The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-16
sDWE NEW HOOKS.


Eurpp an Diplomacy.
The se,oul Volume of the History 81
EVropcGH DipIDW1cg, by DAVID JAYNE
1fILL. LID. uongman~l, carries US from
the beginning Of the reign Of Edward Ill.
20 the Peace of Westphalia. and covers the
period during which the moderu European
States were evolved. As the author ex-
planned in a preface 10 the first volume. the
purpose of this work is 70 offer the general
reader an account of the political develop
ment Of Europe. regarded from an inter
national point Of view. A. the emphasis
Is laid upon diplomatic policy and action
rather than upon military operations. the
book is accurately described as a history
~ diplomacy, not in a purely technical
sense. hut ~ an influence affecting inter-
national life and relations. II in these $50
pages stress il laid upon the transition
from the Middle Ages to the modern inter-
national system, rather than upon the
Thirty Years War which Immediately pre-
ceded the Peace Of Westphalia, it ia because
in this transition the permanent traditions
Of Europe have their origin. There Is no
doubt that in the relations Of France, Spain,
Germany and England TO Italy and in the
growth OF the Reformation during the
FlNHlTN OF NltIitN ' 1io ." Vs.
formed the most durable international
traditions of Europe, Italy was the battle
field. but the prize for which the contestants
were contending was the primacy OF Europe.
The Thirty Years War was therefore only
the prolongation of a controversy whose
strategic lines had peer drawn a century
before il began. and the Peace OF West
phalia was only the liquidation OF still
- %. .,p tho sHnnnrtal
and the territorial idea.
As the efforts to realize the imperial
convention gave character 10 the Middle
Ages. so the motives and policy OF the ma
tional monarchies haze created modern
Europe. Neither standing armies nor
modern navies. nor the financial systems
that render them possible, would now exist
IL these motives and policies had not brought
them into existence. If political entities
could live apart from rivals and enemies
and posSeSs no instincts OF expansion, there
would be no occasion for diplomacy. In
that case political history would lie mainly
confined TO constitutional development.
~ course, however, no State Is thur lso-
lated, and in this fact lies the necessity OF
international relations in which diplomacy
becomes a creative agent. The extent TO
which modern history * the outcome OF
diplomacy is brought out sharply by DIR.
Hill: Peace and war. defence and aggres-
sion. and it's protection, and
subsidiary to these. systems OF revenue and
industry. are all mere element in the cal
Gulations and programmes Of diplomatic
action. Ships are built and manned, from
tiers are fortified and armies are formed
and moved in obedience to its theory and
practice Elsewhere he remarks that IL
is easy to theorize upon the swift realiza-
ton Of political ideals, To denounce war,
TO glorify peace, to propose a European
federation and to demand that all interna-
tional differences he adjusted in an amicable
manner; but in his judgment armies will
not be disbanded. navies - ili not cease to be
built and Notifications will not be de-
molished until the historic reasohs for their
existence have passed. away Thofe rea-
sons cannot he dismissed until they are
understood INC they cannot be- understood
uetil they are studied in the concrete setting
of the events by which they ha7" q pro
duced. 1t is to facilitate such a study that
this narrative has been penned.