62 Nineteenth Century Peace Congresses
there is some hint in this of the difficulty of the problem
which still remains ahead if it is necessary to carry the cam-
paign still farther.
Most of the arrangements which we have discussed were
already formulated, at least roughly, at the time of the
peace which was signed in Paris after Napoleon’s abdi-
cation. The eight powers which signed this peace then
agreed to meet in Vienna within two months to “complete
the provisions of that treaty.” It was not until the middle
of September that representatives of the four great powers
which had defeated Napoleon arrived at the capital of
Austria. Gentz, the Austrian representative, has stated
with remarkable frankness the spirit of that meeting, which
contrasted so strangely with the high hopes which all lib-
erals had entertained during the summer. His statement
makes one somewhat pessimistic unless the liberal forces of
the world are very much more watchful and powerful to-day
than they were in 1814. “The grand phrases,” he says,
“such as ‘the regeneration of the political system of Europe,’
‘a lasting peace founded on the just division of strength,’
were uttered to tranquillize the people, and to give an air
of dignity and grandeur to this solemn assembly; but the real
purpose was to divide among the conquerors the spoils taken
from the vanquished.”
The committee of the four great powers soon showed that
they had no intention at all of allowing any one else to have
any real part in the deliberations. They were planning to
have everything cut and dried to announce to the rest when
they arrived, quite after the fashion of a modern political
convention. When Talleyrand left Paris he said, “I am
probably going to play a very sorry part.” When he reached
Vienna he realized that it was no place at all for a modest
man, and modesty was certainly not one of our ex-bishop’s