THE PEACE CONFERENCE.—A PARALLEL.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR.,—May I be permitted to draw a parallel in your paper between the Peace Conference now being held at the Hague and the Holy Alliance of 1815 ? Like the present Czar Nicholas, Alexander I. conceived an alliance ostensibly for the promotion of " happiness, safety, the benefits of peace, and strengthening the bonds of fraternity forever indestruc- tible." In this he was vehemently supported by Madame Kriidener, a religious enthusiast who had great influence over the Czar ; and at her suggestion the word " Holy " was, un- fortunately, applied to the Alliance. This Madame Kriidener was, in fact, the Mr. Stead of those days ; and as he has so admirably and enthusiastically supported the cause of peace at the end of the century, so did she at the beginning. To every one acquainted with history the epithet " unholy " would better have been applied to the Alliance of 1815. It became, in fact, nothing short of a powerful political coalition for the suppression of all reforms tending to the liberty of the nations who came under its sway ; the original and admirable aims of the Alliance were com- pletely distorted by the politicians of that day. Of course, I would not presume to say that such a thing could happen to the present Conference; to begin with, it is quite on different grounds, and even if it does fail in the main there will be a lot of good derived from the mere fact of its having been held. I cannot, however, help remarking that politicians as a rule do not regard things in the same light and with the same fervent enthusiasm as people of Madame Kriidener and Mr. Stead's character. Before concluding I must draw atten- tion to the practical disruption of the Holy Alliance by Mr. Canning recognising the independence of the revolted Spanish colonies in South America. To quote his celebrated saying " I called the new world into existence to redress
the balance of the old." Has not Lord Salisbury in a great measure redressed the balance of both the old and new worlds by the great alliance of the Anglo-Saxon race P—I am,
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