Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns

Gustave ref|gustaaf Henri Ange Hippolyte Rolin-Jaequemyns (Ghent, January 31 1835 - Brussels, january 9, 1902) was a Belgian solicitor, diplomat and Minister of the Interior (1878-1884) as a member of the Unitarian Liberal Party. Together with the Swiss jurist Gustave Moynier, he founded the Institut de Droit International and became its first "Honorary President".

Even though his personal convictions were deeply religious, he is considered "anti-clerical" because of his staunch defence of the Separation of church and state. Serving as an advisor to King Rama V of Thailand, he played a crucial role in the reformation of that country to modern western standards and was awarded the title "Chow Phya Abhai Raja", the highest distinction ever granted to a foreigner.

Rolin-Jaequemyns reputation as an expert on international law was widely recognized. He became a member of several national academies, for example 1870 in Montreal, 1872 in Madrid, in 1874 in Belgium and 1881 in Constantinopel. In 1877, the University of Edinburgh granted him the title of "Doctor Honoris Causa", and later he received the same distinction from the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Brussels. In 1889 King Leopold II of Belgium appointed him member of the High Council for the independent state of Congo.

Childhood and Youth

Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns was born as the oldest of 14ref|children children in the marriage between Hippolyte Rolin and Angélique Hellebout. His father had graduated with distinction from the Catholic University of Leuven (French: "Louvain"), after which he was sworn in as solicitor and travelled to Berlin where he followed classes by von Savigny and Hegel. In 1830, at the start of the Belgian Revolution, he travelled to Courtray and was elected into the "National Assembly". Later (1848), he was elected into the Belgian Chamber of People's Representatives and held the office of "Minister of Public Works".

The lad excelled on the Gymnasium of Ghent and his musical skills showed early. At the age of 16 he travelled to the United Kingdom and from there to Paris where he got a first prize at the Lycée Charlemagne. Then he went back to his home town and studied law at the University of Ghent. After his graduation, he followed his father's example and went to Berlin for additional studies. In 1860, when Gustave was only 25 years old, he was offered the chair of modern political history, but declined to help his father in his law firm.

In 1859, he married Emilie Jaecquemyns and henceforth used the name "Rolin-Jaequemyns". Her father, an Orangist (that is, proponent of the unification of Belgium and the Netherlands) was indicted for his political views and Hippolyte defended him. Emilie was the daughter of a notable and wealthy family, so Gustave could focus on his studies of social and judicial matters.

International Law

During one of the congresses of the "Association Internationale pour le Progrès des Sciènces Sociales" ("International Association for the Progress of Social Sciences"), which he himself foundedref|assoc_sociale, he met the Dutchman Tobias Asser and the Englishman John Westlake and the trio decided to establish the "Revue de Droit International et de Législation Comparée" ("Review of International Law and Comparative Legislation"), a periodical dedicated to comparative law studies, a novelty at its time and the first academic journal in history devoted to international law. The first issue, edited by Rolin-Jaequemyns and with contributions from many noted scholars appeared late 1868.

After the bloody Franco-German war of 1870-71, during which the Geneva Convention of 1863 was largely ignored by both parties, Rolin-Jaequemyns received letters written independently by Francis Lieber and Gustave Moynier urging the founding of some international organisation to promote the international rule of law. As he was in an excellent position to contact many experts in the field, consultations led to the foundation of the "Institut de Droit International" in the townhall of Ghent on September 8, 1873.

The institute, which still exists today, was the first permanent body of legal experts to focus on international law. Its members have laid the foundation of significant parts of modern international law. In 1904, two years after Rolin-Jaequemyns died, the institute received the Nobel Peace Prize.

The political climate of Belgium (1848-1884)

Since the revolution year of 1848, the liberal faction was dominant in Belgian politics. There were Catholic cabinets, but these, generally, adopted the liberal agenda of "Laissez faire, laissez passer". According to this view, the free interchange of goods and services and personal freedom should not be restricted by interventions of the state, even though this principle was relaxed somewhat in times of crisis. It is however not justified to see the Belgian liberalism only as an exponent of the bourgeoisie intent on extending their wealth and influence. Part of this ideology was also a cultural ideal: to liberate the individual from the dogmatic fetters and promote personal development through the liberal arts.

In the case of Rolin-Jaequemyns, this was expressed in his chairmanship of the "Van Crombrugghe Genootschap", a Flamish cultural society founded by teachers and students of the municipal school in Ghent to "praise major Van Crombrugghe, who had done so much good for the municipal schools of Ghent".ref|crombrugghe

From 1850 onward, the controversy between the Catholic Party and the liberals deepened. On the Roman Catholic side, the ultramontanists became the dominant faction, partly under influence of the papal Encyclical "Quanta Cura" (1864) and especially the attached "Syllabus Errorum" in which the modern liberties were sharply condemned.

On the liberal side, mostly in circles of freemasons and the Université Libre de Bruxelles, the principle of "Free Research" gained influence, which, as it was interpreted there and then, was incompatible with catholic orthodoxy. This sharpened the anti-clerical sentiment among liberals which evolved into a militant anti-catholicism. The complete secularisation of the Belgian society became the prime objective of the Belgian liberals. In order to achieve this aim, they were forced to interventions of the state, since the social life was completely dominated by Roman Catholic organisations. The battle was not only fought on economic grounds, for example when the liberals tried to replace peasants who did not own their own land with free farmers on their own ground with the help of a creditbank, but mainly on the field of education.

The situation came to a head with the affair "Laurent-Brasseur" (1855), two professors from Ghent who had made "ex-cathedra" statements contraditing the official teachings of the church. The Church had, by means of the "Convention of Antwerp", gained a solid influence in academic matters without changing a single law. This affair brought to light the deep divisions between liberals and catholics and the country was divided into two camps: a "clerical" one and an "anti-clerical" one who battled each other in every way possible.

The School Struggle

After the liberal victory in the elections of 1878, Rolin-Jaequemyns accepted the post of Minister for the Interior in the cabinet of the "papenvreter" ("catholic-muncher") Walthère Frère-Orban who unleashed the "School Struggle" ("Schoolstrijd"). This was a direct consequence of a law intended to break once and for all the influence of the Roman Catholic Church over the Belgian schooling system. However, the cabinet had much underestimated catholic resistance. Catholic schools sprang up everywhere and a battle, fought with a fanaticism that would reverb through Belgian society for decades to come, raged for every teacher and every pupil. Belgium seemed to be on the brink of civil war.

The liberals lost. Their initiative had united the Catholics and the network of schools founded in this period rapidly overarched the municipal schools. The "ecoles laïque" emptied and the liberals suffered a major loss in 1884. Rolin-Jaequemyns, who had played a major role in this cabinet, was excommunicated with the rest of the cabinet-members, though this was later revoked due to the intervention of his brother Edouard. With this defeat, the political career of Rolin-Jaequemyns was over and he could focus once more on the "Institut" and the "Revue".

Thailand

Cairo

After his brother lost the family fortune with rash investments, Gustave needed to earn a living. Rather than accept a position with the Belgian government to which he was opposed, he chose to travel to Egypt with the expectation of being appointed Attorney-General. However, before the appointment could be finalized, the Khedive died. Meanwhile he became a member of the "high society" and proved, to the joy of his hosts, a gifted musician. During a lunch hosted by the British ambassador in December 1891, he met Prince Damrong of Siam, who had gone to Europe to search for a General Advisor for his half-brother King Chulalongkorn (Rama v). Following a hasty correspondence with Bangkok, the prince was able to offer Rolin-Jaequemyns an annual salary of ₤3000. Despite the opposition of his wife and his own poor health, he accepted. The Siam offer was his opportunity "to realize his dream to put into practice his principles of law and to ensure that respect for international law enabled a small, threatened country to resist the major powers."ref|cairo

Rolin-Jaequemyns contract specified two functions. First he was to assist the Siamese government to modernize and codify the country's body of laws; and second, he was to serve as an advisor concerning foreign affairs. His position held no formal power. In his words, the position of General Advisor has "no means to enforce his advice except by persuasion. Of course he cannot pretend to persuade always nor all at once, and he has to get accustomed to a perfect practice of patience."ref|cairo

Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns arrived in Bangkok on September 27, 1892. Aside from periodic trips to Europe, he stayed until April 1901 when his health could no longer tolerate the climate. He died on January 2, 1902.

The situation in Siam

Siam was being pressed by the imperial powers to open up and modernize the country for trade. In 1855 Chulalongkorn's father King Mongkut (Rama iv) agreed to an one-sided treaty with Britain. The Browning Treaty (1) limited duties on imported goods to 3%; (2) eliminated all restrictions on British traders buying and selling goods; and (3) provided extra-territorial rights to subjects of the foreign powers such that if they broke any Thai law they would be tried in courts of their own country's legation. The first condition severely limited the government's ability to undertake major development projects. (By contrast the French colonial government in Saigon charged 10% duties.) The second condition eliminated the monopolies by which the Royal household and noble families financed themselves. The third condition enormously complicated administration of the country as many people claimed ties to colonies elsewhere as a means to escape justice or avoid corvee labour obligations. Having granted these privileges to one country, King Mongkut then signed similar treaties with all its other trading partners. Thus he preserved the peace among them and limited the influence of any one foreign power within his kingdom.

These arrangements satisfied most of the imperial nations' immediate requirements. The French however were particularly aggressive. Having already had taken possession of present day Vietnam and much of Cambodia and Laos, it seemed they sought to transform Siam into a protectorate. Rolin-Jaequemyns wrote that he was "convinced that this is a systematic campaign undertaken by colonial authorities of Annam and Cambodia destined to veil the little success as well as to justify the enormous costs of their interior administration." ref|French On July 13, 1893, three French gunships forced their way up the Chao Phya River to Bangkok. Siamese fired on them from their land battery to which the French responded with devastating effect. Rolin-Jaequemyns played a major role in the negotiations after so- called Paknam Incidentref|paknam using his contacts in the top echelons of European society to negotiate directly with the French President and British Prime Minister thus subverting the self-interested colonial officials. These negotiations dragged on for 15 years and Siam lost large sections of its territory in modern-day Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia but it retained its independence.

Reforms

King Chulalongkorn understood that his kingdom could survive only by modernizing its judicial, administrative and military capacity and thus offer the colonial powers sufficient incentives and deterrents to respect its sovereignty. Since 1860, a handful of foreign advisors had been recruited to fill senior positions to guide the modernization process. Following the Paknam Incident their numbers rose within four years to 58 British, 22 Germans, 22 Danes, 9 Belgians, 8 Italians and 20 others.ref|advisors As "General Advisor" Rolin-Jaequemyns had the closest relationship to the king.

Rolin-Jaequemyns learned the Thai language and had large sections of the existing body of laws translated. In 1895, he wrote to the president of the International Association for Comparative Legal Studies that the material proved highly interesting and was an indispensable preparation for the reform. It would be wrong, he wrote, to simply to transplant western statutes. Instead one should strive to preserve the traits of the traditional law, (which in the case of Siam was based on the Dharmasastra, a buddhist system) while bringing them up to date with modern requirements.

With the help of expatriate advisors and the support of European-educated princes, the King managed to separate his personal fortune from the state treasury and create a bureaucracy to replace a government structure which had its roots in the 15th century. As General Advisor, Rolin-Jaequemyns had a role in most of these initiatives especially the foundation of Siam's first Law school. His statue now stands on the campus of the Law Faculty of Thammasat University in Bangkok.

"Chao Phya Abhai Raja" Rolin-Jaequemyns, his legacy

His achievements for Siam were formally recognized by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) when he elevated Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns to the rank of "Chao Phya ", the highest non-royal rank in Siamese hierarchy. This non-heredity honour is normally reserved for provincial governors and cabinet ministers. Abhai Raja is the Thai personal name accorded by the King at the same time.

Both in Belgium as in Thailand, he is seen as a great man. The Thai honour him as the man who prevented Thailand from becoming a colony, the Belgians voted him to place 373 of the list of "Greatest Belgians Ever" ref|grootste_belg and (in academic circles) see him as one of the giants of the legal profession.ref|herbots But his biggest achievement is his role in the founding of the "Institut de Droit International". Its members and Rolin-Jaequemyns used their reputation, their knowledge and their practical experience to lay the foundation of modern international law and the International Court of Justice in which disputes amongst nations are now settled peacefully ref|Kosmenniemi.

Published work

The work published by Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns mainly consists of political and legal essays about issues of relevance for the politics of Belgium and topics related to international law, as well as travel accounts and diary-like records about his time in Thailand. Some of these publications are:

* "Des partis et de leur situation actuelle en Belgique." Brussels 1864
* "De la réforme électorale." Brussels 1865
* "Note sur la théorie du droit d'intervention." In: "Revue de Droit Internationale et de Législation Comparée." 8/1876, S. 673-682
* "L'Arménie, les Arméniens et les traités." In: "Revue de Droit Internationale et de Législation Comparée." 19/1887, S. 284-325 und 21/1889, S. 291-353; Reprint in English by John Heywood: "Armenia, the Armenians and the Treaties." London 1891
* "Mémoire sur quelques questions se rapportant aux relations entre le Siam et la France sous les traités existants." Co-operative Printing Society Limited, London 1896

Notes

# The Dutch form "Gustaaf" is also widely used. Sometimes both forms appear in the same document. According to the "letter of mourning", "Gustave" seems to be the official spelling. cite web|title=Ars Moriendi|url=http://www.ars-moriendi.be/ROLINL2.HTM|accessdate = 2007-05-31 fr
# [http://gw.geneanet.org/index.php3?b=favrejhas&lang=fr;p=gustave;n=rolin genealogical site about Rolin-Jaequemyns and his relatives] fr Prf. Dr. Herbots merely states 17 children, while this site names them all.
# "Nationalism, universalism, empire: International Law in 1871 and 1919", Martti Koskenniemi, [http://www.helsinki.fi/eci/Publications/Columbia%200405.pdf]
# "Literair Gent" ("Literary Ghent") [http://www.literair.gent.be/html/lexicondetail.asp?ID=7&AID=806&l=V] nl
#Introduction by Baron Edouard Rolin-Jaequemyns to Walter J.Tipps 1996 page xii
#Tipps 1996 page 9
#Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns in a letter to Westlake dated November 28, 1892 quoted by Tipps 1996 page 22
# Documentation on the Paknam Incident [http://www.paknam.com/paknam-incident-1893.html] [http://www.paknam.com/tambon-laem-fapha/phra-chulachomklao-fort-tambon-laem-fapha-amphoe-phra-samut.html] en
# Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit "A History of Thailand" 2005 page 68
# Final result of the nomination-phase of the "Greatest Belgian Ever". [http://www.degrootstebelg.be/dgb_master/uwbelg/dgb_top_100/index.shtml] nl
# For instance in the speech of Prof. Dr. Herbots below.
# Legal Cosmopolitanism: Tom Franck’s messianic world, Martti Koskenniemi, Journal of International Law and Politics. [http://www.law.nyu.edu/journals/jilp/issues/35/35_2_Koskenniemi.pdf PDF] en
# Insii Thai House [http://www.insiithaihouse.com/Rolin.htm]

Sources

:* Speech by Prof. Dr. J. Herbots about Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns. [http://www.law.kuleuven.ac.be/jura/38n4/herbots.htm] nl:* "Beknopte geschiedenis van de Liberale Partij", Prof. dr. Marcel Bots, 1989, "Liberaal Archief" [http://www.liberaalarchief.be/Botsinhoud.html] nl:* Biography of Tobias Asser [http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/BWN/lemmata/bwn2/asser] . nl:* "British Financial Advisers in Siam in the Reign of King Chulalongkorn", Ian Brown, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2 (1978), pp. 193-215 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-749X(1978)12%3A2%3C193%3ABFAISI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W] en:* Website of the Rolin-family about Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns [http://www.rolin.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Content.DisplayCat&Category_ID=E0F22775-6C9D-42D3-A34A76B57A89606D&Lang=FR] fr:* "Letter of mourning" on "Ars Moriendi" [http://www.ars-moriendi.be/ROLINL2.HTM] fr

Literature

* "Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns (Chao Phraya Aphai Raja) and the Belgian Advisers in Siam (1892-1902): An Overview of Little-Known Documents Concerning the Chakri Reformation Era." Walter E.J. Tips, Published by the author himself, Bangkok 1992, ISBN 9-74-889878-4
* "Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns and the Making of modern Siam: The Diaries and Letters of King Chulalongkorn's General Adviser.", Walter E.J. Tips, White Lotus Press, Bangkok 1996, ISBN 9-74-849658-9
* "Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns and the Establishment of the Institut de droit international (1873).", Martti Koskenniemi, In: "Revue belge de droit international." 37(1)/2004. Centre de Droit International de l'Institut de Sociologie de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles et du Centre de Droit International de l'Université Catholique de Louvain, p. 5-11, ISSN|0035-0788
* "Nationalism, Universalism, Empire: International Law in 1871 and 1919." Martti Koskenniemi, Conference Proceedings "Whose International Community? Universalism and the Legacies of Empire.", Columbia University, April 29-30, 2005