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0 much has been said during the last few years about an international organization which shall bring peace and order to the people of the world and so little about previous efforts of society to achieve the same result that it seems not inappropriate to sketch again the outlines of one of the most successful of those attempts. It might appear rather rash, certainly visionary, to propose that the League of Nations, or Conference on the Limitation of Armament (new style), be empowered not only to administer territories gained by joint conquest, but, also, to recruit armies and levy taxes directly from the people, without the intermediation of national governments; to act as a supreme court, with original jurisdiction in cases arising between nations or against rulers of nations, and with appellate jurisdiction in all cases whether of nations or individuals; and to execute its judgments whether against individuals or against states, even to the extent of making war upon an obstinate state. That would seem a very dangerous array of powers, indeed, and yet, you will agree, this is but a sober summary of the powers actually exercised by such an international authority through nearly two centuries of medieval history. Of the various attempts to achieve international control in the Middle Ages only one need receive our serious attention, however high the hopes and ambitions of the others. This is the one headed by the papacy in the days from Gregory VII. to Boniface VIII. It has been customary to trace its development in the evolution of papal theories and policies of temporal power reaching back all the way to Roman days. That path, however, is a rather tortuous one, like an old and abandoned road through the northern forest. Seldom smooth,
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