ABSTRACT
On the basis of the European system all three were agreed; they differed only as to the superstructure. The system of alliances built up from the Treaty of Chaumont, as modified by the Treaty of 20th November 1815, was the chief bond. This committed the Four Allies for twenty years to the defence of the territorial provisions of the Treaty of Vienna, and also to concerted action against any attempt to restore the Napoleonic dynasty to France. To this obligation of the Quadruple Alliance, to this steel structure of European peace, all three subscribed. Article VI. of the Treaty of 20th November 1815 provided for the periodical reunion of ministers and sovereigns, and this clause, due to Castlereagh, ensured collective discussion on European events, and kept up the idea of a possible extension of obligations. The three men looked at the Treaties in a different way. Metternich said Englishmen viewed a treaty 'like a civil contract,' and that Russians regarded not its precise stipulations but took the spirit for their guide. Castlereagh, though not at all anxious to break with the Alliance, did not consider that England was bound by that obligation to do more than join in attacking France, if she violated the territorial settlement or restored Napoleon. In the case of revolution or disturbance in France they were bound indeed to meet and discuss together, but Castlereagh denied that he had promised to do more than that. Alexander, however, held that this bond could be extended to cover a general and active interference or suppression of revolution in any State wishing to attempt such experiments. Metternich was too much of an opportunist to stop as short as Castlereagh or to go as far as Alexander. It might be convenient at one time to extend the Quadruple Alliance to include the suppression of revolution, and very inconvenient to do so at another time. Metternich had no desire to see Cossacks restoring order in Germany, but he might want to see Austrians restoring it in Italy. What Metternich most wanted was a display of moral solidarity among rulers in order
that revolutionaries might be intimidated. But he was statesman enough to see that if he pushed Castlereagh too far in the direction of Alexander, the Quadruple Alliance would fall in pieces. Hence he tried to balance between the hard legal practicality of the one and the vague cosmopolitan mysticism of the other. His formula of ' moral solidarity' was constructed to prevent the material intervention of Alexander and the possible defection of Castlereagh.
