BALANCE OF POWER, An expression used in diplomacy, with reference especially to the European Powers, to denote a condition of affairs in which no one State is permitted to hare such a preponderance as to endanger the independence of the others. This idea is not confined to modern limes. The Creek Slates acted upon it by a kind of instinct of self preservation. though it was not directly formu lated. It has, however, been more distinctly avowed as a motive of politieal conduct, and more systematically acted upon since the time of Charles V., whose ambitious designs awak ened the European Powers to the danger of such overwhelming preponderance in one dynasty. The motive of preserving the balance of power came first distinctly into the foreground in those alliances which England. Holland, and Austria repeatedly formed against the schemes of Louis X1V. It was the same cause that broke up the most powerful of these coalitions; for in the War of the Spanish Succession, when the Hapsburg candidate for the Spanish throne became, by the death of Joseph I.. sovereign of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor, and the power which. in the hands of Charles V., had menaced the equilibrium of Europe, seemed likely again to he wielded by one man, England withdrew from the coalition, and saved Louis from a decided overthrow. The kaleidoscopic changes in political alliances that characterized European history from the Treaty of Utrecht to the end of the Seven Years' War, were the result of a frantic attempt on the part of Con tinental statesmen to preserve the balance of power. The aggressions of Napoleon called all the powers of Europe to arms against him in the name of the balance of power; and in re adjusting the map of Europe the balance of power was often invoked to cover the jealousy which resisted claims to restitution of territory.
For some time the balance of power in Europe has been embodied, as it were, in a hexarchy or permanent congress of the six great Powers— Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Rus sia. and Italy. :Mutual jealousy among the leading Powers. on the score of extension of boundaries, is looked to as the great safeguard of time smaller States. After this manner the Crimean War arose out of Russia's renewed at tempt to extend her dominion over Turkey. It was in the name of the balance of power that the nations, in 1878, at the Congress of Berlin, deprived Russia of many of the advantages she had gained by the Treaty of San Stefano. With in the last thirty years. however, the balance of power has encountered an opposing principle in the rising spirit of nationalism. It is now gen erally recognized that countries may no longer be carved arbitrarily into morsels for the sake of preserving a political equilibrium, but that physical and social conditions must be taken into consideration as forces playing a part in the formation of States. United Italy, United Germany. and the Pan-Slavic spirit in Russia exemplify the growth of this political idea. On the other hand, a new phase of the old problem has been presented by the spread of European colonization and commerce in Asia and Africa. The balance of power has been in a measure extended over the whole world, and France, 0ermany, and Italy are everywhere seeking colo nies and 'spheres of influence' to balance the colonial empires of England and of Russia.