The Holy Alliance endeavored to impose upon other
nations principles and a law of life not their own. As Canning
objected to the Holy Alliance, so he would have objected to its
present secular substitute, the Concert of Europe, which simply
means the agreement of the great powers to inflict their will
upon the small ones, not allowing them to develop according to
their native forces and genius, but constraining them to such
forms and confining them within such limits as suits the
convenience of a despotic hexarchy of states, or of a majority
of them. The country which is England at home should be England
abroad, reserving all its freedom of action. Canning's foreign
policy, which was for 'Europe' to read 'England,' and to 'get
rid of Areopagus and all that,' was sound and statesmanlike and
abundantly justified by its results."
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW
1. How did England join with the rest of Europe in undoing
the work of Napoleon?
2. Give the chief events in the early life of Canning.
3. Why did Canning authorize an attack on Denmark?
4. What was his relation to the Peninsular War?
5. What was his "lost opportunity" of 1812?
6. How did he set forth his plans when he became foreign
secretary in 1821?
7. What interference in the affairs of Europe did the
Holy Alliance attempt?
8.
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