Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/590

 552 Readings in European History congresses, which met at Troppau. Here a system of intervention in the internal affairs of those countries threatening the repose of Europe was agreed upon, and was justified in a circular note which casts much light on the policy of the reactionary monarchs who were under Metternich's influence. 463. Circu- Having been informed of the false and exaggerated lar note of rumors which have been circulated by ill-intentioned and tinTforth credulous persons in regard to the results of the confer- Metternich's ences at Troppau, the allied courts deem it necessary to theory of transmit authentic explanations to their representatives at intervention. ., r x foreign courts, in order to enable them to refute the errone- ous ideas to which these rumors have given rise. The brief report here annexed will enable them to do this. . . . Troppau, December 8, 1820. Brief Review of the First Results of the Conferences at Troppau The events which took place in Spain March 8 and at Naples July 2, as well as the catastrophe in Portugal, could not but arouse a feeling of the deepest indignation, appre- hension, and sorrow in those who are called upon to guard the tranquillity of the nations ; and, at the same time, it emphasized the necessity of uniting in order to determine in common the means of checking the misfortunes which threaten to envelop Europe. It was but natural that these sentiments should leave a deep impression upon those powers which had but lately stifled revolution and which now beheld it once more raise its head. Nor was it less natural that these powers, in encounter- ing revolution for the third time, should have recourse to the same methods which they had employed with so much success in the memorable struggle which freed Europe from a yoke she had borne for twenty years. Everything encouraged the hope that that alliance, formed in the most