Orders were within an hour dispatched to stop the preparations for war'.

Here was an interview between a great monarch and an honest negociator; the ambassador spoke plain sense and truth; the king listened to reason, and trusted to the ambassador's character. The word and honour of a single individual calmed an angry conqueror, prevented a war, saved the lives of thousands, and all this was done in half an hour!-Let the diplomatist contrast with this the account of the famous conferences TM between Don Louis de Haro and Mazarin, which lasted four months, one whole month being taken up in settling points of precedency, and regulating the ceremonies. Mazarin and Don Louis evolved their utmost diplomatic art; the cardinal depending on finesse, the Spaniard trusting to delay.

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Diplomatists should not be a class of beings separate from statesmen. The education of those intended for what is called the diplomatic line should not, in any respect, differ in its principles and general course from that of other men destined for public life. Greater attention, however, should be paid to some particulars; the acquisition of modern languages is of peculiar consequence to youth, who are likely to become envoys or ambassadors: they ought at least to speak French, German, and Spanish, with facility, and with a good accent;

1 See Appendix for the original of this conversation.
Treaty of the Pyrenees.-Voltaire.

therefore they must either have excellent masters early, who should live in the house with them, and keep them in the constant practice of speaking in these languages; or, if such masters cannot be obtained, the pupils should spend some time abroad, before the age when they are likely to be employed. It is obvious, that an ambassador must not put off till he is sent on a mission perfecting himself in speaking the language of the country, in which he is to act as negociator.

Another circumstance, in which the diplomatist's education should differ from that of other statesmen, is in the peculiar attention that should be paid, to give ease and politeness of manners*; he should be not only early introduced to good company, but accustomed to see and speak to a variety of people, that he may not grow up, either with that species of bashfulness, which the French call mauvaise honte, or show that cold haughtiness, which is so displeasing to foreigners; one of these faults would prevent him from being master of his own ideas, and the other would prevent him from getting at the thoughts of others. In forming his manners, he should not be taught to imitate any fashionable model; for fashions change quickly; and a mannerist of any school is always considered as an inferior person; Lord Chesterfield's general principle, that good breeding is the result of good nature and good sense, is excellent. All the petty details of duplicity contained in his letters deserve the contempt of every man of sense and virtue.

Volto sciolto, pensieri stretti, should indeed, to a certain de

Practical Education.

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gree, be a diplomatist's maxim: with an open countenance, and frank manners, he should have the power of keeping a secret, and of being perfectly silent upon subjects, where it is his duty not to speak. This may be taught to children, without inculcating any artifice or hypocrisy.

There is a sort of readiness of answer*, of presence of mind, on embarrassing occasions in conversation, which appears not only graceful, but highly useful to men in all official situations, but especially to diplomatists. Lord Chesterfield possessed this accomplishment, and displayed it to advantage, while he was an ambassador. When, according to the fashion of that day, his lordship, and the French and Spanish ambassadors, were in a public company selecting emblems, the Spaniard and Frenchman chose the sun and the moon-" And I," said the English ambassador, "take for my emblem, Joshua, at whose command the sun and moon stood still." Another instance of this presence of mind may be remembered* of the celebrated Swedish ambassador, count Creutz. A Parisian, forgetting that the Swedish ambassador was present, began in no very respectful tone, to speak of the king of Sweden, "C'est un tête-un tête!"-" Couronné, Monsieur," interposed the count; and thus by a single word, maintained his own dignity, and prevented the Frenchman from offending him.

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As to the essential business of an envoy, a well informed statesman, who understands the relative interests of his own

*Practical Education.

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and foreign countries, who can speak and act with integrity and firmness, is qualified to be an ambassador, whenever his services are requisite; and he need never have recourse to any of the petty manoeuvres of duplicity and mystery. The mirror of diplomatists of the mysterious class was a foreign count, who used to tell his friends, as a great secret, what had been published three weeks in the newspapers, who, when he was reproached with this mockery of confidence, replied, "The gazette is no authority, but I am." This adept never, upon any subject, gave more than half an opinion, never in his life committed himself, or gave up his authorities; and so invincible were his habits of mystery, that they did not leave him even in death. The day after he died, his valet de chambre answered all inquiries in a whisper-" my master "died this morning, sir; but he did not wish it to be known."

And what was the end and reward of all this artifice? The intriguer is remembered only as having been ridiculous and contemptible. And what figure would such a man make, were he now alive, as an ambassador in treating with Talleyrand, or Napoleon? Should we not be very sorry, that such a man were to negociate for the British empire? So much for diplomacy.

Another branch of a statesman's professional studies is finance. But why should finance be spoken of as separate from political economy? Many seem to consider a financier as a person possessed of a peculiar art of producing money by calculations and operations, by ways and means, opening budgets, and pouring forth in the House of Commons totals

of expenditures and deficits to ten places of figures with farthings and fractional parts to boot-indisputable evidence of fiscal accuracy! This sort of knowledge, and this talent for reciting calculations, however its display may astonish the unpractised, is of but little utility to a nation. The calculations are full as just and as useful on paper as from the lips of a minister; and his technical memory, however prodigious, will never save his country. Nor will his skill in calculation, or his art in passing off new taxes for old, or in juggling about what falls on the seller, and what on the consumer, what affects the commercial and what the landed interest, ever increase one iota the real wealth and power of the country, or produce resources at our utmost need. The knowledge not merely of financial calculations, but of political economy in all its extent and intricacy, is necessary to make a statesman effectively serviceable in the management of the revenues and resources of a great empire. Mere financiers, mere calculators, stand but as clerks before the enlarged mind of a political economist. If the reasoning be just, the calculations grounded upon them are easily worked by any arithmetical machine. As in former times great men had their nomenclators, statesmen should now have their calculators, they should not pride themselves on these subordinate parts of ministerial duty.

In commencing the study of political economy, a young man should keep his understanding unawed by authority, unsubdued by any great name; he should not list himself under the banners of system: he should weigh the arguments and examine the proofs of the facts adduced on every subject. He