At Vienna, a coldness took place for the second time between Alexander and his confidential _employé_, occasioned by the difference of their opinions on the question of Poland. The Czar had taken it into his head that Poland must be formed into a vast kingdom, separated by its constitution from Russia, and even comprehending its ancient provinces within its boundaries, and Pozzo di Borgo was strongly opposed to the whole scheme: he foretold the consequences of such a proceeding in an exceedingly well-written memorial, full of sound judgment, and evincing a deep and extensive consideration of the subject. "The creation of such a kingdom," said he, "would only be encouraging the spirit of rebellion, and this would eventually involve the nobility and people of Poland in a deeper slavery; for if an insurrection were to take place, it would be necessary to repress it with severity."[22] Alas, he spoke but too truly! What has been the ruin of Poland, and caused the dispersion of her generous nobility? Was it not the insane project of an impossible revolution? The Emperor Alexander withdrew for a short time his confidence from General Pozzo, to place it in Count Capo d'Istria, a man of rather a dreamy and visionary cast of mind, and whose opinion exactly coincided with his own, concerning the emancipation of Greece and Poland, under the _suzeraineté_ of the Czar.
[22] This memorial was found again some years afterwards at Warsaw. The Emperor Nicholas wrote to Pozzo di Borgo in 1830, "How rightly you foresaw what would happen! You would have saved us much difficulty and embarrassment."
But all these occurrences were suddenly interrupted by the landing of Napoleon in the gulf of Juan. It was like the fall of a thunderbolt. Pozzo di Borgo, however, received the intelligence without any appearance of surprise; and when the _corps diplomatique_ sought to remove the fears that had been excited as to the probability of war, he replied, "I well know Buonaparte; since he has landed, he will proceed to Paris, and if so, there must be no delay, no attempt at pacific measures; Europe should march at once against the common enemy." The Emperor Alexander sent for Pozzo di Borgo, to whom he restored his perfect confidence, and then despatched him to Ghent to Louis XVIII., charged with a military mission to the Anglo-Prussian army of the Low Countries. A general cry for war now arose at Vienna, and the allied powers made preparations for a fresh campaign, in spite of all the endeavours of Napoleon to separate Austria and Russia from the coalition. With this view, it is well known that he transmitted to Alexander a copy of the secret treaty concluded in March 1814, between England, France, and Austria, against Russia, relative to the Polish question; and from this point dates the extreme antipathy of Alexander for Talleyrand--an antipathy which more than once stood in the way of diplomatic transactions after the second invasion of France.