The Washington herald., 1914-11-22

found a Bonaparte dynasty, Napoleon be-
queathed only a crown of sorrow and
heritage of misfortune to his race. While
he fingered in captivity within the gi-
gantic walls of St Helena, his son was
not less a prisoner in his grandfathers
palace at Vienna, and his brothers and
sisters, whom he had thrust into the
sacred circle of royalty, were branded
as outcasts by the old reigning families
of Europe, who condemned them TO wan
der over the earth with their trunks for
their thrones
cesses were despised by the triumphant
sOvereigns, the four-year-old King OF
Rome Inspired q dread in E every S 5s palace ace
eagles own Hedging and a half Haps-
burg besides. Wherefore the little eagle
Ianguished a captive in his gilded cage
Europe After Napoleon.
Just as Napoleon had pursued the IA
tai delusiOn that his power came from
the monRrchs fattered themselves, when
they found they were delivered from his
thrall, that the victory was theirs They
forgot that he had been overthrown, IN
spite of their ignoble submission to him,
by the democracy of Europe and the
newly aroused power of nationality.
wave Of reaction, they determined to set
back the hands Of the clock twenty-five
years and. ignoring the great revolution
and the awakening OF the people, restore
the absolute rule of kings by right di-
vine They abolished constitutions and !
abridged the liberties Of their subjects
sembly on the Continent, except in
France. They swapped great tracts of
lands back and forth among themselves,
regardless of the wishes Of the inhabit-
Having remade the map to their own
taste, they decided to initiate Napoleon
and make themselves the masters OF
Europe. He had attempted to unite the
nations in a great federation, under his
sole rule. and they determined to revive
the federation under their joint rule.
To that end they formed the grand al |
lance, pledging themselves to combine
their forces against any power that !
should dare assail the boundaries they !
had defined and to go to the assistance
of any ruler who requested their aid TO |
repress an uprising among his subjects
That grand alliance was supplemented |
by the celebrated holy alliance, which |
was inaugurated by Car Alexander !
and which was Joined by virtually all |
the soyereigns on the Continent This /
second compact rested on the solemn, |
! fervent declaration that all Christian |
God to rule over all Christian peoples. |
who were only one family. 1t was to be |
the brotherhood Of man under the IA /
With the establishment of those two |
alliances, the soverCigns thought they 4
had secured for all time the reign OF I
bic themselves only at the bar of heaven.
they were to possess the earth as the |
this United States of Europe, which |
they had thus formed, supported by |
what amounted to a great international
army, there would be no more French
revolutions and no more Napoleonic
wars.
But there was a grave structural J
weakness in the federation, since II left |
out Of the alliance the two dynamic
forces that had first made the French
revolution and next defeated Napoleon
democracy and patriotism. In the end
Ehe grand alliance and the holy alliance /
proved to he leagues not for the pro-
lection of the rights but only for the
perpetuation OF the wrongs Of the states
and the peoples. L
Moreover, there were three nations in
Christendom where constitutions could
not be torn up and the people excluded
from all part in the government These
were Great Britain, the United States
and France. The British King could not
only reiEned while Parliament ruled The
United States in due time responded to
trine, which. in effect. warned the reac- |,
tionary monarchies that they must not
intervene TO restore to Spain the re-
volted colonies Of Spanish-America. In
France although a Bourbon once more
sat on the throne, Louis XVIII held his
crown on terms strictly prescribed in
constitution, and the people were rep
resented in the legislature.
The Fear of France. Il
The fear that the French volcano
might burst forth again had greatly (
troubled the counsels of the allies. The
Prussians and some others, indeed, had
insisted that there could be no guar
antee of peace until France was par Z
titioned as Poland and been in the gem q
Grafton before. But more prudent spirits \
dared not attempt the determination of q
the NFrench nationality. liz
The conquering powers contented them /
selves, therefore. with taking from {
France everything she had won in a 1
quarter Of century of victorious war e
fare and by heaping up barriers between U
her and her rival States. To keep her e
at a distance from the Austrian POSSES Z
sions in Italy, the Riviera and Genoa &
were handed over to the House of Sa- Il
voy. While she was still left on the v
Rhine, with Alsace and Lorraine, Bel &
gtum was given to Holland as a partial v
buffer between the French and the Ger a
mans. Finally Prussia, as the protector
Of Germany, was moved westward until h
she stood facing France across the lc
Rhine. u
But with all those geographical meas 4
ures for holding in check the revolution 1 D
ary, conquermg French. the reactionary Il
soyereigns were haunted by the fear that q
they might rise again and burst their z
Dounds. They were sure there was no h
danger as long as Louis XVIII lolled Il
on the throne, but they well knew that lfr