Excerpt from Supers Supermen: Studies in Politics, History and Letters Russia towards the Dardanelles, Of France towards the Rhine, or Of Germany towards the lower Scheldt was patent to anyone who could read a line of history or a square Inch of a map. It is a great inheritance. For three centuries Great Britain has maintained the stupendous opportunism of the Balance Of Power, facing the European storm with a variation Of direction and an accuracy of judgment which were both borrowed from the weather-cock. AS a national symbol that prescient and revolving fowl may lack inspiration, but it represents fairly enough the starry ideal to which British statesmanship has hitched the waggon Of British policy. It is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy Of England. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow. The statement is no less reliable because it was made by Lord Palmerston following a considered judgment Of Mr. Canning. If he had known French (an accomplishment normally confined to permanent Officials) the noble lord might have said Of his country's policy Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.