BALANCE OF POWER

In Politics, a system by which the relative power of different states and alliances is so maintained as to render any extensive derangement improbat'e. The idea of preserving a balance of power natural.; suggested itself to statesmen in ancient Greece, where so large a number of independent states with opposing interests existed on a narrow territory. In Europe, this portion of political science scarcely began to be understood until the lfith century; since which time the maintenance of the balance of power has formed a favourite ob-;ect, often pursued117 with unreasonable avidity, by those [s. 131]