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III

ALEXANDER'S CONFEDERATION OF EUROPE

LEXANDER I of Russia was born in 1777,

ALEXAN

while the American Revolution was in progress. During his early manhood the French Revolution changed the whole world. Alexander, although a Russian prince, had ready access to the new French teachings. He was tutored by La Harpe, a Swiss, who introduced him to the writings of Rousseau. Rousseau had believed in the possibility of a perpetual peace. In 1756 he had written: "Beyond doubt, a lasting peace is, under present circumstances, a project ridiculous enough. But give us back Henry IV and Sully, and it will become once more a reasonable proposal."1 Alexander grew to manhood during the period of Napoleon's domination, and was an opponent, an ally, and again an opponent of Napoleon. He was only thirty-seven years of age when Napoleon was finally defeated.

1 J. J. Rousseau, A Lasting Peace, translated by C. E. Vaughan, p. 111.

There is ample evidence that Alexander knew of the Great Design of Henry IV and believed himself destined by Providence to carry it out. And in many respects the time and the cir cumstances were not unpropitious. When Napoleon fell, Europe had borne a generation of war. It was tired of fighting. Moreover, Alexander had an unspent army. As Moltke later said: "The drawback to Russia as an ally is that she arrives on the field very late and is then too strong." Circumstances seemed to have brought together the man, the power, and the time to make the vision of Henry a reality.

As early as 1804, when Alexander was but twenty-seven years of age, he sent his famous Czartoryski instructions to Pitt. At this time Napoleon was far from beaten, but the Czar outlined his plan for the reconstitution of Europe after Napoleon's defeat. It was to be made clear to France that the Allies' efforts "are directed not against her, but only against her Government, which is as tyrannical for France as for the rest of Europe; that our only object is to deliver from its yoke the countries which it oppresses, and that we now address ourselves to the French nation not to preach revolt and disobedience to law, but to urge all parties in France to trust the Allied Powers, whose only

desire is to emancipate France from the despotism under which she is suffering and to make her free to choose any government she may herself prefer.'

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Ancient abuses were not to be re-established in the countries liberated from Napoleon's yoke, but liberty was to be insured, based upon sound foundations. As to the forms of government "everywhere public institutions should be founded on the sacred rights of humanity." The Czar recognized, as Crucé did, that stable world order and just internal government were interrelated. He thus expressed his views to Pitt:

The object would be, first, to attach nations to their governments, by making it only possible for the latter to act for the benefit of their subjects; and, secondly, to fix the relations of the various states towards each other on more precise rules, which would be so drawn up as to make it the interest of each state to respect them. . . . When peace is made, a new treaty should be drawn up as a basis for the reciprocal relations of the European states. Such a treaty might secure the privileges of neutrality, bind the Powers who take part in it never to begin a war until after exhausting every means of mediation by a third Power, and lay down a sort of new code of international law which, being

2 The Memoirs of Prince Adam Czartoryski and His Correspondence with Alexander I, edited by Adam Gielgud, Vol. II, pp. 45-46.

sanctioned by the greater part of the European States, would, if violated by any one of them, bind the others to turn against the offender and make good the evil he has committed.3

If Alexander had died after the submission of the remarkable Czartoryski memorandum, his untimely death might well have been pointed out as another perverse act of the blind fates that have held the world back from perpetual peace. But Alexander did not die until he had had an opportunity to attempt to carry out his plan. He lived long enough to encounter obstacles to the realization of his dream, some of which lay in his own vacillating character, some in the desires and characters of the men who were leading the contemporary European States, and some in fundamental difficulties over which neither he nor they had any real control. Alexander may have lacked the ability and the steadfastness of Henry IV; but it must be remembered that Henry IV's plan never got beyond the parchment stage. Alexander, however, was to realize the profound truth of the remark made by his grandmother, Catherine II, to the famous French philosopher: "M. Diderot, you forget in all your plans of reform the difference in our positions; you

Ibid., pp. 47-48.

only work on paper, which endures all things; it opposes no obstacle either to your imagination or to your pen. But I, poor Empress that I am, work on a sensitive and irritable medium, the human skin."4

The story of the treaties and conferences that followed 1815 is very complex. Those interested in a study of the details may read the excellent book by Walter Alison Phillips, entitled The Confederation of Europe. In this place a brief review of some of the more important facts must suffice.

The Quadruple Alliance was formed at Chaumont in 1814, between Russia, Great Britain, Prussia, and Austria. The object of the alliance was not only to unite the governments "for the vigorous pursuit of a war undertaken with the salutary object of putting an end to the misfortunes of Europe," but also to assure "the repose of Europe by the re-establishment of a just equilibrium" and to maintain “against all attacks the order of things that shall be the happy outcome of their efforts." It was specifically provided that the Allies should, without delay, "concert as to measures for preserving the peace when established and for mutual protection against any attack by France." In the

J. H. Rose, William Pitt and National Revival, p. 300.

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