political journals[1]; histories and biographies; memoires of ambassadors; systematic treatises, dissertations and miscellaneous writings on the Law of Nations.
On the Balance of Power Martens writes tersely and with pertinence. In all ages nations have looked with jealous eyes on the disproportionate aggrandizement of any one of their number. But it was in the sixteenth century, in the rivalry of the House of Austria and the Kings of France, that the principle had its origin as a considered basis of action, assuming, no doubt, various guises, but without ever entirely losing sight of the end in view.[2] From the close of the seventeenth century Great Britain had been a leader in guarding this principle as though it were one of the accepted principles of the Law of Nations. The principle may be applied also in its particular bearings on parts of Europe or of the world. There may be a balance of power among Powers for the east of Europe, or the west, or the north, or the south. There may be a balance among the States of Italy, or those of Germany. Questions may be raised of a colonial balance in America, and of a maritime balance. It is not merely the acquisition of territory that needs to be watched. There are other ways in which the equilibrium may be disturbed. Alliances between powerful States may compromise the existing security, or a State which
- ↑ e.g. Die europäische Fama: Le Mercure historique et politique; Staatsarchiv.
- ↑ The following works had influence in shaping thought on the principle of a balance down to the outbreak of the French Revolution: Le baron dell' Isola, Le bouclier de l'État et de justice, 1667; Lehmann, Trutina Europae, 1710; Kahle, De Trutina Europae, quae vulgo appellatur 'die Balance', praecipua belli et pacis norma, 1744; Justi, Chimaire des Gleichgewichts von Europa, 1758; Hertzberg, Dissertation sur la véritable richesse des États, la Balance du commerce et celle du pouvoir, 1786.
contenant les négociations, traités, etc., concernant les affaires d'État, for the first half of the century, 14 vols. (1724 sqq.).
