The solution of such problems is the sphere of diplomatic activity.

The state of things is quite different when vital questions are at issue, or when the opponent demands concession, but will guarantee none, and is clearly bent on humiliating the other party.
Then is the time for diplomatists to be silent and for great statesmen to act.

Men must be resolved to stake everything, and cannot shun the solemn decision of war.

In such questions any reluctance to face the opponent, every abandonment of important interests, and every attempt at a temporizing settlement, means not only a momentary loss of political prestige, and frequently of real power, which may possibly be made good in another place, but a permanent injury to the interests of the State, the full gravity of which is only felt by future generations.
Not that a rupture of pacific relations must always result in such a case.

The mere threat of war and the clearly proclaimed intention to wage it, if necessary, will often cause the opponent to give way.