THE CONTEMPORARY DEVELOPMENT OF DIPLOMACY 



BY DAVID JAYNE HILL 



[David Jayne Hill, LL.D., Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 

 of the United States, American Legation, The Hague, Netherlands, b. Plainfield, 

 New Jersey, 1850. A.B. Bucknell University, 1874; Graduate Student, 

 Universities of Berlin and Paris, and of Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques, 

 Paris, in 1888 and in 1897; Honorary LL.D. Colgate University, 1884; Union 

 University, 1902; University of Pennsylvania, 1902. Professor of Rhetoric, 

 Bucknell University, 1877-80; President, ibid. 1880-88; President of Univer- 

 sity of Rochester, N. Y., 1889-96; Assistant Secretary of State of the United 

 States, 1898-1903; Professor of European Diplomacy, Columbian University, 

 1899-1903; Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the 

 United States to Switzerland, 1903-05; Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 

 Plenipotentiary to the Netherlands, 1905. Fellow of the Association for the 

 Advancement of Science; Member of American Academy of Political and 

 Social Science; Member of American Historical Association. Author of 

 various text-books of rhetoric, psychology, and economics; Genetic Philosophy, 

 1893; International Justice, with a Plan for its Organization, 1894; The 

 Conception and Realization of Neutrality, 1902; A History of Diplomacy in the 

 International Development of Europe, 1905.] 



AMONG the great interests of modern times, none is more deserv- 

 ing of public attention than the transaction of international business. 

 Every ship that discharges a cargo in a foreign port, every telegraphic 

 message from beyond the sea, every exchange of commodities across 

 a national frontier, imparts to the world a deeper sense of its unity 

 and solidarity. 



While private enterprise, seeking legitimate extension, is thus 

 becoming international, public functions are passing through a 

 significant process of development. Politically and legally, the 

 surface of the earth is held under the sovereignty of independent 

 governments, sometimes remote in space from the territories over 

 which they exercise control, and all intent upon extending their 

 power and importance. At a moment when industry and commerce 

 have become most keenly aware of a world- wide interest, the political 

 system is most vigorously emphasizing the power of territorial control. 

 The situation thus created presents the most intricate diplomatic 

 problem of our time, the reconciliation of political conceptions 

 originating in an age of national isolation and general hostility 

 with the rising tide of human activity which is asserting, and will 

 never cease to assert, the rights of commercial intercourse. 



I. The Classic Conception of Diplomacy 



The fundamental doctrine of diplomacy is the absolute sovereignty 

 of the state. Raised by this theory above all laws, each state exists 

 for itself alone. Without distinction of governmental forms, 

 empires, kingdoms, and republics alike all pretend to possess those 



