When the others joined them, at 8 o’clock in the evening, Metternich read out the project of a declaration prepared by himself in consultation with Castlereagh, Nesselrode and Hardenberg, adjourning the opening of the congress to 1 November. Asked whether he would sign it with them, Talleyrand declared that he would, provided a phrase was introduced to the effect that the opening of the congress would take place ‘in accordance with the public law’. This provoked irritation in most of the ministers, and near apoplexy in Hardenberg, who stood up and began thumping the table with his fist and
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