"It is perhaps the most laborious and difficult part of the duties of the State Department to hold at once the threads of our different relations with all the European powers. " This reflection was made by John Quincy Adams while he was Secretary of State 1), but it applies to the duties of every Minister of Foreign Mfairs. The stress of the sentence is in the centre: "at once," writes Adams; the threads come together in his hand at the same time; in order to preserve the system of his foreign policy he must hold them all in one grasp. That he is occupied with one power is no reason for...
"It is perhaps the most laborious and difficult part of the duties of the State Department to hold at once the threads of our different relations with...
