The European Pentarchy and the Congress of Verona, 1822

372 Pages·1972·42.558 MB·English

by  I.C. Nichols

THE EUROPEAN PENTARCHY
AND THE
CONGRESS OF VERONA, 1822
THE EUROPEANPENTARCHY
AND THE
CONGRESS OF VERONA, 1822
by
IRBY C. NICHOLS, JR.
North Texas State University
MARTINUS NIJHOFF / THE HAGUE I 1971
@ 1971 by Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to
reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form
ISBN-13: 978-90-247-1110-9 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-010-2725-0
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-010-2725-0
TO MY MOTHER
PAULINE WRIGHT NICHOLS
AND THE
MEMORY OF MY FATHER
IRBY COGHILL NICHOLS
WHO INSPIRED ME TO BECOME
A DISCIPLE
OF CLIO
CONTENTS
PREFACE XI
PART I
GENESIS OF THE CONGRESS: FEBRUARY 1821-0CTOBER 1822 1
PROLOGUE
THE DIPLOMATIC BACKGROUND OF THE CoNGRESS 3
1. The Congress is called 3
2. The Eastern Question 5
3. The Hanoverian Rendezvous 8
4. The Shift from Castlereagh to Canning 13
CHAPTER I
THE ROAD TO VIENNA 19
1. The Castlereagh Instructions 19
2. The Wellington Mission 23
3. The Ascendancy of Villele 25
4. Franco-Spanish Relations, 1820-1822 27
5. The Villele-Wellington Interview 34
CHAPTER II
THE VIENNA STALEMATE 40
1. The Conference Convenes 40
2. The Spanish Question 42
3. The Eastern Question 48
4. Italian Questions 54
5. A Retrospect 59
VIII CONTENTS
PARTn
THE CONGRESS AT WORK: OCTOBER-DECEMBER 1822 63
CHAPTER ill
FROM VmNNA TO VERONA: PRELlMINARmS TO THE CoNGRESS 65
1. Exodus 65
2. The Canning Instructions 68
3. The Villcle Instructions 72
4. Reunion in Verona: The Congress at Play 75
5. Agenda and Procedure 81
CHAPTER IV
THE SPANISH QUESTION 84
1. The Montmorency Mbnoire 84
2. The British Remonstrance and Allied Reaction 88
3. Dichotomy of the French Delegation 107
4. Triumph of the Franco-Russian Entente 112
5. International Finance and Intervention: The Brothers Rothschild and
Ouvrard 127
6. A Retrospect 133
CHAPTER V
THE SPANISH CoLONIAL QUESTION 137
1. Genesis 137
2. Wellington's Dissent 144
3. The Villcle-Montmorency Vendetta Revisited 145
4. The British Brief 147
5. The AngIo-Continental Impasse 148
6. The Gameiro Affair 151
7. The British Reservation 154
8. A Retrospect 159
CHAPTER VI
THE SLAV B TRADE QUESTION 161
1. Genesis 161
2. The Impossible Quest 165
3. The Black Tide 171
4. The Six Points 176
CONTENTS IX
5. The Implacable French and Diffident Allies 180
6. A Retrospect 186
7. Epilogue 189
CHAPTER VII
THE ITALIAN CONGRESS 191
1. The Charles Albert Affair 191
2. The Evacuation of Piedmont 195
3. The Evacuation of Naples 200
4. Metternich's Italian League (Lega Ita/ica) 205
5. The Sardinian Waldenses 211
6. The Swiss Confederation and Piedmontese Refugees 212
7. The Knights of Malta 215
8. The Aldobrandini Appeal 215
9. A Retrospect 216
CHAPTER VIII
GREAT BRITAIN AND THE GOLDEN MAXIM 218
1. The Austrian War Debt 218
2. The Russian Ukase 229
3. The Eastern Question 244
4. The Navigation of the Rhine 258
5. A Retrospect 262
CHAPTER IX
THE CURTAIN FALLS 264
1. The Verona Circular (December 14, 1822) 264
2. Exodus 266
3. The Second ViIlele-Wellington Interview 267
4. A Retrospect 272
PART III
PROBLEMS IN HISTORIOGRAPHY AND INTERPRETATION 275
CHAPTER X
WELLINGTON AND THE CoNGRESS 277
1. The Alleged Crime 277
2. The Prosecution 277
x CONTENTS
3. The Defense 280
4. The Verdict 284
CHAPTER XI
CHATEAUBRIAND AND THE CONGRESS 286
1. The Debate 286
2. Ambition and Intrigue 288
3. The Mission 292
4. Reception at Verona 295
5. A Retrospect 299
CHAPTER XU
CHATEAUBRIAND'S WAR 302
1. The French Ministerial Crisis (December 1822) 302
2. France Goes It Alone 307
3. Britain Adopts Neutrality 312
4. A Retrospect 315
EPILOGUE
FROM CoNGRESS SYSTEM TO CONCERT OF EUROPE 317
1. The Secret Treaty of Verona 317
2. The Congress and the Alliance 320
3. Fall of the Alliance 321
4. The Legacy 324
BmuOGRAPHY 327
INDEX 349
PREFACE
For one reason or another. modem historians have neglected the Congress
of Verona. some because they thought the field already had been thoroughly
plowed. while others doubted that enough material could be found for more
than an article or two on the subject. Indeed. not a single book-length
monograph of this international assembly has ever been published in any
language. This study. therefore. attempts to fill the gap by (1) explaining the
genesis of the Congress. (2) furnishing a comprehensive account of its work.
(3) revising some of the interpretations of Sir Charles K. Webster. Harold
W. V. Tempedey. and others. and (4) analyzing the significance of the
Congress. with emphasis on its contribution to the fall of the Quintuple
Alliance. a consequence aided by the dissimilar and often contradictory
interests of the allies themselves.
This book is essentially a diplomatic history. but diplomats. of course.
do not live in a vacuum. Numerous political. social. commercial. financial.
and sometimes even religious factors. impinge upon their consciousness.
It soon became apparent. therefore. that the scope of this work would be
enormous and that its span would stretch from the eighteenth to the
twentieth century. if the alpha and omega of every issue discussed at Verona
were recounted. Yet anything less than a catholic approach would reduce
the claim of comprehensive coverage to an empty pretense. Included within
the purview of the study. perforce. are questions which range from Black
Sea commerce to the Atlantic slave trade. from the Greek insurrection to
Latin American independence. from the navigation of the Rhine to the
interdiction of foreign trade with Russian America. and from intervention
in the Iberian Peninsula to the persecution of Piedmontese Vaudois.
The present volume is an outgrowth of researches which began twenty
three years ago in Professor James Logan Godfrey's seminar at the Uni
versity of North Carolina. By 1949 the paper had grown into a master's
thesis which six years later at the University of Michigan envolved into a
doctoral dissertation: "Great Britain and the Congress of Verona." But
hardly more than the foundation for this work had been laid. for the greater