More than any other nation Germany has suffered from war. Without
that fatal gift of beauty, "a dowry fraught with never-ending
pain," which tempted the foreigner to Italy, her lot has been
hardly less wretched; but Germany has differed from Italy in the
successful bravery with which she repelled the invader. Tacitus
says of her people, that, "surrounded by numerous and very
powerful nations, they are safe, not by obsequiousness, but by
battles and braving danger"; [Footnote: "Plurimis ac valentissimis
nationibus cincti, non per obsequium, sed prutiis et periclitando
tuti sunt."--_Germania_, Cap. XL.] and this same character,
thus epigrammatically presented, has continued ever since. Yet
this was not without that painful experience which teaches what
Art has so often attempted to picture and Eloquence to describe,
"The Miseries of War." Again in that same fearless spirit has
Germany driven back the invader, while War is seen anew in its
atrocious works. But it was not merely the Miseries of War which
Germans regarded. The German mind is philosophical and scientific,
and it early saw the irrational character of the War System. It is
well known that Henry the Fourth of France conceived the idea of
Harmony among Nations without War; and his plan was taken up and
elaborated in numerous writings by the good Abbe de Saint-Pierre,
so that he made it his own. Rousseau, in his treatise on the
subject, [Footnote: J. J. Rousseau, Extrait du Projet de Paix
Perpetuelle de M. l'Abbe de Saint-Pierre; avec Lettre a M. de
Bastide, et Jugement sur la Paix Perpetuelle: Oeuvres, (edit.
1788-93,) Tom. VII. pp. 339-418.] popularized Saint-Pierre. But it
is to Germany that we must look for the most complete and
practical development of this beautiful idea. If French in origin,
it is German now in authority.
The greatest minds in Germany have dealt with this problem, and
given to its solution the exactness of science. No greater have
been applied to any question. Foremost in this list, in time and
in fame, is Leibnitz, that marvel of human intelligence, second,
perhaps, to none in history, who, on reading the "Project of
Perpetual Peace" by the Abbe de Saint-Pierre, pronounced this
judgment: "I have read it with attention, and am persuaded that
such a project is on the whole feasible, and that its execution
would be one of the most useful things in the world." [Footnote:
Observations sur le Projet d'une Paix Perpetuelle de M. l'Abbe de
Saint-Pierre: Opera, ed. Dutens, (Genevae, 1768,) Tom. V. p. 56.]
Thus did Leibnitz affirm its feasibility and its immense
usefulness. Other minds followed, in no apparent concert, but in
unison. I may be pardoned, if, without being too bibliographical,
I name some of these witnesses.
At Goettingen, renowned for its University, the question was
opened, at the close of the Seven Years' War in 1763, in a work by
Totze, whose character appears in its title, "Permanent and
Universal Peace in Europe, according to the Plan of Henry IV."
[Footnote: Der ewige und allgemeine Friede in Europa, nach dem
Entwurf Heinrichs IV.] At Leipsic, also the seat of a University,
the subject was presented in 1767 by Lilienfeld, in a treatise of
much completeness, under the name of "New Constitution for
States," [Footnote: 2 Neues Staatsgebaeude.] where, after exposing
the wretched chances of the battlefield and the expense of
armaments in time of peace, the author urges submission to
Arbitrators, unless a Supreme Tribunal is established to
administer International Law and to judge between nations. In 1804
appeared another work, of singular clearness and force, by Karl
Schwab, entitled "Of Unavoidable Injustice," [Footnote: Ueber das
unvermeidliche Unrecht.] where the author describes what he calls
the Universal State, in which nations will be to each other as
citizens in the Municipal State. He is not so visionary as to
imagine that justice will always be inviolate between nations in
the Universal State, for it is not always so between citizens in
the Municipal State; but he confidently looks to the establishment
between nations of the rules which now subsist between citizens,
whose differences are settled peaceably by judicial tribunals.
These works, justly important for the light they shed, and as
expressions of a growing sentiment, are eclipsed in the
contributions of the great teacher, Immanuel Kant, who, after his
fame in philosophy was established, so that his works were
discussed and expounded not only throughout Germany, but in other
lands, in 1795 crave to the world a treatise entitled "On
Perpetual Peace," [Footnote: Zum ewigen Frieden.] which was
promptly translated into French, Danish, and Dutch. Two other
works by him attest his interest in the subject, the first
entitled "Idea for a General History in a Cosmopolitan View,"
[Footnote: Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltburgerlicher
Absicht.] and the other, "Metaphysical Elements of Jurisprudence."
[Footnote: Metaphysische Anfangsgrunde der Rechtslehre.]
His grasp was complete. A treaty of peace which tacitly acknowledges
the right to wage war, as all treaties now do, according to
Kant is nothing more than a truce. An individual war may be
ended, but not the _state of war_; so that, even after cessation
of hostilities, there will be constant fear of their renewal,
while the armaments known as Peace Establishments will tend
to provoke them. All this should be changed, and nations should
form one comprehensive Federation, which, receiving other
nations within its fold, will at last embrace the civilized world;
and such, in the judgment of Kant, was the irresistible tendency
of nations. To a French poet we are indebted for the most
suggestive term, "United States of Europe"; [Footnote: Victor
Hugo, Discours d'Ouverture du Congres de la Paix a Paris, 21
1849: Treize Discours, (Paris, 1851,) p. 19.] but this is nothing
but the Federation of the illustrious German philosopher. Nor was
Kant alone among his great contemporaries. That other philosopher,
Fichte, whose name at the time was second only to that of Kant, in
his "Groundwork of the Law of Nature," [Footnote: Grundlage des
Naturrechts.] published in 1796, also urges a Federation of
Nations, with an established tribunal to which all should submit.
Much better for civilization, had the King at Konigsberg, instead
of grasping the sword, hearkened to the voice of Kant, renewed by
Fichte.
With these German oracles in its support, the cause cannot be put
aside. Even in the midst of war, Philosophy will be heard,
especially when she speaks words of concurring authority that
touch a chord in every heart. Leibnitz, Kant, and Fichte, a mighty
triumvirate of intelligence, unite in testimony. As Germany,
beyond any other nation, has given to the idea of Organized Peace
the warrant of philosophy, it only remains now that she should
insist upon its practical application. There should be no delay.
Long enough has mankind waited while the river of blood flowed on.