In 1809, on the outbreak of war between Austria and France, Gentz was for the first time actively employed by the Austrian government under Stadion. He drafted the proclamation announcing the declaration of war (15 April) and during the continuance of hostilities his pen was ceaselessly employed. The peace of 1810 and the fall of Stadion once more dashed his hopes and, disillusioned and hellishly blasé, he once more retired to comparative inactivity at Prague. Of Metternich, Stadion's successor, he had at the outset no high opinion, and it was not until 1812 that the two men had close relations that were to ripen into lifelong friendship. However, when Gentz returned to Vienna as Metternich's adviser, he was no longer the fiery patriot who had sympathized and corresponded with Stein in the darkest days of German depression and, in fiery periods, called upon all Europe to free itself from foreign rule. Disillusioned and cynical but clear-sighted as ever, he was henceforth before all things an Austrian, more Austrian, on occasion even than Metternich.