It was of no use: the potentates and their representatives turned
to him a deaf ear.
The Abbe de St.-Pierre lived several hundred years too soon. But
he determined that his idea should not be lost, and in 1713 he
published his 'Project of Perpetual Peace.' He there proposed the
formation of a European Diet, or Senate, to be composed of
representatives of all nations, before which princes should be
bound, before resorting to arms, to state their grievances and
require redress. Writing about eighty years after the publication
of this project, Volney asked: "What is a people?--an individual
of the society at large. What a war?--a duel between two
individual people. In what manner ought a society to act when two
of its members fight?--Interfere, and reconcile or repress them.
In the days of the Abbe de St.-Pierre, this was treated as a
dream; but, happily for the human race, it begins to be realised."
Alas for the prediction of Volney! The twenty-five years that
followed the date at which this passage was written, were
distinguished by more devastating and furious wars on the part of
France than had ever been known in the world before.
The Abbe was not, however, a mere dreamer. He was an active
practical philanthropist and anticipated many social improvements
which have since become generally adopted. He was the original
founder of industrial schools for poor children, where they not
only received a good education, but learned some useful trade, by
which they might earn an honest living when they grew up to
manhood.
Pages:
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270