Grand Forks herald., 1919-01-20
Contrasts Between
Gay Vienna And
Sober Paris

4 ehe Coit6i cSS VI vienna ana the con-
ference at Versailles are not more
striking than the sharp contracts Of
the social backgrounds Of these two
gatherings We see in Paris the rep
resentatives of the powers gathering
in the most modest and democratic
way, and it is to be assumed that
when the .preliminaries are over and
on, there will be no more pomp and
social gayety than there has BEEN
which is practically none.
Vienna a century ago was another
story: The congress dances" said
the Prince de Ligne, but accom-
plishes nothing, 1t danced fltrted,
hunted. sang and drank; and very
the better the real men OF the con-
/ gress liked it, for it gave opportuni-
MOST fully - - rs = -
Some pictures of the lighter side Of
the congress of Vienna are shown in
"A Peace Congress of Intrigue" a
recently published volume based on
the memoirs of participants in the
great gathering and compiled by
Bcrnstoroff, wife of the Danish am
bassador at Vienna at the time esti-
mated that the hospitality extended
by the Austrian emperor to his guests
cost the Hapsburg purse, always
slim. about s24o.000 day:
Coffee was cooked in nothing less
than enormous brewing kettles In
Vulnerable cooks were in action:
above all, the royal stable used up
enormous sums, as a carriage was
kept ready for use for every one of
the big and little lords. 1t is prob
able that hospitality has never been
practiced on a greater scale than that
at that time by the emperor Of Aus
tria. Every sovereign found himself
placed SO that he could not miss any
of the comforts Of his own court.
The congress is said to have
cost the court Of Vienna nearly 30,-
100000 gulden.'
: Emperors and kings approached
the Burg for the opening session on
horseback. On one side of the En-
peror. Francis was the Gear Alexan-
liam of Prussia. At the head Of the
military procession was the noble
guard of the Hungarians led by
; Prince Esterhazy, "attired in the uni
form Of a magnate. the value Of
; which was said to be several million
guldeh." He had pearl pendants on
his boots. The Countess Bernstorff
was blinded. almost dizzy" by the
dazzling procession in the ballroom.
At the masked ball were floats on
: which were posed twenty-four attrac-
tive Viennese women dressed in the
filmiest Yelling Admiral Sidney
Smith was part of the scenery. He
had so many medals that he could
J. not wear them all at once, so he
!. !put on different sashful every hour
until all the decorations had been ex-
t hibited
The Russian czar had quick
change contest with the beautiful
lCountess Flora Wrbna:
1.-THE czar and Flora arrived at
4 zichy's at the stroke of and showed
: themselves to the assembled guests in
ordinary attire. Then both were led
aside by witnesses who had been
D chosen with great solemnity. The
czar appeared in five minutes in full
: uniform. with silk hose, ETC., and
3 complete French court costume OF
1.-THE ancient regime, which appeared
most comical." sfS.&4p * 4
a So it went. q pageant for women,
e who made the most of the round of
parties; everybody in the spirit OF. the
! a few other serious. minded Euro
= peans who saw othef ways Of goinE
h about important business. Wilhelm
Won Humboldt was one Of the dis
: tressed: Even the prospect of some
IS t'honest graft" hurt him, as he wrote
: to his vile:
g se"If the congress comes to a peace
o full end; the ambassadors will natural-
: ly. receive snuff boxes. They are
r most hateful to me. abhor nothing
}. so much, deep in my soul: as private
l. advantage for things which are done
/ for the good of the whole. Yet, il
there is no rupture, this will be the
practice. Our largo conferences in
/ clude eight powers: counting only
these / shall ostensibly receive seven
n boxes What shall do with them
. 1.-The stones would presumably be
= enough for one to make. something
beautiful out of and at the same time
:, provide you with jewels: as for mon.
ey, eight boxes would bring from
l. 10000 to $4,000 thaier. Adornment
does not mean much to you, yet
n would also like to have you own dia.
J. monds. Tell me what you think
81 The snuff box situation was saved
- by ..Clancarty, who suggested thai
" only the four original powers were Il
d make presents to one another.
Were there no purely intdllectua
y highbrow theorists at Vienna? Yes
for we find in the memoir Of the
Countess Bernstorff paragraph
Of contrasts:
III Especially amusing was the mix
"a ture Of all sorts Of persons wint
thought that they had business at tn,
congress. : We saw here noble,
!. and learned men who never befor,
!e had been on business errAnd, bu
who now considered, themselves
L highly important. and In this belle,
ysl adopted a patronizinG attitude There