Wellington and the French Restoration

Abstract

first third of the nineteenth century was one of the most cosmopolitan periods in the history of Europe. Napoleon's empire included Belgium, Holland, north-west Italy, and parts of Germany, as well as France; in addition, he was king of Italy, protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and mediator of the Helvetic Confederation. His enemies were equally indifferent to frontiers and nationality: among the most devoted servants of Tsar Alexander I of Russia were two politicians whom Wellington would come to know extremely well, the Corsican Pozzo di Borgo and the French due de Richelieu. Richelieu was one of the French emigres who since 1789 had settled throughout Europe. The Wellesley family had known many such in London, including the great favourites of Louis XVI and MarieAntoinette, the Polignacs. A Polignac had married the due de Gramont (then due de Guiche), one of the most faithful courtiers of the exiled Bourbon pretender, Louis XVIII. Gramont was also head of the most important noble family of Bearn, the French province invaded by Wellington in late 1813. It was to Gramont's son, who was serving as an officer in the British army, that Wellington wrote, on 20 December 1 8 1 3 from his headquarters in SaintJean-de-Luz, that it was 'desirable5 that he should tell the Bourbon princes in England that they were needed in south-west France.1