HOLY ALLIANCE, THE. The famous declaration known by this name was signed in the first instance by Alexander I., emperor of Russia, Francis I., emperor of Austria, and Fred " crick William III., king of Prussia, on Sept. 26, I 815.
This document, the text of which was not published till 1816, laid down that the reciprocal relations of the Powers were hence forth to be based "on the sublime truths which the Holy Re ligion of our Saviour teaches"; that "the precepts of Justice, Christian Charity and Peace . . . must have an immediate influence on the councils of Princes, and guide all their steps"; that the three monarchs would, accordingly, "remain united by the bonds of a true and indissoluble fraternity" and "on all oc casions and in all places, lend each other aid and assistance," while "regarding themselves towards their subjects and armies as fathers of families" (Art. I.) ; that the said Governments and their subjects would consider themselves as "members of one and the same Christian nation" (Art. II.). In the last article (III.) all the Powers who should "choose solemnly to avow the sacred principles which have dictated this act" were invited to join "this Holy Alliance." The credit for inspiring this singular document was claimed by the Baroness von Krudener (q.v.); in any case it was the out come of the tsar's mood of evangelical exaltation, and was in its inception perfectly sincere. Neither Frederick William nor Francis signed willingly, the latter remarking that "if it was a question of politics, he must refer it to his chancellor, if of reli gion, to his confessor." Metternich called it a "loud-sounding nothing," Castlereagh, "a piece of sublime mysticism and non sense." None the less, all the European sovereigns appended their signatures to it, except the prince regent of Great Britain, the Pope and the Sultan. The prince regent courteously de clined to sign, on the constitutional ground that all acts of the British Crown required the counter-signature of a minister, but he sent a letter expressing his "entire concurrence with the prin ciples laid down by the `august sovereigns' and stating that it would always be his endeavour to regulate his conduct by their `sacred maxims.' " The Pope could not sign a religious manifesto in common with schismatics and heretics, while the exclusion of the caliph of Islam was so obvious as to lead to sinister suspi cions of the Emperor Alexander's motives.
In popular parlance the "Holy Alliance" soon became synony mous with the combination of the Great Powers by whom Europe was ruled for some years after 1815, and associated with the policy of reaction which gradually dominated their counsels. For the understanding of the history of this period, however, a clear distinction must be drawn between the Holy Alliance and the Grand or Quadruple (Quintuple) Alliance. The Grand Alli ance was established on definite treaties concluded for definite purposes, of which the chief was the preservation of peace on the basis of the settlement of 1815. The Holy Alliance was a general treaty—hardly indeed a treaty at all—which bound its signatories to act on certain vague principles for no well-defined end.
As a diplomatic instrument the Holy Alliance never became effective. None the less, its principles and the fact of its signa ture had a powerful effect during the 19th century. It strongly influenced Nicholas I. of Russia, to whom the brotherhood of sovereigns by divine right was an article of faith, inspiring the principles of the Convention of Berlin (between Russia, Austria and Prussia) in 1833, and the tsar's intervention in 1849 to crush the Hungarian insurrection on behalf of his brother of Austria. That it had become synonymous with a conspiracy against popular liberties was, however, a mere accident of the point of view of those who interpreted its principles. It was capable of other and more noble interpretations, and it was avowedly the inspiration of the famous rescript of the emperor Nicholas II. which resulted in the first international peace confer ence at The Hague in 1899. (W. A. P.)