Stadion, minister of foreign affairs.  In Austria the aristocracy was more powerful and wealthy than the nobility of any other European State.  It was also the most exclusive.  No one could rise by any talents into their favored circle.  They were great feudal landlords; and their ranks were not recruited, as in England, by men of genius and wealth.  Hence, they were narrow, bigoted, and arrogant; but they had polished and gracious manners, and shone in the stiff though elegant society of Vienna,—­not brilliant as in Paris or London, but exceedingly attractive, and devoted to pleasure, to grand hunting-parties on princely estates, to operas and balls and theatres.  Probably Vienna society was dull, if it was elegant, from the etiquette and ceremonies which marked German courts; for what was called society was not that of distinguished men in letters and art, but almost exclusively that of nobles.  A learned professor or wealthy merchant could no more get access to it than he could climb to the moon.  But as Vienna was a Catholic city, great ecclesiastical dignitaries, not always of noble birth, were on an equality with counts and barons.  It was only in the Church that a man of plebeian origin could rise.  Indeed, there was no field for genius at all.  The musician Haydn was almost the only genius that Austria at that time possessed outside of diplomatic or military ranks.

Napoleon had now been crowned emperor, and his course had been from conquering to conquer.  The great battles of Austerlitz and Jena had been fought, which placed Austria and Prussia at the mercy of the conqueror.  It was necessary that some one should be sent to Paris capable of fathoming the schemes of the French emperor, and in 1806 Count Metternich was transferred from Berlin to the French capital.  No abler diplomatist could be found in Europe.  He was now thirty-three years of age, a nobleman of the highest rank, his father being a prince of the empire.  He had a large private fortune, besides his salary as ambassador.  His manners were perfect, and his accomplishments were great.  He could speak French as well as his native tongue.  His head was clear; his knowledge was accurate and varied.  Calm, cold, astute, adroit, with infinite tact, he was now brought face to face with Talleyrand, Napoleon’s minister of foreign affairs, his equal in astuteness and dissimulation, as well as in the charms of conversation and the graces of polished life.  With this statesman Metternich had the pleasantest relations, both social and diplomatic.  Yet there was a marked difference between them.  Talleyrand had accepted the ideas of the Revolution, but had no sympathy with its passions and excesses.  He was the friend of law and order, and in his heart favored constitutional government.  On this ground he supported Napoleon as the defender of civilization, but afterward deserted him when he perceived that the Emperor was resolved to rule without constitutional checks.  His nature was selfish, and he made no