Adjusting the Balance This French cartoon captures the essence of how the educated public thought about the balance-of-power diplomacy resulting in the Treaty of Vienna, the last page of which was signed and sealed in 1815 by the representatives of the various European states (inset). In the cartoon, the Englishman on the left uses his money to counterbalance the people that the Prussian and the fat Metternich are gaining in Saxony and Italy. Alexander I sits happily on his prize, Poland. (cartoon: Bibliothèque nationale de France; treaty: Archives du Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, Paris, France/Archives Charmet/The Bridgeman Art Library.)