Société de la Paix de Genève Collection

Société de la Paix de Genève; pacifist association founded in Switzerland by Count Jean-Jacques de Sellon (1782-1839), who was of Huguenot descent and a member of Geneva's Council of Representatives. He was a supporter of Napoleon. In 1830 he founded the Société des Amis de la Paix de Genève, the first continental European peace society. Sellon believed that socially elite classes must be part of reform movements. His writings expressed his convictions: condemnation of permanent, standing armies; condemnation of aggressive warfare but legitimacy of defensive war; support for an international agency to mediate against war; a reciprocal guarantee of peace among nations. He supported free trade and the abolition of the death penalty, arguing against it in his own works and translating writings of other anti-death penalty advocates into French. In 1833, the Society claimed about 29 branches; works were published in French, English, German, Italian, and Latin.