place. Even in England herself it cannot be said that the people were in
any sense benefited by the conclusions of the war. They had borne its
burdens, but at its end found themselves hampered as before in the free
development of a democracy. Meanwhile, Europe at large presented a
spectacle of despotism tempered by occasional popular outbreaks, while in
the majority of cases the old fetters were riveted anew by cunning and by
no means disinterested hands.


A DECEPTIVE PARALLEL

What we have to ask ourselves is whether the conditions a hundred years
ago have any real similarity with those likely to obtain when Europe
begins anew to set its house in order. To this, fortunately, we can return
a decided negative. We have already shown that the general outlines
present a certain similarity, but the parallelism is at most superficial,
and in many respects deceptive. A despot has to be overthrown, an end has
to be put to a particular form of autocratic regime, and smaller states
have to be protected against the exactions of their stronger
neighbours--that is the extent of the analogy. But it is to be hoped that
we shall commence our labours under much better auspices. The personal
forces involved, for instance, are wholly different. Amongst those who
took upon themselves to solve the problems of the time is to be found the
widest possible divergence in character and aims. On the one side we have
a sheer mystic and idealist in the person of Alexander I, with all kinds
of visionary characters at his side--La Harpe, who was his tutor, a
Jacobin pure and simple, and a fervent apostle of the teachings of Jean
Jacques Rousseau; Czartoryski, a Pole, sincerely anxious for the
regeneration of his kingdom; and Capo d'Istria, a champion of Greek
nationality. To these we have to add the curious figure of the Baroness