Prior to the fifteenth century diplomatic inter eourse was conducted almost entirely by •tuhr:• and other agent- of the last-named etas., and was as ineffective is its irregularity and look of knowledge would lead us to expect. Put with the establishment of resident legations in that century, the practiee of diplomacy tt as raised to a line art, which rapidly assumed cone manding imiemtance in European polities. .1t it period when international relations were based on personal and dynastic interests, and when statecraft was another name for intrigue, the ride of the ambassador was second in importance only to that of the sovereign. Success in diplomacy turned largely upon the personal qualities of the ambassador. upon and engaging manners cunning, aad astuteness. and was thus a matter of personal influence. Iteing ls•yonil the reach of instructions, he ocenpied a position of great hie dependence and poser. There was on diplomatic profession, but the great posts in the service were sought after by the greatest persons in Church and State. The institution by ill the great pow rs of a trained diplomatic service in the last century. and the astonishing ilaproVeltleat in methods of eon' 1111111 t lo al, especially in the use of the telegraph, have greatly impaired the purl r and importance of ambassadors, and have tended more and more to reduce them to the of mere intermediaries. acting under instructions. from the gON'er11111elits Which they represent.
It may be doubted whether diplomacy can fairly be held responsible for the dishonorable methods with which the term has come to be asso. eiated. If it has at times been characterized by intri,gue and deception. by the absence of large V ieWs and motive-, by and a disposition to sacrifice the interests of the weaker to the stronger. it in re-peetS Only 100 neenrately reflected the statesmanship of its time. .And that statesmanship was for centuries based on the perfectly just supposition that 'Europe was always in a state of war, overt or latent.'
The gradual substitution of national for personal and dynastic interests, which the last century has witnessed, ha's at once given a more pacific character to international relations and a more straightforward and business-like tone to our diplomacy. Not that suspicion has entirely dis appeared from the one, or deception from the other, hut they have become the exception and not the rule.
The international relations of States with which diplomacy has to do are only those of a pacific character. With the outbreak of war diploma tie relations cone to an end. The suspension of dip lomatic intercourse is usually a preliminary to a declaration of war, though it is sometimes em ployed as a mild means of coercion of a weak State by a more powerful one. In such a ease it may be regarded as a strong expression of dis pleasure, which may, if reparation be unduly de layed. result in the use of force.
The usage of the last three hundred years has resulted in the general adoption of French as the language of diplomatic intercourse. in Europe. The recent tendency has been to confine this to oral intercourse, written instructions and other diplomatic dispatches being usually couched in the language of the Government employing and transmitting them.
The history of diplomacy is one of the most interesting and important chapters in the polit ical history of nations. Its voluminous sources are to be found in treaties, in the correspondence of ministers of State and ambassadors, contained in the published and secret archives of States, and in the diaries and private correspondence of a multitude of public officials and courtiers. For :1 further discussion INTERNATIONAL LAW, and the authorities there referred to: also Moore, A. Hundred Years of American Diplomacy (New York, 1900) : id.. History and Digest of Arbitrations (Washington): id., The ON Diplomacy and the New (University of Virginia, 1q991; Bernard, Your Lectures on Sub jects Connected with Diplomacy (London, IS68).