Metternich, bringing up the rear, watched his two colleagues and sighed. Although they were full of confidence, he knew the old emperor well enough to suspect that this attempt would probably fail too.
But as an idealist, he was unwilling to give up, however slim the chances.
Metternich had always liked being called the "Chancellor of Europe." It was only after becoming chancellor of the Austrian Empire that he discovered how much harder it was to steer the course of events than he had imagined.
In the past, as a diplomat, no matter how many people ganged up on him or slandered him, he could always defuse their attacks with a few deft words.
But as the empire's chancellor, without money he couldn't even hire a clerk. His decrees couldn't get beyond Vienna, let alone bring about reform.
The relationships within Austria were more complicated than the situation in Europe. Joining the German Customs Union would clearly bring the Austrian Empire every benefit and no harm.
Yet it had met with fierce opposition, far more intense than he had expected.
Abolishing tariffs would cut into some people's incomes. German goods entering Austria would eat into others' profits. Even an increase in Austria's German population could threaten the position of certain people.
And Emperor Francis II was a pushover who was also afraid of taking responsibility. So the likeliest outcome was that he would do nothing at all and maintain the status quo.
Metternich knew very well that if Austria wanted to retain its position as chair of the German Federation, it had to either join the German Customs Union or stop it from being founded.
He had tried the latter, but failed.
Led by Prussia, six North German states had formed a customs union in 1826, abolishing tariffs between its member states.
The following year, the two major southern German states, Bavaria and Württemberg, formed the South German Customs Union. Other southern German states later joined them, hoping to counter the customs union organized by Prussia.
In 1828, Hanover, Saxony, and the states of Thuringia joined with the cities of the Hanseatic League to form the Central German Customs Union, an alliance against Prussia.
But who would turn their back on money? These organizations, founded to counter Prussia, all crumbled—and in the end, they became the cornerstones of the German Customs Union.
The founding of the German Customs Union was good news for Prussia, but it was just as good for Austria.
Austria's goods could not compete with those of Britain and France, or even Belgium. But when it came to Prussia, Austria had every confidence.
Control of the German Customs Union would not only ease Austria's dire economic straits, but also strengthen its grip on the German Federation and, in turn, restore its great-power status.
With money, Metternich could carry out reforms and realize his ambitions.
Meanwhile, Prince Windisch-Graetz and a host of other powerful nobles had arrived at the palace gates. They had come for one reason only: to stop Austria from joining the German Customs Union. Bohemia bordered southern Germany and Saxony, and abolishing tariffs would slash the income of the local nobles and officials.
Prince Esterhazy had even rushed all the way from Hungary overnight. Money wasn't the reason for his visit. As he saw it, trade with Prussia would make it easier to buy Prussian luxuries—amber, agate, and pearls—for less.
But if Austria forged closer ties with Germany, the German population in Austria would grow, potentially undermining the power of the Hungarian nobility within the empire. That was something he and his fellow nobles could never tolerate.
Bolster, a banker and in fact a representative of the Rothschild family, opposed the move because Salomon Rothschild wanted to retain his monopoly over the Austrian Empire's banking business forever.
Within the Austrian Empire, several prominent banking families had already fallen into decline, or else were virtually comatose because they had waited so long for the empire to repay its debts.
If the restrictions were lifted, banks from North Germany would enter the Austrian Empire and threaten the family's interests.
Inside the Hall of Mirrors in Vienna, the two sides once again broke into a heated argument.
Among the supporters of joining the German Customs Union, Metternich, Kolowrat, and Bruck were all experts in their respective fields.
That meant the debate had been a foregone conclusion from the very beginning.
Or so it should have been.
But could the side with the facts and sound arguments really win?
Laying out facts and reasoning things through were clearly not the forte of these noble lords. Muddying the waters and playing court politics were their specialties.
The advisers they had hired at great expense were no fools, either.
The great nobles seized on the fact that Metternich had once tried to establish a German Customs Union under Austrian leadership, only for the effort to end in acrimony.
"Your Highness, have you forgotten? Do you remember how things ended with Saxony, or how Bavaria betrayed us?"
"Exactly, exactly! Baden and Württemberg even fell out with us because of it. Have you forgotten all that?" another great noble chimed in.
Metternich now recalled how those powerful nobles had acted so cleverly that they had caused the alliance to fall apart.
Saxony's industrial goods competed with Austria's, while Prussian crops could enter Hungary through Saxony, threatening their interests.
To stop the Austrian Empire from trading with Saxony, the opponents had even bribed officials to prevent the Saxon delegation from entering the country. In the end, the delegation had to enter Austria through Bavaria.
At the meeting, the great nobles had proposed harsh conditions, even demanding that the Saxon government limit the quantity and variety of goods it exported to Austria. The Saxon ambassador had stormed out in fury.
Afterward, they had even bribed close aides to the king of Saxony and spread false rumors that "Austria intended to make Saxony its vassal."
At the time, Saxony's King Anthony I still fancied himself the ruler of "the strongest state in North Germany." He dreamed of annexing Prussia one day, then standing as Austria's equal. How could he accept the humiliation of becoming Austria's vassal?
And so the commercial alliance between Austria and Saxony had fallen apart.
The Three Southern German States were closer to Austria in culture and religion, and they were steeped in liberalism and keenly interested in anything that could make money. Many Pan-Germans among them even considered themselves subjects of the Holy Roman Empire.
The churches of the Three Southern German States also hoped to draw closer to Austria and resist the influence of North German Protestants. The Austrian Church, too, hoped to use the alliance to strengthen Catholic influence and counter the growing Protestant forces within the country.
Thanks to Metternich's deft blending of interests, the churches, the people, and the bureaucrats were more united in their views than ever. The tide was already turning—but the great nobles were unwilling to accept it.
The great nobles first tried their old trick, intending to make trouble for the delegation. But Metternich had learned his lesson this time. He chose a general who was both a nobleman and an outcast among the nobility: Julius Haynau. He would receive the delegation.
Haynau was the illegitimate son of the Elector of Hesse and had no right to inherit. He should never have been a nobleman at all. But during the Napoleonic Wars, he had come to Austria alone and distinguished himself on the battlefield, earning a title from the Austrian Empire.
The proper great nobles scorned this upstart bastard. Haynau, in turn, looked down on those "so-called nobles" who basked in their ancestors' glory and wet themselves at the first sign of battle.
Haynau had another identity that made the great nobles despise him even more. He was Jewish. His mother was the daughter of a Jewish merchant. She had first married a blacksmith, then, unwilling to settle for a quiet life, became the lover of the Grand Duke of Hesse and secretly gave birth to Haynau.
The great nobles could not accept a man like Haynau, and his fearsome reputation made anyone who tried to cause trouble back down.
But this time, the great nobles had gone too far. Their actions could no longer be called a betrayal of their country; they were outright treason. This time, they had gone straight to the French.
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