The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 30, 1918, Page 3

S thin carbicle. to' akate a8 . n the interest ¢ of a square deal for the farmers saddled nmew despotisms on suppressed peoples .. which we have just pass- -/ lessons - which can be- ~ ‘drawn from that page of - ‘now, facing similar con- ‘ditions and problems, we - countries will profit by - . the follies and disastrous .~ experiences of our great . grandfathers. .”fo owing the fall of Na- _of 1815, interpreted and .- enforeed by the “Holy - VOL. 7, NOr 26 E nations of the world are about to assemble in a peace confer- ence. They will assemble after a long and bloody war and in the midst of great revolutions which have shaken the founda- tions of -society and govern- ment, and loosened new ideas £z which have profoundly affected trends of thought and action in every part of the globe., But this is not the first time the nations have as- sembled under similar circumstances. Once before the rulers and statesmen of Europe gathered to re- store the peace of the world, and likewise at a éime when revolution had reared its head and new ideas in politics {and government had agitated the peo- ples of the:world from the lowest to the highest. In many respects the world in 1815, after the Napoleonic::wars, faced problems similar to those we are facihg today, and certainly as important and had swept over the world, testing political and eco- nomic institutions by a new and hitherto-unrecog- nized standard. The American colonies of the Brit- ish king had waged a successful war of liberation and established a form of government of, by and for the people, that was the extreme of radicalism in those times. An alliance of the nations of Eu- rope had at last defeated Napoleon and ended a dream of world domination much like that which in 1914 launched the armies of the kaiser against the peace -and safety of humanity. Then as now the rulers and statesmen met to restore peace and as- - sure the future tranquillity of the world. FALSE PEACE MAKES MORE WARS Who. has read history so unintelligently and so completely failed to keep abreast of affairs in the world today, that he does not see the parallel ? The. great powers a hundred years ago failed in the mighty work of re- construction after world war and revolution. Their failure plunged Europe into the bloodiest cen- tury of-its history. Their failure set the brakes on progress and reform, and actually sowed many | of the seeds whose fruit was the carnage through ed; a hundred years latgr. ! It is the purpose of briefly as possible the history, in the hope that and the peoples of other The peace patched up poldon, was the result of the .Congress of Vienna difficult.; The spirit of the great French revolution - - tion and aggrandizement of ruling classes. As the stery:of this page briefly shows, noth- “ ing was too’bloody, desplcl ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, DECEMBER 30, 1918 Teader Official Magazine of 'the_ National Nonpartisan League A magazine that dares to print the truth WHOLE NUMBER 171 Alliance” of European powers, formed the same year. 5 The ideas of the French and American revolu- tions, which were abroad in the world, were that governments exist for the people, not that the peo- ple exist for governments or sovereigns, and that all men are born, free and equal. The slogans of the French revolutionists and the revolutionary pro- nouncements of our own Declaration of Independ- ence, the most inflammatory document in existence, made despots and tyrants tremble. The rulers and statesmen met, therefore, not only to remake the map of Europe, but to set up a barrier against the encroachments of the liberal doctrines which threat- ened the very foundations of society and govern- ment as they then existed. DEMOCRACY CRUSHED IN SPAIN The Holy Alliance of 1815 formed after the Na- poleonic wars originally was an alliance of Russia, Austria and Prussia, the three leading despotisms of Europe. -Eventually, however, it included every state of Europe except Great Britain and Turkey. The announced purposes of the alliance, if they were ever sincere, were soon forgotten, and history re- cords no blacker pages than those containing the acts of this league of nations, which became an instru- ment of sovereigns and autocrats to crush political reform and liberalism. The ;sovereigns solemnly’ resolved, in"the published purboses of the alliance, that henceforth. they “would take the Christian religion as their-guide and rule their states and regulate their conduct toward their citizens strictly in" accordance with the precepts of justice and Christian love and peace, as set forth in the New Testament.”- The only trouble with this was-that . the kings of Europe were to be the judges of what was and what was not the meaning of the New Testament! Ferdinand VIIL of Spain had ruled as an.abso- ” This is the Congress of Vienna in session, from an old painting. The congress established the Holy Alliance in 1815 following the close of the Napoleonic wars. The name of the -alliance, as well as its avowed purpose to be guided by the precepts of the Christian religion in all matters, forms a significant contrast with its actual performance. The promises were for public consumption; the acts for protec- ble or vicious for this league to sanction. - - Will Nations Repeat Holy Alliance\? First League,of Nations Established in 1815, Dominated by Autocrats, : Became Engine of Oppression—Led to Monroe Doctrine lute monarch, but in 1812 the people had forced from him a constitution, which he later disregarded, re-establishing the former autocracy. In 1820, after the formation of the Holy Alliance, the people of Spain revolted and demanded the re-establishment of the constitution of 1812. The Holy Alliance as- sembled at Verona in 1822 and decided to intervene in Spanish affairs, to suppress the revolt of the peo- ple against their autocratic king. France, on be- half of the alliance, undertook to invade Spain, and did so, although Great Britain, governed by liberal statesmen at that time, protested. “With-the help of the French army, the king of Spain was able to put down the revolution. The leaders of the Span- ish people who demanded a constitution and the abolition of the autocracy, were hung and many thousands of others were thrown in jail. The liberal movement in Spain was crushed. Almost all the states of Italy had been given to princes of the Austrian house as a result of the Con- gress of Vienna. Following the Spanish revolt, the people of Italy rose in rebellion against the Aus- trian tyrants, demanding Italian freedom and a con- stitution. The Holy Alliance met at Troppau in 1820 to consider this insolence on the part of the Italians, and met again the following year at Lai- bach. It was decided by the alliance to intervene, and Austria was commissioned to send an army into Italy and stamp out the revolt. This army over- threw the revolution, just at a time when the lib- erals seemed certain of victory. - The alliance had “preserved law and order” in Italy, and the foreign princes of the Austrian house were again firmly established as the overlords of the Italians. OPPOSES LIBERALISM IN GERMANY At about this time also, dermany demdnded “law and order” treatment of the brand dispensed by the - | Holy Alliance. Here, too, the doctrine that all men were created free and equal and that Sovereigns ’ did not exist by divine The liberal movement swept over Germany, the universities being hot- beds of the .agitation. - Students made demon- strations for the new ideas and burned in the public squares books de- fending the old . order. The Holy Alliance got nervous, and at a session at Carlsbad decided on . repressive meas ures against the German lib- erals. ~ A censorship of the press, barring liberal -~ ideas, w:a's proclaimed, and steps were taken to discipline the universities and place them under a strict control that would prevent agitation for a unified Germany under a constitution, These meas- ures were effective. For the time being liberalism was crushed out in Ger- _“many. . The ruling spirit of the Holy Alliance was Prince Austria. - His doctrine is perhaps . best: expressed in 'a statement made by right had gained ground.’ Metternich; minister of Francis L, -emperor of