2 Mr. H. Wiokham Steed [Jan. 30, 



instinctively perceived the relationship between the co^P«;{^!^ly 

 obscure qnestion then suddenly thrust into P™.'"'"«f ^*"d. ,'^'.™|'! 

 issues of European diplomacy ; but it is certain that every "iteU>g^°^ 

 newspaper reader in Austria-Hungary, Germany, France, Italy and 

 EussFa was aUve to the possibly vital importance of *!'« dij^lomauc 

 struggle that was going on in connexion with apparently mmo cle 

 velopments of the Balkan War. Why is it, I then asked ;.ndj,ave 

 since repeatedly enquired, that British comprehension o foiegn 

 affairs should lag so far behind that of other co""*™^? ^^^^^ 

 should the British Government be deprived of the stiength that 

 comes from the support of an awakened and well-informed pubhc 

 oninion? Why should our diplomatic action be hampered b> the 

 tnZi of our people to understand the bearings of issues that may 

 drag us willy-nilly, into a life-and-death struggle, whereas appie- 

 dationrfThe dangers involved might have enabled us to exercise our 

 influence discerningly, and m time ? 



More by luck than by skill Europe then escaped the worst of the 

 danger thJt threatened her. By dint of changing their attitudes with 

 bewildering rapidity, the Great Powers managed to march, with un- 

 pSect ahlnment, not abreast, but in the rear of events. When they 

 bought to regain control and leadership, the uninformed diplomacy 

 of lome of them sanctioned expedients which were, a few months 

 later again to plunge South-Eastern Europe into a welter of blood. 

 SSy lia° ^-arefy suffered defeats more "itab e than tho^ 

 of 1912-1913. It failed to prevent, by timely action the first 

 Balkan War. It failed to prevent the resumption of that war. It 

 sancttonrd arrangements that made the second Balkan War inevitable ; 

 and tronly title" to honour was that it succeeded, by muddlmg along 

 the ifne of iast resistance, in staving off a £"/«?''-%<=*"• j. 

 What is diplomacy, and what are its foundations ? Diplomacy is 

 forekn poUcy " in being." Its foundations are usually supposed to 

 beaTtr^nglnd efficient army ; an ample and wel -trained navy ; a 

 well-filled war-chest. These elements doubtless form, if not the 

 Cndations, at least the sanction (in the juridical sense of the term) 

 of dMomacy. But the corner-stone of diplomacy, as I conceive it, s 

 hving knowledge in the service of an ideal, a set and clearly under- 

 stood purpose-not merely the knowledge contained m geographical 

 inanuakfn handbooks of International Law, in historical treatises or 

 rSiSl a^muals. The knowledge I refer to !« f^twh^h places 

 its possessors a day ahead rather than a day behmd the times. It, 

 notwermr c'est prevoir, diplomacy c-est savoir d avance. 

 ^Within these precincts, set apart for the dissemmation o scien^ 

 tific and "useful knowledge" and for learned discussion, it may 

 seem "trange hat I should presume to address you on a subject so 

 ne^lv aMn to politics as diplomacy. Diplomacy is essentia ly 

 BohtLl and politics have not yet been reduced to the position of a 

 Itnce ' Thei? nature is rather that of an art than of a science-an 



