The Foreign Policy of William Pitt in the First Decade of his Ministry in its European Significance

Extract

The latest work from the pen of Sir J. R. Seeley, just published, contains, as the last legacy of an author who has rendered such good service to learning, a suggestion surpassing the limits of the subject of which he treats. In speaking of the growth of British policy, Seeley also proceeds to treat of the foreign relations of a state from the standpoint of their development, and in giving the history of this growth teaches us to observe and to reproduce the conditions of such a development. At the same time special stress is laid upon the point that the policy of a state is not to be considered by itself, but that the reciprocal action of states upon one another must be followed out. The history of policy is to Seeley synonymous with international history. It cannot be said that this conception is altogether new, since there is no lack, especially in English literature, of works which have adopted it; but, on the other hand, it is doubtful whether this manner of treating of foreign policy, which cannot pay sufficient regard to its connection with the internal policy of every separate state, will always be advisable.