The transition from the interest of the ruler to the interests of various groups among the ruled proceeded in somewhat different ways in England and France. In England the concept of interest in the singular that was to guide princes and statesmen and later turned into the “national interest” was apparently imported from France and Italy early in the seventeenth century.m Rohan’s On the Interest of Princes and States of Christendom was particularly influential. It was rapidly translated and provoked much comment. One of Rohan’s pithy phrases in his opening paragraph—l’intérêt seul ne peut
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