DISCOVERY 



133 



with its ambitious aims and its intolerable manners, 

 became an almost insuperable obstacle to any cordial 

 co-operation among the Powers, or to any continuance 

 of honest understanding and genuine goodwill. 



It is remarkable that in such circumstances the 

 Concert of Europe could continue to exist, and still 

 more that it could do any good and effective work. 

 That, in spite of all, it did exist and that it achieved 

 • some notable successes is eloquent testimony to the 

 sense of solidarity which still held the Continent to- 

 gether, and to the skill and patience of the diplomatists 

 who accomplished so much in conditions so unfavour- 

 able. To enter into details concerning its operations 

 would lead us too far afield into the minutiae of Euro- 

 pean histor}'. It must suffice to say that on at least 

 ten occasions the Powers acting in concert dealt \\ith 

 and settled (if only provisionally and temporarily) 

 questions which, apart from their action, would in all 

 probability have led to a Continental conflagration. 

 The following is the summary list of these occasions, 

 which is all that can be presented here and now. Par- 

 ticulars can easily be filled in from the Cajnbridge Modern 

 Wts/orjy or other convenient textbooks, (i) The revolt 

 of the Greeks from the Turkish suzerainty, that at 

 one time seemed likely to embroil Russia with Austria 

 on the one side and Britain on the other, was finally 

 settled by Conference at London, and this in spite of the 

 fact that Austria and Prussia refused to send represen- 

 tatives, thus leaving Russia, France, and Britain to find 

 the path of peace. The problem was solved by 1833, 

 when independence was secured, boundaries de- 

 lineated, and a kingdom under Otto of Bavaria set up. 

 (2) The separation of Belgium from Holland in 1830 

 gravely threatened a general European war. For not 

 only did William of Orange refuse to recognise the 

 disintegration of his kingdom ; he was supported by 

 his brethren of Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The good 

 instances of France and Britain resulted in the settle- 

 ment of the conflict by diplomatic means, and in 1839 

 the final partition was peacefully accomplished. (3) In 

 1840 the Near Eastern question once more disturbed 

 the Christian Powers of the West. Mehemet Ali of 

 Egj'pt rose in revolt against his sovereign the Turkish 

 Sultan. France, then in search of glory under the 

 guidance of Thiers, lent him encouragement and sup- 

 J)ort. A series of striking mihtan,' successes gained by 

 Mehemet and his warrior son seemed to portend the 

 dissolution of the Turkish Empire. The four Powers — 

 Russia, Austria, Prussia, Britain — however, by timely 

 and decisive intervention, saved the Sultan from ruin, 

 forced France to withdraw her support from Mehemet 

 and to abandon her neo-Napoleonic policy in the East. 

 Whatever ma}' be said as to the ultimate righteousness 

 and wisdom of the policy of the maintenance of the 

 integrity of the Turkish Empire, there can be no doubt 



that at the moment the action of the Quadruple Alli- 

 ance prevented a gigantic upheaval. (4) In 1852 a 

 menacing problem relating to the Danish succession 

 was dealt with and solved amicably in a Conference 

 held at London, and attended by representatives of the 

 five Great Powers, together wth those of Norway, 

 Sweden, and Denmark. {5) In 1856 the status of Serbia 

 and Rumania, both of which had secured virtual in- 

 dependence, was treated and decided at Paris by pleni- 

 potentiaries from the five Powers, plus Sardinia and 

 Turkey. (6) The very formidable question of the 

 position of Luxemburg, which in 1S67 seemed hkely 

 to precipitate the Franco-Prussian War, was referred 

 to a Conference of diplomats representative of the five 

 Powers together with Italy (now the sixth Great Power), 

 Holland, and Belgium. The Conference successfully 

 dealt with the thorny problem, and arrived at that 

 treaty settlement of neutrality which regulated the 

 status of Luxemburg as a buffer-duchy down to the 

 outbreak of the war of 1914. (7) In 1884 the Powers, 

 in conference at Berlin, removed Africa from the sphere 

 of probable conflict^into which it had been brought by 

 the sudden outburst of German colonial activity 

 during that year — by carefully partitioning it into zones 

 of influence. (8) In 1900 they did the same for 

 Oceania. (9) In 1906 they obviated a Franco-German 

 struggle respecting Morocco ; and, finally, (10) they 

 postponed the Great War for a few months by their 

 London agreement concerning the Balkans in 1912-13. 

 These are achievements of no mean magnitude, and 

 they need to be taken into account and carefully 

 weighed by those who tend to talk too readily about 

 the " European Anarchy " of modem times. There 

 was a good deal more " International Government " 

 in Europe during the nineteenth century than some 

 political critics are disposed to allow. It was, how- 

 ever, it may be freely admitted, of a very imperfect and 

 rudimentary kind. If it was strong and effective 

 enough to prevent wars on ten or more occasions, it 

 failed to do so on at least five others. 



The wars which the Concert of Europe failed to 

 prevent during the nineteenth century were, firet, the 

 Crimean War of 1834; secondly, the War of Italian 

 Liberation, 1859 ; thirdly, the wars for the unification 

 of Germany and the aggrandisement of Prussia, 1864, 

 1866, 1870 ; fourthly, the Russo-Turkish War, 1877 ; 

 and, finally, the German War for world dominion, 1914. 

 In each case strenuous efforts were made by the 

 Powers not primarily concerned to mediate, to arbi- 

 trate, to compose the causes of quarrel by negotiation, 

 to secure the calling of Conferences and Congresses. In 

 each case these efforts failed, and we can now clearly 



