The Story of Mankind [143]
in the year 1815 and lies dead and
forgotten somewhere in the archives of state. It may be forgotten
but it is by no means dead. The Holy Alliance was
directly responsible for the promulgation of the Monroe
Doctrine, and the Monroe Doctrine of America for the Americans
has a very distinct bearing upon your own life. That is
the reason why I want you to know exactly how this document
happened to come into existence and what the real motives were
underlying this outward manifestation of piety and Christian
devotion to duty.
The Holy Alliance was the joint labour of an unfortunate
man who had suffered a terrible mental shock and who was
trying to pacify his much-disturbed soul, and of an ambitious
woman who after a wasted life had lost her beauty and her
attraction and who satisfied her vanity and her desire for
notoriety by assuming the role of self-appointed Messiah of a
new and strange creed. I am not giving away any secrets
when I tell you these details. Such sober minded people as
Castlereagh, Metternich and Talleyrand fully understood
the limited abilities of the sentimental Baroness. It would have
been easy for Metternich to send her back to her German
estates. A few lines to the almighty commander of the imperial
police and the thing was done.
But France and England and Austria depended upon the
good-will of Russia. They could not afford to offend Alexander.
And they tolerated the silly old Baroness because they
had to. And while they regarded the Holy Alliance as utter
rubbish and not worth the paper upon which it was written,
they listened patiently to the Tsar when he read them the first
rough draft of this attempt to create the Brotherhood of Men
upon a basis of the Holy Scriptures. For this is what the
Holy Alliance tried to do, and the signers of the document
solemnly declared that they would ``in the administration of
their respective states and in their political relations with every
other government take for their sole guide the precepts of that
Holy Religion, namely the precepts of Justice, Christian
Charity and Peace, which far from being applicable only to
private concerns must have an immediate influence on the
councils of princes, and must guide all their steps as being the
only means of consolidating human institutions and remedying
their imperfections.'' They then proceeded to promise each
other that they would remain united ``by the bonds of a true
and indissoluble fraternity, and considering each other as
fellow-countrymen, they would on all occasions and in all places
lend each other aid and assistance.'' And more words to the
same effect.
Eventually the Holy Alliance was signed by the Emperor
of Austria, who did not understand a word of it. It was signed
by the Bourbons who needed the friendship of Napoleon's old
enemies. It was signed by the King of Prussia, who hoped to
gain Alexander for his plans for a ``greater Prussia,'' and by
all the little nations of Europe who were at the mercy of Russia.
England never signed, because Castlereagh thought the
whole thing buncombe. The Pope did not sign because he
resented this interference in his business by a Greek-Orthodox
and a Protestant. And the Sultan did not sign because he
never heard of it.
The general mass of the European people, however, soon
were forced to take notice. Behind the hollow phrases of the
Holy Alliance stood the armies of the Quintuple Alliance
which Metternich had created among the great powers. These
armies meant business. They let it be known that the peace
of Europe must not be disturbed by the so-called liberals who
were in reality nothing but disguised Jacobins, and hoped for
a return of the revolutionary days. The enthusiasm for the
great wars of liberation of the years 1812, 1818, 1814 and
1815 had begun to wear off. It had been followed by a sincere
belief in the coming of a happier day. The soldiers who had
forgotten somewhere in the archives of state. It may be forgotten
but it is by no means dead. The Holy Alliance was
directly responsible for the promulgation of the Monroe
Doctrine, and the Monroe Doctrine of America for the Americans
has a very distinct bearing upon your own life. That is
the reason why I want you to know exactly how this document
happened to come into existence and what the real motives were
underlying this outward manifestation of piety and Christian
devotion to duty.
The Holy Alliance was the joint labour of an unfortunate
man who had suffered a terrible mental shock and who was
trying to pacify his much-disturbed soul, and of an ambitious
woman who after a wasted life had lost her beauty and her
attraction and who satisfied her vanity and her desire for
notoriety by assuming the role of self-appointed Messiah of a
new and strange creed. I am not giving away any secrets
when I tell you these details. Such sober minded people as
Castlereagh, Metternich and Talleyrand fully understood
the limited abilities of the sentimental Baroness. It would have
been easy for Metternich to send her back to her German
estates. A few lines to the almighty commander of the imperial
police and the thing was done.
But France and England and Austria depended upon the
good-will of Russia. They could not afford to offend Alexander.
And they tolerated the silly old Baroness because they
had to. And while they regarded the Holy Alliance as utter
rubbish and not worth the paper upon which it was written,
they listened patiently to the Tsar when he read them the first
rough draft of this attempt to create the Brotherhood of Men
upon a basis of the Holy Scriptures. For this is what the
Holy Alliance tried to do, and the signers of the document
solemnly declared that they would ``in the administration of
their respective states and in their political relations with every
other government take for their sole guide the precepts of that
Holy Religion, namely the precepts of Justice, Christian
Charity and Peace, which far from being applicable only to
private concerns must have an immediate influence on the
councils of princes, and must guide all their steps as being the
only means of consolidating human institutions and remedying
their imperfections.'' They then proceeded to promise each
other that they would remain united ``by the bonds of a true
and indissoluble fraternity, and considering each other as
fellow-countrymen, they would on all occasions and in all places
lend each other aid and assistance.'' And more words to the
same effect.
Eventually the Holy Alliance was signed by the Emperor
of Austria, who did not understand a word of it. It was signed
by the Bourbons who needed the friendship of Napoleon's old
enemies. It was signed by the King of Prussia, who hoped to
gain Alexander for his plans for a ``greater Prussia,'' and by
all the little nations of Europe who were at the mercy of Russia.
England never signed, because Castlereagh thought the
whole thing buncombe. The Pope did not sign because he
resented this interference in his business by a Greek-Orthodox
and a Protestant. And the Sultan did not sign because he
never heard of it.
The general mass of the European people, however, soon
were forced to take notice. Behind the hollow phrases of the
Holy Alliance stood the armies of the Quintuple Alliance
which Metternich had created among the great powers. These
armies meant business. They let it be known that the peace
of Europe must not be disturbed by the so-called liberals who
were in reality nothing but disguised Jacobins, and hoped for
a return of the revolutionary days. The enthusiasm for the
great wars of liberation of the years 1812, 1818, 1814 and
1815 had begun to wear off. It had been followed by a sincere
belief in the coming of a happier day. The soldiers who had