Secret Diplomatic History of The Eighteenth Century

Secret Diplomatic History of The Eighteenth Century is by Karl Marx. A letter says that M. Panin will, in some measure, have brought to bear his grand scheme of uniting the Powers of the North. The letter says of the Empress that her ambition is to form, by such an union, a certain counterpoise to the family compact. The writer adds that a Turkish war's being a casus fœderis, inserted either in the body of the treaty or in a secret article, will be a sine quâ non in every negotiation they may have to open with this Court.

Chapter III says that to understand a limited historical epoch, we must step beyond its limits, and compare it with other historical epochs, and that to judge Governments and their acts, we must measure them by their own times and the conscience of their contemporaries. The text says that real history will show that the Khans of the Golden Horde were no more instrumental in realizing the plans of Ivan III. and his predecessors than the rulers of England were in realizing the plans of Peter I.