Jean-Jacques de Sellon

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Jean-Jacques de Sellon

Jean-Jacques de Sellon (born January 20, 1782 in Geneva , † June 6, 1839 in Belfort ) was a Swiss notable , publicist , philanthropist , patron and pacifist . In 1830 he founded the first peace society in continental Europe and made a name for himself as an opponent of the death penalty .

origin

The Sellon family originally came from the south of France . As Huguenots , they fled Nîmes after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 and became citizens of the city of Geneva in 1699 . As bankers and cloth merchants with branches in London and Paris , but also through marriage, they made considerable fortunes and established themselves in the Geneva patriciate . Gaspard Sellon (1702–1785) acquired the reign of Allaman ( Vaud ) in 1755 , which after his death fell to his brother Jean François (1707–1790), the grandfather of Jean-Jacques. Jean Sellon (1736–1810), the son of Jean François and father of Jean-Jacques, was raised to the rank of Count of the Holy Roman Empire by Joseph II in 1786 .

Live and act

As a child, between 1789 and 1794, Jean-Jacques de Sellon had traveled through Italy with his parents . His father had business contacts here, but also avoided the revolutionary unrest in Geneva. From 1794 to 1800 Jean-Jacques stayed mainly at the family castle in Allaman; since 1800 he lived mainly in Geneva when he was not traveling all over Europe. In 1804 he came to Paris for the first time . He admired Napoleon , attended his coronation with the Iron Crown of the Longobards in the Milan Cathedral in 1805 and was appointed Napoleon's Chamberlain . In 1810 he inherited the Allaman rule with the castle, the trading company and his father's considerable fortune. He received a number of literary and political celebrities of his time in Switzerland, including members of the Bonaparte family , the Habsburg archdukes Ferdinand and Maximilian , the pianist Franz Liszt , the Empress Joséphine , the Duke of Bassano , who was also arrested at Sellon's castle, George Sand and Camillo Cavour .

After the restoration of the republic in Geneva in 1814 , Sellon became a member of the "Council of Representatives". Here he campaigned for free trade and the abolition of the death penalty. He argued against the death penalty in terms of legal and political philosophy and not only wrote his own writings, but also translated works by well-known abolitionists into French, such as Giovanni Carmignani and Carl Joseph Anton Mittermaier .

As a supporter of Cesare Beccaria's rule of law , Sellon postulated a human right to physical integrity and transferred this to interstate conflicts. In doing so, he founded philanthropic and humanitarian pacifism , which placed peace education and fundamental rights in a close context, but did not speak out against national defense. In 1830 he summoned thirty Geneva citizens to his home and founded the “Société des Amis de la Paix de Genève”, the first continental European peace society. This also expressed his conviction that a reform movement must come from the elites. His attitude, which was not least influenced by Calvinism , influenced his nephews Camillo Benso de Cavour and Henri Dunant .

After falling ill, Sellon retired from active politics in 1834. As the leader of the ultra-Calvinists, he caused a sensation in 1835 with the attempt to erect a large monument to the reformer Calvin in Geneva. When he failed, he bitterly had one built at his own expense on the terrace of his mansion on the Rue des Granges.

Like his father, who brought together one of the most important Swiss art collections of his time with important paintings by old masters , especially from Italy, Jean-Jacques was also an avid collector. He primarily bought Swiss landscape painting of his time. Many of the works of art in the Sellon Collection are now in the Musée d'art et d'histoire in Geneva.

A street in Geneva is named after Jean-Jacques Sellon.

Fonts

Quelques observations sur l'ouvrage intitulé Nécessité du maintien de la peine de mort , 1831
  • Jean-Jacques de Sellon: Mes réflexions. Bonnant, Geneva 1829.
  • Quelques observations sur l'ouvrage intitulé Nécessité du maintien de la peine de mort ( fr ). Charles Gruaz, Genève 1831.
  • Jean-Jacques de Sellon: Lettre de M. de Sellon à M.…, sur le pacte fédéral, et sur les travaux des societés de la paix de l'apos; Amérique Septentrionale, de l'apos; Angleterre et de celle de Genève. , Genève 1832.
  • Jean-Jacques de Sellon: Quelques reflexions de Mr. de Sellon, président de la société de paix de Genève. , Genève 1832.
  • Jean-Jacques de Sellon: Recueil de lettres addressées aux archives de la société de la paix. , Genève 1832.
  • Jean-Jacques de Sellon: Quelques notes et reflexions sur le système penitentiaire des états-unis d'Amerique et sur ce qu'il a d'applicable du continent Européen publiées. , Genève (Octobre) 1833.
  • Jean-Jacques de Sellon: Address du fondateur de la société de la paix de Genève (Jean Jacques de Sellon) aux chretiens de toutes les communions et de tous les pays. , Genève 1834.
  • Jean-Jacques de Sellon: Dialogue sur la peine de mort, sur le système pénitentiaire et sur la guerre. , Genève 1834.
  • Jean-Jacques de Sellon: Lettre de Mr. de Sellon président de la soc. de la paix de Genève à Madame *** servant d'introduction aux nouveaux fragmens qu'il se propose de publier. , Genève 1834.
  • Jean-Jacques de Sellon: Mélanges politiques et moraux. , Genève 1837.
  • Jean-Jacques de Sellon: Nouveaux mélanges politiques, moraux et littéraires. Gruaz, Genève 1837.
  • Jean-Jacques Sellon: Lettre de l'auteur du concours ouvert à Genève en 1826 en faveur de l'abolition de la peine de mort à l'un de ses honorables collègues du conseil souverain. Lador, Geneva 1827.
  • Jean-Jacques Sellon: Des observations de M. de Sellon, sur les instructions à thunder pour la Diète du 12 Mars 1832. AL Vignier, Genève [1832].
  • M. de Sellon: Traduction littérale du préambule du code de Léopold, grand-duc de Toscane. Gruaz, Genève 1831.
  • Giovanni Carmignani and Jean-Jacques de Sellon: Fragmens d'un discours sur la peine de mort prononcé le 18 Mars 1836. E. Pelletier, Genève 1836.
  • Brief epitome of the work of the Count of Sellon, founder and president of the Peace Society in Geneva. , Geneva 1836.
  • Jacques Matter, Jean Jacques de Sellon and Albertine Adrienne de Necker Saussure: Fragmens de l'ouvrage intitulé De l'Influence des Moeurs sur les Lois… Par M. Matter… De l'ouvrage de Mme Necker de Saussure, intitulé De l'Éducation Progressive, et de quelques autres traités d'éducation. , Geneve 1833.
  • Jean-Jacques Sellon and Jean Jacques Rousseau: Fragmens de l'Emile de Rousseau et des lettres de Lord Chesterfield sur l'éducation. , Geneva 1833.
  • Jean-Jacques Cte de Sellon: Lettre de Mr. de Sellon, président de la soc. de la paix à l'éditeur des archives de cette société. , Genève (mouse) 1832.
  • Jean-Jacques Cte de Sellon: Amendment de M. de Sellon… destiné à écarter la peine de mort de la loi sur la presse du 2 May 1827, et à lui substiter l'emprisonnement… , Genève 1834.
  • Jean-Jacques Cte de Sellon: Nouveaue Fragmens commencés… 1833, et faisant suite a öouö publiés par lui au mois de Janvier de la même année. , Genève 1834.

literature

  • Ivo Rens and Klaus Gerd Giesen: Jean-Jacques de Sellon, pacifiste et precurseur de “l'esprit de Genève”. In: Swiss History Journal . No. 3/1985, pp. 261-287 ( online ).
  • Beatrice Luginbühl: In the fight against the death penalty: Jean-Jacques Comte de Sellon (1782-1839). A plea for the inviolability of human life. Dissertation. University of Zurich, 1999. Schulthess Legal Media, Zurich 2000, ISBN 3725540608 .
  • Maddalena Rudloff-Azzi: Le musée historique de “La Fenêtre”: Jean-Jacques de Sellon or l'art au service d'une éducation patriotique . In: Genava. Nouvelle série, Vol. 53 (2005), pp. 173-220.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Sellon, Jean-Jacques de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sellon, Jean Jacques de; Sellon, Jean Jacques, Comte de; Sellon, Jean-Jacques, Count of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Publicist, philanthropist and founder of the “Société de la paix” in Geneva
DATE OF BIRTH January 20, 1782
PLACE OF BIRTH Geneva
DATE OF DEATH June 6, 1839
Place of death Belfort