that one may say it is almost infinite. The Embassador ought not only to consider that the Principles of Reasoning in Policy are as uncertain as those of the Mathematicks are infallible; but he ought to know also, that the strongest Reasons, and which are in a manner demonstrative, are not always concluding. … There are numberless Advices to be given to an Embassador on the account of Prudence; but I dare be bold to say, that there is no need to give any to a Minister to whom this Virtue is natural, or acquir'd by a long Habit. He forms his Conduct on his own Maxims, and behaves himself as Occasions seem to require.'[1]
(c) Advice for one 'destined for the foreign line'[2]: 'It is not an easy matter, in times like these, to write anything on the subject of a Foreign Minister’s conduct, that might not be rendered quite inapplicable to the purpose of daily events. Mr. James’s best school will be the advantage he will derive from the abilities of his Principal, and from his own observations.
'The first and best advice I can give a young man on entering this career, is to listen, not to talk—at least, not more than is necessary to induce others to talk. I have in the course of my life, by endeavouring to follow this method, drawn from my opponents much information, and concealed from them my own views, much more than by the employment of spies or money.
'To be very cautious in any country, or at any Court, of such as, on your first arrival, appear the most eager to make
- ↑ Wicquefort, p. 338. See, further, bk. i, ch. vii, 'Of the Liberty of Speaking', pp. 339–49.
- ↑ 'Letter' of the First Earl of Malmesbury 'to Lord Camden, written at his request on his nephew, Mr. James, being destined for the foreign line', April 11, 1813, Diaries and Correspondence of James Harris, First Earl of Malmesbury, iv, pp. 412–15. Counsel of a kind more directly practical is conveyed in Quelques Conseils à un jeune Voyageur, par Le Comte d'Hauterive, and in Instructions de M. de Colbert, écrites de sa main: Mémoire pour mon fils, sur ce qu'il doit observer pendant le voyage qu'il va faire à Rochefort, for which see Martens, Guide diplomatique, edition by Hoffman (1838), i, 2nd part, pp. 393–452.
can pack the cards, and yet cannot play well; so there are some that are good in canvasses and factions that are otherwise weak men.'—Bacon, Essays, 'Of Cunning'.
