New-York tribune., 1919-08-26
History Repeats
To the Editor of The Tribune

events that we have been witnessin, It,
during the past few months are .,.;-",
new to the experience Of the world -,
that they will put an entirely new fscA ~.
historical development
1t may be that we wrong in bsl;..
ing that such an attitude is incorrec, j..
we are very much strengthened In ON, l.
lief by the history of what took nl.c.
the Congress of Vienna one hundred v..-'
ago. This has been very clearly 90. 60.
by Sonia E. Howe in "a Thousand w..
Of Russian History" one of the few =.
thoritative and readable histories Of prs.;.
which we have in English.
If we but change the names Of N. .,
acters and the places to those that h.r.
been so prominent in the Paris nevo.,.
tions we can see the exact picture Of wh..
has transpired there. The account run. a,
follows:
"a few months after his retnr, /.
Alexander, Gar of Russial entrusted hi,
empire once more to the care o. his fo-r..
tutor, Count Saltykov while he WENT :.
Vienna In order to participate in the ~,
gress called for the purpose of desni..,,
settling the affairs of Europe Il va.
brilliant gathering, in which all that ~.
world had to offer Of allurement ponnn and
glory was displayed. Ostensibly j. ws,
Alexander who took the lead in all tho a.
liberations, but the wire-pullers were Ne.
ternich and Talleyrand Among other -.
adjustments Of territory that OF Poland va.
divided for the fourth time. Alexand.,
wished to unite all the parts Of the kin,-
dom of Poland into an autonomous STAT.
England and Austria opposed these plans
Thus his generous intentions for ehe Pole,
came to naught; but the chief objections To
the Emperor's proposals were made not hv
Austria and Prussia, who would have had
to surrender their Polish possessions. bu.
by Lord Castlereagh, who feared so CREST
an increase to Russa's power and in-
at was during his second visit to Paris
that Alexander astonished the world bv
propounding a scheme for unioue al
lance which had been in his mind ever
since the battle of Leipsic This Holy
Alliance he hoped, would usher in an
of peace.
Alexander had become a distinctly n.
ligious man; according to his own con-
fession, he had consecrated himself to the
furtherance of the glory of God He per-
suaded his allies to join with him in carry-
ing out the ideal of basing political rela.
tions on the teaching of the Gospel, which
was to be the only line of conduct in inter-
national as we'll as domestic policy.
Such principles had not been enuncia.eS
by any ruler since SAT, when the sons Of
0,,ie l. *
in the welfare of their common kingdom
and had publicly urged the necessity to
live in peace and harmony as demanded By
the laws Of fraternity and the will of Cod
Love and good will, justice and righteous
ness were to reign among nations and
rulers, who were all to be counted members
of one Christian family. The three sigma
tories to this remarkable document. who
were absolutely sincere in their intentions,
promised to look upon themselves solely as
instruments Of Divine Providence. All
powers willing to accept the principles laid
down in this document were welcomed into
the Holy Alliance with the creates.
heartiness and brotherly love-
"The Papal states and England refused
to sign. Lord Castlereagh, on behalf Of
the latter country, replied that the English
Parliament was composed of practical men
who were willing to vote subsidies and
join alliances for offensive or defensive
purposes, but that they would not sign q
declaration containing merely Scriptural
principles, which would be nothing less
than a reversion to the times of the saints
of Cromwell
uvorlJ
Tor this kind of millennial rule, and it was
not very long before Alexander himself
contradicted by his actions that
to which he and his friends had soemnly
subscribed; indeed, under the influence Of
Metternich, this alliance degenerated into
league of kings against nations
Before the monarchs separated they
agreed among themselves TO meet periodi-
cally to discuss any plans they had been
formulating in the meanwhile for the fur
therance of their peoples welfare and for
the maintenance of the peace of Europe.
1t seems as if the inherent weakness Of
'he Emperor's character reasserted itself
as soon as his aims with regard TO Napoleon
had been achieved. Shilder calls this
perloo OF congresses which follows, and
which lasts from 1916 until 1925 period
OF reaction In fact, Alexander's foreign
policy was more or less confined to con-
crosses, where deliberations were held on
international or domestic problems common
to all states at that time. Al the gather
lngs at Aix-a- -Chapelle in 1918, at Troppsu
in 1920, at Laibach in 1921 and at Verona
IN 1922 the monarchs tried to regulate af-
fairs IN Europe on the principles laid down
BY the Holy Alliance They believed that
hey were acting guardians of the well
fare of the peoples of Europe; but, as
matter of fact, it soon became apparent
that it was their own welfare that they
were guarding, and the outcome of these
royal assemblies was merely the estab-
lshment of their several monarchies on
irmer footing and the suppression of every