The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1878-07-05
European Congresses.
Cincinnati Times.

european congress at Berlin, or that there
will be any return for the labor undertaken.
The decree Of such q body is never binding,
except SO far as it is likely to array strong
opposition to the Power that breaks it. and
IN this instance it is far from certain that n
decree will be reached, as VIC do not under
stand that thu Powers are committed TO the
majority vote. In other words, it is in the
natuie of a conference.
A history of its congresses would be a
history Of Europe Itself, and il The curtain
ee.ald be 50 lifted as to show the working OF
those behind the scenes, It would Ia d more
fascinating history than has vet been pub
hshed. The first Congress of any note was
that which assembled at Munster, in 1914.
and which concluded the peace of Westpha-
la, putting an end to the thirty years war,
IN l04S. Thirty years after the Congress
Nlmeguen, one of the most noted of its CEN
tnry, checked for while the bitter strife
between Spain, France and Holland.
The long and bloody war which followed
the League OF Augsburg, in 1856, is famil-
lar to every reader Of general history, and,
perhaps, also, the Congress of Ryswick,
which brought it to q close. Here, in 161o.
Louis XIV. Of France, on the one part and
the German Empire, England, Spain and
Holland, on the the other, concluded a
peace which acknowledged William of
Orange as King Of Great Britain and Ire
land, and made anew the map of Europe.
lt was then that Alsace was first definitely
eeded to France, Lorraine being for the
time restored to Germany. Twenty wears
more bring US to the Congress of Utrecht,
IN l7l3, one of the most memorable of the
list. The powers represented were France.
Great Britain, Holland, Prussia, Portugal.
and Savoy, and among the most important
OF the points determined were : that Philip
V, grandson Of Louis XIV, should be King
OF Spain; that the Emperor Charles vi.
should have the Spanish Netherlands. Ma.
pies, Milan, aud Sardinia; that Victor Anna
deus, OF Savoy, should have Sicily, and that
England should have Gibraltar, Minorca,
the Hudson Bay territory, Newfoundland,
and Acadia. Few Congresses have made
moro history. =,
Skipping over the. better part of a CEN
5ary we reach series of congresses perhaps
more indelibly stamped upon the page of
history than any others that tho woi Id has
known. There were four of them vet a
child born at the first might have seen the
last before he had fairly crossed the thresh-
old OF manhood. They followed each other
IN rapid succession, as did all manner of
events in the life of the giant about whom
they cluster They are known as the Napo-
lannie~ canprasSas- -rha~fnst unas at u
leon was crescent. He was still nothing
but d general, and over him the directory
waved its sfadowy authority. Continental
Europe, however, barring Russia, lay at his
feet. and the fruits of the conference were
the German fortresses on the Rhine and
is left bank as the French boundary. Next
ealae the congress at Erfnrt, where tbs rep
resentatiyes were Napoleon, now at the
summit of his glory, Alexander of Russia,
and the Kings of Bavaria, Saxony, Wur-
temberg ard Westphalia. r. was here that
Alexander and Napoleon g...nned how to
divide coutineatal Europe between them,
and failsd to reach an understanding only
because both wanted Constantlnople-an
unhappy disagreement, which ultimately
cost Napoleon his throne. The third con-
gress i'll the series is that Of Chatillon-sur-
SeIne--one as meurnful, from the French
view, as the others were brilliant. The
giant was now topping tQ his fall. Fatal
Leips.e--the first time he had failed of a
victory, in seventy pitched battles with all
Enrope---had sounded the knell Of his dy-
nasty, and here at ChatiIlon, his represent
atiYes met these of the allied powers, to
agree upon the terms Of his abdication.
The grand Congress at Vienna, which
assembled in November of the same year,
completes the list. 1t will be forever mem
orable as the one which formed the Holy
Alliance, and established the European
"balance of power"
The succeeding congresses are either of
little general interest, or too fresh in mind
to need much mention. That at Aix-la-
Chapelle, III 1918, which all the sovereigns
(save England's) attended in person. com
pleted the work of the Congress of Vienna,
and freed France from the army of oecupa-
tion which had afflicted her ever sinee Wa
terloo. AT Carlsbad, in 1910, there was a
singular congress of the German princes
called out by the university societies the
Observation-Disclosures were just then
indalging in decidedly revolutionary
schemes. At Laybach, in 1891, the Euro
pean sovereigns met again to settle the
affairs of Italy. At Verona, in 1922, con-
gress was held, over which Metternich pre-
sided, to settle the affairs of Spain and Tur-
key. The great congress of Paris, in 1856,
after the Crimean war, the Intellectual one
called by Louis Napoleon, In 1868, and the
still more fruitless one which preceded the
late war between Russia and Turkey, COM
plete the list of those which have contrib
uted most to the history of Europe.