[PAX MUNDI]: [BELGIUM] Selection of Autograph Statements Signed by a variety of famous individuals from Belgium, each one page, large folio, various places and dates, including Paul Hymans (1865-1941) Belgian politician who served as the second President of the League of Nations 1920-21 and again in 1932-33, stating, in full, 'Peace is an economic necessity and a moral duty, a policy and an ideal'; Jules Destree (1863-1936) Walloon lawyer, cultural critic and socialist politician; Camille Mauclair (1872-1945) French poet, novelist & biographer, an Associate Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium, stating, in part, 'Nature teaches us neither peace nor love. It shows us only struggle and death, and the carnal instinct for renewing life. So peace, like love, is an invention of man's will and his spirit, and the victory of these over nature. Peace, like love, is an art - the highest, the purest to which those endowed with thought and feeling can aspire….'; Baron Ludovic Moncheur (1857-1940) Belgian diplomat, stating, in full, 'Peace is a Dove whose two wings are Security and Disarmament'; Henry Kistemaeckers (1872-1938) Belgian-born French author and playwright, stating, in part, 'One cannot but shiver when one thinks that, already in the XV century, a Hungarian king made plans for bringing about an era of eternal peace; that one hundred and fifty years earlier, Henri IV intended to substitute the reign of law for that of force by reorganising Europe; that already in 1625, Emeric Lacroix and Grotius proposed the League of Nations, the World League for Peace, the Court of the Hague, the spirit of Locarno, mandatory arbitration, the United States of Europe, and, in sum, all the most perfect things we have invented in the realm of amphictyony….'; Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns (1835-1902) Belgian lawyer, diplomat and politician, stating, in full, 'The work of peace-making undertaken by the League of Nations has two sorts of adversaries: the sceptical and the impatient. The latter are perhaps the most to be feared'; Ernest Mahaim (1865-1938) Belgian politician; Henri Jaspar (1870-1939) Belgian Prime Minister 1926-31, stating, in part, 'There is no country in the world where love of peace is more sincere and more widespread than Belgium. Over the centuries, she has too often suffered the horrors of war and foreign occupation not to support fervently all plans towards world peace. But she also firmly believes that verbal protestations, eloquent as they may be, are not enough to assure that peace will reign. She values deeds more than words…..'; Edmond de Gaiffier d'Hestroy (1866-1935) Belgian ambassador; Ernest Ginsburger (1876-1943) French Rabbi and Jewish historian, Chief Rabbi of Belgium 1924-31, etc. Some light age wear, generally about VG, 11

 

The present statements were prepared for publication in the Pax Mundi book; an anthology of sentiments on peace published in Switzerland by the World League for Peace. Between 1925 and 1932 many notable persons from around the world were asked to comment on the prospects of world peace and the volume included contributions from Marie Curie, Guglielmo Marconi, Albert Einstein, Rabindranath Tagore and many others.