kings would meet under conditions of the most rigid secrecy and lay down the law to the world, make compacts, and establish principles, of which the following had been their latest and most definite:
"Article I. The high contracting powers, being convinced that the system of representative government is equally as incompatible with the monarchical principles as the maxim of the sovereignty of the people with the divine right, engage mutually, in the most solemn manner, to use all their efforts to put an end to the system of representative governments, in whatever country it may exist in Europe, and to prevent its being introduced in those countries where it is not yet known."
Every first-class power in Europe, except Turkey, was a party to this formidable combination. It was a close corporation for the running of Christendom.
Several slight impediments had developed in the proceedings. One was that the Duke of Wellington, the foremost soldier in the world,
