"The first and greatest concern for the immense majority of every nation is the stability of the laws, and their uninterrupted action — never their change. Therefore let the governments govern, let them maintain the groundwork of established institutions. Let their motto be: stability and activity. No government, if it wishes to be durable, ought to put itself in a position of not being able to fulfil regularly and easily the obligations which it has undertaken with regard to its creditors, the employers of its citizens, or the citizens themselves. Kings and princes must always remember that their authority is delegated to them as a trust, and that they remain accountable to God and their peoples for the faithful discharge of this trust."

Prince Klemens von Metternich, 'Confession of Faith', private memorandum, 1820. Written for Tsar Alexander I of Russia as Metternich was preparing for the Congress of Troppau. Metternich was Austrian Foreign Minister and the dominant figure in post-Napoleonic European diplomacy.