1907.] TRIBUNAL OF ARBITRATION OF 1623. 305 



perpetually their ambassadors, in order that the differences that 

 might arise should be settled by the judgment of the whole assembly. 

 The ambassadors of those who would be interested would plead 

 there the grievances of their masters and the other deputies would 

 judge them without prejudice. . . . That if any one rebelled against 

 the decree of so notable a company, he would receive the disgrace 

 of all other princes, who would find means to bring him to reason. 

 The most commodious place for such an assembly is the territory 

 of Venice, because it is practically neutral and indifferent to all 

 Princes : added thereto that it is near the most important monarchies 

 of the earth." 



Cruce contemplated a universal union that should include even 

 Persia, China, Ethiopia, the East Indies, the West Indies, indeed 

 all the world. A delicate question was how to arrange the order 

 of rank and precedence. He suggested as a possible solution of 

 this difficulty the following order and some of the reasons for it : 



First: The Pope, in part out of respect for ancient Rome. 



Second: The Sultan of the Turks, because of " the majesty, 

 power and happiness of his Empire," and also on account of the 

 memory of the ancient Eastern Empire, of which Constantinople 

 was the capital. 



Third: The Christian Emperor. 



Fourth: The King of France. 



Fifth: The King of Spain. 

 The claims of the Kings of Persia and China, Prester John, the 

 Precop {sic) of Tatary, and the Grand Duke of Moscow, must 

 be arranged. Next the importance and order of precedence of the 

 Kings of Great Britain, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, the Monarchs 

 of Japan and Morocco, the Great Mogul and the other sovereigns 

 demanded attention. Among other expedients, Cruce proposed to 

 give the first place to the first comer, or to the oldest, or again a 

 tour de role. 



He was not blind to the fact that without the initiative of some 

 one a nearer approach to international peace could never become a 

 reality. In his opinion two potentates, the Pope and the King of 

 France, could broach the subject to the sovereigns of the world, the 

 former to the Christian princes, the latter to the Mohammedan 



