grew, while in England there had always been a steady opposition to the tyranny of Napoleon on the precise ground that it interfered with the independent existence of nations.  The defeat of Napoleon, therefore, was hailed by our forefathers a hundred years ago as the dawn of a new era.  Four great Powers—­Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia—­had before them as their task the settlement of Europe, one of the noblest tasks that could possibly be assigned to those who, having suffered under the old regime, were desirous to secure peace and base it on just and equitable foundations.  There is thus an obvious parallelism between the conditions of affairs in 1815 and those which will, as we hope, obtain if and when the German tyrant is defeated and the nations of Europe commence their solemn task of reconstituting Europe.  Of course, we must not press the analogy too far.  The dawn of a new era might have been welcomed in 1815, but the proviso was always kept in the background that most of the older traditions should be preserved.  Diplomacy was still inspired by its traditional watchwords.  Above all, the transformation so keenly and so vaguely desired was in the hands of sovereigns who were more anxious about their own interests than perhaps was consistent with the common weal.

EQUILIBRIUM

At first the four Great Powers proceeded very tentatively.  They wished to confine France—­the dangerous element in Europe—­within her legitimate boundaries.  Next, they desired to arrange an equilibrium of Powers (observe, in passing, the old doctrine of the Balance of Power) so that no individual state should for the future be in a position to upset the general tranquillity.  Revolutionary France was to be held under by the re-establishment of its ancient dynasty.  Hence Louis XVIII was to be restored.  The other object was to be obtained by a careful parcelling out of the various territories of Europe, on the basis, so far as possible, of old rights consecrated by treaties.  It is unnecessary to go into detail in this matter.  We may say summarily that Germany was reconstituted as a Confederation of Sovereign States; Austria received the Presidency of the Federal Diet; in Italy Lombardo-Venetia was erected into a kingdom under Austrian hegemony, while the Low Countries were annexed to the crown of Holland so as to form, under the title of the United Netherlands, an efficient barrier against French aggression northwards.  It was troublesome to satisfy Alexander I of Russia because of his ambition to secure for himself the kingdom of Poland.  Indeed, as we shall see presently, the personality of Alexander was a permanent stumbling-block to most of the projects of European statesmen.  As a whole, it cannot be denied that this particular period of history, between Napoleon’s abdication in 1814 and the meeting of the European Congress at Verona in 1882, presented a profoundly distressing picture of international egotism.  The ruin of their common enemy, relieving the members of the European family from the necessity of maintaining concord, also released their individual selfishnesses and their long-suppressed mutual jealousies.[7]