Before the flood
Sir: In his review of The Habsburg Empire and The Last Habsburg (11 April) John Roberts refers to 'Metternich, who had also left to an exile from which he was not to return [my italics] just over seventy years before' (i.e. in 1848).
In fact, Metternich returned to Vienna in September 1851, on which occasion formal calls were paid on him not only by all the Archdukes and Cabinet Ministers, but by no less a person than the Emperor Francis Joseph as well. It is true that he returned in a private capacity and that he never again held office after the Revolu- tion of 1848, but his advice was frequently sought, and it was mainly due to his advice that Austria remained neutral in the Crimean War. He died in 1859—in Vienna.
Has Dr Roberts not done his homework, or are all the books that I have' read about Met- ternich wrong?
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