GENERAL HISTORY. 



[105 



solemn entry into Vienna on the 

 25th of September, having been 

 met at some distance by the Em- 

 peror of Austria, accompanied by 

 all the Archdukes, and followed 

 by his Generals and Courtiers in 

 all the pomp of military and courtly 

 parade. The preparations made 

 for the accommodation and enter- 

 tainment of the Sovereigns, were 

 in the highest style of costly gran- 

 deur. When business came to be 

 discussed among the ministers of 

 the several powers, it was found 

 that so much previous labour was 

 requisite to bring the questions for 

 determination to a due state of ma- 

 turity, that a declaration was issued 

 for adjourning the formal opening 

 of the Congress to November 1st. 

 After this period had arrived, every 

 political pen in Germany seems to 

 have been employed in conjectures 

 and pretended discoveries relative 

 to the great affairs under conside- 

 ration, and the intentions of the 

 leading potentates, and nothing 

 could be more fluctuating and con- 

 tradictory than the intelligence 

 communicated under the article 

 Vienna, in the public papers. — 

 The particulars under discussion 

 by the Congress were of course 

 kept secret ; but it was well known 

 that the future condition of Saxony 

 and Poland occupied a large share 

 of its attention. The fate of Saxony, 

 indeed, appears to have been fully 

 settled by two of the powers, 

 Russia and Prussia, before the Con- 

 gress commenced its sittings. Prince 

 Repnin, the Russian Governor of 

 Dresden, sent, on November 3, a 

 notification to the Saxon authori- 

 ties, acquainting them, that by a 

 letter from the minister of state. 

 Baron dc Stein, he had been in- 

 formed of a convention concluded 



at Vienna, on Sept. 28, in virtue 

 of which the Emperor of Russia, 

 in concert with Austria and Eng- 

 land, was to put into the hands of 

 the King of Prussia the administra- 

 tion of the kingdom of Saxony ; 

 and that he had in consequence 

 received orders to consign the go- 

 vernment of that country to per- 

 sons provided with proper powers 

 by his Prussian Majesty, " in or- 

 der thus to operate the union of 

 Saxony with Prussia, which will 

 soon take place in a manner more 

 solemn and formal." The Prince 

 proceeds to say, that King Frede- 

 ric William, in quality of future 

 Sovereign of the country, has de- 

 clared, that it is not his intention to 

 incorporate Saxony to his estates as 

 a province, but to unite it to Prus- 

 sia under the title of the Kingdom 

 of Saxony, to give it the advan- 

 tages which the constitution of Ger- 

 many shall secure to those king- 

 doms which make a part of ihe 

 Prussian monarchy, and to change 

 nothing in its present constitution ; 

 and further, that the Emperor 

 Alexander has testified the private 

 satisfaction which that declaration 

 has caused him. Prince Repnin 

 announced the same determination 

 in the farewell speech which he 

 delivered at Dresden on Nov. 8, 

 when he formally resigned his au- 

 thority to the Prussian civil and 

 military governors, at which time 

 the Russian troo|)s had orders to 

 evacuate Saxony, and give place to 

 the Prussian. We since know, 

 however, that although the Courts 

 of Austria and Great Britain 

 agreed to the provisional occupa- 

 tion of that country by Prussia, 

 they considered its final possession 

 as still a subject of discussion in the 

 Congress, and that the question re- 



