The European Pentarchy and the Congress of Verona, 1822
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 subj
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THE SPANISH QUESTION Congresses had hitherto been a meeting of almost supernatural beings, whose secret and solemn decisions carried with them a sense of awe and mystery. It was at Verona that the 'archangels' were 'damaged.' Temperley.l
1. The Montmorency Memoire At the opening of the Congress, a spirit of self-confidence and optimism animated Wellington, for he thought Metternich agreed completely with the cardinal points of Britain's policy toward Spain: the observance of strict neutrality and the maintenance of diplomatic relations. The duke's health improved and likewise his humor, as a host of adoring young ladies immediately surrounded him. To his Grace, "the political sky seemed bright and the war clouds rolled away." 2 He assured Canning that "all notion of what is called a European army, or any offensive operation against Spain, is at an end." a His optimism soon was shattered, however, as much by the clash of personalities as by conflict of policy. Metternich, he learned, had deliberately deceived him in order to retain his support in restraining the tsar. On October 15, the day of Wellington's arrival in Verona, the chancellor had secretly proposed to Nesselrode and Bernstorff that the three eastern courts should take the initiative in a demarche to destroy the Spanish constitutional regime through moral action. Toward this end the two constitutional powers, Britain and France, should be persuaded to join them in breaking diplomatic relations with Madrid. A French invasion of Spain would be so dangerous to France herself, he argued, that such a course should be discouraged. Only in the event of a Spanish attack on France, should the Alliance even consider the question of material action. Metternich, in short, maintained that if Europe presented a united front to Spain, her revolutionaries would be cowed and the problem solved. To have a Temperley, Canning, p. 74. Green, "Wellington," TRHS, 4th ser., I (1918), 65; cf. Kaufmann, Brit. Pol. and Lat. Amer., p. 141; Schroeder, Metternich's Diplomacy, pp. 211-212. 3 Wellington to Canning, Verona, Oct. 18, 1822, Well. Desp. I, 384. 1
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I. C. Nichols Jr., The European Pentarchy and the Congress of Verona, 1822 © Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands 1971
THE SPANISH QUESTION
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proper setting for this purpose, the stage had been carefully arranged at Verona. Clearly the chancellor hoped that moral action in the Iberian Peninsula would appease the tsar.4 On Sunday night, October 20, Nesselrode, Bernstodf, Montmorency and Wellington met at Metternich's apartment in the Cappellari Palace for the first working session of the Congress. Metternich, who was President of the Congress, served as chairman of this and subsequent formal conferences, and Gentz, as secretary. The purpose of this meeting was to hear two papers which concerned the affairs of Spain. The first was the long awaited memoire on Franco-Spanish relations, which the chancellor .had asked the French foreign minister to prepare on September 11, and the second was an appeal from the Urgel Regen
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