Epilogue—Echoes of the Past

On March 12, 1863, Richard MetternichMetternich, Richard the Austrian ambassador to France, set out from Paris for Vienna, the primary purpose of his mission being the presentation of a plan for a Franco-Austrian alliance, the result of which was to be, among other things, the restoration of an independent Polish state as an Austrian secundogeniture. At the time, the January Uprising took place in the territory of the Russian partition, which the Hôtel Lambert, led by Władysław CzartoryskiCzartoryski, Władysław, sought to support through diplomatic channels. After thirty years, there was once again the Polish uprising, the idea of an Austrian prince on the Polish throne, and sons who bore the names of renowned fathers. The protagonists have changed (as well as their positions and influence), but there were certain echoes of the past, not only in their names but also in their ideas.