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Home , Marsilius of Padua, Peace of Basel

WORLD ORDER VISIONS SINCE EARLY MODERN

John Howard Yoder, chapter eight in Chapters in the History of Religiously Rooted Non Violence: A Series of Working Papers ofthe Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Studies.

I. THE PROCESSION OF PEACE PLANS

1300-1314: several pamphlets by Pierre du Bois, b. ca. 1255, adviser to the King of : especially de recuperatione terrae sanctae, 1306, proposing a federation to be led by France, with the as titular head, ostensibly to regain the holy land, but by means of a European federation (SJH: l ff., ES: 1-8). ca. 1310, : de monarchia; vision of a restored Roman world empire. Not published until 1559 (). Modern edition Boston 1904. (SJH:4-ll)

1324? Marsilius of : proposes a World state established by representation from the several states ~ independent of papacy (SJH: l 2f).

1461 /64 Antoine Marini of Grenoble, prepared on behalf of George Podebrod King of Bohemia; coalition of European princes, in order to combat the Turks, relativizing the pre-eminence of the Emperor and of the King of France (SJH: 14-17).

1513 Wm of Ciervia and John Sylvagius of Burgundy, plan advocating a congress of Christian Kings; its breakdown provokes ' Complaint of Peace (SJH: 17f).

1514/ 17 Desiderius Erasmus querela pacis proposes tribunals of bishops and abbots to settle conflicts among princes: "One can hardly imagine an unfavorable peace which would not be preferable to the most favorable war." (SJH:l8-20) cf. Jose Chapiro: Erasmus and Our Struggle for Peace Beacon 1950

1518 Pope Leo X and Cardinal Wolsey: Treaty of Universal Peace; ratified by England and France, joined by and Pope, open to other nations to join; directed against the Turks. Lasted one year (SJH:20f).

1587 Francois de la Noue Discours politiques et militaires: Proposes a treaty among Christian sovereigns in order to unite against the Turks. 1614 Lodovicus Molina S. J. Nominates the pope as international mediator.

1623 Emeric Cruce (monk) New Cyneas: federation of rulers reaching all the way to China, India, Africa. Interreligious. Against pirates, to protect commerce. Edition by Thomas Balch Phila. 1909) pp. 68-83 in Peter Mayer (ed.) The Pacifist Conscience NY Holt 1966; noted in Bainton 177-80, summarized pp. 22-30 in Hemleben (s. below). The original Cyneas was according to the advisor who showed his monarch Pyrrhus the futility of war (SJH :21- 31, ES:9-20).

1598-1610: Henri IV of France: Grand Design (attributed to King Henri in the memoirs of his minister Maximilien de Bethune, Due de Sully, who probably wrote it himself. Sully claimed to have discussed it with Queen Elizabeth in 1601 but seems rather to have drafted it after his retirement after l 620. Published 2 vols l 638, 2 vols 1662). A red.istricting of Europe to create fifteen same-size states, excluding Russia and Turkey, to maintain balance and gradually to acquire world empire. Governed by a Council or Senate in permanent session (SJH:3 l-4 l, ES:20-28).

1625 de jure belli ac pacis proposes periodic congresses of princes (SJH:42-4 7).

1633 Campanella monarchia messiae; for world famine relief.

1642-66: de rerum humanarum emendatione consultatio catholica written by John Amos Comenius 1592-1670; bishop educator of "Moravian" Unitas Fratrum.

1667: John Amos Comenius' Angel of Peace was addressed to ambassadors concluding the end of the second war between England and the Netherlands: translation ed. Safranek, published New York, Pantheon 1950; noted in Bainton 181.

1676 Samuel Rachel dissertationes de jure naturae et gentium college of princes;

1677 Caesarinus Furstenerius (pseudonym for the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz) De suprematu Principum Germaniae An argument against Hobbes. Appeals to the history of ecumenical councils as models for a permanent Senate of Christendom. Leibniz also wrote critical comments on the project of Saint-Pierre (see below 1712). In 1693 he published a collection of documents of the law of peoples (Corpus juris gentium) tending to support the cause of the Empire against that of France.

1693 Wm Penn ( l 644-l 7 l 8) An Essay toward the present and future peace of Europe (reprinted Philadelphia, Friends General Conference, 1944; Edition P. van den Dungen, Hildesheim/NY, Ohm, 1983: ND/BX/76 l 4/P4/E8/l 983); Differences between sovereigns to be resolved by a diet or parliament of Europe to meet every 1-3 years. Meeting in a round room with many entrances so as to have no precedence. Voting by secret ballot. Open for nations as distant as Turks or Russians to join (SJH:47-53). 1710 John Sellers; for an European State combines Penn/Sully visions in a proposal submitted to the British parliament at the occasion of a war 1710 between France and Netherlands. Joining all neutrals in this parliament of Europe would enable the belligerents to make peace. (SJH:53-56) called Sellers "a veritable phenomenon in the history of political economy."

1712 Charles Irene de Castel, Abbe de Saint-Pierre ( 1658-1713); Project to make peace perpetual in Europe; expanded edition in two volumes 1713, a third volume 1717, an abrege 1728. Reprint 1986, Paris, Fayard, 722pp. Members would be "all Christian states." Provides for a standing congress or senate. Obligatory mediation of conflicts. Assists sovereigns against internal sedition. All treaties between sovereigns must be ratified by the sen~te (SJH:53-72, ES:76-95, Bainton l 82ff).

1736 Giulio Alberoni (cardinal, prime minister) Scheme for reducing the Turkish empire .. .together with a scheme for a perpetual Diet

1745 (anonymous) (french) Projet d'un nouveau systeme de !'Europe

1747 Johann Michael von Loen, Governor ofTecklenburg-Lingen, von einem bestandigen Frieden in Europa (On a permanent peace in Europe).

1757 Ange Goudar; The Peace of Europe can only be established through a long truce ... : League of ambassadors of the princes of Europe (ES :95-99).

1758 Johann Franz von Palthen Projekt einen immerwahrenden Frieden in Europa zu unterhalten

1761 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Project for Perpetual Peace, based on texts of St-Pierre (above), which he summarizes and. interprets, later adding a critique (posthumou~ 1782). Nineteen sovereigns establish a commonwealth by treaty. Whereas St-Pierre had called on sovereigns to make peace because it is right, Rousseau shows that it is in their interest (SJH:73-82, ES:l38- 148).

I 779ff: Pierre Andre Gargaz, schoolteacher, condemned unjustly to galley slavery, released 1781. Corresponded with , who called him a "veritable philosopher", about a 25pp Plan for Perpetual Peace (ES: 176-181 ).

(anonymous) Project of a High Conservatory Power directed by the Four Great Powers: instead of all states being equal, the major powers join to control the others (prefiguring the Holy Alliance - and the United Nations). 1788 Palier de Saint-Germain, New Essai on the Project of Perpetual Peace. United States of Europe, with representative council/tribunal and federative army.

1786-89 (d. 1832: published only 1843) A Plan for an Universal and Perpetual Peace; a world court calls on public opinion for support (SJH:82-87).

1795 On Perpetual Peace. Coincides with Peace of Basel 5 April 1975 between France and . In Arthur F. Holmes, ed., War and Christian Ethics, GRapids Baker 1975, pp 274-283. Another translation by Ted Humphrey, Cambridge, Hackett Publishing, 1983. Internal constitution of each member nation should be republican. States join voluntarily. (SJH:87-95)

1767: von Lilienfeld, Lithuanian nobleman: Neues Staatsgebaude

1814, (Eve of the congress of Vienna) Claude Henri de Saint-Simon and Augustin Thierry, On the reorganization of European , or the necessity and the means of uniting the peoples of Europe while keeping for each its national independence. A bicameral parliament of all Europe. (SJH:97f)

1815 Alexander I (Russia) Holy Alliance: vision for an union of Christian sovereigns. Not the same as the Quadruple Alliance which came out of the Vienna settlement. USA refused to join the alliance because the other parties were not . Britain refused because diplomat Castlereagh considered Tsar Alexander insane (SJH:97-l 01 ).

1840 William Ladd, Essay on a Congress of Nations, for the adjustment of International Disputes without Resort to Arms. (previous version 1832) Separates diplomatic and judicial branches. (SJH: 104-112)

1842 William Jay, War and Peace. The Evils of the First and a Plan for Preserving the Last (reprinted 1919). (SJH: 113-116)

184 7 Alfred Lord Tennyson, Locksley Hall: Poetic vision of a "Parliament of Man, the Federation of the World"

1851? Victor Hugo addressing (Paris?) peace conference calls for "United States of Europe" in Peter Mayer (op cit) 84-86. There were conferences Iike this in Brussels ( 1848), Paris ( 1849), Frankfort (l 850) and London (l 851) - (SJH: 112).

1857 Gustave de Molinari; Synthesis of the visions (above) of St-Pierre, Sully's Grand Design, and Kant. Responds to the Crimean war. Nations should act in concert to impose a just solution, not leaving a war to the belligerents.

1878 Johann Caspar Bluntschli, Heidelberg law professor: Europe as Federation of States

1869 (ET) J G Fichte Rechtswissenschaft 1884 James Lorimer, University of Edinburgh, The Institutes of the Law of Nations. First plan to propose a separate executive serving the international agency. Tribunal with two branches, civil and criminal.

· 1893 F Engels "Can Europe Disarm?"

II: SUMMARY: FEATURES COMMON TO PRACTICALLY ALL OF THE ABOVE PROJECTS:

- a) They all accept as starting point the existing state structures, their sovereigns, their internal governmental setups; i.e. their self-understanding is conservative though creative.

- b) It follows that none of them is about "World " in the standard (modern) sense of that term; ib as meaning that the interior life of any national community would be governed from outside its borders by "foreigners."

- c) None of them is "utopian," in the ordinary sense of not taking account of real-world practicality. Many of them were worked out by reigning rulers or their staff, and some of them are signed as treaties. They took as their models the Swiss and (more recently) American federal systems, and they prefigured the United Nations (cf. (h) below).

- d) None is "pacifist" in the ordinary sense of considering all violence wrong even in the name of the civil order. Even when projected by a pacifist like William Penn, he does not impose his renunciation of violence on heads of state;

- e) They all propose some kind of representative governing body whose task is not to govern the whole but to adjudicate the conflicts which arise between sovereigns;

- t) They all assume that sovereigns involved in conflict will yield to a fairly adjudicated judicial process rather than continuing to move toward war in the pursuit of the interests they esteem legitimate, once such a fairly adjudicated process is available;

- g) They all assume that there exists a valid analogy between the way individual citizens submit to civil government and the way states will submit to this larger order; - h) They count on some possibility of extending to more and larger nations the experiences of confederation and alliances already successfully operational (Switzerland, later the USA) on a smaller scale. Many of the north European forms of government had in fact originally come into being as federations of this kind, from the alliance of barons who forced the Magna Carta on King John to the "Electors" who kept the "" going for centuries to the "Confederates" who created Switzerland.

- i) They all couht on some kind of unified enforcement instrument, whether a common army or a commitment of the member states to share in enforcement, usually the latter.

- j) They all assume a far-reaching commonality of values inherited from the rootage which all the participants share, derived from the moral heritage of Christendom. A few contemplate the membership of Muslim states (Turks, Tartars), but only hypothetically.

- k) Although a few of the authors are otherwise unknown, many of them, as the reader will have noted above, are persons who are otherwise famous for their contributions to philosophy, literature, or politics.

III. WHERE THE STORY HAS GONE SINCE 1900

The above narration cannot usefully be extended further, not because the story ends, but because it ramifies into several different streams, each becoming more important:

- a) Catholic social teachings, beginning as a genre in 1891 , beginning to deal with war during the reign of Benedict XV (WWI), rising to undeniable dominance with John XXlll and Vatican II, according to which the theologically normative vision for world order is like those above·.

- b) International treaties governing the regulation of international hostilities, beginning in mid- i 9th century, turning a corner with the Hague ( 1899, 1906), but continuing to this day to grow under United Nations auspices ...

- c) The creation by treaty of international agencies (Hague Court of International , League of Nations, United Nations .. .) which grow very slowly but incrementally toward the above vision.

- d) The development within academic political science and NGO activism of feasable visions of the same time, supported by expert analytical studies (cf. below section VI). /

IV. INTERPRETATION AND EVALUATION OF THE ABOVE IN THE LIGHT OF THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS

James T. Johnson in his The Quest for Peace (Princeton 1987) characterizes this vision of "perpetual peace" as "utopian" and as "pacifist." As r have just indicated in the above summary ( c and d), neither adjective is accurate, in the ordinary meanings of those terms, as is clear from the listed fuller descriptions.

- "Pacifist" normally means having no place for state violence, whereas most if not all of the above designs were premised on a better channeling of the power of kings and their armies. Even when the person projecting the vision was a pacifist(e.g. Penn, perhaps Comenius) he did not propose to impose that nonviolent ethic on the heads of state for whom the design was drawn.

- "Utopian" normally means having no relation to real life; yet many of the above were concrete plans projected by men in governmental responsibility, and some were fixed in treaties.

Nonetheless Johnson is quite right in arguing that within Western civilization's "Quest for Peace" this cultural stream represents a distinctive position, arid that it is seldom if ever given the weight it merits when we read Western history, even when peace-oriented persons read western history.

V. SOURCES FOR THE HISTORY OF PEACE PLANS:

Roland Bainton, Christian Attitudes to War and Peace Nashville Abingdon 1961 reviews a few of the p Ians pp I 7 8-83.

Sise la Bok, "Early Advocates of Lasting World Peace: Utopians or Realists?" in Leroy S. Rouner (ed), Celebrating Peace, Notre Dame, NDUPress, 1990, pp. 52-72. ND/BT/736.4/C42/1990

The best accessible scholarly survey of the long history is John Sylvester Hemleben Plans for World Peace through Six Centuries Univ. of Chicago Press 1943 cited above as SJH:in NDU library JX-I 938-H376p.

Elizabeth V. Souleyman, The Vision of Peace in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century France New York, Putnam 1941. Covers fewer cases than Hemleben but describes them more fully. Cited above as (ES). Similar collection in Kurt Raumer Ewiger Friede /Freiburg 1953. ND/JX/1952/RI 92/ 1953

The fullest text in the field, not available in NDU library: Jacob Termeulen (1884-1962), Der Gedanke der lnternationalen Organisation in seiner Entwicklung, den Haag, Nijhoff, 1917. Termeulen was the librarian at the Peace Palace at The Hague and bibliographer of Hugo Grotius. His massive bibliography on-the history of peace movements has just been edited by Pieter van den Dungen as From Erasmus to Tolstoy: The Peace Literature of Four Centuries New York, Greenwood, 1990. (ND/JX/1963/M485/ l 990)

Edith Wynner and Georgia Lloyd, eds., Searchlight on Peace Plans New York Dutton 1944, enlarged 1949 (NDU/JX I 944/W992). These authors report 151 "theoretical" peace plans which they can document between 1306 BC and WW1. They distinguish these from 45 "actual attempts" between 1375 BC and 1918. Their distinction is however misleading. Some of the cases which Wynner/Lloyd call "theoretical" were treaties actually signed by reigning sovereigns, but then not signed by others, or not implemented.

VI RECENT OR CONTEMPORARY FORMULATIO NS OF THE SAME KIND OF VISION:

Louis Rene Beres and Harry R. Targ (eds.) Planning Alternative World Futures, New York, Praeger, 1975.

Grenville Clark and Louis B. Sohn, World Peace Through Law, Harvard University Press, 1958.

Richard Falk, Robert C. Johansen, and Samuel Kim (eds) The Constitutional Foundations of World Peace New York, S UNY Press 1993

Robert C. Johansen, Toward a Dependable Peace, New York, Institute for World Order (since renamed World Policy Institute), 1978.

Robert C. Johansen, "Building World Security: The Need for Strenghtened INternational Institutions" in Michael T. Klare (ed.) World Security: Challenges for a New Century New York, St. Martin's, 1994, 372ff. Robert C. Johansen, "World Security, , and Military Force" Report of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies Spring 1991 no. l pp. If.