ABSTRACT
Peace work in France has taken especially two forms: witness against conscription, and positive experiments in the work of reconciliation. Both national and, at times of especial danger, private conferences have reinforced the constructive experiments. The chief difficulty of French conscientious objectors has arisen because in France, unlike other Western countries such as Britain and the United States, there was no recognition of the rights of conscience relating to military service. Immediately after the First World War a movement led by Marc Sagnier, known as La Jeune République, exerted considerable influence on Catholic peace workers. The first widely-known modern French protagonist of peace has been henri roser France, in 1899 to a family with a tradition of missionary and religious service. In July 1935 Nevin Sayre presented to the French Charge d’Affaires in Washington a petition for the release of Philippe Vernier, signed by young Americans from forty states, and forty colleges and universities.
