VIENNA, CoxenEss OF. A convention of the representatives of the European nations held after the first Treaty of I':n•is (1810, for the general settlement of the affairs of Europe. The congress first met on September 30, 1814. 'Rus sia was represented by \cssr1t•odo; Prussia by Ilardenberg: England by Lord Castlereagh, and afterwards V the Duke of %Vellington; Austria by Al et ternich ; by Talleyrand. All EuriqW, with the exception of Turkey, was repre sented, the total number of those who assisted at the congress being about 500. Chief among the crowned heads present were Alexander I. of Russia, the Emperor Francis of Austria, and Frederick William III. of Prussia. An ex traordinary round of festivities and entertain ments was provided. The representatives of the minor States, who had expected a species of European Parliament, to which all would be ad nutted, were sadly disappointed by the prelimi nary resolution of the great Powers to constitute two committees, one to deliberate on the affairs of Germany, the other, composed of the represen tatives of Austria. Prussia. Russia. and Great Britain. to discuss the affairs of Europe gen erally and decide respecting new territorial boundaries. To this latter council, Talleyrand, by the influence of Castlereagh, who early saw the necessity of a counterpoise to the influence of Russia and her follower, Prussia, in the con ferences, was admitted (October 5th) ; and three days after, it was increased by the representa tives of Spain, Sweden. and Portugal. The mas ter diplomacy of Talleyrand appeared in making France the champion of the minor Powers and thereby gaining their support, in utilizing the differences of the great Powers to divide them, and above all in appealing to the principle of legitimacy in order to preserve the integrity of France. The points which were at once and unanimously settled were: the constitution of Belgium and Holland into one kingdom (the Kingdom of the Netherlands) ; the union of Nor way with Sweden; and the restoration of Ilan over to the King of Great Britain. of Lombardy to Austria, and of Savoy to Piedmont. But the question as to the disposal of Poland, Sax ony, and Genoa was not so easily settled. Rus sia and Prussia were bent on aggrandizement of the most extravagant sort, the former insisting on obtaining the whole of the Duchy of Warsaw (see Poww). while nothing less than the whole of Saxony (whose King had fought on the side of Napoleon). besides new territories in Western Germany, would satisfy the latter. 13oth signif icantly hinted at the proximity of their armies, with the view of awing the other Powers into compliance. But Castlereagh steadily refused to yield to such pretensions and joined with Met ternieh and Talleyrand in a secret treaty, offen sive and defensive, February 3, 1815, which was acceded to by Hanover. Sardinia, Holland. and Bavaria. The news of this agreement soon leaked out, and produced a considerable modifi cation in the pretension of the northern Powers. At last it was agreed that Prussia, as far as her position in Germany was'concerned, in addition to living reinstated in the possession of most of the territories given up by her in the course of the French wars, should obtain half of Saxony (now Prussian Saxons•), Berg the great er part of the left bank of the Rhine as far as the Saar, and Swedish Pomerania, and that she should cede East Friesland and Iliblesheim to Hanover in exchange for Lauenburg, Anspach and Bayreuth to Bavaria, and Lauenburg to Denmark (in exchange for Swedish Pomerania, made over to Denmark as a eompensal ion for the loss of Norway). Of the Polish territories which
Napoleon had taken from Prussia. and which had constituted the main portion of the Duchy of Warsaw, only the western part (Posen) was re• stored to her. The bulk of the Duchy of Warsaw was now constituted a new Kingdom of Poland, which was placed under the rule of the Rus sian dynasty. A tiny fragment of Poland was called into independent existence as the Republic of Cracow•. Russia was recognized in the posses sion of Finland. Austria was reinstated in the possession of the territories relinquished by her in the course of the French wars. with the excel). tion of Belgium. the Breisgan, and other districts in South Germany. and part of her Polish terri tories. The bulk of the dominions of the Vene tian Republic was restored to her. The bound• :tries of France were fixed approximately as Ihey had been at the outbreak of the Revolution. Maria Louisa, the wife of Napnlenn, obtahwd Parma. Naples was restored to its Bourbon King, and 'I'useany to its former ruler. a brother of the Austrian Emperor. The 11 on se of Savoy Was reinstated in its continual dominions and invested with the territories of the former Re public of Genoa. The Pope was restored to his former position as a temporal sovereign, but Avignon and Venaissin remained in possession of France. The Swiss Confederation was recon stituted. England was allowed to retain Cape Colony, Ceylon, part of the Dutch possessions in Guiana, Mauritius, Tobago, Saint Lucia. Malta, and Helgoland. The news of Napoleon's return from Elba somewhat hurried the eonelusion of these multifarious arrangements, yet the nego tiations were not interrupted. The reorganiza tion of Germany was filially effected by the act of June 8, 1815, which constituted a Germanic Confederation consisting of 39 members. The Diet of the Confederation was granted limited powers and the only general provision of importance was the requirement that representative institutions be erected in all the States belonging to the Confederation. Such a league utterly failed to satisfy the aspiration for national unity which the Napoleonic wars had fostered in Germany; yet it remained in existence till 1813(3. The ques tions of mutual indemnities, rectifications of frontier, etc.. were subsequently settled (1819) at Frankfort, by a territorial commission composed of representatives of the great Powers. The questions of the slave trade and of the free navigation of the Rhine and its tribu taries were brought up by England. and also satisfactorily settled. A formal treaty em bodying the results of the labors of the con gress was drawn up and signed June 9, 1815. It was the intention of the statesmen who dominated the congress to establish the balance of power in Europe among the great Powers so nicely as to prevent wars and Napoleonism in the future. The international statesmanship of Europe for the next forty years was directed to a mainten ance of the status established by the congress. Consult: Wheaton, History of the Law of .Va lions (New York, 1845) ; Hertslet, The Map of Europe by Treaty (London, 1875-91) ; Metter nich, Memoirs (Eng. trans., 1880) ; rand. Memoirs (Eng. trans., ib., 1891), less in forming than was expected before publication; Seeley, Life and Times of Stein (Cambridge, 1878) ; also an admirable account by Sorel, in Lavisse and Rainbow]. Histoire generale, vol. x. (Paris, 1898), with good bibliography: De bidour, Histoire diplomatigue de l'Europe (Paris, 1591).