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The theory of the balance of power in the first half of the eighteenth century: a note on sources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

Jeremy Black
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Extract

‘Very often it was no more than a phrase used to inhibit thought. Frequently appealed to, it was seldom analysed in real depth or formulated with genuine rigour. Writers tended to shy away from the questions it raised and the difficulties it involved.’ Professor Anderson's somewhat bleak statement about the eighteenth century use of the theory of the balance of power in international relations relects the tendency of writers concerned to analyse theories of international relations to concentrate on the opinions and writings of prominent intellectuals, eminent jurists, distinguished writers and famous statesmen. It is the intention of this note to draw attention to less eminent sources for eighteenth century views on international relations, and to suggest that far from being constrained by an inhibiting model of international relations, that of the balance of power, interpretations of European developments were aided by the very ambiguity and flexibility of the concept.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , January 1983 , pp. 55 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1983

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References

1. Anderson, M. S., ‘Eighteenth-Century Theories of the Balance of Power’, in Hatton, R. and Anderson, M.S. (eds.), Studies in Diplomatic History (London, 1970)Google Scholar, (henceforth Anderson), pp. 184–5.

2. On the British diplomatic service, Horn, D. B., The British Diplomatic Service 1689-1789 (Oxford, 1964).Google Scholar

3. A good example of this can be found in the writings of Canale, successively Sardinian envoy at The Hague and Vienna: Ruata, A., Luigi Malabaila di Canale, Riflessidella Cultura llluministica in un Diplomatico Piemontese (Turin, 1968).Google Scholar

4. Anderson, p. 187. On these continuous fluctuations, Fog's Weekly Journal. Dec. 26 (o.s.) 1730; Robert Trevor, British Envoy Extraordinary at The Hague, to Horace Mann, British Resident in Florence, Aug. 24 1742, Public Record Office, State Papers, (henceforth PRO.SP.) 105/282 f. 262.

5. Fog's Weekly Journal, Dec. 5 (o.s.), 12 (o.s.), 1730.

6. An English pamphlet of 1730 asserted tha t the 'real interests' of Prussia and Austria were 'incompatible'. Anon., , Considerations on the Present state of Affairs in Europe, and particularly with regard to the number of forces in the pay of Great Britain (London, 1730), p. 9.Google Scholar The same point was made by Morville, the French Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in 1726, and by D'Argenson, who held the same post in 1746: Morville to Magnan, French minister at St. Petersburg, Oct. 3 1726, Sbornik Imperatorskogo Russkogo Istoricheskogo obschchestva, vol. 64, (St. Petersburg, 1888), p. 419; D'Argenson to Valory, French envoy in Berlin, Mar. 3 1746, PRO.SP. 78/331 f. 438.

7. The Russian foreign minister, Count Osterman, held this view; Thomas Ward, British Consul General in Russia, to Viscount Townshend, Secretary of State for the Northern Department, May 7 (o.s.) 1730, PRO.SP. 91/11, f. 105.

8. 'Mr. Walpole's Apology', no date, but after 1739, British Library, Additional Manuscripts, Vol. 9132, Coxe Papers, Vol. LV, Papers of Horatio Lord Walpole, Vol. 2, f. 92.

9. Arthur Villettes, British Resident in Turin, to Mann, Jan. 31 1742 PRO.SP. 105/282, f. 65.

10. Marquis de Fenelon, French Ambassador in the United Provinces, to Chauvelin, the French foreign minister, Oct. 19 1733, Paris, Archives du Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres, Correspondance Politique, (henceforth AMAE.CP.), Hollande, Vol. 398, f. 150.

11. Benjamin Keene, British Envoy Extraordinary in Spain, to the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State for the Southern Department, May 17 1734, PRO.SP. 94/119, no. f.; Ossorio, Sardinian envoy in London, to Charles Emmanuel III, King of Sardinia, Ap. 15 1735, Turin, Archivo di Stato, Lettere Ministri Inghilterra, Vol. 42, no. f.

12. Gibbs, G. C., ‘Newspapers, Parliament and Foreign Policy in the Age of Stanhope and Walpole’, Melange offerts a G. Jacquemyns (Brussels, 1968);Google ScholarBlack, J., 'The British Press and European News in the 1730's: The Case of the Newcastle Courant', Durham County Local History Society Bulletin, 26 May 1981, pp. 38–43.Google Scholar

13. Henley's Oratory, Ap. 15 (o.s.) 1744, Anonymous report, British Library, Additional Manuscripts, 33052, f. 262.

14. Weekly Journal, or, British Gazetteer, Sept. 26 (o.s.) 1719.

15. Weekly Packet, Sept. 26 (o.s.) 1719.

16. Weekly Packet, Sept. 26 (o.s.) 1719.

17. The British had taken the same view during the Polish Succession War, Horatio Walpole, British ambassador in the Hague, to Lord Harrington, Secretary of State for the Northern Department, Sept. 2 1735, PRO.SP. 84/347 f. 6. Thomas Robinson, the British Minister Plenipotentiary, referred to ‘that just and necessary influence which the court of Russia ought to have, and will have, in the affairs of Europe’, Robinson to Lord Tyrawley, British Ambassador in Russia, July 4 1744, PRO.SP. 80/164, no.f.

18. The National Journal: or, the Country Gazette, May 1, 10 (o.s.), 1746.

19. The True Patriot: and The History of our own Times, May 13 (o.s.) 1746.

20. Anderson, p. 186.

21. The Emperor Charles VI to Wasner, Austrian envoy in London, June 4 1735, Cambridge, University Library, Cholmondeley (Houghton) Mss. Corresp. 2436.

22. Gibbs, G. C., ‘Parliament and the Treaty of Quadruple Alliance’, in Hatton, R. and Bromley, J. S. (eds.),William III and Louis XIV. Esays 1680-1720 by and for Mark A. Thomson (Liverpool, 1968);Google ScholarGibbs, G. C., ‘Laying Treaties before Parliament in the Eighteenth Century’, in Hatton, R. and Anderson, M. S. (eds.), Studies in Diplomatic History (London, 1970).Google Scholar

23. A good instance of this are the debates in both chambers of the British Parliament on the Address i n 1734.

24. Weekly Miscellany Ap. 20 (o.s.) 1734. See also Weekly Miscellany Oct. 26 (o.s.) 1734, and Daily Post Boy Oct. 28 (o.s.) 1734.

25. Considerations on the present State … op. cit., p. 9.