An Unpublished MS of Leibniz on the Allegiance Due to Sovereign Powers

An Unpublished MS of Leibniz on the Allegiance Due to Sovereign Powers PATRICK RILEY LEIBNIZ) COMMENTARYON WILLIAM SHERLOCK'S The Case of the Allegiance due to Soveraign Powers--which is published here, for the first time, through the generous permission of the Leibniz-Archiv at the Nieders~ichsische Landesbibliothek in Hanovert--does not revolutionize one's view of his political philosophy ; but it does provide us with a "new" and wholly characteristic political letter which has the merit of helping to complete his most important correspondence dealing with theoretical and practical politics, the Brielwechsel with the Scottish nobleman Thomas Burnett. This exchange of letters, which extended from 1695 to 1713, contains some of Leibniz' most significant political passages. including one that has no parallel anywhere in his writings: "The end of political science with regard to the doctrine of forms of commonwealths, must be to make the empire of reason flourish .... Arbitrary power is what is directly opposed to Dr. G. Utermtihlen, of the Leibniz-Archiv, deserves special thanks for facilitating the publication of this manuscript, and Mine Elisabeth Labrousse was kind enough to check the Leibniz text. Abbreviations: Duncan = G. M. Duncan (trans.), The Philosophical Works o/Leibnh, 2nd ed., New Haven, 1908. Dutens = Louis Dutens, God. Gull. Leibnitii... Opera Omnia, Geneva, 1768. F de C = A. Foucher de Careil, (Euvres de Leibniz, Paris, 1859-1875. Ger. = C. I. Gerhardt, Die PhUosophischen Schri]ten yon G. W. Leibniz, Berlin, 1875-1890. Klopp = Onno Klopp, Die Werke yon Leibniz, Hanover, 1864-1884. Loemker = Leroy Loemker, Leibniz: Philosophical Papers and Letters, Chicago, 1956 (repub. Dordrecht, 1969, cited as Loemker 2nd r Monadology (dWd by propositions). NE = New Essays on Human Understanding (trans. Langley), London, 1896 (cited by book, chapter and part, e.g., 'NE IV, iii, pt. 1'). Riley = Patrick Riley (ext. and trans.) The Political Writing o] Leibniz. Cambridge, 1972. Rommel = C. yon Rommel, Leibniz und Landgra[ Ernst yon Hessen-Rheinfels, Frankfurt, 1847. Textes In~dits = G. Grua (ed.), Textes In~dits, Paris, 1948. Theodicy = Theodicy (trans. Farrer), New Haven, 1952 (cited by books and parts, e.g. 'Theodicy III, pt. 337'). [319] 320 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY the empire of reason .... Thus one must think in this world of laws which can serve to restrain not only kings, but also the deputies of the people, and judges. ''2 The letters to Burnett also contain characteristic observations on Hobbes, Locke, Harrington, Grotius, Plato and Aristotle, as well as good popular statements of Leibniz' theodicy and monadology. And in a writer like Leibniz, who put some of his principal thoughts into an endless flow of letters with hundreds of correspondents , a "new" letter means more than it might in many cases. The standard collection of Leibniz' letters to Burnett, which is to be found in Volume III of Gerhardt's edition of the Philosophischen Schriflen, 3 contains letters from the period June 1695 to August 1713. In his preface to the letters, however, Gerhardt noted that Leibniz' first letter to Burnett was "missing," together with several later ones. There is good reason to believe that the present "new" ms. constitutes at least a part of that missing first letter, for at the top of the ms. is written, "Envoy6 h M. Burnet de Kemney, Avril 1695" i.e., the "new" letter was sent to Burnett several months before the date of the old "first letter" (June 1695) printed by Gerhardt. Internal evidence in several of the later letters also points to this conclusion, for in Leibniz' letter to Burnett of July 1696 he observed that, "I sent you some notes [on Sherlock] when you had not yet left Germany"; 4 but in April 1695 Burnett was in Germany, as an envoy of the English crown to Hanover, and had had numerous conversations with Leibniz. At that time, apparently, Burnett had shown Sherlock's work to Leibniz--who, however, knew the book as early as 1691, to judge from some notes which seem to come from that year; 5 and Leibniz appears to have drawn up a commentary which he sent to Burnett while the latter was still in Hanover (Leibnlz in the meantime having gone to Wolfenbtittel). 6 Whatever the facts of...