other European governments as well, but he never did anything or wrote anything in violation of his convictions. viii SECRETARY OF EUROPE He was renowned, too, as a ladies’ man, though this part of his life cannot well be emphasized in a political biography. To the final chapter the love of the sixty-five-y ear-old high priest of conservatism for Fanny Elssler, the famous ballerina, gives a touch of tragicomedy. The. documentation is enormous, and most of it has been taken into account. But the works of the “Secretary of Europe,” Metternich’s right-hand man, have never been assembled and there exist only some fragmentary Collected Writings, an edition of his letters that has never been completed, and his diaries; hence most of the material had to be drawn from such sources as lives and letters, and German, French, and English periodicals. Thus Dr. Mann. Miss Ella Holliday of the Yale University Press guided the erring feet of the translator through the dismal swamp of technique, Miss Ro berta Yerkes edited the manuscript, and Mr. Eugene Davidson presided over the whole with all his accustomed geniality. To each my heartfelt thanks. W. H. W. New York, February, 1946. CONTENTS Translator’s Preface vii List of Illustrations xi Introduction xiii PART ONE. GENTZ IN PRUSSIA I. Youth 3 IL The French Revolution 19 III. Prussian Politics 38 IV. Gentz and His Friends 51 V. Flight into Austria 69 PART TWO. GENTZ IN EUROPE VI. London, 1802 85 VIL Stop Bonaparte! 97 VIII. Why Prussia Fell 123 IX. New Facts, New Ideas 145 X. Heyday of the Emperor 166 XL Triumph at Last 184 XII. Vienna Congress 207 XIII. Paris, 1815 232 PART III. GENTZ IN AUSTRIA XIV. At Home 251 XV. Diplomacy of the Highway 259 XVI. Victa Catoni 279 XVII. July 293 Epilogue 308 Index 315
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