Book #73296
Item #73296 Two Pre-Publication Manuscript Copies of Treaties of Peace, c 1917. Manuscript Archive, Sir Graham John Bower.
Two Pre-Publication Manuscript Copies of Treaties of Peace, c 1917.
Two Pre-Publication Manuscript Copies of Treaties of Peace, c 1917.

Two Pre-Publication Manuscript Copies of Treaties of Peace, c 1917.

Peace Cannot be Secured by Force [Manuscript Archive]. Bower, Sir Graham John [1848-1933]. [Two Pre-Publication Manuscript Copies of "Treaties of Peace," Read Before the Grotius Society]. [London, c.1917]. 31, 10 ff. on 10" x 8" loose-leaf ruled sheets; 29 ff. in 10" x 8" ruled "Empire" notebook. Text to rectos in ink in two hands, running parallel to spine in notebook. Moderate toning to loose-leaf sheets, which are secured by contemporary rusted paper clip, light edgewear and chipping to bottom-edge of a few leaves, several folded corners. Moderate toning to printed cover of notebook, which is loosening, light toning to interior, cracks to text block in a few places. Together two items. $650. * Bower, an Irish-born colonial official, served as Imperial Secretary to the High Commissioners for South Africa from 1884-1897 and then as Colonial Secretary of Mauritius until 1910. He was a founding member of the Grotius Society, a British group dedicated to the study of international law. "Treaties of Peace" was read before the Society on February 6, 1917 and appeared in print later that year. The speech discusses the history of notable peace treaties, including the Treaty of Utrecht, the Congress of Vienna, the Treaty of Ghent and the Treaty of Paris at the end of the Crimean War. Bower concludes that he is "unconvinced" of any proposal "to secure peace by an International Force" given the necessity of consolidating the authority to direct the force in the hands of "an Imperial head of a Confederated Empire." Bower was a noted skeptic of bureaucratic power to enforce international agreements, even forcefully opposing the creation of an international penal court for the trial of war crimes. Our manuscript copies differ from the printed version in several ways. The manuscript copy begins by mentioning the work of Dr. Coleman Phillipson by name, while the published version simply refers to "jurists." The published copy is much more strident in its claim that treaties and arbitration do not guarantee peace and adds several concluding paragraphs. There are several other discrepancies that suggest the speech was revised somewhat significantly before it appeared in print.

Price: $650.00

Book number 73296