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unsuccessful campaign in Holland, and threw himself into Napoleon's arms by establishing an armed neutrality in the north against England.

Alexander I. (1801-1825).

Catherine died (1796), but her plan did not perish with her. Alexander I. proved a faithful expounder of the late Czarina's schemes.

His strong-handed policy was chiefly directed against Armenia and the Persian frontier, although the Danubian territory, Poland and Finland, did not escape his watchful eyes. Mingrelia and Imeretia were conquered in 1803, Shiroan in 1805-1806.

At last Alexander's policy took a definite form at the Treaty of Tilsit (1807), for by the first provision "Russia was to take possession of Turkey in Europe, and push on her conquests in Asia as she thought proper. This secret treaty, which was made with Napoleon I., caused great uneasiness in England, and a coolness sprang up between

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the two Powers (1807-1812), although England had adhered to an Anglo-Russian Alliance during Chatham's administration, and Alexander joined the coalition of 1805.

In 1809 Russia gained Finland, with the whole of East Bothnia and part of West Bothnia, as far as the River Tornea, by the Treaty of Friedrichsham. The Peace of Bucharest (1812) was the result of England's mediation, by which Russia added Bessarabia, and the Pruth was made the boundary between Russia and Turkey, while Russia gave up Moldavia and Wallachia, which at that time were occupied by her. The quarrel between Russia and France concerning the "Continental System

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"Upon the Continental System he (Napoleon) had staked everything. He had united all Europe in the crusade against England; no state, least of all such a state as Russia, could withdraw from the system without practically joining England. Nevertheless, we may wonder that, if he felt obliged to make war upon Russia, he should have chosen to wage it in the manner he did, by an overwhelming invasion" (Seeley's "A Short History of Napoleon the Great," p. 169). Prof. Seeley also told the author that "if the Continental System had existed a little longer England would have been ruined,

brought about a French invasion of Russia

by 678,000 men (1812). But Russia coped successfully with her powerful foe.

The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) met to restore the balance of power and regulate the European relations, and also established the "Pentarchy of the Great Powers." Eight nations signed the Act of the Congress of Vienna, by which Russia was, generally speaking, the greatest gainer, for she received the greater part of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.

At the Congress of Vienna, Castlereagh (the English representative) evidently had in view three aims--(1) to prevent any revival of the Continental System; (2) to protect English communication with India; and (3) to maintain her supremacy in the Mediterranean. For the first aim, England obtained Heligoland, and the kingdom of the Netherlands was formed, and "the surrender of Java was made to the Dutch by way of increasing the wealth and power of that kingdom, and so

because it seems to me that a revolution would have taken place in England."

helping to re-establish the due counterpoise to French power which nature has given to the possession of the Low Countries"; for the second aim, England also obtained the possession of Cape Colony (from the Dutch) and the Mauritius (from France) to render safe the road to India; and for the third aim, England retained Malta, and also the seven Ionian islands were brought under English protection.

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The Battle of Waterloo stamped out Napoleon's ambitious schemes. French power and influence in Eastern Europe vanished with Napoleon, and from that time France has not fully recovered, and is therefore unable to settle the Eastern Question for her benefit. The Napoleonic plan of occupying Constantinople has been stolen by Russia.

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Napoleon's great mistake was that he had laid his plan for an invasion of England and a war in Europe at the same time" (Seeley's "A Short History of Napoleon the Great," p. 115).

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THE NEW EUROPEAN SYSTEM.

The concert of the Great Powers; its aims-It does not protect small states from its own members, e.g., Polish Revolution-How far can it solve the Turkish question?

NAPOLEON THE GREAT fell at the Battle of Waterloo, 1815. The "concert of the Great Powers," the primary object of which is to avoid the recurrence of universal war in Europe, was first established at the Congress of Vienna in the same year. This new European System is, however, only applicable to the case of a small Power or Powers, but not to the Great Powers themselves. For instance, in the Schleswig-Holstein, as well as the Franco-Prussian War, none of the other Great Powers could interfere, and matters were entirely left to themselves.

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