From the Biographical Sketches in A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars by Vincent J Esposito and John R Elting:
'Born at Coblenz. His father was a diplomat. Received an excellent education. In Strasbourg at the beginning of the Revolution; shocked by its excesses. Rose steadily in the Austrian diplomatic service; Ambassador to France, 1806. Urged Austrian declaration of war in 1809 because of exaggerated reports of French losses in Spain. Austrian foreign minister, 1809. His policy was directed toward strengthening Austria while retaining, insofar as possible, her international freedom of action. Favored marriage of Maria Louisa to Napoleon as a means to an end. From 1812 on, played a delicate game, seeking to make Austria the arbiter of Europe, curbing in turn French, Russian, and Prussian power. For years the most powerful European statesman. Personally conservative, and the servant of the stupidly reactionary Emperor Francis, he opposed all liberal movements. Driven from office by the Vienna revolt in 1848.'
'Handsome; 'excuisite' manners; keenly, if narrowly, intelligent. Patient, patriotic, and courageous. Probably the most effective diplomat of his day, expert in the tangled intrigues and double-dealing that his position required. Occasionally, too clever.'
Metternich was a Rhineland German whose family estates were lost when France annexed the Rhineland, and the family's serfs were freed. A opponent of the French Revolution and thereby Napoleon, who was seen as the 'inheritor' of the Revolution.
paints brigs for the British fleet.