Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1905-08-26
TREATIES THAT HAVE
MADE HISTORY in
THE LAST CENTURY

Gus Committee of the Eight Powers
Austria, England, France, Prussia,
Russia, Spain, Portugal and Sweden
met at Vienna under the presidency of
Pronce Metternich to draw up treaty
which was to be henceforth the writ
ten law of Europe. The necessity for
such a treaty was pressing. The mo-
ment seemed propiJious. In the law
less grasp of Napoleon Bonaparte
Europe had become a conglomeration
of states without fixed boundaries or
acknowledged rights to political ex-
istence. The old landmarks had been
swept away, the balance of power des-
trOyed, a strong state had become
weak, weak states had become strong
The armies of Russia won in occupa-
ton of Poland. Austrian troops held
all of Italy except Naples, English
and Swedish troops held Holland and
Belgium. English and Portuguese
troops held a large portion of Spain,
the Prussian troops held Saxony, the
troops of Wurtemberg and Baden
held the Rhine provinces. At length
the hand which had wrought all this
confusion was believed to have been
effectually paralyzed. The sooner the
normal state of things could be re-
of ideas which led up to the Congress
of Vienna.
1t was Poland that formed the first
stumbling block in the way of con-
cord among the Powers. That unfor-
tunate country had been torn into
three fragments in 1872 and divided
between Austria, Germany and Rus
STA, the latter having the lions share.
1cGf- tn ia1 0rC5o
of the entire country. 1t was the chiv-
alric dream of the Russian Emperor
Alexander l. to repair the partition
and to replace the Poles in their con-
dition as a free and constitutional
kingdom under Russian suzerainty.
But all the other Powers objected to
the proposal. Their combined weight
won. Finally a compromise was ar
rived at. 1t was agreed that a por-
ton of the Duchy of Warsaw should
be divided between Austria and Prus-
STA, and the remaining portion, save
Cracow, which was to be a free city,
receiving a constitution, and being
united to the Russian crown as the
kingdom of Poland. Thus the sane
ton of a great European treaty was
given to a great European wrong.
The Italian question might have be-
come the subject of a prolonged dis
cussion but for a hostile movement
made by Murat, then King of the two
Sicilies. This simplified matters
Naples, with Sicily, was delivered over
to the house of Bourbon. Austria re-
tanned all her possessions in Italy but
Piedmont and Genoa, which, with Sar-
DINA, were given over to the house of
Savoy, while Tuscany and other north
ern provinces were distributed among
petty princes, dependent, some uyon
Austria, some upon the house of Aus
tria- 1t took 1S59-1S6O and the COM
bined efforts of Napoleon Ill, Charles
Albert and Garibaldi to begin the
righting of this third wrong.
With Switzerland the conference
was more successful. An agreement
between the Swiss deputies and the
plenipotentiaries at Vienna establish
ed a confederation of twenty-five can
tons. and their relative strength and
influence were so constituted as to
secure the preponderance to the party
which adhered to the old customs and
form of government.
The negotiations on the subject of
Germany were equally amicable. All
| the German states were united into a
confederation, whose capital, Frank
| fort, was made a free city. In this
arrangement England, by her connec-
ton with Hanover, and Russia, by
| her influence with the petty German
| princes, took a prominent part
The treaty of Berlin was concluded
| in 1878, between Great Britain, Ger
many, Austria, France, Italy, Russia.
and Turkey for the settlement of af-
| fairs in the East after the war be-
tween Turkey and Russia. Its chief
provisions were that Bulgaria should
| be an autonomous and tributary prin-
| cipality under the suzerainty of the
| Sultan to be ruled by Christian gov
| eminent. and that Eastern Roumanfa
| should remain under the direct mill
| tary and political authority of the
| tsar. Bosnia and Herzegovina were
/ to be occupied and administered by
Austria-Hungary. The independence
| of Servia, Roumania- and MONTENEGRO
were recognized, and portions of Ar
| menia were ceded to Russia
Lord Beaconsfield made his greatest
| diplomatic hit at the Berlin Confer
ence. He always addressed the con-
| gress in English, and the combination
of dignity and power which marked
his best style in speaking seems to