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Couple of more things I wanna note. It seems Metternich was fond of the extravagant lifestyle a politician of his stature enjoyed - and to keep that up he spent a copious amount of money, both from the imperial treasury and from loans. He was indebted to the Rothschilds throughout his life. Those guys however don't give just money not expecting more in return, but if someone is broke but in high office they surely accept "favors" in return. Related to this. After he was forced to resign on 1848 March 13th he took his family out of Austria and traveled to London. Their stay was entirely financed by loans, this time besides the bankers he also got money from Czar Nicholas I. It is obvious he preserved his foreign contacts (aristocracy everywhere was all related anyway) and influence, and kept open lines. I bet later for the Russian intervention of 1949 he extended his influence and lobbied. Holy Alliance and all that. Lastly it is not easy to tell his actual role and actions. As above noted he put the secret police on Széchenyi, but his main area was foreign politics and Kolowrat held the interior matters. Does this means that actually Kolowrat decided to watch Széchenyi? However Metternich was the senior, he was the Chancellor after all, he could have a say in anything. On the other hand it is noted that Francis took Kolowrat to counter Metternich, and they remained competitors forever. It's obvious that the Court was full of intrigues, and as I noted in this thread it was also full of cliques and the courtiers had their own interests and belonged to various cliques depending on these interests. They tried to play to others to gain advantage and favors, gain more prestige, power, and access to the treasury. One thing unified them tho: they all had an interest to keep the current order , because their existence and the continuation of their games depended on it.