Concert of Europe

[Prince Cobra]

Gentlemen,

I see the whole quarrel for Luxemburg as a big misunderstanding. I see the new Prussian Prime minister believes the French must be blamed for the unrest in Rheinland. Few would agree with such a conclusion. We should not blame the Prime minister of Prussia but look somewhere else. And the reports of the Austrian secret police lead to one conclusion. There are few but well organized groups of terrorists and anarchists and people who try to spread discontent between the European Great powers. These people, though atheists themselves, stay behind the rebellion in Rheinland and in Brussels as well as behind the unrest in the Southern German states. Now these people have taken control in Frankfurt, Brussels and Rheinland manipulating the mobs. Their purpose: to destroy the old order and the monarchies, to sink Europe into blood and destruction so that the radical elements can take over. These have misled the new Prussian minister and are secretly triumphing. But I hope the European monarchs will not allow them triumph.

First, we should continue our efforts in Brussels and Luxemburg. I need to explain to the Prussian King that the crushing of the uprising was done by request of the Duke of Luxemburg, who is also a King of the Dutch, (with the consent of Austria and Prussia). I would say this represents the solidarity principle and that is: the monarchs should help each other against the revolutionary threat. Such things have been done before and they are done now, naturally. I really doubt France would try to keep the occupied lands for herself. And Prussia should not feel threatened. Of course, the rebellious elements I mentioned above try to encourage such rumours and with the power of their speeches they lure the innocent and naïve souls to a mortal sin: the rebellion against their master.

In order to sum up these thoughts, the evil is neither in France, nor in Prussia or anywhere else but rather in those dark powers who control (by skillfully manipulating the mobs) in Belgium, Rheinland, Hessen and Frankfurt right now. The Confederation exists, only the members of the Parliament have wisely ran from the chaos in Frankfurt and are somewhere in Southern Germany. In my home town, the beautiful city of Koblenz, in Rheinland, I saw what these terrorist encourage people to do thirty years ago. Hours, no – days and even weeks of plundering, rape and disorder. The envy and greed ruled and ruin only stayed. Now I hear the same is heard about Frankfurt and other areas controlled by the rebels in Rheinland and Brussels. The King of Prussia should not withdraw his trust from his representatives in the Confederation: the German Confederation is still the only legal base for the German lands. On a different matter, the current assembly in Frankfurt is made of illiterate mob and skilful manipulators, not even from whole of the Confederation but from the most radical elements in Rheinland and the rebels from Baden and Hessen. We have to move quickly and punish those, who deserve. We should give an example to the rebels that we determine the fate of Europe, not those anarchists and revolutionists and that our states lie not on a sand basis that can be destroyed by the blow of the slightest breeze but on a massive rock. I believe the big five: France, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia and Austria as well as the other smaller states should stop quarrelling and resist.

Klemens von Metternich, Chancellor of Austria