Governments of the second rank will see in such a union a sheet anchor for their own salvation and will hasten to associate themselves as well. The people will regain confidence and take heart, and the establishment of the deepest and most beneficial peace known throughout all history will become effective, for this peace, which in the first instance will affect all those States which are still upstanding, will also exert decisive influence over the outcome in those States threatened with imminent subversion and may even be instrumental in setting back on their feet those which have already passed beneath the scourge of revolution.
Any great State which is determined to survive the current turbulence still has an excellent chance of salvation.
A strong union between States according to the principles which we have just laid out will render turbulence itself in vain.
Original French text reprinted in Clemens Wentzel Lothar von Metternich, Aus Metternich's nachgelassenen Papieren [From Metternich’s Private Papers], ed. Richard von Metternich-Winneburg. Vienna: Wilhelm Braumüller, 1880-84, vol. 3, pp. 410-20.
Translation: Mary Lesley Lawson
Original French text begins on next page.
print version
return to list
previous document