CONTEMPORARY DEVELOPMENT OF DIPLOMACY 379 



IV. The Relation of Diplomacy to Economics 



The most potential source of peril to public peace and international 

 justice is, at present, the conflict of economic interests. The irre- 

 sistible increase of population, the demand for territorial expansion, 

 the development of the colonial system, and the struggle for new 

 spheres of influence, in the quest for raw materials and foreign mar- 

 kets, create a situation fraught with danger. 



It is to the science of economics that diplomacy must turn for 

 the means of averting this danger. Questions of far-reaching conse- 

 quence still remain unanswered. Is the political control of territory 

 necessary to the enjoyment of its commercial advantages? Is it a 

 profitable enterprise to divide the world into purely national mar- 

 kets, thereby excluding ourselves from the areas of trade held by 

 other nations? Is it more remunerative to acquire, control, and 

 defend colonial possessions than it would be to share their advan- 

 tages with others under the protection, wherever necessary, of an 

 international police? Is it not possible to diminish the cost of 

 modern navies by intrusting the defense of commerce to an inter- 

 national marine governed by an international code? 



These questions are not addressed to any particular nation, nor 

 is it intended to answer them in any definite sense; but simply to 

 call attention to the problems that press equally upon all, and to 

 inquire if there is not a pacific solution of them based on the principle 

 of general welfare. 



The classic maxims of diplomacy forbid all cosmopolitan bene- 

 volence and represent the hostility of national interests as inherent, 

 inevitable, and permanent; but those maxims, if logically applied, 

 would have prevented all political progress founded on the sacrifice 

 of private interests for the public good. Every advance which the 

 world has made in civilization has resulted from the perception 

 that mutual advantage might be obtained by harmonizing con- 

 flicting interests. The formation of the American Union, the uni- 

 fication of Italy, and the consolidation of the German Empire are 

 among the greatest achievements of modern history, and illustrate 

 the prosperity that may be realized from mutual concession for the 

 common good. Out of struggling colonies and rival principalities 

 great states came into being, blessed with unexampled prosperity, 

 because their constituent parts ceased to waste their energies in 

 obstructing one another's welfare and joined their forces for mutual 

 benefit. 



Beneath the surface of political phenomena flows a great historical 

 current which deserves the attention of thoughtful men. The ex- 

 pansive instinct of humanity changes its direction of action according 

 to the obstacles it has to overcome. In the era of political inequality, 



