means of communication.

The first of these changes may be dated to the circular of Count Kaunitz
of the 17th of July 1791, in which, in face of the Revolution, he
impressed upon the powers the duty of making common cause for the
purpose of preserving "public peace, the tranquillity of states, the
inviolability of possessions, and the faith of treaties." The duty of
watching over the common interests of Europe, or of the world, was thus
for the first time officially recognized as a function of diplomacy,
since common action could only be taken as the result of diplomatic
negotiations. It would be easy to exaggerate the effective results of
this idea, even when it had crystallized in the Grand Alliance of 1814
and been proclaimed to the world in the Holy Alliance of the 26th of
September 1815 and the declaration of Aix-la-Chapelle. The cynical
picture given by La Bruyere of the diplomatist of the 18th century still
remained largely true: "His talk is only of peace, of alliances, of the
public tranquillity, and of the public interests; in reality he is
thinking only of his own, that is to say, of those of his master or of
his republic."[1] The proceedings of the congress of Vienna proved how
little the common good weighed unless reinforced by particular
interests; but the conception of "Europe" as a political entity none the
less survived. The congresses, notably the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle
(q.v.) in 1818, were in a certain sense European parliaments, and their
ostensible object was the furtherance of common interests. Had the
imperial dreamer Alexander I. of Russia had his way, they would have
been permanently established on the broad basis of the Holy Alliance,
and would have included, not the great powers only, but representatives
of every state (see ALEXANDER I. and EUROPE: _History_). Whatever the
effective value of that "Concert of Europe" which was the outcome of the
period of the congresses, it certainly produced a great effect on the
spirit and the practice of diplomacy. In the congresses and conferences
diplomacy assumes international functions both legislative and
administrative. The diplomat is responsible, not only to his own
government, but to "Europe." Thus Castlereagh was accused of
subordinating the interests of Great Britain to those of Europe; and the
same charge was brought, perhaps with greater justice, against
Metternich in respect of Austria. Canning's principle of "Every nation
for itself and G