PERPETUAL PEACE *For I dipt into thefuture, far as hamnn eye could TCC, Saw the Vision of the world, and all thcwonder thr: waxld Le; Snw theheavens fill with commerce, argosies of magicsails, Pi!o!s of thopurple twilight, dropping d>wnwith eosrj? bales: Heardthe heavens fill withnlmlting, and there rsin'd a ghastly dew From the nations' airynavies grappling in thecentm! b!uo; Far dong the world.widc whisper of the south-wind rushing warm, With the standards of the peoplesplunging thro' tkc thunder.storm: Till thewar-drum throbb'd no longer, and the bntt.e.flags were fuurl'd In tho Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. Thew the common sense of mmt shall hold a f3etf::l realm in awe, And the kindly earth ahall dumbor, lapt in universal hw." -' ' TSNNYSON:LcrRslry HER PERPETUAL PEACE A PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAY Tr7.rlSSLATED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY 31. CAMPBELLSMITH, M.A. :67?'il .4 PREFACE BY I'I<CFl:'.SSOR LATTA LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD. RUSKIN HOUSE 40 MUSEUMSTREET, W.C. NEW YORK : THE IvIAChlILLAN COMPANY PREFACE THIStranslation of Kant’sessay on PerptuaP Peace was undertaken by Miss Mary Campbell Smith at the suggestion of thelate Professor Ritchie of St. Andrews, who had promised to write for it a preface,indicating the value of Kant’s work in relation to recent discussions regarding the possibility of ‘I making wars to cease.” In view of the general interest which these discussions have arousedand of thevague thinking and aspiration which have too often characterised them, it seemed to Professor Ritchie that atranslation of this wise and sagaciousessay would be both opportuneand valuable. * His untimely deathhas prevented the fulfilment of his promise, and I have been asked, in his stead,to introduce thetranslator’s work. This is, I think, the only completetranslation into English of Kant’s essay, including all the notes as well as thetext, and the translatorhas added a full historicalIntroduction, along with numerous notes of her own, so as (in Professor Ritchie’s words) ‘I to meet the needs (I) of the student of Political vi Preface Sciencewho wishes to understandthe relation of Kant’s theories to those of Grotius, Hobbes, Locke, Kousseau etc.,and (2) of thegeneral reader who wishes tounderstand the significance of Kant’s proposals in connection with the ideals of Peace Congresses, and with the developmentof International Law from the end of the Middle Ages to the Hague Conference.” Although it is morethan 100 years since Kant‘s essay was written, its substantial va!ue is practically unimpaired.Anyone who is acquainted with the generalcharacter of the mind of Kant will expect to find in him soundcommon-sense, clearrecogni- tion of the essential facts of the case and a remark- able power of analytically exhibiting the conditions on which the factsnecessarily depend.These characteristics are manifest iu the essay on Perpetual A,ore. Kant is not pessimist enough to believe that a perpetual peace is an unrealisable dream or a consummationdevoutly to be feared, nor is he optimistenough to fancy thatit is an ideal which could easily be realised if men would butturn their hearts toone another. For Kant perpetual peace is an ideal, notmerely as a speculative Utopian idea, with which in fancy we mayplay, but as amoral principle, which oughtto be, and therefore can be, realised. Yet he makes it perfectly clear that we cannot hope to approach therealisation Preface vii of itunless we honestly face political facts and get a firmgrasp of theindispensable conditions of a lasting peace. To strive after the ideal in contempt or in ignorance of these conditions is a labour that must inevitablybe either fruitless ordestructive of itsown ends, Thus Kantdemonstrates the hope- lessness of anyattempt to secure perpetual peace betweenindependent nations. Such nations may maketreaties; but these are binding only for so longas it is notto the interest of eitherparty to denouncethem. To enforcethem is impossible while thenations remain independent. “There is,” as Professor Ritchie put it (Sttrdies in Political and Social Ethics, p. 169), lionly one way inwhich war betweenindependent “’nations can be prevented ; andthat is bythe nations ceasing to be indepen- dent.”But this does not necessarily mean the establishment of despotism,a whether autocratic ordemocratic. On the other hand, Kant maintains that just aspeace between individuals within a statecan only be permanently secured by the institution of a“republican ” (that is to say, a representative) government, so the onlyreal guarantee of permanenta peace between nations is the establishment of a federation of free “republican” states.Such a federation heregards as practically possible. 11 “For if Fortune ordains that a powerful andenlightened people should form a republic- viii Preface which by its verynature is inclined toperpetual peace-thiswould serve a centre of federal unionfor other states wishing to join, andthus secure.’conditionsof freedom among the states in accordancewith the idea of thelaw of nations. Gradually,through different unions of thiskind, thefederation would extend further and further.” Readers who areacquainted with the general philosophy of Kant will find manytraces of its influence inthe essay on Perpetual Peace. Those who haveno knowledge of hisphilosophy may find some of his forms of statement rather difficult to understand,and it may therefore not be out of place for meto indicate very briefly themeaning of some terms which he frequently uses, especially inthe Supplements and Appendices. Thus at the beginning of theFirst Supplement, Kant draws a distinctionbetween the mechanical and the teleo- logical view of things, between “nature” and “ Provi- dence ”, which depends upon his main philosophical position.According to Kant, pure reason has two aspects,theoretical and practical. Asconcerning knowledge, strictly so called, the a priori principles ofreason (e.g, substanceand attribute, cause and effect etc.)are valid only within therealm of possible sense-experience. Such ideas, forinstance, cannotbe extended to God, since He is not a possible object of sense-experience, They are limited Frefare ix t to the world of phenomena. This world of pheno- mena (‘1 nature ” or the world of sense-experience) is purelya mechanical system. But in order to understand fully thephenomenal world, thepure theoretical reasonmust postulate certain ideas (the ideas of the soul, the world and God), theobjects of which transcendsense-experience. Theseideas are nottheoreticallp valid, buttheir validity is practically established by the pure practical reason, which doesnot yieldspeculative truth,but pre- scribes its principlesdogmatically ” in the form of. imperatives to the will. ‘\ The will is itself practical’ reason, andthus it imposesits imperativesupon. itself. The fundamental imperative of the practical’ reason is stated by Kant in Appendix I. (p. 175) :- (I Act so that thou canst will that thy maxim should be a universal law, be the end of thy actionwhat it will.” If theend of perpetualpeace is a duty, it must be necessarily deduced from this general law. AndKant does regard it as duty.a We mustdesire perpetual peacenot only as a material good, but also as a state of things resulting from our recognition of the precepts of duty ” (loc. lit.). This is further expressed in the maxim (p. 177):- “Seek ye first the kingdom of pure practical reason and its righteousness, andthe object of your endeavour, the blessing of perpetual peace, will be addedunto you.” The distinction between the X Preyme moral politician and the political moralist, which is developed in Appendix I., is an application of the gcneral distinction between dutyand expediency, which is a prominent feature of the Kantian ethics. Methods of.expediency, omitting all reference to the purepractical reason, can only bringabout re-arrangements of circumstances in the mechanical course of nature. Theycan never guaranteethe attainment of theirend: they can never make it more than a speculative ideal, which may or may notbe practicable. But if theend can be shown to be a duty, we have, from Kant’s point of view, the onlyreasonable ground for a conviction that it is realisable. We cannot,indeed, theoretically know that it is realisable. “Reason is not suffi- cieutly enlightened to survey the series of predeter- mining causes which would make it possible for us to predict with certainty the good or bad results of human action, asthey follow from the mechanical laws of nature; although we mayhope that things will turnout as we should desire” (p. 163). On the other hand, since the idea of perpetual peace is a moral ideal,an idea of duty ”, we are entitled to believe that it is practicable. ,. I( Nature guarantees the coming of perpetual peace, through the natural course of human propensities ; not indeed with sufficient certainty toenable us to prophesy She future of this ideal theoretically, but yet clearly i I Prrface xi .: enough for practicalpurposes ” (p. I 57). Onemight extend this discussion indefinitely ; but what has been saidmay suffice for generalguidance. The fi wise and sagacious ” thought of Kant is not expressed in a simple style, and the translatioll has consequently been a very difficult piece of jvork. But thetranslator has shown great skill in manipulating the involutions, parentheses and prodigious sentences of the original. In this she has had the valuable help of Mr. David Morrison, hl.A., who revised the whole translation with the greatest care and to whom she owes the solution of a number of difficulties. Her work will have it5 fitting reward if it succeeds in familiarising the English-speaking student of politics with a political essay of enduring value,written by one of the masterthinkers of modern times. R. LATTA. CONTENTS ?AG. PREFACE BY PROFESSORLATTA ......V TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION * * PERPETUALPEACE s . - * - * * FIRSTSECTION CONTAINING THE PRELIMINARY ARTICLES OF PERPETUALPEACE BETWEEN STATES...*.*...*..* SECOND SECTION CONTAMING TILE DEFINITIVE ARTICLES OF PERPETUALPEACE BETWEEN STATES. ............ FIRST SUPPLEMENT CONCERh'IKGTHE GUARAKTEE OF PERPETUALPEACE .......