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CHAPTER II
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DIAMONDS COMMERCIALLY
FEW people
recognize the influence which the diamond has had in the world's
affairs. Generally it is regarded as a bauble simply: a star to shine
in the lighter realms of love and pleasure, but outside the plane of
rugged forces which are supposed to govern the serious interests of
life. Yet a moment's reflection will convince one that love and
pleasure are most potent to set in motion the machinery of stern
action. The loves of rulers, many of them illicit, have cost nations as
much blood and treasure as the establishment of great principles, and
the march of armies has often been delayed to wait on the pleasure of
a potentate or general. A voluptuous queen of conquered Egypt toyed
with the power of Rome; the favorites of the King bent the knees of
France's nobles, wasted her substance and enslaved her people. Since
the beginning, man has lived for pleasure in some form, and whether
good or bad, love has been one of its chief sources, and in the realm
of love the diamond has been for centuries very powerful. But not alone
thus indirectly has the diamond been a serious influence in the earth,
but as a direct lure to greed, Nature has by it broken down the
barriers against progress, and kept in fermentation the life of the
world to clarify it. The narrow bounds of Hindu principalities were
periodically scattered by one raiding the
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