The principal object Lord Castlereagh had in view was to bring about a degree of persevering unity in the European coalition; it was the ruling idea of Mr. Pitt and the labour of his life: but the statesman had so often failed in his object. The weakness of Europe against Buonaparte resulted from its divisions, from its conflicting interests, and the separation of one cabinet from another; it was therefore necessary to unite them all in one common cause, and this was not the least difficult task he had to perform. If they might reckon upon the willingness of Russia to proceed to extremities against Napoleon, if the national spirit had been roused in Prussia to strive earnestly for the fall of the Emperor, were they likely to meet with the same concurrence, the same absolute devotion on the part of Austria, and of Sweden under Bernadotte? What obstacles and opposition Lord Castlereagh had to encounter in the course of the year 1813, at the time of the armistice of Plesswitz and the congress of Prague! Fresh discussions were incessantly started, and the coalition was repeatedly ready to fall to pieces, from the selfish tendencies of private interests. As for him he had but one object, one desire--the fall of Napoleon and the dissolution of the French Empire, and no words can express the power possessed by a man who has one idea constantly present to his mind, and follows it up with undeviating energy. The dissolution of the congress of Prague was occasioned by this absorbing passion in the mind of Lord Castlereagh, who induced Metternich to engage more decidedly in the coalition; he was like the intrepid hunter who sounds the halloo in pursuit of the stag at bay.