At a moment which could only be compared to the great Crisis of the Reformation, when the ground was heaving up beneath the Governments of Europe, and when, as it had well been said, there was an uprising and clashing together of opinions, loosening from their accustomed holds and driving large masses of men into action and violence, it was prudent for every State to revise its principles of action, and to keep in view, as its one great object, the preservation of the peace of the world, threatened as it was by so many dangers.