These three pieces, two of them written in the year before Leibniz' death, show both his continued interest in his own desire for a resuscitation of the Republic of Christendom, and a new sense of rather sad amusement about the possibility of such a scheme's being effected. In his letter to the Abbé de St Pierre himself, he is cordial and even flattering; in his Observations on the Project he is more critical, and faults the Abbé's defective knowledge of German history, recommending (again) a reformed Papacy and Empire as the foundations of European peace. And in his letter to Grimarest (1712), he is in a playful (but serious) mood, suggesting that his own ‘romances’ are as good as St Pierre's. (The letter to St Pierre and the Observations are contained in vol. 4 of Foucher de Careil's edition; the letter to Grimarest, only part of which is reproduced here, is to be found in vol. V of Dutens' edition.)

LETTER TO THE ABBÉ DE ST PIERRE (February 1715)

I consider myself highly honored by the receipt of your project, and by the request which you make of my opinion about a matter which interests the whole human race, and which is not entirely outside my range of interests, since I have since my youth applied myself to law, and particularly to that of nations.