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]

[7] See _The Confederation of Europe_, by Walter Alison Phillips
(Longmans), esp. Chapters V and VI. Cf. also _Political and Literary
Essays_, by the Earl of Cromer, 2nd series (Macmillan), on _The
Confederation of Europe_.

THE HOLY ALLIANCE

The figure of Alexander I dominates this epoch. His character exhibits a
very curious mixture of autocratic ambit