Leipzig 1813

Merveldt And His Mission— He Gets The Last Laugh

 Merveldt was not an Austrian subject, and had no interest in the intrigue which had plagued the Hapsburg court for centuries. He could act as impartially as anyone could in acting as a Hapsburg agent  Francis, who was impressed by both the piety of Merveldt as well as his diplomatic skills, enlisted the general to reach out quietly on behalf of both the Hapsburgs and the English, and see if a peace could be reached and end a war which still could have an ending that both Francis and the English might not savor.  Merveldt would need to seize the best opportunity to meet Napoleon…his capture at Dölitz was that opportunity. Though Merveldt did meet with Napoleon on October 16 at the conclusion of a day of battle with mixed results for both sides, he could not come to an agreement with the French to end the fighting both at Leipzig and throughout Europe.

However, the French later agreed to parole Merveldt with the understanding he would not take up arms against the French—an easy enough result for Merveldt and the Austrians to have been granted by the French considering the large numbers of officers still held prisoners by the Coalition in Germany and Russia. Too easy?....perhaps. Stranger yet, Merveldt is appointed by Francis to be his special emissary to the Court of St. James—a diplomatic plum if there was one. Certainly Merveldt must of smiled at his serendipity as Coalition generals are killed and wounded as they stumbled towards Paris in 1814 and then again in 1815—taking more than their share of punishment from General Bonaparte, with the surviving Austrians and other Germans only to see Cossacks

looting the most civilized nation in the world.

But Merveldt did have the last laugh. His assignment to London was filled with rich dinners of rare English roast beef; Yorkshire and Plum Puddings; and fine Claret. He became the toast of the town, feted by both nobility and the popular press. Who was the fool in this tale?

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