The Congress of Verona met at

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

on 20 October 1822 as part of the series of international conferences or congresses that opened with the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...

in 1814–15, which had instituted the Concert of Europe at the close of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

.Irby C. Nichols Jr, "The Congress of Verona, 1822: A Reappraisal." ''Southwestern Social Science Quarterly'' (1966): 385-39
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Representation

The

Quintuple Alliance The Quintuple Alliance came into being at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818, when France joined the Quadruple Alliance created by Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain. The European peace settlement concluded at the Congress of Vien ...

was represented by the following persons: * : Emperor

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome * Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of A ...

and Count Karl Robert Nesselrode (minister of foreign affairs). Count George Mocenigo (Ambassador of Russia in Torino) was also present; * : Prince Metternich; * : Prince Hardenberg and Count Christian Gunther von Bernstorff; * : The duc de Montmorency-Laval (minister of Foreign Affairs) and

François-René de Chateaubriand François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who had a notable influence on French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocrati ...

; * : The

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister ...

, who was taking the place of

Viscount Castlereagh A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judici ...

after the latter's suicide on the eve of the congress.

Issues

While the representatives of Great Britain and the European powers had at first, during the Congress of Vienna, acted largely in concert, the extent to which the concord epitomized in the expression the " Concert of Europe" had unraveled in seven years became apparent in the way in which the three main questions before this Congress were handled. The instructions drawn up by Londonderry, as he then was, for his own guidance, had been handed to Wellington by

George Canning George Canning (11 April 17708 August 1827) was a British Tory statesman. He held various senior cabinet positions under numerous prime ministers, including two important terms as Foreign Secretary, finally becoming Prime Minister of the Uni ...

without alteration. They defined the British position towards the three questions which it was supposed would be discussed: the Turkish Question (currently surfacing in the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

insurrection), the question of intervention in favor of the Bourbon royal power in Spain and the revolted Spanish colonies in America, and the Italian Question.

Italian Question

The matter of the Italian Question dealt with the continued Austrian rule in Northern Italy. Since Britain could not undertake to support a system in which she had merely acquiesced, Wellington did not even formally present his credentials until the other Powers had disposed of the matter, a British minister (Castlereagh's half-brother and successor in the Londonderry title) attending merely to keep informed and to see that nothing was done inconsistent with the European system and the treaties.

Greek Question

In the Greek Question, the probable raising of which had alone induced the British government to send a

minister plenipotentiary An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...

to the Congress, Wellington was instructed to suggest the eventual necessity for recognizing the belligerent rights of the Greeks, and, in the event of concerted intervention, to be careful not to commit Britain, beyond a supporting role. (See

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

.) As for Russia and Austria, the immediate problems arising out of the Greek Question had already been privately settled between the emperor Alexander and Metternich, to their mutual satisfaction, at the preliminary conferences held at Vienna in September.

Spanish Question

When the plenipotentiaries met in Verona, the only question raised was the Spanish Question, of the proposed French intervention in Spain, in which Wellington's instructions were to express London's uncompromising opposition to the whole principle of intervention. The discussion was opened by three questions formally propounded by Montmorency: # Would the Allies withdraw their ministers from Madrid in the event of France being compelled to do so? # In case of war, under what form and by what acts would the powers give France their moral support, so as to give to her action the force of the

, and inspire a salutary fear in the revolutionaries of all countries? # What material aid would the powers give if asked by France to intervene, under restrictions which France would declare and they would recognize? A series of gilt-copper medals apparently struck in England represent participants of the Congress in less than flattering lights: the "Count de Chateaubriand" (Ludwig Ernst Bramsen, ''Médallier'') bears an inscription that offers the British view of the French position in a nutshell: "The King of France, my master, demands the freedom of Ferdinand VII to give his people institutions which they cannot hold but from him", while the Emperor Francis I of Austria asserts "My troops occupy Naples to chastise the Neapolitans for daring to change their constitution." The reply of Alexander, who expressed his surprise at the desire of France to keep the intervention wholly French, was to offer to march 150,000 Russians through Germany to

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, where they could be held ready to act against any

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, whether in Spain or France. This solution appealed as little to Metternich and Montmorency as to Wellington; but though united in opposing it, four days of confidential communications revealed a fundamental difference of opinion. Wellington, firmly based on the principle of non-intervention, refused to have anything to do with the suggestion, made by Metternich, that the powers should address a common note to the Spanish government in support of the action of France. Finally, Metternich proposed that the Allies should hold a common language, but in separate notes, though uniform in their principles and objects. This solution was adopted by the continental powers; but Wellington, in accordance with his instructions not to countenance any intervention in Spanish affairs, took no part in the conferences that followed. On October 30 the powers handed in their formal replies to the French memorandum. Russia, Austria and Prussia would act as France should in respect of withdrawing their ministers, and would give to France every assistance she might require, the details to be specified in a treaty. Wellington, on the other hand, replied on behalf of Great Britain that having no knowledge of the cause of dispute, and not being able to form a judgment upon a hypothetical case, he could give no answer to any of the questions. Thus was proclaimed the open breach of Britain with the principles and policy of the

, as it had become with the admission of France in 1818, which development is what gives to the congress its main historical interest. The ensuing French intervention ended with the Battle of Trocadero, which reinstated

Ferdinand VII of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_p ...

and opened a reactionary period of Spanish and European politics that led to the Year of Revolutions, 1848.

References

External links

*

*Full text edition of the Post-Napoleonic congresses as held by the National Archives of Austria: as held by the National Archives of Austria: {{Greek War of Independence, state=collapsed Post-Napoleonic congresses Diplomacy during the Greek War of Independence 1822 in Europe Diplomatic conferences in Italy 19th-century diplomatic conferences 1822 in international relations 1822 conferences October 1822 events History of Verona National questions François-René de Chateaubriand Klemens von Metternich Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Alexander I of Russia