An Essay

Towards the Presen t and
Future Peace of Europe

BY THE ESTABLISHMENT
OF AN EUROPEAN DIET,
PARLIAMENT, OR ESTATES

BY

WILLIAM PENN

Reprinted by the Peace Committee of the Society of Friends,
Friends House, Euston Road, London, N.W.i

Priče 6d.

AN ESSAY

TOWARDS THE PRESENT AND
FUTURE PEACE OF EUROPE

By the Establishment of an
European Diet, Parliament,
or Estates

By VVILLIAM PENN

Published by the

Peace Committee of the Society of Friends
Friends House, Euston Road, London, N.W.i

LfS^8S / 1-

453851

fl 4 OCT1994

3 9 H o * 9. 7 3

FOREWORD

William Penn wrote this essay in 1693 during
his retirement from public life. Addressed to
a Europe devastated by War, it is a plea for peace
based upon justice. It was not reprinted after
1726 until the early months of the Great War,

several pages to it in the sectionon the Federation
of the World, together with Henry IV’s grand
dessein  and the schemes of St. Pierre and Kant.
International conditions have changed vastly
since the seventeenth century, but the appeal is
unhappily as pertinent as ever.

Penn’s ideal is to be sought in the founding and
conduct of the Colony of Pennsylvania and in
the section of this essay which deals with
Christianity. But his chief concern here is to
put fornard a practical plan for adoption by the
then Governments of Europe ; and whether we
approve or no of ali his proposals and their
implications, I am confident that this essay,
with its analvsis of the motives of rulers, its picture
of the evils of war, the meaning of justice, and the
fruits of peace, always shrewd and often expressed
in terse and quaint phrasing, is deserving of
continued attention to-day.

Arbiter in Council  (1906) devoted

F. E. POLLARD.






AN ESSAY TOWARDS THE PRESENT
AND FUTURE PEACE OF EUROPE

By THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN EuROPEAN  DlET,
Parliament, or Estates

Beati Pacifici. Cedant Arma Toga

To the Reader, — I have undertaken a subject
that I am very sensible requires one of more
sufficiency than I am master of to treat it as, in
truth, it deserves and the groaning State of Europe
calls for ; but since bunglers may stumble upon
the game as well as masters, though it belongs to
the skilful to hunt and catch it, I hope this essay
will not be charged upon me for a fault if it
appear to be neither chimerical nor injurious,
and may provoke abler pens to improve and per-
form the design with better judgment and success.
I will say no more in excuse of myself for this
undertaking but that it is the fruit of my solicitous
thoughts for the peace of Europe, and they must
want charity as much as the world needs quiet to
be offended with me for so pacific a proposal.
Let them censure my management, so they
prosecute the advantage of the design ; for until
the millenary doctrine be accomplished, there is
nothing appears to me so beneficial an expedient
to the peace and happiness of this quarter of the
world.

I. Of Peace and its Advantages

He must not be a man but a statue of brass or
Stone whose bowels do not melt when he beholds
the bloody tragedies of this war, in Hungary,

6

Germany, Flanders, Ireland, and at sea, the
mortality of sickly and languishing camps and
navies, and the mighty prey the devouring winds
and waves have made upon ships and men since
’88. And as this with reason ought to affect
human nature, and deeply kindred, so there is
something very moving that becomes prudent
men to consider, and that is the vast charge that
has accompanied that blood, and which makes
no mean part of these tragedies ; especially if
they deliberate upon the uncertainty of the war,
that they know not how or when it will end, and
that the expense cannot be less, and the hazard
is as great as before. So that in the contraries of
peace we see the beauties and benefits of it ;
which under it, such is the unhappiness of man-
kind, we are too apt to nauseate, as the full
stomach loathes the honeycomb ; and like that
unfortunate gentleman, that having a fine and a
good woman to his wife, and searching his pleasure
in forbidden and less agreeable company, said,
when reproached with his neglect of better
enjoyments, that he could love his wife of ali
women if she were not his wife, though that
increased his obligation to prefer her. It is a
great mark of the corruption of our natures, and
what ought to humble us extremely, and excite
the exercise of our reason to a nobler and juster
sense, that we cannot see the use and pleasure of
our comforts but by the want of them. As if
we could not taste the benefit of health but by the
help of sickness ; nor understand the satisfaction
of fulness without the instruction of want ; nor,
finally, know the comfort of peace but by the

7

gmart and penance of the vices of war : and
vvithout dispute that is not the least reason that
God is pleased to chastise us so frequently with it.
What can we desire better than peace but the
grace to use it ? Peace preserves our possessions ;
we are in no danger of invasions : our trade is

free and safe, and we rise and lie down without
anxiety. The rich bring out their hoards, and
employ the poor manufacturers ; buildings and
divers projections for profit and pleasure go on :
it excites industry, which brings wealth, as that
gives the means of charity and hospitality, not
the lowest ornaments of a kingdom or common-
wealth. But war, like the frost of ’83, seizes ali
these comforts at once, and stops the civil channel
of society. The rich draw in their stock, the
poor turn soldiers, or thieves, or starve : no
industry, no building, no manufactory, little
hospitality or charity ; but what the peace gave,
the war devours. I need say no more upon this
head, when the advantages of peace, and mis-
chiefs of war, are so many and sensible to every
capacity under ali governments, as either of them
prevails. I shall proceed to the next point.
What is the best means of Peace ? which will
conduce much to open my way to what I have
to propose.

II. Of the Means of Peace, which is Justice

RATHER THAN WAR

As justice is a preserver, so it is a better procurer
of peace than war. Though Pax quaeritur bello
be a usual saying, Peace is the end of war,  and as

8

such it was taken up by O.C. for his motto ; yet
the use generally made of that expression shows us
that, properly and truly speaking, men seek their
vvills by war rather than peace, and that as they
will violate it to obtain them, so they will hardly
be brought to think of peace unless their appetites
be some way gratified. If we look over the stories
of ali times, we shall find the aggressors generally
moved by ambition ; the pride of conquest and
greatness of dominion more than right. But as
those leviathans appear rarely in the world, so
I shall anon endeavour to make it evident they
had never been able to devour the peace of the
world, and engross whole countries as they have
done, if the proposal I have to make for the
benefit of our present age had been then in
practice. The advantage that j ustice has upon war
is seen by the success of embassies, that so often
prevent war by hearing the pleas and memorials
of justice in the hands and mouths of the wronged
party. Perhaps it may be in a good degree
owing to reputation or poverty, or some particular
interest or conveniency of princes and States, as
much as justice ; but it is certain that, as war
cannot in any sense be justified, but upon wrongs
received and right, upon complaint refused ; so
the generality of wars have their rise from some
such pretension. This is better seen and under-
stood at home ; for that which prevents a civil
war in a nation is that which may prevent it
abroad, viz. justice ; and we see where that
is notably obstructed, war is kindled betvveen the
magistrates and people in particular kingdoms
and States ; which, however it may be unlawful

9

on the side of the people, we see never fails to
follovv, and ought to give the same caution to
princes as if it were the right of the people to do
it : Though I must needs say the remedy is
almost ever worse than the disease : the aggressors
seldom getting what they seek, or performing,
if they prevail, what they promised : and the
blood and poverty that usually attend the enter-
prise weigh more on earth, as well as in heaven,
than what they lost or suffered, or what they get
by endeavouring to mend their condition, comes
to : which disappointment seems to be the

voice of heaven and judgment of God against
those violent attempts. But to return, I say,
justice is the means of peace, betwixt the govern-
ment and the people, and one man and company
and another. It prevents strife, and at last ends
it : for besides shame or fear, to contend longer,
he or they being under government, are con-
strained to bound their desires and resentment
with the satisfaction the law gives. Thus peace
is maintained by justice, which is a fruit of
government, as government is from society, and
society from consent.

III. Government, its Rise and End under

ALL MODELS

Government is an expedient against confusion ;
a restraint upon ali disorder ; just weights and an
even balance : that one may not injure another,
nor himself, by intemperance.

This was at first vvithout controversy patrimonial,
and upon the death of the father or head of

10

the family the eldest son or male of kin succeeded.
But time breaking in upon this way of govern-
ing, as the world multiplied, it fell under other
claims and forms ; and is as hard to trače to its
original as are the copies we have of the first
writings of sacred or civil matters. It is certain
the most natural and human is that of consent,
for that binds freely (as I may say), when men
hold their liberty by true obedience to rules of their
own making. No man is judge in his own cause,
which ends the confusion and blood of so many
judges and executioners. For out of society
every man is his own king, does what he lists at
his own peril : but when he comes to incorporate
himself, he submits that royalty to the conveni-
ency of the whole, from whom he receives the
returns of protection. So that he is not now his
own judge nor avenger, neither is his antagonist,
but the law, in indifferent hands between both.
And if he be servant to others that before was
free, he is also served of others that formerly
owed him no obligation. Thus while we are not
our own, every body is ours, and we get more
than we lose, the safety of the society being the
safety of the particulars that constitute it. So
that while we seem to submit to, and hold ali we
have from society, it is by society that we keep
what we have.

Government then is the prevention or cure of
disorder, and the means of justice, as that is of
peace : for this cause they have sessions, terms,
assizes, and parliaments, to overrule men’s
passions and resentments, that they may not be
judges in their own cause, nor punishers of their

II

own wrongs, which, as it is very incident to men
in their corrupt State, so, for that reason, they
would observe no measure ; nor on the other
hand would any be easily reduced to their duty.
Not that men know not what is right, their
excesses, and wherein they are to blame, by no
means ; nothing is plainer to them : but so
depraved is human nature that, vvithout com-
pulsion some way or other, too many would not
readily be brought to do what they know is right
and fit, or avoid what they are satisfied they
should not do. Which brings me near to the
point I have undertaken, and for the better
understanding of which I have thus briefly treated
of peace, justice, and government, as a necessary
introduction, because the ways and methods by
which peace is preserved in particular govern-
ments will help those readers most concerned in
my proposal to conceive with what ease as well as
advantage the peace ofEurope might be procured
and kept ; which is the end designed by me,
with ali submission to those interested in this
little treatise.

IV. Of a General Peace, or the Peace of

EuROPE, AND THE MeANS OF IT

In my first section, I showed the desirableness
of peace ; in my next, the truest means of it ;
to wit, justice not war. And in my last, that this
justice was the fruit of government, as govern¬
ment itself was the result of society which first
came from a reasonable design in men of peace.
Now if the sovereign princes of Europe, who

represent that society, or independent State of
men that was previous to the obligations ofsociety,
would, for the same reason that engaged men first
into society, viz. love of peace and order, agree
to meet by their stated deputies in a general diet,
estates, or parliament, and there establish rules
of justice for sovereign princes to observe one to
another ; and thus to meet yearly, or once in
two or three years at farthest, or as they shall
see cause, and to be styled, the Sovereign or
Imperial Diet, Parliament or State of Europe ;
before which sovereign assembly should be
brought ali differences depending between one
sovereign and another that cannot be made up
by private embassies before the sessions begin ;
and that if any of the sovereignties that constitute
these imperial States shall refuse to submit their
claim or pretensions to them, or to abide and
perform the judgment thereof, and seek their
remedy by arms, or delay their compliance
beyond the time prefked in their resolutions,
ali the other sovereignties, united as one strength,
shall compel the submission and performance of
the sentence, with damages to the suffering party,
and charges to the sovereignties that obliged
their submission. To be sure, Europe would
quietly obtain the so much desired and needed
peace to her harassed inhabitants ; no sovereignty
in Europe having the power and therefore cannot
show the will to dispute the conclusion ; and,
consequently, peace would be procured and con-
tinued in Europe.

i3

V. Of the Causes of Difference, and
Motives to violate Peace

There appears to me but three things upon
which peace is broken, viz. to keep, to recover,
or to add. First, to keep what is one’s right
from the invasion of an enemy ; in vvhich I am
purely defensive. Secondly, to recover, when I
think myself strong enough, that vvhich by
violence I or my ancestors have lost by the arms
of a stronger povver ; in vvhich I am offensive.
Or, lastly, to increase my dominion by the
acquisition of my neighbour’s countries, as I
find them vveak and myself strong. To gratify
vvhich passion there vvill never vvant some accident
or other for a pretence : and knovving my ovvn
strength, I vvill be my ovvn judge and carver.
This last vvill find no room in the imperial States :
they are an unpassable limit to that ambition.
But the other tvvo may come as soon as they
please and find the justice of the sovereign court.
And considering hovv fevv there are of those sons
of prey, and hovv early they shovv themselves, it
may be not once in an age or tvvo, this expedition
being established, the balance cannot vvell be
broken.

VI. Of Titles, upon vvhich those Differences

MAY ARISE

But I easily foresee a question that may be
ansvvered in our vvay, and that is this : What is
right ? Or else we can never knovv vvhat is vvrong :
It is very fit that this should be established. But
that is fitter for the sovereign States to resolve

H

than me. And yet that I may lead a way to the
matter, I say that title is either by a long and
undoubted succession, as the crowns of Spain,
France, and England ; or by election, as the
crown of Poland and the Empire ; or by marriage,
as the family of the Stewarts came by England ;
the elector of Bradenburg to the Duchy of Cleve :
and we, in ancient time, to divers places abroad ;
or by purchase, as hath been frequently done in
Italy and Germany ; or by conquest, as the Turk
in Christendom, the Spaniards in Flanders,
formerly mostly in the French hands, and the
French in Burgundy, Normandy, Lorraine,
French-County, etc. This last title is, morally
speaking, only questionable. It has indeed
obtained a plače among the rolls of titles, but it
was engrossed and recorded by the point of the
sword and in bloody characters. What cannot
be controlled or resisted must be submitted to ;
but ali the world knows the date of the length
of such empires, and that they expire with the
power of the possessor to defend them. And yet
there is a little allowed to conquest too, when it
has the sanction of articles of peace to confirm
it : though that hath not always extinguished
the fire, but it lies, like embers and ashes, ready
to kindle so soon as there is fit matter prepared
for it. Nevertheless, when conquest has been
confirmed by a treaty, and conclusion of peace,

I must confess it is an adopted title ; and if not
so genuine and natural, yet being engrafted, it
is fed by that which is the security of better
titles, consent. There is but one thing more
to be mentioned in this section, and that is from

!5

what time titles shall take their beginning, or
how far back we may look to confirm or dispute
them. It would be very bold and inexcusable
in me to determine so tender a point, but be it
more or less time, as to the last general peace at
Nimeguen, or to the commencing of this war,
or to the time of the beginning of the treaty of
peace, I must submit it to the great pretenders
and masters in that affair. But something
everybody must be willing to give or quit, that
he may keep the rest, and by this establishment
be forever freed of the necessity of losing more.

VII. Of THE COMPOSITION OF THESE IMPERIAL

States

The composition and proportion of this
Sovereign Part, or Imperial State, does, at the
first look, seem to carry with it no small difficulty
what votes to allow for the inequality of the
princes and States. But with submission to
better judgments, I cannot think it invincible ; for
if it be possible to have an estimate of the yearly
value of the several sovereign countries, whose
delegates are to make up this august assembly,
the determination of the number of persons or
votes in the States for every sovereignty will not
be impracticable. Now that England, France,
Spain, the Empire, etc., may be pretty exactly
estimated is so plain a čase, by considering the
revenue of lands, the exports and entries at the
custom houses, the books of rates, and surveys
that are in ali governments, to proportion taxes
for the support of them, that the least inclination
to the peace of Europe will not stand or halt at

i6

this objection. I will, with pardon on ali sides,
give an instance far from exact ; nor do I pretend
to it, or offer it for an estimate ; for I do it at
random : only this, as wide as it is from the just
proportion, will give some aim to my judicious
reader, what I would be at : Remembering I
design not by any computation an estimate from
the revenue of the prince, but the value of the
territory, the whole being concerned as well as
the prince. And a juster measure it is to go by,
since one prince may have more revenue than
another, who has much a richer country : though
in the instance I am now about to make, the
caution is not so necessary, because, as I said
before, I pretend to no manner of exactness, but
go wholly by guess, being but for example’s sake.
I suppose the Empire of Germany to send twelve ;
France, ten ; Spain, ten ; Italy, which comes
to France, eight ; England, six ; Portugal,
three ; Sweedland, four ; Denmark, three ;
Poland, four ; Venice, three ; the seven pro-
vinces, four ; the thirteen cantons and little
neighbouring sovereignties, two ; dukedoms of
Holstein and Courland, one ; and if the Turks
and Muscovites are taken in, as seems but fit
and just, they will make ten apiece more. The
whole makes ninety. A great presence when
they represent the fourth, and now the best and
vvealthiest part of the known world ; where
religion and learning, civility and arts have their
seat and empire. But it is not absolutely neces-
sary there should be always so many persons to
represent the larger sovereignties ; for the votes
may be given by one man of any sovereignty

i7

as well as by ten or twelve : though the fuller the
assembly of States is, the more solemn, effectual,
and free the debates will be, and the resolutions
must needs come with greater authority. The
plače of their first session should be central, as
much as is possible, afterwards as they agree.

VIII. Of the Regulations of the Imperial
States in Session

To avoid quarrel for precedency, the room
may be round, and have divers doors to come in
and go out at, to prevent exceptions. If the
whole number be čast in tens, each choosing
one, they may preside by turns, to whom ali
speeches should be addressed, and who should
collect the sense of the debates, and State the
question for a vote, which, in my opinion, should
be by the ballot after the prudent and commend-
able method of the Venetians : which, in a great
degree, prevents the ill effects of corruption ;
because if any of the delegates of that high and
mighty Estates could be so vile, false, and dis-
honourable as to be influenced by money, they
have the advantage of taking their money that will
give it them and of voting undiscovered to the
interest of their principles and their own inclina-
tions ; as they that do understand the balloting
box do very well know. A shrewd stratagem
and an experimental remedy against corruption,
at least corrupting : for who will give their money
where they may so easily be cozened, and where
it is two to one they vvill be so ; for they that will
take money in such cases will not stick to lie

i8

heartily to them that give it, rather than wrong
their country, when they know their lie cannot
be detected.

It seems to me that nothing in this Imperial
Parliament should pass but by three quarters of
the whole, at least seven above the balance. I
am sure it helps to prevent treachery, because
if money could ever be a temptation in such a
court, it would cost a great deal of money to
weigh down the wrong scale. Ali complaints
should be delivered in writing in the nature of
memorials and journals kept by a proper person,
in a trunk or chest, which should have as many
differing locks as there are tens in the States.
And if there were a clerk for each ten, and a pew
or table for those clerks in the assembly ; and at
the end of every session one out of each ten were
appointed to examine and compare the journals
of those clerks, and then lock them up as I have
before expressed, it would be clear and satis-
factory. And each sovereignty if they please,
as is but very fit, may have an exemplification,
or copy of the said memorials, and the journals
of proceedings upon them. The liberty and rules
of speech, to be sure, they cannot fail in, who will
be wisest and noblest of each sovereignty, for its
own honour and safety. If any difference can
arise between those that come from the same
sovereignty that then one of the major number
do give the balls of that sovereignty. I should
think it extremely necessary that every sovereignty
should be present under great penalties, and that
none leave the session without leave, till ali be
finished ; and that neutralities in debates should

29

by no means be endured : for any such latitude
will quickly open a way to unfair proceedings,
and be followed by a train, both of seen and
unseen inconveniences. I will say little of the
language in which the session of the Sovereign
Estates should be held, but to be sure it must be
in Latin or French ; the first would be very well
for civilians, but the last most easy for men of
quality.

IX. Of THE ObJECTIONS THAT MAY BE ADVANCED
AGAINST THE DeSIGN

I will first give an answer to the objections that
may be offered against my proposal : and in my
next and last section I shall endeavour to show
some of the manifold conveniences that would
follovv this European league or confederacy.

The first of them is this, that the strongest and
richest sovereignty will never agree to it, and if
it should, there would be danger of corruption
more than of force one time or other. I answer
to the first part, he is not stronger than ali the
rest, and for that reason you should promote
this and compel him into it ; especially before
he be so, for then it will be too late to deal with
such a one. To the last part of the objection,

I say the way is as open now as then ; and it may
be the number fewer, and as easily come at.
However, if men of sense and honour and sub¬
stance are chosen, they will either scorn the
baseness, or have wherewith to pay for the
knavery : at least they may be watched so that
one may be a check upon the other, and ali

20

prudently limited by the sovereignty they repre-
sent. In ali great points, especially before a
final resolve, they may be obliged to transmit
to their principals the merits of such important
cases depending, and receive their last instruc-
tions : which may be done in four and twenty
days at the most, as the plače of their session may
be appointed.

The second is that it will endanger an effemin-
acy by such a disuse of the trade of soldiery ; that
if there should be any need for it, upon any
occasion, we should be at a loss as they were in
Holland in ’y2.

There can be no danger of effeminacy, because
each sovereignty may introduce as temperate or
severe a discipline in the education of youth as
they please, by low living and due labour.
Instruct them in mechanical knovvledge and in
natural philosophy by operation, which is the
honour of the German nobility. This would
make them men : neither women nor lions : for
soldiers are the other extreme to effeminacy.
But the knowledge of nature, and the useful
as well as agreeable operations of art, give men
an understanding of themselves, of the world
they are born into, how to be useful and service-
able, both to themselves and others : and how to
save and help, not injure or destroy. The
knovvledge of government in general; the partic-
ular constitutions of Europe ; and above ali of
his own country, are very recommending
accomplishments. This fits him for the parlia-
ment and council at home, and the courts of
princes and Services in the imperial States

abroad. At least, he is a good commonwealth’s
man, and can be useful to the public or retire as
there may be occasion.

To the other part of the objection, of being at
a loss for soldiery as they were in Holland in ’/2.
The proposal answers for it itself. One has war
no more than the other ; and will be as much
to seek upon occasion. Nor is it to be thought
that any one will keep up such an army after
such an empire is on foot, which may hazard
the safety of the rest. However, if it be seen
requisite, the question may be asked, by order of
the sovereign States, why such a one either raises
or keeps up a formidable body of troops, and he
obliged forthwith to reform or reduce them ;
lest any one, by keeping up a great bodv of troops,
should surprise a neighbour. But a small force
in every other sovereignty, as it is capable or
accustomed to maintain, will certainly prevent
that danger, and vanquish any such fear.

The third objection is, that there will be great
want of employment for younger brothers of
families ; and that the poor must either turn
soldiers or thieves. I have answered that in my
return to the second objection. We shall have
the more merchants and husbandmen, or in-
genious naturalists, if the government be but
anything solicitous of the education of their
youth : which, next to the present and immediate
happiness of any country, ought of ali things to
be the čare and škili of the government. For
such as the youth of any country is bred, such is
the next generation, and the government in
good or bad hands.

22

I am come now to the last objection, that
sovereign princes and States will hereby become
not sovereign : a thing they will never endure.
But this also, under correction, is a mistake, for
they remain as sovereign at home as ever they
were. Neither their power over their people,
nor the usual revenue they pay them, is dimin-
ished : it may be the war establishment may
be reduced, which will indeed of course follow,
or be better employed to the advantage of the
public. So that the sovereignties are as they
were, for none of them have now any sovereignty
over one another : And if this be called a lessen-
ing of their power, it must be only because the
great fish can no longer eat up the little ones, and
that each sovereignty is equally defended from
injuries, and disabled from committing them :
Cedant Arma Toga  is a glorious sentence; the voice
of the dove ; the olive branch of peace. A bless-
ing so great, that when it pleases God to chastise
us severely for our sins, it is with the rod of war
that for the most part He whips us: and experi-
ence teliš us none leaves deeper marks behind it.

X. Of the Real Benefits that flow from
this Proposal about Peage

I am come to my last section, in which I shall
enumerate some of those many real benefits  that
flow from this proposal for the present and future
peace of Europe.

Let it not, I pray, be the least that it prevents
the spilling of so much human and Christian
blood. For a thing so offensive to God, and

23

terrible and afflicting to men, as that has ever
been, must recommend our expedient beyond
ali objections. For what can a man give in
exchange for his life as well as soul ? And though
the chiefest in government are seldom personally
exposed, yet it is a duty incumbent upon them
to be tender of the lives of their people ; since
without ali doubt, they are accountable to God
for the blood that is spilt in their Service. So
that besides the loss of so many lives, of impor-
tance to any government, both for labour and
propagation, the cries of so many widows, parents,
and fatherless are prevented, that cannot be very
pleasant in the ears of any government, and is
the natural consequence of war in ali government.

There is another manifest benejit  which redounds
to Christendom by this peaceable expedient, the
reputation of Christianity will in some degree be
recovered in the sight of infidels ; which, by the
many bloody and unjust wars of Christians,
not only with them, but one with another, hath
been greatly impaired. For, to the scandal of
that holy profession, Christians, that glory in
their Saviour’s name, have long devoted the credit
and dignity of it to their worldly passions, as
often as they have been excited by the impulses
of ambition or revenge. They have not always
been in the right : nor has right been the reason of
war : and not only Christians against Christians,
but the same sort of Christians have imbrued their
hands in one another’s blood ; invoking and
interesting ali they could the good and merciful
God to prosper their arms to their brethren’s
destruction : yet their Saviour has told them that

24

He came to save, and not to destroy the lives of
men : to give and plant peace among men :
and if in any sense He may be said to send war,
it is the holy war indeed ; for it is to send against
the devil, and not the persons of men. Of ali
His titles this seems the most glorious as well as
comfortable for us, that He is the prince of peace.
It is His nature, His office, His work, and the end
and excellent blessings of His coming, Who is
both the maker and preserver of our peace with
God. And it is very remarkable, that in ali
the New Testament He is but once called lion,
but frequently the Lamb of God ; to denote to
us His gentle, meek, and harmless nature, and that
those who desire to be the disciples of His cross
and kingdom, for they are inseparable, must be
like Him, as St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. John teli
us. Nor is it said the lamb shall lie down with
the lion, but the lion shall lie down with the lamb.
That is war that shall yield to peace, and the
soldier turn hermit. To be sure, Christians
should not be apt to strive, not swift to anger
against anybody, and less with one another, and
least of ali for the uncertain and fading enjoy-
ments of this lower world : and no quality is
exempted from this doctrine. Here is a wide
field for the reverend clergy of Europe to act
their part in, who have so much the possession
of princes and people too. May they recommend
and labour this pacific means I offer, which will
end blood, if not strife ; and then reason, upon
free debate, will be judge, and not the sword.
So that both right and peace, which are the desire
and fruit of wise governments, and the choice

25

blessings of any country, seem to succeed the
establishment of this proposal.

The third benejit  is that it saves money, both to
the prince and people ; and thereby prevents
those grudgings and misunderstandings betvveen
them that are wont to follow the devouring
expenses of war ; and enables both to perform
public acts for learning, charity, manufactures,
etc. The virtues of government and omaments
of countries. Nor is this ali the advantage that
follows to sovereignties, upon this head of money
and good husbandry, to whose Service and
happiness this short discourse is dedicated ; for
it saves the great expense that frequent and
splendid embassies require, and ali their append-
ages of spies and intelligence, which in the most
prudent governments have devoured mighty sums
of money ; and that not without some immoral
practices also : such as corrupting of servants
to betray their masters, by revealing their secrets ;
not to be defended by Christian or old Roman
virtues. But here where there is nothing to fear
there is little to know, and therefore the purchase
is either cheap, or may be wholly spared. I
might mention pensions to the widows and
orphans of such as die in wars, and of those that
have been disabled in them ; which rise high
in the revenue of some countries.

Our fourth advantage  is that the towns, cities,
and countries that might be laid waste by the
rage of war are thereby preserved. A blessing
that would be very well understood in Flanders
and Hungary, and indeed upon ali the borders
of sovereignties, which are almost ever the stages

26

of spoil and misery ; of vvhich the stories of
England and Scotland do sufficiently inform us
without looking over the water.

The ffth benefit  of this peace is the ease and
security of travel and traffic : a happiness never
understood since the Roman Empire has been
broken into so many sovereignties. But we may
easily conceive the comfort and advantage of
travelling through the governments of Europe
by a pass from any of the sovereignties of it,
which this league and State of peace will naturally
make authentic. They that have travelled
Germany, where is so great a number of sover¬
eignties, know the want and value of this privilege,
by the many stops and examinations they meet
with by the way : but especially such as have
made the great tour of Europe. This leads to
the benefit of a universal monarchy, without the
inconveniences that attend it : for when the

whole was one empire, though these advantages
were enjoyed, yet the several provinces, that now
make the kingdoms and States of Europe, were
under some hardship from the great sums of
money remitted to the imperial seat, and the
ambition and avarice of their several proconsuls
and governors, and the great taxes they paid to
the numerous legions of soldiers, that they
maintained for their own subjection, who were not
wont to entertain that concern for them (being
uncertainly there, and having their fortunes to
make) which their respective and proper sover-
eigns have always shovvn for them. So that to
be ruled by native princes or States, with the
advantage of that peace and security that can

27

onlv render a universal monarchy desirable, is
peculiar to our proposal, and for that reason
it is to be preferred.

Another advantage  is the great security it will be
to Christians against the inroads of the Turk,
in their most prosperous fortune. For it had
been impossible for the Porte to have prevailed
so often, and so far from Christendom, but by
the carelessness, or wilful connivance, if not aid,
of some Christian princes. And for the same
reason, why no Christian monarch will adventure
to oppose or break such a union, the Grand
Seignior will find himself obliged to concur, for
the security of what he holds in Europe : where
with ali his strength he would feel it an over-match
for him. The prayers, tears, treason, blood, and
devastation that war has cost in Christendom,
for these two last ages especially, must add to the
credit of our proposal, and the blessing of the
peace thereby humbly recommended.

The seventh advantage  of a European Imperial
Diet, Parliament, or Estates is that it will beget
and increase personal friendship between princes
and States, vvhich tends to the rooting up of wars,
and planting peace in a deep and fruitful soil.
For princes have the curiosity of seeing the
courts and cities of other countries, as well as
private men, if they could as securely and fami-
liarly gratify their inclinations. It were a great
motive to the tranquillity of the world that they
could freely converse face to face, and personally
and reciprocally give and receive marks of civility
and kindness. A hospitality that leaves these
impressions behind it will hardly let ordinary

28

matters prevail to mistake or quarrel one
another. Their emulation would be in the
instances of goodness, laws, customs, learning,
arts, buildings ; and in particular those that
relate to charity, the true glory of some govern-
ments, where beggars are as much a rarity as in
other places it would be to see none.

Nor is this ali the benefit that would come by
this freedom and interview of princes. For
natural affection would hereby be preserved,
which we see little better than lost, from the
time their children, or sisters, are married into
other courts. For the present State of insincerity
of princes forbid them the enjoyment of that
natural comfort which is possessed by private
families : insomuch that from the time a daughter
or sister is married to another crown, nature is
submitted to interest, and that, for the most
part, grounded not upon solid or commendable
foundations, but ambition or unjust avarice.
I say this freedom that is the effect of our pacific
proposal restores nature to her just right and
dignity in the families of princes, and them to
the comfort she brings, wherever she is preserved
in her proper station. Here daughters may
personally entreat their parents, and sisters,
their brothers, for a good understanding between
them and their husbands, where nature not
crushed by absence and sinister interests, but
acting by the sight and lively entreaties of such
near relations, is almost sure to prevail. They
cannot easily resist the most affectionate addresses
of such powerful solicitors as their children and
grandchildren, and their sisters, nephews, and

29

nieces ; and so backvvard from children to parents
and sisters to brothers, to keep up and preserve
their own families, by a good understanding
between their husbands and them.

To conclude this section, there is yet another
manifest privilege  that follows this intercourse and
good understanding, which methinks should be
very moving with princes, viz. that hereby they
may choose wives for themselves such as they
love, and not by proxy merely to gratify interest ;
an ignoble motive ; and that rarely begets or
continues that kindness which ought to be
between men and their wives. A satisfaction very
few princes ever knew, and to which ali other
pleasures ought to resign. Which has often
obliged me to think that the advantage of private
men upon princes, by family comforts, is a
sufficient balance against their greater power
and glory : the one being more in imagination
than real; and often unlawful ; but the other
natural, solid, and commendable. Besides, it
is certain, parents loving well before they are
married, which very rarely happens to princes,
has kind and generous influences upon their
offspring : which with their example makes them
better husbands and wives in their turn. This
in great measure prevents unlawful love, and the
mischiefs of those intrigues that are wont to
follow them. What hatred, feuds, wars, and
desolations have in divers ages flown from un-
kindness betvveen princes and their wives ? What
unnatural divisions among their children, and
ruin to their families, if not loss of their countries
by it ? Behold an expedient to prevent it, a

30

natural and efficacious one. Happy to princes
and happy to their people also. For nature
being renevved and strengthened by these mutual
pledges and endearments I have mentioned will
leave those soft and kind impressions behind in
the minds of princes that court and country will
very easily discern and feel the good effects of:
especially if they have the vvisdom to show that
they interest themselves in the prosperity of the
children and relations of their princes. For it
does not only incline them to be good, but engage
those relations to become powerful suitors to their
princes for them if any misunderstanding should
unhappily arise between them and their sover-
eigns. Thus ends this section. It now rests
to conclude the discourse in which, if I have not
pleased my reader or answered his expectation,
it is some comfort to me I meant well, and have
cost him but little money and time ; and brevity
is an exciise, if not a virtue, where the subject
is not agreeable, or is but ill prosecuted.

The Conglusion

I will conclude this my proposal of a European
Sovereign, or Imperial Diet, Parliament, or
Estates with that which I have touched upon
before, andwhich falls under the notice of every-
one concerned, by coming home to their partic-
ular and respective experience within their own
sovereignties. That by the same rules of justice
and prudence by which parents and masters
govern their families, and magistrates their cities,
and estates their republics, and princes and kings
their principalities and kingdoms, Europe may
obtain and preserve peace amongher sovereignties.

3i

For wars are the duels of princes ; and as
government in kingdoms and States prevents
men being judges and executioners for themselves,
over-rules private passions as to injuries or revenge
and subjects the great as well as the small to the
rule of justice that power might not vanquish
or oppress right nor one neighbour act an
independency and sovereignty upon another,
while they have resigned that original claim to
the benefit and comfort of society ; so this being
soberly weighed in the whole and parts of it,
it will not be hard to conceive or frame, nor yet
to execute, the design I have here proposed.

And for the better understanding and perfect-
ing of the idea I here present to the sovereign
princes and estates of Europe for the safety and
tranquillity of it, I must recommend to their
perusals Sir William Temple’s account of the
United Provinces ; which is an instance and
answer upon practice to ali the objections that
can be advanced against the practicability of
my proposal : nay, it is an experiment that not
only comes to our čase, but exceeds the difficulties
that can render its accomplishment disputable.
For there we shall find three degrees of sover-
eignties to make up every sovereignty in the
general States. I will reckon them backwards.
First, the States general themselves : then the
immediate sovereignties that constitute them,
which are those of the provinces, ansvverable
to the sovereignties of Europe, that by their
deputies are to compose the European diet,
parliament, or estates in our proposal ; and then
there are the several cities of each province that
are so many independent or distinct sovereignties,

32

which compose those of the provinces as those
of the provinces do compose the States general
at The Hague.

But I confess I have the passion to wish heartily
that the honour of proposing and effecting so
great and good a design might be owing to
England, of ali the countries in Europe, as some-
thing of the nature of our expedient was, in design
and preparation, to the wisdom, justice, and
valour of Henry the Fourth of France, whose
superior qualities raising his character above
those of his ancestors or contemporaries deservedly
gave him the style of Henry the Great. For he
was upon obliging the princes and estates of
Europe to a political balance when the Spanish
faction for that reason contrived and accom-
plished his murder by the hands of Ravilliac.
I will not then fear to be censured for proposing
an expedient for the present and future peace
of Europe when it was not only the design but
glory of one of the greatest princes that ever
reigned in it ; and is found practicable in the
constitution of one of the wisest and povverfullest
States of it. So that to conclude, I have very
little to answer for in ali this affair ; because if
it succeed I have so little to deserve. For this
great king’s example teliš us it is fit to be done ;
and Sir William Temple’s history shows us by a
surpassing instance that it may be done ; and
Europe, by her incomparable miseries, makes
it now necessary to be done : that my share is
only thinking of it at this juncture, and putting
it into the common light for the peace and
prosperity of Europ^V

vi- 'V.' :