The Idea of Europe E-Book

Catriona Seth

• Herausgeber: Open Book Publishers
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

In view of the challenges—many of which are political—that different European countries are currently facing, scholars who work on the eighteenth century have compiled this anthology which includes earlier recognitions of common values and past considerations of questions which often remain pertinent nowadays. During the Enlightenment, many men and women of letters envisaged the continent’s future in particular when stressing their hope that peace could be secured in Europe. The texts gathered here, and signed by major thinkers of the time (Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Kant, Hume or Staël for instance), as well as by writers history has forgotten, present the reflections, with a couple of chronological extensions (from Sully to Victor Hugo) of authors from the long eighteenth century—the French Empire and the fall of Napoleon generated numerous upheavals—on Europe, its history, its diversity, but also on what the nations, which, in all their diversity, make up a geographical unit, have in common. They show the historical origins of the project of a European union, the desire to consolidate the continent’s ties to the Maghreb or to Turkey, the importance granted to commerce and the worries engendered by history’s convulsions, but also the hope vested in future generations.The Idea of Europe follows its sister edition in French, L’idée de l’Europe au Siècle des Lumières, also published by Open Book.

Leseprobe

The Idea of Europe

The Idea of Europe

Enlightenment Perspectives

Texts selected by Catriona Seth and Rotraud von Kulessa

Translated by Catriona Seth et al.

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© 2017 Catriona Seth and Rotraud von Kulessa

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Catriona Seth and Rotraud von Kulessa (eds.), The Idea of Europe: Enlightenment Perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2017, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0123

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Open Book Classics Series, vol. 7 | ISSN: 2054-216X (Print); 2054-2178 (Online)

ISBN Paperback: 978-1-7837-4378-0

ISBN Hardback: 978-1-7837-4379-7

ISBN Digital (PDF): 978-1-7837-4380-3

ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 978-1-7837-438-10

ISBN Digital ebook (mobi): 978-1-7837-438-27

DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0123

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Contents

Preface

1

1.

Friedrich Schiller, ‘Ode to Joy’

A Hymn for Europe

7

2.

Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, Memoirs

Henry IV of France’s Great Design

9

3.

Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint Pierre, Project for Perpetual Peace in Europe

Europe: A Project for Peace

12

4.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Lasting Peace through the Federation of Europe

A Study of Abbé de Saint-Pierre’s Suggestions

15

5.

Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace

Universal Peace

20

6.

Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint Pierre, Project for Perpetual Peace in Europe

What Size should Europe Be?

23

7.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Judgment on Perpetual Peace

The European Union: An Unrealistic Project?

25

8.

Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Seeing Beyond Borders

27

9.

Louis de Jaucourt, ‘Europe’ in Diderot and D’Alembert’s Encyclopédie

Europe in the Encyclopédie

28

10.

Diego de Torres Villarroel, The Fantastic Voyage of the Great Piscátor of Salamanca

The Geography of Europe

31

11.

Anonymous, ‘Academy of History’ in Supplement to the Encyclopédie

History and Political Interests

32

12.

Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, Memoirs

A Prototype for the European Parliament?

35

13.

Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint Pierre, Project for Perpetual Peace in Europe

Europe and Islam

37

14.

Voltaire, Essay on the Mores and the Spirit of the Nations

Europe’s True Wealth is its Cultural Heritage

38

15.

Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat de Condorcet, Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind

Making Rules to Bring About Peace

40

16.

Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint Pierre, Project for Perpetual Peace in Europe

Our Russian Neighbour

41

17.

Voltaire, The Century of Louis XIV

Christian Europe as a Great Republic?

42

18.

Louis-Antoine Caraccioli, Paris, the Model of Foreign Nations, or French Europe

Unity in Diversity

43

19.

Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws

European Commerce

45

20.

Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint Pierre, Project for Perpetual Peace in Europe

Religious Toleration

48

21.

Louis-Antoine Caraccioli, Paris, the Model of Foreign Nations, or French Europe

The Riches of European Cuisine

50

22.

Montesquieu, Persian Letters

Europe through Persian Eyes

52

23.

Germaine de Staël, On Literature Considered in Relation to Social Institutions

Literature from the North to the South

55

24.

François-Ignace d’Espiard de La Borde, The Spirit of Nations

Of National Characters

58

25.

Louis-Antoine Caraccioli, Paris, the Model of Foreign Nations, or French Europe

Linguistic Diversity in Europe

61

26.

August Wilhem Schlegel, Outline of the European Conditions of German Literature

The Role of Germany in European Culture

63

27.

Gabriel-François Coyer, Voyage Through Italy and Holland

The Rape of Europa

65

28.

Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint Pierre, Project for Perpetual Peace in Europe

An Economic Union

66

29.

Charles de Villers, Constitutions of the Three Free-Hanseatic Towns, Lubeck, Bremen and Hambourg, with a Memorandum on the Rank these Towns should Occupy in Europe’s Commercial Organisation

A Common European Market

68

30.

Stanislas Leszczynski, Conversation Between a European and an Islander from the Kingdom of Dumocala

The Empire of Reason

71

31.

Tomás de Iriarte, Literary Fables

The Circulation of Riches

73

32.

Louis-Antoine Caraccioli, Paris, the Model of Foreign Nations, or French Europe

European Sociability

75

33.

Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint Pierre, Project for Perpetual Peace in Europe

The Safety of Europe’s Borders

78

34.

Marie Leprince de Beaumont, The Young Ladies’ Magazine, Or Dialogues Between a Discreet Governess and Several Young Ladies of the First Rank Under Her Education

Colonial Europe

79

35.

Louis-Jules Barbon Mancini-Mazarini-Nivernois, Duke of Nevers, Fables

Another Vision of Education

81

36.

Louis-Antoine Caraccioli, Paris, the Model of Foreign Nations, or French Europe

The Importance of Trade

83

37.

Johann Gottfried Herder, Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Humanity

The Diversity and Unity of Europe

85

38.

Françoise de Graffigny, Letters of a Peruvian Princess

A Critique of European Mores

87

39.

David Hume, Political Discourses

European Civilisation

89

40.

Louis-Antoine Muratori, Treatise on Public Happiness

The Progress of Justice in Europe

91

41.

Louis-Antoine Caraccioli, Paris, the Model of Foreign Nations, or French Europe

Bringing Europeans together

93

42.

Germaine de Staël, Corinne, or Italy

Italy and the Origins of European Culture

96

43.

Marie-Anne du Boccage, Letters about England, Holland and Italy

Europe and French Fashion

98

44.

Friedrich Schlegel, Journey to France

Europe Between Decline and Renewal

99

45.

Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint Pierre, Project for Perpetual Peace in Europe

The Linguistic Wealth of Europe

101

46.

Novalis, Christianity, or Europe

Spiritual Advent

102

47.

Louis-Antoine Caraccioli, Paris, the Model of Foreign Nations, or French Europe

The Café: The European Place for Socialising

104

48.

Johann Gottfried Herder, Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Humanity

Happiness in Europe

107

49.

Germaine de Staël, Germany

The Origins of European Unity

109

50.

José Cadalso, Moroccan Letters

European Diversity Through the Foreign Gaze

110

51.

William Robertson, The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V

Navigation and Commercial Exchanges

112

52.

Johann Gottfried Herder, Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Humanity

Europe and its Long History of Migration

115

53.

William Robertson, The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V

Union in Diversity

117

54.

Diego de Torres Villarroel, ‘Sonnet’, in The Muse’s Distractions

Europe, A Political Whole

118

55.

Louis-Antoine Caraccioli, Amusing and Moral Letters

What are Europeans like?

119

56.

James Boswell, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides

To Be Cosmopolitan

120

57.

Louis-Antoine Caraccioli, Paris, the Model of Foreign Nations, or French Europe

French Style in Europe

121

58.

David Hume, ‘Essay VII. Of the Balance of Power’

The Balance of Power and Future Peace

122

59.

José Cadalso, Moroccan Letters

A Republic of the Wise

125

60.

Jean-Charles-Léonard Simonde de Sismondi, Historical View of the Literature of the South of Europe

Europe’s Future in the Slow Lane

126

61.

Germaine de Staël, Germany

The Union of Philosophers

128

62.

Louis-Antoine-Léon de Saint-Just, Speech, 3 March 1794

A New Idea in Europe

129

63.

Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat de Condorcet, Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind

A Humanitarian Vision

130

64.

Jean-François Melon, Political Essay on Commerce

Towards the Balance of Powers

131

65.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Considerations on the Government of Poland

Towards Cultural Uniformity

132

66.

José Cadalso, Moroccan Letters

Europe and Africa

133

67.

Immanuel Kant, Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View

Fulfilling Nature’s Aims

135

68.

Napoleon Bonaparte, quoted byEmmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné-Marius de Las Cases, Memorial of Saint-Helena

Governing Europe?

137

69.

Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat de Condorcet, Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind

Know the World and Make it a Better Place

138

70.

Benjamin Constant,On the Spirit of Conquest and Usurpation in Respect of European Civilisation

An End to Wars in Europe?

140

71.

Napoleon Bonaparte, quoted byEmmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné-Marius de Las Cases, Memorial of Saint-Helena

Visions of the Future

142

72.

José Cadalso, Letter from José Cadalso to Tomás de Iriarte

A Critique of Eurocentrism

143

73.

Napoleon Bonaparte, quoted byEmmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné-Marius de Las Cases, Memorial of Saint Helena

Political Hegemony and European Union

144

74.

Alexandre-Frédéric-Jacques de Masson de Pezay, Helvetic, Alsatian and Franc-Comtois Vigils

Europe without Frontiers

146

75.

Jean-Charles-Léonard Simonde de Sismondi, Historical View of the Literature of the South of Europe

Multiple Influences

147

76.

Jean de Müller, Letter 80, January 1778

What Future for Europe?

148

77.

Benjamin Constant, The Liberty of the Ancients Compared with that of the Moderns

The Character of Modern Exchanges

150

78.

Pierre-Simon Laplace, An Exposition of the System of the World

Unity through Measures

152

79.

Victor Hugo, The Rhine

The Franco-German Couple as the Pillars of Peace in Europe

153

Bibliography

157

Didier Robert de Vaugondy, Universal Atlas (1737), map no.14. © Bibliothèques-Médiathèques de Metz ATR 5132.

Preface

© 2017 Catriona Seth and Rotraud von Kulessa, CC BY 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0123.01

25 March 2017 marked the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which laid the foundations for the future European Economic Community. In 1957, representatives of six countries—the three Benelux nations, West Germany, France and Italy—met in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, on the Capitol, to set up an international agreement. The twelve signatories, who were academics, lawyers and diplomats, some of whom had been members of the resistance or imprisoned during the war, aimed to reinforce the ties between their lands and, through commercial exchanges, to stabilise the continent. Not quite six decades later, the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the European Union at a time when the consortium’s twenty-eight member states (twenty-seven after Brexit) are being buffeted by increasing criticisms of the project and of the ideals which led to its formation. Scepticism seems to be the order of the day, wherever you turn your eyes. It is sometimes fuelled by populisms which seek, through a return to particularisms and nationalisms, to pander to a part of the population which globalisation has left feeling stranded.

Observing the current challenges—many of them political—by which different European countries are confronted, European researchers who work on the eighteenth century decided to turn to earlier expressions of common values and past evocations of questions which remain valid today. Many men and women of letters envisaged the future of the continent in particular to try and bring peace to Europe. The texts which follow, signed by major Enlightenment figures such as Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Kant, Hume or Germaine de Staël, as well as those whom history has forgotten, showcase the reflections of thinkers—mainly from the long eighteenth century—about Europe, its history, its diversity, but also that which unites a very varied geographical group. They underline the historical origins of a projected European Union with texts like the 1713 Project for Perpetual Peace in Europe. The Abbé de Saint-Pierre, its author, attempted to propose an innovative solution to the violent convulsions suffered by his country—France—and by neighbouring states at the time of the war of Spanish succession: a union, rather than a balance of powers, and the association of Turkey or the Maghreb within commercial networks, rather than their exclusion. He speaks out in favour of what he calls a ‘Treaty of Supreme Policy, or European Arbitrage, to keep all the parts of Europe united in a single Body’.

Like him, there are others who proposed ideas, recounted past events, or imagined possible developments. Sometimes they are wrong, as hindsight shows. On occasion, they express ideas which we do not always share or which now appear outdated. One thing they have in common is to have wanted to think about what makes Europe, in its diversity and singularity, and about ways to envisage its future and to celebrate its diversity. Often they have wished, beyond party politics, for closer ties among European nations and greater intellectual and commercial collaboration.

If, at the start of the nineteenth century, the idea of the existence of national characters and identities remained a potent one, thinkers like Germaine de Staël—to whom the Prince de Ligne wrote: ‘It is truly to you that one could write as an address: To the genius of Europe’—or Victor Hugo, who considered an American-style federal union, frequently stressed the importance of European unity to defuse future conflicts. In his famous speech to the 1849 Peace Congress, as he foresaw a time when a war between Paris and London, Saint Petersburg and Berlin or Vienna and Turin would seem as absurd and impossible as between Rouen and Amiens or Boston and Philadelphia, Victor Hugo heralded a radiant future: ‘A day will come when France, you Russia, you Italy, you England, you Germany, you all, nations of the continent, without losing your distinct qualities and your glorious individuality, you will merge into a superior unity and you will constitute European fraternity just as Normandy, Brittany, Burgundy, Lorraine, Alsace, all our provinces merged into France’. He called what corresponds to the vision of contemporary federalists the ‘United States of Europe’. He imagined technical progress going hand-in-hand with this fraternal advance: ‘Thanks to the railways, Europe will soon be no larger than France was in the Middle Ages! Thanks to steamboats, it is now possible to cross the Ocean more easily than one used to cross the Mediterranean! Soon man will travel round the earth like the Gods of Homer crossing the heavens in three strides. In but a few years, the electric wire of concord will surround the globe and embrace the world.’

Hugo’s optimism would have been sorely challenged by the rise of populism and fear of foreigners which at times compromise relations in current western societies, but it still resonates with those of us who refuse to be beaten by the spirit of suspicion and identify with a common heritage and ambitions, celebrating our differences as occasions for sharing and learning. At a time when we need to rethink Europe, its aims and contours, it is surely wise to look at what men and women proposed in the past. We should listen to Edward Gibbon, for whom the true philosopher thinks on the scale of Europe and does not allow himself to be limited by national frontiers, or examine Benjamin Constant’s suggestions of ways to bring about the end of wars. The aspirations of enlightened thinkers, even when they are marked by the period in which they were conceived or by an outmoded eurocentrism, deserve a hearing. We are their heirs. Those who come after us will be fully justified in asking us to account for this intellectual inheritance.

This anthology is the result of an international collaboration. Its English version is the product of a crowdsourced translation, mainly thanks to the enthusiasm and talents of Oxford students and their tutors who met the challenge in record time with good humour and great skill.i The texts offer diverse approaches and ideas. They can be read in any order. The book can be shared without moderation throughout Europe and beyond. Its original version was in French.ii There will soon be a German translation too!

We would like to extend our warm thanks to the colleagues, students and friends who made this possible by their invaluable contributions. Nicolas Brucker (Metz), Denis de Casabianca (Marseille), Carole Dornier (Caen), Fabio Forner (Verona), Marie-Claire Hoock-Demarle (Paris), Juan Ibeas (Vitoria), Frank Reiser (Freiburg), Ritchie Robertson (Oxford and Göttingen), Lydia Vázquez (Vitoria), the Société française d’étude du XVIIIe siècle, the University of Augsburg and the University of Oxford were involved from the start.

i Extracts that are not derived from English-language editions have been translated by the contributors to this volume The spelling has been modernised.

ii Rotraud von Kulessa and Catriona Seth (eds.), L‘idée de l’Europe au Siècle des Lumières (Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2017), https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/610/lid-e-de-l-europe-au-si-cle-des-lumi-res

A Note on the English Version

After the January 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, the French Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (SFEDS), horrified by the events and the climate of suspicion and fear which was being promoted in some parts of society, drew up an anthology of Enlightenment texts on the theme of Tolerance and sold it at a loss-making nominal price through newsagents in order to reach out to a wide audience. Caroline Warman, from Jesus College, Oxford, told me this was a fantastic achievement. When I suggested it would be even better if it could circulate more widely, for instance, by means of translations, she immediately offered to take the responsibility for crowdsourcing English versions of the texts. Thanks to students from all across the University of Oxford and their tutors, this was achieved and the book was launched on the first anniversary of the Parisian killings.iii

Many of us who study languages or speak more than one tongue are among those who feel that the European ideal remains a valid one, though it has been increasingly under attack. We wanted to show that questions about the degree of cooperation between countries, whether it should be formal or informal, which aspects of international law should be involved, but also the very natural tendency to adopt fashions—in dress, speech, mores—from our neighbours have been hotly debated for centuries.

The initial French anthology involved colleagues from various countries and with all sorts of research specialisms. The English version draws on Caroline Warman’s experience and extends it: undergraduates, graduates and tutors, not only in French, but also in Spanish, German and Italian were all involved in preparing the extracts, many of which had never appeared in English. Others have been retranslated as an exercise out of which many of us gained both experience and enjoyment. Some of our wonderful students even translated texts from two different languages. All through the process I was struck by the enthusiasm and engagement of all the participants and I was at several points overwhelmed by offers or spontaneous translations—which sometimes meant a couple of drafts had to be merged for the one finally printed. These new translations do not pretend to offer definitive versions but they should allow the reader to discover interesting extracts and to reflect on past ideas, some of which still resonate nowadays.

So… three cheers for our wonderful students whose names follow: Thomas Abbott, Anousha Al-Masud, Gregory Alexander, Amber Bal, Lucy Balazs, Matthew Bannatyne, Frances Barrett, Sarah Barron, Demelza Batchelor, Lucasta Bath, Elicia Begg, Lily Begg, Anna Bellettato, Max Bhugra-Schmid, Imogen Bowyer, Roberta Brandter, Heather Cant, Anushka Chakravarti, Aidan Chivers, Lydia Cockburn, Cristina Conde Tkatchenko, Emma Corris, Flavia Cresswell-Turner, Joseph Cullen, Annabelle Dance, Lara Davies, Sarah Davies, Sam Davis, Holly Dempster-Edwards, Johanna Dieffenbacher, Catherine Drewry, Callum Duff, Niamh Elain, Florence Engleback, Amira Fateh, Xena Fawkes, Georgina Fooks, Rosie Fraser, Johanna Gewolker, Lucy Gibbons, Natasha Gibbs, Emma Gilpin, Miranda Gold, Alexander Goodchild, Conal Grealis, Megan Griffin, Isabella Grive, Marina Hackett, Elliott Harman, Victoria Hart, Imogen Haworth, Katie Holmes, Katherine Howell, Minying Huang, Megan Husain, Katarzyna Jaroszewicz, Seung Jung, Joseph Kelly, Charlotte Kendrick, Thalia Kent-Egan, Johanna von Kietzell, Beth Lamarra, Amy Layton, Caroline Lear, Joshua Lee-Tritton, Guosheng Liu, Jonah Lloyd, Isobel Losseff, George Mackenzie, Lily MacTaggart, Krystofer Mackie, Lydia Martin, Carmen Martínez, Ollie Matthews, Róisín McCallion, Lara McNeil, Waqas Mirza, Charlotte Molony, Lara Morgenstern, Samuel Moss, Emily Niblo, Jenna Noronha, Elizabeth Norton, Jemma Paek, India Phillips, Alma Prelec, Hannah Pritchard, Livvy Procter, Sam Purnell, Anastasia Putt, Nicole Rayment, Edward Rawlinson, Olivia Reneaud-Jensen, Adam Rhaiti, Colette Rocheteau, William Rooney, Meris Ryan-Goff, Charlotte Ryland, Mobeen Salih, Harry Sampson, Bennett Sanderson, Jeanne Sauvage, Tina Shan, Marianna Spring, Hector Stinton, Georgiana Sutherland, Miriam Swallow Adler, Emily Taplin, Isabel Taylor, Samuel Thomas, Alexander Thompson, Martin Trpovski, Alexander Tucker, Anne-Jacqueline Uren, Laure Villa, Alex Ward, Lydia Welham, Emily Williams, Charlotte Willis, Iwo Wojcik.

The following Oxford colleagues also took part:

French: Sara-Louise Cooper, Tim Farrant, Jessica Goodman, Sarah Jones, Katherine Lunn-Rockliffe, Ian Machlachlan, Jake Wadham, Caroline Warman, Seth Whidden.

German: Alex Lloyd, David Murray, Charlie Louth, Kevin Hilliard.

Italian: Ela Tandello.

Spanish: Diana Berruezo Sánchez, Laura Lonsdale, Lucy O’Sullivan, Annabel Rowntree, Olivia Vázquez-Medina.

Fellows, tutors and/or students from the following Oxford Colleges were involved: All Souls, Christ Church, Exeter, Hertford, Jesus, Keble, Lady Margaret Hall, Lincoln, Magdalen, Merton, New College, Oriel, Pembroke, St Anne’s, St Catherine’s, St Edmund Hall, St Hilda’s, St Hugh’s, St John’s, St Peter’s, Somerville, Trinity, Wadham, Worcester.

We express our gratitude to Susan Seth (Saint-Arailles), Rose Simpson (Aberystwyth) and William Ohm (Toronto), who gave us extra support for our translations.

General thanks are also due to: Sandra Beaumont, Dena Goodman, Simon Kemp, Henrike Lähnemann, Ivana Lohrey, Stuart Parkes, Eva Rothenberger and, of course, all the staff at Open Book.

iii Caroline Warman, et al. (eds.), Tolerance: The Beacon of the Enlightenment (Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2016), https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/418/tolerance--the-beacon-of-the-enlightenment

1. A Hymn for Europe

© 2017 Catriona Seth and Rotraud von Kulessa, CC BY 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0123.02

A poem by Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805),i the Ode to Joy, associated with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, has become the hymn for Europe after having been sung in concert halls and concentration camps, in Germany and far beyond its borders. A symbol of reconciliation, it bears witness at once to a common classical culture and to the aspiration towards future fraternity. Written in 1785, the text is marked by pietistic vocabulary, but also by its all-embracing enthusiasm.

O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!

Dear friends, do not play such music!

Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen

Let us rather take up melodies more pleasing

und freudenvollere.

And more infused with joy.

Freude, schöner Götterfunken

Joy, the gods’ own spark of beauty