which kings and their ministers take part.) The Austrians were afraid
of the Russian-Prussian combination, and they induced England to side
with them. England did not love Austria, but feared the other two
powers. The English minister, Lord Castlereagh, finally persuaded the
Austrians, Prussians, and Russians, to allow the French diplomat,
Talleyrand, to take part in their final meetings. Now Talleyrand was
probably the most slippery and tricky diplomat of all Europe. He had
grown to power during the troublous days of the latter part of the
French Revolution, and had guessed which party would remain in power
so skillfully that he always appeared as the strong friend of the
winning side. Although he had served Napoleon during the first years
of the empire, he was shrewd enough to remain true to King Louis XVIII
during the latter's second exile. The Prussian-Russian combination was
finally obliged to give in, somewhat, to the demands of Austria,
England, and France. Compare this map with the one given in the
preceding chapter, and you will see most of the important changes.

Prussia, which had been cut down to about half its former size by
Napoleon, got back some of its Polish territory, and was given a great
deal of land in western Germany along the River Rhine. Part of the
kingdom of Saxony was forcibly annexed to Prussia also. It is needless
to say that its inhabitants were bitterly unhappy over this
arrangement. Austria kept part of her Polish territory, and gave the
rest of it to Russia.

The southern part of the Netherlands, which is today called Belgium,
had belonged to the Hapsburg family, the emperors of Austria. As was
previously said, it was conquered by the French and remained part of
France until the fall of Napoleon. It was now joined with Holland to
make the kingdom of the Netherlands. Its people were Walloons and
Flemish, almost entirely Catholic in their religion, and they very
much disliked to be joined with the Protestant Dutch of Holland.

[Map: Europe in 1815]

The state of Finland, which had not been strong enough to defend
itself against its two powerful neighbors, Sweden and Russia, had been
fought over by these two powers for more than a century. It was
finally transferred to Russia, and in order to appease Sweden, Norway,
which had been ruled by the Danes, was torn away from Denmark and made
part of the kingdom of Sweden. The Norwegians desired to remain an
independent country, and they loved