The Duke of Wellington and Viscount Castlereagh were the British delegates and Britain’s colours were flying high on the Continent.
It was undoubtedly Wellington’s hour and he could say, as he had declared before the Battle of Talavera, “the ball is at my foot and I do hope I shall have the strength to give it a good kick!”
But on this occasion the hour was to have its trials.
Art was the first great French grievance.
It seemed correct to the Allies that the art treasures seized by victorious French Armies should, after they had been finally defeated, be returned to their rightful owners.
The Duke’s policy was deliberately temperate and he was determined not to hurt the feelings of Louis XVIII, the restored King of France.
He did not, for one instance, go to the extreme of demanding
