THE WORLD 381

that she had no intention of so abusing her power; foreigners
might reply that, as they had no intention of injuring Britain,
there was no need for her to rule the seas. In a world of Sovereign
States, no State will remain, for longer than it can help, in a
position where other States would be able to get the mastery over
it. This explains why both sides in wars have often claimed, with
equal sincerity, that they were fighting in self-defence. If it be
the rule of the world that each nation should make itself secure
by its own efforts, then each will require such control over
economic resources and strategic positions that it menaces others.

THE BALANCE OF POWER.

It is not possible, then, to make a complete separation
between British and world interests, since the chief British
interest is the preservation of world peace, for which- the
co-operation of other nations is necessary. In like manner, the
interests of France, Germany, or any other State cannot be
divorced from the common interest of mankind; but to Great
Britain, with her dependence on trade, this truth has a special
application. British statesmen have in the past pursued many
different lines of foreign policy; but the impossibility of isolation
has been common to all. One often-practised policy was the
Balance of Power, i.e., the attempt to see that no one Power
became strong enough to overwhelm the rest. As, during the
i8th and I9th centuries, first France and then Germany became
the greatest Continental Power, Britain looked with favour on
the weaker side in the hope of restraining the stronger. By such
means skilled diplomats can preserve peace for a time; but
the adoption of similar tactics by all Great Powers results in
a search for allies at the end of which the world is arrayed in two
camps, one, if not 'both, of which is waiting for an event, such as
the 1914 Serajevo assassination, which will provoke war at a
time when its chances of victory are as great as they are ever likely
to be. The'weakness of the Balance of Power doctrine was that it
took for granted that States may and will go to war if they see