which can be weighed against each
other, but living growths which expand according to obscure natural laws.
Human laws can never stop natural growth; growth can only be stopped by
death, and so the Balance of Power seems to necessitate continual conflict.
And so, at least twice in the last two centuries, the attempt to maintain a
stable European system by a peaceful "Concert of Europe" has broken down.
Once, in the Holy Alliance, that Concert itself became an intolerable
tyranny. Many men to-day hope to secure peace by re-establishing the
Concert of Europe on a democratic basis, but it may well be doubted whether
any such system can be permanent, unless there be a radical reform in the
mind and character not only of European statesmen but of the European
peoples. We shall discuss this later, but meanwhile we may say this at
least. A balance of power is an imperfect conception. It is a rough and
ready--almost barbarous--policy. The best that can be said for it is that
no alternative policy has been devised, or at least none has succeeded.
Every one of us who has a spark of idealism believes that the day will come
when it shall give place to some more perfect system. But at the present
day not only international politics but also home politics are governed
by this idea of a balance of power. No democracy has yet been able to
establish itself in any country except by virtue of a continual conflict
between class and class, between interest and interest, between capital and
labour, and international conflicts are but the reflection of the domestic
conflicts within each State; both are continual unsuccessful attempts to
reach a stable equilibrium, and they can only be ended by a true fusion of
hearts and wills.

Sec.4. _The Estimation of National Forces._--It has been necessary to
undertake this long discussion in order to give a more or less clear idea
of the work done by diplomacy in maintaining a stable international system.
Arising out of this we have now to consider the fourth class of work--and
the most difficult--which the Foreign Office has to perform. For want of a
better name we may call it--

(4) The estimation of national forces. Nations are not mere agglomerations
of individuals; they have each their own character, their own feelings,
and their own life. Science has done little to determine the laws of
their growth, but, as we have seen, each nation does grow, reaches out
slowly--almost insensibly--in this or