HARDENBERG, CHARLES AUGUSTUS, PRINCE OF, was born at Esseronds, in Hanover, on the 31st of May 1750. His family was one of the most ancient in that kingdom, and his father held a high rank in the army during the Seven Years' War. The first part of the future statesman's education was acquired at home under his father's eye. He afterwards went to the universities of Gottingen and Leipzic to continue his studies, which he completed at Wetzlau by a course of law, which in Germany as well as France is considered an indispensable part of a sound education. In this place be had the good fortune to meet with Gothe, with whom he formed a friendship which continued through life.
In 1776 he commenced a course of travel, in order to prepare himself for public life: be visited Ratisbon, Vienna, and Berlin, making some stay at each place ; then passed into France, thence into Holland, and lastly into England. In 1778 he returned to Hanover, was immediately appointed to a place in a ministerial office, and the title of count was conferred upon him.
Shortly afterwards, Count de Hardenberg was sent on a, diplomatic mission to London, when ho acquitted- himself of his trust with so much credit that he was repeatedly sent back as envoy to the British court, each time with increased reputation. lie had previously married Mademoiselle de lieventlow, and for some years their union had proved a happy one, when an intrigue between her and one of the royal princes of England having been discovered, tho injured husband resented the wrong in such a way as to render his removal from his post advisable. A separation from his wife took place ; he withdrew to the court of Brunswick, was made a privy-councillor by the duke, and in 1787 his minister for the interior government of the duchy.
The will of Frederick the Great had been deposited in the bands of the Duke of Brunswick, upon whom therefore the duty had devolved of transmitting the document to the successor of that monarch, and this important mission was confided by the duke to Count de Harden berg. This commission proved the introduction to his future eminence. Frederick William received him with much distinction, and in 1790 the Margrave of Anspach and Baireuth, having applied to that king to point out a man capable of administering his states, the royal favour was evinced by the strongest recommendation of Count de Ilardenberg. The following year these principalities were annexed to Prussia, and the king created him minister of state, besides leaving in his hands the government of the two provinces. As soon as the war broke out with the French republic, the King of Prussia summoned him to his head quarters at Frankfurt as army-administrator, in which capacity he spent a great part of 1793 with the Prussian army on the banks of the Rhine. In 1791 he succeeded the Count de Goitz (who had died February 6) as ambassador to treat of peace with the French republic • but the appointment excited jealousy, the Prussians having suspected that as a Hanoverian he would prove too favourable to English interests.
On the 15th of April 1794 he signed the treaty of peace atBasel, and OD his return to Berlin In June, Frederick William, in presence of his whole court, decorated him with his grand order of the Black Eagle. So great was his credit at this juncture, that the French Committee of Publio Safety, having no orders to bestow, sent him a splendid service of Sevres porcelain, once intended for the table of Louis XVI. From 1802 he continued to rise in favour with the Prussian court, and the direction of the affairs of Franconia, the cabinet offices left vacant by the deaths of the ministers Werder and Heidnitz, were anceessively intrusted to Ifardenberg. The now king, Frederick William who succeeded to the crown in 1797, and whose friend ship for the count was equal to his father's, bad long desired to intrust his chief government to this able man; but the jealousy of M. de llangwitz, whose policy was favourable to France, prevented this arrangement for some years. At length the occupation of Hanover by Bernadotte's corps in 1304 having driven Haugwitz from power, Count de Hardenberg was appointed to his office in August of that year. The French troops having violated the Anspach territory, Count de Hardenberg (October 14, 1805) addressed a letter of remonstrance to Marshal Duroc, bitterly complaining of this breach of the right of nations. The firmness of the minister irritated Napoleon, who retorted by invectives published in the Moniteur: Almost imme diately after a convention was signed at Potsdam, between Prussia and Russia, on the 3rd of November 1805, and Frederick William Iii. was preparing for war, when the decisive battle of Austerlitz (December 2, 1805) compelled him to desist. The genius of Napoleon was now in the ascendant, and Prussia was forced to conclude a new treaty at Vienna on the 15th of December, by which a part of her territory was ceded to the French empire, and Northern Germany was bound to observe a neutral policy. This change of affairs deprived the count of his office, and his rival, M. de Haugwitz, was reinstated. During the seven years which followed, the progress of the war and the personal enmity of Napoleon kept him almost entirely in the back ground ; although, in 1807, he consented to resume office for a short time, in compliance with the recommendation of the Emperor Alex ander. Whilst his adopted country was overrnn by the armies of Napoleon, this great statesman was forced to seek an asylum in Russia, after which he returned to Berlin, and took up his abode at Tempelhof, in the vicinity of that city.