CHAPTER XXVII THE EUROPEAN POWERS FROM 1815 TO 1 87 1 The Congress of Vienna, having for its guiding spirits the Austrian Mettemich and the Frenchman Talleyrand, rearranged the map of Europe. The French border was nearly 1. Recon- that of 1789. In Italy, Austria had Lombardy struction, and Venetia ; the Bourbons were restored in Naples. Sardinia recovered Savoy. The German Empire had ceased to exist, but the German states were formed into a very loose confederation under Austrian presidency. Napoleon's Grand Duchy of Warsaw was not returned to Prussia but was transferred as the Kingdom of Poland to Alexander of Russia. Prussia by way of compensa- tion got half Saxony and a group of Rhine provinces which brought her borders in direct contact with France. Hanover became a kingdom, as yet attached to the British Crown. The Crown of Holland and Belgium together was bestowed on the house of Orange. Only this much was left of the Revolution, that Louis xvm, was required to grant a charter of liberties in France providing some share in the government to the people more Revival of or less after the British model; sundry minor Absolutism. German states followed suit, and Alexander gave a charter to Poland. But no corresponding move was made, in spite of vague declarations, in Prussia, Austria, or Russia; and the charters were all treated as Acts of Grace on the part of the Crown, revocable by the Crown if the people proved ungrateful. It was the divine right of kings to rule, and their pious duty to rule beneficently ; but the people were not to be permitted to question their decrees. These in effect were the principles of 375
