that must be sought in special works and in the sources that bear upon each problem. The aim in what follows is to help towards forming the habit of mind that is required for appreciating questions of foreign policy. Rousseau, in a letter to the Marquis de Mirabeau, said of Politics that it is 'une science des calculs, des combinaisons, et des exceptions, selon les lieux, les temps et les circonstances'. In no region of politics have these words more pertinence and force than in that of international relations. In none is it more imperative to understand, and in none more difficult to allow for, the measure of prudence and the measure of justice contained in the means that are adopted for ends that have been sought or for such as have been attained, in varying degrees of achievement. 'Le grand art du diplomate' has been very aptly expressed as 'bien dire dans l'ordre convenable tout ce qui doit être dit, et rien au delà'.[1] It is a condensation of the art almost violent in its terseness; and its assumption of the possibility of a nice adjustment, by a stroke of genius, of means to end must not be allowed to obscure the fact that, while the schooling in le style diplomatique may be precise and correct—while it may be possible to unite to 'la précision des idées la propriété des termes et la concision du style'—yet the fields of action and conduct are spacious and of mixed soils, and the cultivators are many and of many minds. The definition of the art of diplomacy which has been cited is one which is suggested more especially by the requirements of what is termed le style diplomatique, le style de cour, or le style de chancellerie. The art of writing letters and notes and of producing other compositions, whether they be merely polite or be sternly pertinent to the business on hand, is not the whole of the art of diplomacy. Even, however, within the exercise of that
- ↑ Charles de Martens, Le Guide diplomatique (4th ed.), ii. 5.
