Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/592

 554 Readings in European History In order to prepare conciliatory measures toward this end, the monarchs convened at Troppau resolved to ask the king of the Two Sicilies to meet them at Laibach, with the single aim of freeing him from all external compulsion and placing him in the position of mediator between his erring people and the states whose tranquillity they threaten. . . . France and England have been requested to cooperate in these measures, and it is to be anticipated that they will not refuse, since the principle upon which the request is based is completely in accord with the treaties which they have entered into, and affords, moreover, a guarantee of the fairest and most peaceful intentions. The system pursued in concert by Prussia, Austria, and Russia is in no way new. It is based upon the same princi- ples upon which the conventions rested which created the alliance of the European states. . . . Moreover it is needless to prove that the resolutions taken by the powers are in no way to be attributed to the idea of conquest, or to any intention of interfering with the independence of other governments in their internal administration, or, lastly, to the purpose of preventing wise improvements freely carried out and in harmony with the true interests of the people. Their only desire is to preserve and maintain peace, to deliver Europe from the scourge of revolution, and to obviate or lessen the ills which arise from the violation of the precepts of order and morality. . . . While Metternich and his allies were intervening to check reform in southern Europe, the Greeks rose against their masters and declared themselves a free and independent state. This was a source of deep sat- isfaction to the liberal parties in the West, who had suffered so many disappointments since the opening of the Congress of Vienna. A constitutional assembly was convoked in Greece, and, having completed a provisional constitution, it issued the following manifesto.