1830

Bismarck attended Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster (the Grey Cloister Gymnasium).

Charles X declared war on the Dey of Algiers (the governor of the Sultan) for trivial reasons. It allowed him to limit votes in the Chamber of Deputies, curtail the press etc.

Metternich very worried, wrote to his envoy in Paris: 'Everything in France is at stake — everything is in a state of acute crisis. I have long had a presentiment of the existence of danger and seen it gradually increasing; for a long time, too, I have thought it my duty to call the serious attention of the principal Courts to this subject.'

Metternich left Vienna on his usual summer holiday, via Prague to Teplitz where he talked to the Prussian king. He arrived at his summer residence on 29/7, three days after chaos broke out in Paris.

Parisians woke to the news that Charles X had muzzled the press, dissolved the new parliament before it met, altered electoral law. Sparked riots in Paris, barricades up, loyal troops fragmented: the July Days. Charles X overthrown, Louis Philippe took over. (He survived many assassination attempts in coming years.) About 800 civilians and 200 soldiers dead, thousands of barricades across Paris. Clark: the liberal press credited mobilised workers for success. News spread rapidly across Europe, a foreshadow of 1848. Weeks later revolution created a new independent Belgian state. In the new constitution the franchise only rose from 0.3% to 0.5% entitled to vote, from 140k to 240k of 26m. Privileged position of Catholic Church was downgraded mildly.

Palmerston was happy and saw it is as a wonderful effect of the free press, the cause of liberty etc — and hoped to see similar uprisings elsewhere.

Metternich was alarmed at 'the collapse of the dam in Europe'.

Metternich left his holiday early for Vienna via Carlsbad. By chance Nesselrode, Russian Foreign Minister, was taking the waters at Carlsbad. They talked. Metternich wanted to bring the Powers together. This meant improving relations with Russia after the disputes over Greece. Deal with Nesselrode: no interference in France's internal disputes but permit no violation of the peace of Europe or attacks on other states. (Field Marshal Wrede wanted to march straight to Paris. Metternich advised against.)

Unknown at the time (Siemann claims to reveal it in his biography): Metternich had blackmail material on Louis Philippe. LP had written a letter in 1805 in which he volunteered to General Mack (as in 'we've been Macked', Bilibin's joke in War and Peace) to join his army and the Third Coalition. Metternich had kept the letter and filed it as 'Acta Secreta' in a special file in the Austrian archives outside the usual diplomatic archive. He gave a copy of it to Count Apponyi, the Austrian ambassador to Paris, with a coded letter beginning, 'You will find enclosed an extremely interesting piece of writing, simply reading it will prove to you that it contains an enormous means for compromising Louis Philippe [un moyen de compromission immense]'; use it to blackmail LP if he shows any intention of planning to attack us militarily, tell him we'll publish it and other items. Metternich had similar material on others including the King of Bavaria (material on the famous courtesan Lola Montez). At the end of August, LP sent an envoy to Vienna who assured Metternich and the Emperor he would not disrupt peace in Europe. Europe accepted the change. In the 17 years of the July Monarchy there were 17 ministries. It sparked a revolt in Belgium (September). The Powers discussed intervention but agreed a new deal without war (London, November). Metternich worried that if Austria sent forces to Belgium it would leave her exposed in Italy and Germany where he feared further trouble. There was trouble across Germany in Aachen, Leipzig, Dresden, Brunswick, Kassel, Hanover.

Metternich-Nesselrode: 'The thought I secretly cherish is that ancient Europe is at the beginning of the end. My determination being to perish with it, I shall know how to do my duty, nor is this my motto only — it is that of the Emperor too. New Europe, on the other hand, has not as yet even begun its existence, and between the end and the beginning there will be a chaos.' (Evans dates this 1829 but I'm assuming Metternich's biographer is more likely to be right with this date.) November An uprising in Warsaw. Continued until put down by Russia in late 1831. November Lord Grey formed a government. In 1830 there were numerous demonstrations some with radical politicians speaking, people wearing tricolour ribbons, farm labourers smashing machinery, artisans campaigning against wage reductions, people shouting slogans against the creation of the new Metropolitan Police. 'The country was in a state of insanity about Reform' said Wellington. Palmerston was made Foreign Secretary. Staff in FO: ~30! Palmerston said he would try to fight the culture of promotion by seniority: 'it may sometimes be much for the public interest that an able man should be promoted over his seniors'.