Diplomatic Negotiation

198 Diplomatic Negotiation
Pin; and the Comte Alexis de Noaille. Finally we should mention Jean-Baptiste de Gouey,
(later) Comte de la Besnardière, the French diplomat who worked with the Austrian
diplomat Friedrich von Gentz to draft the final versions of the Final Act.
Another Frenchman, the Crown Prince of Sweden and Napoleon’s former Marshal,
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, had to act from the outer circle, together with the monarchs
of the other middle-ranking states. His ambassador at the conference was Count
Charles Axel Löwenhielm. Bernadotte opted to be the successor of Napoleon on the
French throne, and for a very long time he had the staunch support of Tsar Alexander.
However, Metternich and others wanted the Bourbons to be restored to the French
throne, as they gave precedence to the principle of the legitimacy of the dynasties, for if
they had not done so, other dynasties would also be in trouble in claiming dynastic rights
to a country. In the end, Bernadotte had to give in, surrendered Finland to Russia – which
Russia had already occupied – and received an unwilling Norway in return, to the
detriment of Denmark, which had been an ally of Napoleon until the bitter end. Denmark’s
King Frederick IV had the respect of the Congress of Vienna, contrary to Bernadotte, who
was generally despised. However, this esteem did not help the Danish king, who was in
a hopeless position, as he did not have the opportunity to leave the Napoleonic camp on
time. Although the Congress of Vienna assured him of at least his own Danish territory
and German Schleswig-Holstein, it took him until close to the end of the conference to get
Russia’s Tsar Alexander to sign the Treaty of Kiel. Only after Frederick directly confronted
the Tsar with his failure to sign, did the Tsar fulfil his obligation (Zamoyski, 2007: 388).
Of the many German monarchs and princes, and representatives of smaller states
with noblemen as rulers, a few stand out. Although they were also in the outer circle,
they could exert some ad-hoc pressure on the five main negotiators. King Maximilian I of
Bavaria saw Prussia as his main adversary. He had married his daughter to Prince Eugène,
Viceroy of Italy, who had to beg the Congress of Vienna for a fiefdom during its entire
duration. King Maximilian had been the first of the German monarchs to join the alliance
against Napoleon and he wanted to be rewarded for it. His claim to Mainz had been
one of the thorns in the side of the conference. King Frederick I of Württemberg used
the Congress of Vienna to eat and drink as much as possible. His son, the Prince Royal,
future King William of Württemberg, saw the Vienna event as a chance to enjoy himself
as well, although he prioritized women and dancing. Perhaps the biggest victim among
those who were present at the conference was King Frederick Augustus of Saxony. Like
the King of Denmark, he had supported Napoleon from the start, being afraid of Prussia
and Austria at the same time. The Tsar was so angry at him that he wanted to go against
the principle of legitimacy by wiping him off his throne. In the end this did not happen,
but Frederick Augustus and Saxony only survived because of Austria’s fear of Saxony
becoming part of Prussia, thus strengthening Prussia too much. However, as the Tsar
wanted big chunks of Polish Prussia, Frederick Augustus had to cede the northern half
of Saxony to his colleague in Berlin. Hardenberg and Humboldt demanded the whole of
Saxony for a long time, and this became one of the conference’s seemingly intractable
issues.
Finally, we should mention some negotiators of minor powers and minorities at the
Congress of Vienna, although by no means a complete listing. These included Cardinal
Ercole Consalvi, the Pope’s envoy; Joaquim Lobo da Silveira and António de Saldanha da