DEDICATION

For those who perished on nine-eleven,*
For those who gave their lives abroad
That others might live in freedom,
For those who keep watch in foreign lands
While yearning to return home,
And for ourselves and our posterity:

May we learn to negotiate with greater skill and

. . . to obtain success by this permissible route
for the fair and reasonable plans
that [we] sometimes too frvolously expose
to the perils of war!**

We share Antoine Pecquet's hope
That the doors to the Temple of Janus ,
The doors of war, will close
And remain forever so.

*September 11, 2001
**( Discourse on the Art of Negotiation 85)

Antoine Pecquet was a senior official at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Versailles from 1723 to 1740. Discourse on the Art of Negotiation is a translation of the 1737 book that he wrote to promote negotiation as the preferred means for resolving international disputes. Pecquet encourages talented youths to consider a career in negotiation and to acquire the requisite education. He describes an ambassador's duties, his social life, the successes or failures he should anticipate, and the rewards he may rightly expect. The book will appeal to anyone interested in diplomacy, political science, or the history of eighteenth-century France and Europe.