complete political structure; if ever the powers should meet again to
establish a political system by which wars of conquest would be rendered
impossible and the rights of all guaranteed, the Congress of Vienna, as
a preparatory assembly, will not have been without use."[1] There is a
prophetic ring about this, very welcome to us of the twentieth century.
We cannot think altogether unkindly of our great-grandfathers' ill-judged
attempt to avert the calamity which has now broken over us.

[Footnote 1: Friedrich von Gentz, quoted in _Camb. Mod. Hist._ vol. x. p.
2.]

Nor was the Congress altogether barren of positive result; for it gave
birth to that conception of a "Confederation of Europe," which, though
never realised, has been one of the guiding ideas of nineteenth-century
politics. As this solution of the world's problems is likely to be urged
upon us with great insistency at the conclusion of the present war, it will
be well to look a little more closely into it and to see why it failed to
secure the allegiance of Europe a hundred years ago. The Congress had met
at Vienna and settled all outstanding questions, to the satisfaction of
its members; why should it not meet periodically, and constitute itself
a supreme international tribunal? The question had only to be asked to
receive the approbation of all concerned. The dreamer, Alexander I., at
once saw the destinies of the world entrusted to a Holy Alliance, which
would rule according to "the sacred principles of the Christian religion";
and even the more practical mind of Castlereagh conceived that a council of
the great powers, "endowed with the efficiency and almost the simplicity of
a single State," was a possibility.

Yet, it is quite clear to-day that, at that time and under those
conditions, the establishment of a permanent and effective Confederation of