[c. June 1768]

Sir,

You know, without Doubt, that Peace is made at Geneva.
It is always the Result of War. — After tilting at one another for some Time, Men always return to Conditions of Peace, in Expectation of some new Rupture. Man is a little Sovereign; he loves Peace on account of his own tranquility, but he has a strong Propensity to War to disturb the Peace of others.

Europe ought to admire the Prudence of the Genevese Competitors, and their regard for Humanity during the Confusions of War: Not one Drop of Blood has been shed by them. We cannot say the same of Neufchatel: A Bloody Scene has been there. Gaudot, the Attorney General, has fallen by the Sword of Assassins. His Corpse, pierced with Wounds, could scarce obtain a Burial. But Peace is not re-established by the Death of that unfortunate Magistrate. The Cantons of Lucerne, Fribourg and Soleure, have furnished a Body of Men, which guards the Town; General Lentulus is incamped at Anet; the Chevalier de Planta, a Major in the Service of the King of Prussia, is gone to that Monarch; and I doubt not but that Prince will strongly resent the Outrage, which has been done to him in the person of the Attorney General. The Repose of Neufchatel will not be re-established without strangling two or three of the ringleaders. — The humane Citizen groans at being under a Necessity to serve against the Murderers. But, by mischance, such is the Condition of Humanity, that one Evil can seldom be remedied but by two others, and those again by a great many more. Mankind is propense to Revenge, and oftentimes the Persecutor himself is persecuted in his Turn. One Half of the World is incessantly at War with the other: There is no such Thing as a Truce between them. To conciliate their Affection, it must be laid down as a preliminary Article; 'That every one should renounce his particular interest;' but this is an Impossibility: For then Mankind would cease to be Men, and become a Chimæra, which has no Reality.

Old Clement is at war with young Ferdinand. Rome and Naples cannot agree; and the Pope makes Use of his old worn out Arms against a Prince who has Bayonets and Muskets. France, Spain, and Portugal join their Arms with the latter, and prove by an Argument ad hominem, that Clement dotes, and that he ought to submit, so as to recal his Bull, which is the Shame of the Vatican. But the sovereign Pontiff regards it as a Point of Conscience, and intends, by his obstinacy, to join the Crown of Martyrdom to the Tiara of the Pontiff; as if God loved the Jesuits well enough to grant the Palm to their grand Admiral!

If, from the Fields of Rome, we turn our eyes toward the North, we shall see Poland a Prey to domestic Dissentions. One Part of the Nation in Arms against the other: The Patriot, under the Title of Confederate, destroying the Patriot; and all this for the Glory of God, and the Honour of Religion: As if that holy Religion had not abolished both Sacrificers and Victims. — But what ought equally to engage the Rights of Humanity, is, that a foreign Power enters in Arms, and forces a Nation, which is free, and governed by its own Laws, to receive those which it imposes with Bayonets fixed. What would the English say, if the King of France should come at the Head of a hundred thousand Men to impose Laws upon England? Would he meet with a favourable Reception from that Nation, so jealous of its Rights and Liberties? Would they not say to him, after throwing a few Barrels of Powder in his face, 'Sir, why do you meddle with us? Have you any Thing to do here? get back again into your own Kingdom; you are no Legislator in ours. Shew your Despotism at home, and leave us to enjoy our Liberties'. — But the Poles are weak, and Catherine has strong Reasons to produce on her Side; witness the Bishop of Cracow, who was confined at Schlusselbourg in the same Apartment, as the Czar Peter III finished his Career in.

Voltaire