Metternich, Clemens

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

met'er-nik, Clemens (1773-1859), an Austrian statesman and diplomatist. He was born at Coblenz, Prussia, and died at Vienna. He was educated at Strasburg. He was the representative of Austria and the master spirit in the congress that rearranged the map of Europe at the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars in 1814-15. It is a matter of history that the terms of the congress were dictated by Metternich, Talleyrand of France, and Alexander of Russia. The congress merely ratified the decisions of these weighty men. Metternich was the foremost exponent of the Austrian idea of absolute government. His leading doctrine was: "Sovereigns alone are entitled to guide the destinies of their people, and they are responsible to none but God. . . Government is no more a subject for debate than religion is." He taught his emperor to express the same thought in another way: "I do not need wise men, but brave and obedient subjects." The patriots of Europe, who longed for a republican, or, at least, a constitutional, form of government, regarded Metternich as the evil spirit of the age--the master of Europe. They said that his rule was worse than that of Napoleon. He formed an alliance between the sovereigns of Austria, Russia, and Prussia. They agreed to assist each other in putting down revolution against any existing government. He controlled Germany clear to the Baltic Sea through the German Confederation. Greece secured her independence from Turkey, greatly to the chagrin of Metternich. London and Paris, centers of liberal ideas, he called the two madhouses of Europe. The feeling against him as an upholder of absolute power became so bitter, even in Austria, that in 1848, the year of European revolutions, the emperor felt obliged to call for his resignation. He was a man of undoubted ability, ranking in that respect with Bismarck and other great statesmen of modern times. Unfortunately for his memory, his name is linked indissolubly with absolute government. If he could have had his way he would have established a czar in every country of Christendom. Metternich's views appear in the following extract from his political Confession of Faith: Kings have to calculate the chances of their very existence in the immediate future; passions are let loose and league together to overthrow . . . religion, public morality, laws, customs, rights, and duties. . . . Union between the monarchs is the basis of the policy which must now be followed to save society from utter ruin. . . . We are certainly not alone in questioning if society can exist with the liberty of the press, a scourge unknown to the world before the latter half of the seventeenth century, and restrained until the end of the eighteenth, with scarcely any exception but England. . . . The first principle to be followed by monarchs . . . should be that of maintaining the stability of political institutions against the disorganized excitement which has taken possession of men's minds; . . . and respect for laws actually in force against a desire for their destruction. ... The first need of society is to be maintained by strong authority, and not to govern itself. . . . The first and greatest concern for the immense majority of every nation is the stability of its laws, . . . never their change. See Talleyrand ; Bismarck ; Machiavelli