UNIVERSITY 
 CALIFORNIA 
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 mt UNIVtKbllY LIbKAKr 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN OIEW 
 
 LA JOLLA. CALIFORNIA
 
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 AN 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 THE AMERICAN PEACE SOCIETY, 
 
 AT ITS ANNIVERSARY IN BOSTON, MAY 28, 1849. 
 
 BY HON. CHMLES SUMNER. 
 
 That it may please Thee to give to all nations unity, peace and concord. 
 
 The Litaxy. 
 
 What angels shall descend to reconcile 
 
 The Christian States, and end their guilty toil. — "Wallee. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 AMERICAN PEACE SOCIETY, 21 CORNHILL. 
 
 1854.
 
 " I look upon the way of treaties, as a retirinc; from fighting like beasts, to arguing 
 like men, whose strength should be more in their understandings than in their limbs. ' ' 
 — Charles I. Eikon BasiUke. 
 
 " We daily make great improvements in natural — there is one I wish to see in 
 moral — philosophy ; the discovery of a jilan that would induce and oblige nations 
 to settle their disputes without first cutting one another's throats. When will hu- 
 man reason be sufficiently improved to see the advantage of this." — Fiianklin. 
 
 " La mcnie politique qui lie, pour Icur bonheur, toutes los families d'uno nation les 
 unes avec les autres, doit lier entre elles toutes les nations, qui sont des families 
 du genre humain. Tous les hommes se coramuniquent, m^me sans s'en douter, 
 leurs maux et leurs biens, d'un bout^de la terre a I'autre." — Bernabdine deSt. 
 Pierre. 
 
 " Only the toughest, harshest barbarism of past ages — War — remains yet to be 
 vanquished by our innate anti-barbarisnu There is a growing insight of its unlaw- 
 fulness." — Jean Paul. 
 
 " War is on its last legs ; and a universal peace is as sure as is the prevalence of 
 civilization over barbarism, of liberal governments over feudal forms. The question 
 for us is only, IIoio soont" — Emerson.
 
 
 THE WAR SYSTEJI 
 
 OF 
 
 THE C0M3I0XWEALTII OF NATIOXS. 
 
 Mr. Presidext and Gextlemex, — "We arc now assembled in 
 what may be called the Holy Week of our community ; not occu- 
 pied by the pomps of a complex ceremonial, swelling in tides of 
 music, beneath time-honored arches ; but set apart, according to the 
 severe simplicity of early custom, to the Anniversary meetings of 
 the various associations of charity and piety, from whose good works 
 our country derives such true honor. Each association is distinct. 
 Within the folds of each are gathered its own peculiar members 
 devoted to its own peculiar objects ; and yet all are harmonious to- 
 gether ; for all are inspired by one sentiment, the welfare of the 
 united Human Family. P'ach has its own distinct orbit, a pathway 
 of light, wliilc all together constitute a system which moves in a still 
 grander orbit. 
 
 Of all these associations, there cannot be one so comprehensive as 
 ours. The prisoner in his cell, the slave in his chains, the sailor on 
 his ocean wanderings, the Pagan on his distant continent or island, 
 and the ignorant here at home, will all be commended to you by 
 eloquent voices. I nead not tell you to listen to these voices, and to 
 answer to their appeal. But, while mindful of all these interests, 
 justly claiming your care, it is my special and most grateful duty 
 to-night, to commend to you that other cause — the great cause of 
 Peace — which, in its Christian embrace, enfolds the prisoner, the 
 slave, the sailor, the ignorant, all mankind ; which, to each of these
 
 4 WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS, 
 
 charities, is the source of strength and light, I may say of life itself, 
 as the sun in the heavens. 
 
 Peace is the grand Christian charity, the fountain and parent of 
 all other charities. Let Peace be removed, and all other charities 
 sicken and die. Let Peace exert her gladsome sway, and all 
 other charities quicken into celestial life. Peace is a distinctive 
 promise and possession of Christianity. So much is this the 
 case, that, where Peace is not, Christianity cannot he. There 
 is nothing elevated which is not exalted by Peace. There is 
 nothing valuable which does not contribute to Peace. Of wis- 
 dom herself it has been said, that all her ways are pleasant- 
 ness, and all her paths are Peace. Peace has ever been the 
 longing and aspiration of the noblest souls — Avhether for themselves 
 or for their country. In the bitterness of exile, away from the 
 Florence which he has immortalized by his Divine Poem, pacing the 
 cloisters of a convent, in response to the inquiry of the monk, — 
 " What do you seek r" Dante said, in words distilled from his heart, 
 Peace, peace. In the memorable English struggles, while King and 
 Parliament were rending the land, a gallant supporter of the monar- 
 chy, the chivalrous Falkland, touched by the intolerable woes of war, 
 cried in words which consecrate his memory more than any feat of 
 arms. Peace, peace, peace. Not in aspiration only, but in benedic- 
 tion is this word uttered. As the apostle went forth on his errand, 
 as the son left his father's roof, the choicest blessing was Peace be 
 with you. As the Saviour was born, angels from Heaven, amid 
 quiring melodies, let fall that supreme benediction, never before 
 vouchsafed to the children of the Human Family, Peace on earth 
 and good will toward men. 
 
 To maintain this charity, to promote these aspirations, to welcome 
 these benedictions, is the object of our society. To fill men in pri- 
 vate life with all those sentiments, which make for Peace ; to ani- 
 mate men in public life to the recognition of those paramovmt prin- 
 ciples, which are the safeguards of Peace ; above all, to teach the 
 True Grandeur of Peace, and to unfold the folly and wickedness of 
 the Institution of War and of the whole WAH SYSTEM, now 
 recognized and established by the COMMONWEALTH OF NA- 
 TIONS, as the mode of determining internatwial controversies ; — 
 such is the object of our Society.
 
 THE PEACE CAUSE. 
 
 There are persons, who sometimes allow themselves to speak of 
 associations like ours, if not with disapprobation, at least with levity 
 and distrust. A writer, so humane and genial as Robert Southey, 
 has left on record a gibe at the " Society for the Abolition of War," 
 saying, that " it had not obtained sufficient notice even to be in dis- 
 repute." It is not uncommon to hear our aims characterized as vis- 
 ionary, impracticable, Utopian. It is sometimes hastily said that 
 they are contrary to the nature of man ; that they require for their 
 success a complete reconstruction of his character ; and that they 
 necessarily assume in him qualities, capacities and virtues, which do 
 not belong to his existing nature. This mistaken idea was once 
 strongly expressed by the remark, that " an Anti-War Society 
 seemed as little practicable as an anti-thunder-and-lightning so- 
 ciety." 
 
 It cannot be doubted that these objections, striking at the heart 
 of our cause, have exerted great influence over the public mind. 
 They proceed often from persons of unquestioned sincerity and good- 
 ness, who would rejoice to see the truth as we see it. But plausible 
 as th6y may appear to those who have not properly meditated this 
 subject, I cannot but regard them — I believe, that all who will can- 
 didly listen to me to-night will hereafter regard them — as prejudi- 
 ces, without foundation in reason or religion, which must yield to a 
 plain and careful examination of the precise objects of our society, 
 and of the movement which it represents. 
 
 Let me not content myself, in response to these critics, by the 
 easy answer, that, if our aims are visionary, impracticable, Utopian, 
 then the unfulfilled promises of the prophecies are vain ; then the 
 Lord's Prayer, in which we ask that God's kingdom shall come on 
 earth, is a mockery ; then Christianity is a Utopia. Let me not 
 content myself by reminding you, that all the great reforms, by 
 which mankind have been advanced, have encountered similar ob- 
 jections ; that the abolition of the punishment of death for theft was 
 first suggested in the Utopia of Sir Thomas More ; that the efforts 
 to abolish the crime of the slave trade were opposed almost in our 
 day, as impracticable and visionary ; in short, that all the endeavors 
 for human improvement, for knowledge, for freedom, for virtue, 
 that all the great causes which dignify human history, — which save 
 it from being a mere protracted War Bulletin, a common sewer, a 
 Cloaca Maxima, flo.oded with perpetual uncleanness — have been pro- 
 nounced Utopian, while, in spite of distrust, of predjudice, of en-
 
 6 WAK SYSTEM OF COMMOXAVEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 mity, all these causes have gradually found acceptance, as they 
 gradually became understood, and the Utopias of one age have be- 
 come the realities of the next. 
 
 Satisfactory to many minds as such an answer might be, I cannot 
 cotncnt myself on this occasion with leaving our cause on such 
 grounds. I desire to meet directly the objections which have been 
 made, and by a careful exposition of our precise objects, to show 
 that these objects are in no respect visionary ; that the cause of 
 Peace docs not depend for its success upon any reconstruction of the 
 human character, or upon holding in check the general laws of 
 man's nature ; but that it deals with man as he exists, according to 
 the experience of history ; and above all, that the immediate and 
 particular aim of our Society, the abolition by the Commonwealth 
 of Nations of the Institution of War, and of the Avhole War System, 
 as an established Arbiter of Right, is as practicable as it would be 
 beneficent. 
 
 And I begin by carefully putting aside several questions, which 
 have occupied much attention, but which an accurate analysis of our 
 position shows to be independent of the true issue. Their introduc- 
 tion has heretofore perplexed the discussion, by transferring to the 
 great cause of International Peace the doubts by which they have 
 been encompassed. 
 
 One of these is the alleged right, appertaining to each individual, to 
 take the life of an assailant in order to save his own life — compen- 
 diously called the right of self-defence, usually recognized by phi- 
 losophers and publicists as founded in nature, and in the instincts of 
 men. The exercise of this right is carefully restrained to cases 
 where life itself is placed in actual jeopardy. No defence of prop- 
 erty, no vindication of what is called personal honor, justifies this 
 extreme resort. Nor does this right imply the right of attack ; for 
 instead of attacking one another for injuries past or impending, men 
 need only have recourse to the proper tribunals of justice. There 
 are, however, many most respectable persons, particularly of the de- 
 nomination of Friends — some of whom I may now have the honor 
 of addressing — who believe that the exercise of this right, even 
 thus limited, is in direct contravention of high Christian precepts. 
 Their views find faithful utterance in the Avritings of Jonathan Dy- 
 mond, of which at least this may be said, that they strengthen and
 
 RIGHT OF EEVOLUTION. 7 
 
 elevate, even if they do not always satisfy the understanding. " I 
 shall be asked," says Dymond, — " suppose a ruffian breaks into your 
 house, and rushes into your room with his arm lifted to murder you, 
 do you not believe that Christianity allows you to kill him ? This is 
 the last resort of the cause. My answer to it is explicit — I do not believe 
 it. " But while thus candidly and openly avowing this extreme sen- 
 timent of non-resistance, he is careful to remind the reader, that the 
 case of the ruffian does not practically illustrate the true character 
 of war, unless it appears that war is undertaken simply for the pres- 
 ervation of life, when no other alternative remains to a people than 
 to kill or to be killed. 
 
 But according to this view, the robber on land, who places his 
 pistol at the breast of the traveller, the pirate w'ho threatens life on 
 the high seas, and the riotous disturber of the public peace, who 
 puts life in jeopardy at home, cannot be opposed by the sacrifice of 
 life. Of course, all who subscribe to this renunciation of the privi- 
 lege of self-defence, must join with us in efforts to abolish the Ar- 
 bitrament of War. But our appeal is addressed to the larger num- 
 ber, who make no such application of the Christian precepts, who 
 recognize the right of self-defence as belonging to each individual, 
 and who believe in the necessity at times, of sorrowfully exercising 
 this right, whether against a robber, a pirate, or a mob. 
 
 Another question, closely connected with that of self-defence, is 
 the alleged right of revolt, or of revolution. Shall a people endure 
 political oppression or the denial of Freedom, without resistance ? 
 The answer to this question wall necessarily affect the rights of three 
 nullion of felloAV-men, held in slavery among us. If such a right 
 unqualifiedly exists — and sympathy with our fathers, and with the 
 struggles for Freedom now agitating Europe, must make us hesitate 
 to question its existence — then these three million of fellow-men, 
 into whose souls we thrust the iron of the deadliest bondage the 
 world has yet witnessed, would be justified in resisting to death the 
 power that holds them in fetters. A popular writer on Ethics, Dr. 
 Paley, has said : " It may be as much a duty, at one time, to resist 
 government, as it is at another, to obey it ; to wit, whenever more 
 advantage will, in our opinion, accrue to the community from resist- 
 ance, than mischief. The lawfulness of resistance, or the lawful- 
 ness of a revolt, does not depend alone upon the grievance which is 
 sustained or feared, but also upon the probable expense and event
 
 8 -WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 of tlie cause. " ■•' This view distinctly recognizes the right of resis- 
 tance, but limits it by the chances of success, founding it on no 
 hio-her ground than expediency. A right, thus vaguely defined and 
 bounded, must be invoked at any time with reluctance and distrust. 
 The lover of Peace, while admitting, that, in the present state of 
 the world, an exigency may unhappily arise for its exercise, must 
 confess the inherent barbarism of such an agency, and admire, even 
 if he cannot entirely adopt, the sentiment of Daniel O'Connell : 
 " Remember that no political change is worth a single crime, or 
 above all, a single drop of human blood. " 
 
 But these questions I put aside ; not as unimportant, not as un- 
 worthy of the most careful consideration ; but as unessential to the 
 establishment of the great cause which I have so much at heart. If 
 I am asked — as the advocates of Peace are often asked — whether 
 a robber, a pirate, a mob may be resisted by the sacrifice of life, I 
 answer that they may be so resisted — mournfully, necessarily. If 
 I am asked, if I sympathize with the efforts for freedom now find- 
 ing vent in rebellion and revolution, I cannot hesitate to say, that, 
 wherever Freedom struggles, wherever Right is, there my sympa- 
 thies must be. And I believe I may speak, not only for myself, 
 but for our Society, when I add, that, while it is ovir constant aim 
 to diffuse those sentiments which promote good will in all the rela- 
 tions of life ; which exhibit the beauty of Peace everywhere, in the 
 internal concerns, as well as in the international relations, of States ; 
 and while we especially recognize that grand central truth, the 
 Brotherhood of Mankind, in the clear light of whose far-darting 
 beams all violence among men becomes dismal and abhorred, as 
 among brothers ; it is nevertheless no part of our purpose to ques- 
 tion the right to take life in honest self-defence, or when the public 
 necessity distinctly requires it, nor to question the justifiableness of 
 resistance to urgent outrage and oppression. On these several 
 points there are individual diversities of opinion among the friends 
 of Peace, which our Society, confining itself to efforts for the over- 
 throw of War, is not constrained to determine. 
 
 Waiving, then, these matters, which have often thrown perplexi- 
 ty and difficulty over our cause, making many hesitate, I come now 
 
 * Principles of Moral and Political Pliilosophy, Book VI. cap. 4.
 
 OUR PKECISE OBJECT. 9 
 
 to the precise object which we hope to accomplish, the Abolition of 
 the Institution of War, and of the whole War System, as an estab- 
 lished Arhitcr of Justice in the Commoniocalth of Nations. In the 
 accurate statement of our aims, you will at once perceive the strength 
 of our position. Much is always gained by a clear understanding 
 of the question in issue ; and the cause of Peace unquestionably 
 suffers often, because it is misrepresented, or not fully comprehend- 
 ed. In the hope of remo\'ing this difficulty, I shall frst unfold the 
 true character of War and of the War System, involving the ques- 
 tion of Preparations for War, and the question of a Militia. The 
 way will then be open, in the second branch of this Address, for a 
 consideration of the means by which this System can be overthrown. 
 And here I shall pass in review the tendencies and examples of na- 
 tions, and the efforts of individuals, constituting the Peace Move- 
 ment, with the auguries of its triumph, briefly touching, at the close, 
 on our duties to this great cause, and on the vanity of Military 
 Glory. 
 
 1 . And, first of War and the War System in the Commonwealth 
 of jSTations. By the Commonwealth of Nations I understand the 
 Fraternity of Christian States, which recognizes a Common Law 
 regulating their relations with each other, usually called the Law 
 of Nations. This law, being established by the consent of nations, 
 is not necessarily the law of all nations, but only of siich as recog- 
 nize it. The Europeans and the Orientals often differ with regard 
 to its provisions ; nor would it be proper to say that the Ottomans, 
 or the Mahomedans in general, or the Chinese, had ever become par- 
 ties to it. The substantial elements of this law are drawn from the 
 law of nature, from the truths of Christianity, from the usages of 
 nations, from the opinions of jurists and publicists, and from the 
 written texts or enactments of treaties. Thus, in its origin and 
 growth, it is not unlike the variovis systems of municipal jurispru- 
 dence, all of which may be referred to kindred sources. 
 
 It is often said, by way of excuse for the allowance of war, that 
 nations are independent, and acknowledge no common superior. It 
 is true, indeed, that they are politically independent, and acknowl- 
 edge no common political sovereign. But they acknowledge a com- 
 mon superior of unquestioned influence and authority, whose rules 
 they cannot disobey. This acknowledged common superior is the
 
 10 "VVAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 Law of Nations. It were superfluous to dwell at length upon the 
 opinions of publicists and jurists in confirmation of this view. 
 "The Law of Nations, " says Vattel* a classic in this departnient, 
 is " not less obligatory with respect to states, or to men united in po- 
 litical society, than to individuals. " An eminent English authority. 
 Lord Stowell, f says, " The Conventional Law of Mankind, which is 
 evidenced in their practice, allows some and prohibits other modes 
 of destruction." A recent German jurist t says, "A nation asso- 
 ciating itself with the general society of nations, thereby recognizes 
 a law common to all nations, by which its international relations are 
 to be regulated. " Lastly, a popular English moralist, whom I have 
 already quoted, and to whom I refer because his name is so famil- 
 iar. Dr. Paley, § says, that the principal part of what is called the 
 Law of Nations derives its obligatory character " simply from the 
 fact of its being established, and the general duty of conforming to 
 established rules upon questions, and between parties, where noth- 
 ing but positive regulations can prevent difficulties, and Avhere dis- 
 putes are followed by such destructive consequences. " 
 
 The Law of Nations is, then, the Supreme Law of the Common- 
 wealth of Christian States, governing their relations with each other, 
 determining their reciprocal rights, and sanctioning the remedies 
 for the violation of these rights. To the Commonwealth of Nations, 
 this Law is what the Constitution and Municipal Law of Massachu- 
 setts are to the associate to^\^ls and counties, composing this State, 
 or rather, by an apter illustration, what the Federal Constitution of 
 our Union is to the thirty sovereign States, which now recognize it 
 as the supreme law. 
 
 But the Law of Nations — and I now come to a point of great 
 importance in the clear understanding of the subject — while antic- 
 ipating and providing for controversies between nations, recognizes 
 and establishes War as the final Arbiter of these controversies. It 
 distinctly says to the nations, " If you cannot agree together, then 
 stake your cause upon the Trial by Battle. " And it proceeds to 
 define, at no inconsiderable length, under the name of Laws of 
 War, the rules and regulations of this combat. " The Laws of 
 
 • Law of Nations, Preface. 
 
 + Robinson's Rep. Vol. I. p. 140. 
 
 + Ilcti'ler, quoted in Wheaton's Elements, Part I. cap. 1, § 7. 
 
 ^ Philosophy, Book VI. cap. 12.
 
 INSTITUTION OF WAH. U 
 
 War, " says Dr. Paley, " arc part of the Law of Nations, and 
 founded, as to tlieir authority, upon the same principle with the rest 
 of that code, namelj% upon the fact of their being established, no 
 matter when or by whom. " 
 
 It is not uncommon to speak of the practice of War, or the cus- 
 tom of War, a term adopted by that devoted friend of our cause 
 the late Noah Worcester. Its apologists and expounders have 
 called it a "judicial trial" — "one of the highest trials of right" — 
 " a process of justice" — " a prosecution of our rights by force" — 
 *' a mode of condign punishment" — " an appeal for justice" — "a 
 mode of obtaining rights." I prefer to characterize it as an Insti- 
 tution, established by the Commonwealth of Nations, as an Arbi- 
 ter of Justice. As Slavery is an Institution, growing out of local 
 custom, sanctioned, defined and established by the municipal law 
 so War is an Institution, growing out of general custom, sanctioned 
 defined and established by the Law of Nations. 
 
 It is only when we contemplate War in this light, that we are 
 fully able to perceive its combined folly and wickedness. Let me 
 bring this yet further home to your minds. Boston and Cambridge 
 are adjoining towns, separated by the river Charles. In the event 
 of controversies between these difierent jurisdictions, the municipal 
 law has established a judicial tribunal, and not War, as the Arbi- 
 ter. And, ascending the scale, in the event of controversies be- 
 tween two different counties, as between Essex and Middlesex, the 
 same municipal law has established a judicial tribunal, and not War 
 as the Arbiter. And, ascending yet higher in the scale, in the event 
 of controversies between two diff"erent sovereign States of our 
 Union, the Federal Constitution has established a judicial tribunal 
 the Supreme Court of the United States, and not War, as the Ar- 
 biter. But now mark ; at the next stage the Arbiter is changed. 
 In the event of controversies between two diflferent States of the 
 Commonwealth of Nations, the Supreme Law has established, not 
 a judicial tribunal, but War, as the Arbiter, War is the Institution 
 established for the determination of justice between the nations. 
 
 But the provisions of the municipal law of Massachusetts, and of 
 the Federal Constitution, are not vain words. It is well known to 
 all familiar with our courts, that suits between towns, and also be- 
 tween counties, are often entertained and satisfactorily adjudicated. 
 The records of the Supreme Court of the United States show also 
 that Sovereign States habitually refer important controversies to
 
 Ii2- WAK SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIOKS, 
 
 this tribunal. There is now pending before this high court, an action 
 of the State of Missouri against the State of Iowa, arising out of a ques- 
 tion of boundary, wherein the fornier State claims a section of territory 
 
 laro^er than many German principalities — extending the whole 
 
 length of the Northern border of Missouri, and several miles in 
 breadth, and containing upward of two thousand square miles. 
 And within a short period, this same tribunal has decided a similar 
 question, between our own State of Massachusetts and our neigh- 
 bor Rhode Island ; the latter State pertinaciously claiming a section 
 of territory, about three miles broad, on a portion of our southern 
 frontier. 
 
 Suppose that in these different cases between towns, counties. 
 States, War had been established by the supreme law as the Arbiter ; 
 imagine the disastrous consequences which must have ensued ; pic- 
 ture the imperfect justice which niust have been the end and fruit 
 of such a contest; and Avhile rejoicing that we are happily relieved, 
 in these cases, from an alternative so dismal and deplorable, do not 
 forget, that, on a larger theatre, where grander interests are staked, 
 in the relations between nations, under the solemn sanction of the 
 Law of Nations, War is established as the Arbiter of Justice. Do 
 not forget that a complex and subtle code — the Laws of War — 
 has been established to regulate the resort to this Arbiter. 
 
 Recognizing the irrational and unchristian character of War, as 
 an established Arbiter between towns, counties and States, in our 
 happy land, we may learn to condemn it as an established Arbiter 
 between nations. But history furnishes a parallel, by which we 
 may form a yet clearer idea of its true nature. I refer to the sys- 
 tem of Private Wars, or, more properly, of Petty Wars, and to 
 the Trial by Battle, which darkened the dark ages. Both of these, 
 though differing in some respects, concurred in recognizing the 
 sword as the Arbiter of Justice. The right to wage war {le droit 
 de guerroyer) was accorded by the early municipal law of European 
 States, particularly of the Continent, to all independent chiefs, 
 however petty, but not to their vassals ; precisely as the right to 
 wage war is now accorded by international law to all independent 
 states and principalities, however petty, but not to their subjects. 
 Nay ; it was often mentioned expressly among the " liberties" to 
 which independent chiefs were entitled ; as it is still recognized by 
 international law among the " liberties" of independent states. 
 But in proportion as the sovereignty of these chiefs was absorbed
 
 TKIAL BY BATTLE. 13 
 
 in some larger lordship, this offensive right or " liberty" gradually 
 disappeared. It continued to prevail extensively in France, till at 
 last king John, by an ordinance dated 1361, expressly forbade Petty 
 Wars throughout his kingdom, saying, *' We order that all chal- 
 lenges and wars, and acts of violence against all persons, in any 
 part whatever of our kingdom, shall in future cease, and also all 
 assemblies, convocations and cavalcades of men at arms or archers, 
 and also all pillages, seizures of goods and persons without right, ven- 
 geances and counter vuigiCDvces — all these things we wish to forbid, 
 under pain of incurring our indignation, and of bemg reputed and 
 lield disobedient and rebel. "^''' It was reserved for Louis XL, as 
 late as 1451, to make still another effort in the same direction, by 
 expressly abrogating one of the " liberties" of Daupliiny, which 
 secured to the inhabitants of this province the right of war. From 
 these royal ordinances the Commonwealth of Nations might borrow 
 more properly, words, in abrogating forever the Public Wars, or 
 appropriate the Grand Wars, with their vengeances and counter- 
 vengeanccs, which are yet sanctioned by international law among 
 the "liberties" of Christian States- 
 
 At a later day, effective efforts were made in Germany against 
 the same prevailing evil. Contests here were not always confined 
 to feudal chiefs. Associations of tradesmen and of domestics sent 
 defiances to each other, and even to whole cities, on pretences triv- 
 ial as those which have sometimes been the occasions of the Grand 
 Wars of Nations. There still remain to us Dcclaralions of War by 
 a lord of Prauenstein against the free city of Frankfort, because a 
 young lady of the city refused to dance with his uncle ; by the 
 baker and other domestics of the Margrave of Baden, against Es- 
 lingen, Reu.tlingen, and other imperial cities; by the baker of the 
 Count Palatine Louis against the cities of Augsburg, Ulm, and 
 Rothwell ; by the shoe-blacks of the University of Leipzig against 
 the provost and other members; and, in 1477, by the cook of Ep- 
 penstein, with his scullions, dairy-maids and dish-washers, against 
 Otho, Count of Solms. Finally, at the Diet of Worms, one of 
 the most memorable in German annals, the Emperor Maximilian 
 sanctioned an ordinance, which proclaimed a permanent Peace 
 throughout Germany, abolished the right or " liberty" of Private 
 
 *Cauchy, du Duel consid^rd dan scs Orlgines, Tom. I. ch. v. p, 91.
 
 14 "WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 War, and instituted a Supreme Tribunal, under the ancient name 
 of the Imperial Chamber, to which recourse might be had, even by 
 nobles, princes, and states, for the determination of their disputes, 
 without appeal to the sword.* 
 
 But the Trial by Battle, or judicial combat, furnishes the most 
 vivid picture of the Arbitrament of War. At one period, particu- 
 larly in France, this was the universal umpire in disputes between 
 private individuals. All causes, civil and criminal, Avith all the 
 questions incident thereto, were referred to this Arbitrament. Nei- 
 ther bodily infirmity, nor old age, could exempt a litigant from the 
 hazards of the Battle, even to determine matters of the most trivial 
 character. Substitutes were at last allowed, and, as in War, bravos 
 or champions were hired for wages to enter the lists. The pro- 
 ceedings were conducted gravely, according to prescribed forms, 
 which were digested into a system of peculiar subtlety ' and minute- 
 ness ; as War in our day has its established code, the Laws of 
 War. Thus do violence, lawlessness and absurdity, shelter them- 
 selves beneath the Rule of Law! Religion also lent her sacred 
 sanctions. The priest, with prayer and encouragement, cheered 
 the insensate combatant, and, like the military chaplain of our day, 
 appealed for aid to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. 
 
 To the honor of the Church, however, let me say, it early per- 
 ceived the wickedness of this system. By the voices of pious 
 bishops, by the ordinances of solemn councils, by the anathemas 
 of Popes, it condemned! whomsoever should slay another in a bat- 
 tle, so impious and inimical to Christian peace, as " a most wicked 
 homicide and bloody robber ;" while it regarded the unhappy vic- 
 tim as a volunteer, guilty of his own death, and therefore decreed 
 his remains to an unhonored burial without psalm or prayer. With 
 sacerdotal supplications it vainly sought from rulers, and especially 
 from successive emperors, to withdraw their countenance from this 
 great evil, and with the civil power to confirm the ecclesiastical 
 censures. Let praise and gratitude be offered to these just efforts i 
 But alas ! authentic history and the forms, still on record in the 
 
 ♦Cox's History of the House of Austria, cap. 19 & 21. 
 
 i juxta antiquum ecclesiasticEO observationis morem, 
 : Christianrc paci inimica pugiia alterum occiderit sen 
 
 srit, vehit homicida nequisshnus et latro cruentus ab Ecc 
 
 um fiaelmm ciiitu reddatur separatus, etc. (Canon. 13 Concil. Valent.) Cauchy» 
 du Duel/i'om. I. ch. iii. p. 43. j j* 
 
 fStatuimus juxta antiquum ecclesiasticEO observationis morem, ut quicura''iue^ 
 tarn impia et Christiana- paci inimica pugna alterum occiderit sen vulneribus de~ 
 bilem reddiderit, velut homicida nequissirnus et latro cruentus ab Ecclesia; et omni-
 
 THE DUEL OF NATIONS, 
 
 15 
 
 ancient missals, attest the unhappy countenance which the Trial by 
 Battle succeeded in obtaining too often even at the hands of the 
 Church — as in our day the Liturgy of the English Church, and 
 the conduct of Christian ministers in all countries, attest the unhappy 
 countenance which the Institution of War yet receives. But the 
 admonitions of the Church, and the efforts of good men slowly pre- 
 -vailed. Proofs by witnesses and by titles were gradually adopted, 
 though opposed by the selfishness of the servants of the camp, of 
 the subaltern officers, and of the lords, greedy of the fees, or wages 
 of the combat. In England, Trial by Battle was attacked by Henry 
 II., striving to substitute the trial by jury. In France, it was ex- 
 pressly forbidden, in an immortal ordinance, by that illustrious mon- 
 arch, St. Louis. At last, this system, so wasteful of life, so barba- 
 rous in character, so vain and inefficient as an Arbiter of Justice, 
 yielded to the establishment of judicial tribunals. 
 
 An early king of the Lombards, in formal decree, condemned the 
 Trial by Battle as " impious ," Montesquieu at a later time branded 
 it as "monstrous ;" and Sir William Blackstone, a writer of author- 
 ity on the English law, characterized is as " clearly an unchristian, 
 as well as most uncertain method of trial." In the light of our 
 day all unite in this condemnation. No man hesitates. No man 
 undertakes its apology; nor does any man count as "glory" the 
 feats of arms which it prompted and displayed. But the laws of 
 morals are general and not special. They apply to communities and 
 nations as well as to individuals ; nor is it possible, by any cunning to 
 of logic, by any device of human wit, to distinguish between that 
 domestic Institution, the Trial by Battle, established by municipal 
 law as the Arbiter between individuals, and that international In- 
 stitution, the grander Trial by Battle, established by the Christian 
 Commonwealth as the Arbiter between nations. If the jvidicial com- 
 bat was impious, monstrous and unchristian, then is War impious, 
 monstrous and unchristian. And so it is regarded by our Society. 
 
 Let us look further at the true character of the Institution of 
 War. It has been pointedly said in England, that the whole object 
 of King, Lords and Commons, and of the complex British Consti- 
 tution, is " to get twelve men into a jury-box ;" and Mr. Hume re- 
 peats the idea when he declares that the administration of justice is 
 the grand aim of government. If this be true of individual nations
 
 16 "WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 in their municipal affairs, it is equally true of the Commonwealth of 
 Nations. The whole complex System of the Law of Nations, over- 
 arching all the Christian States, has but one distinct object, the ad- 
 ministration of justice between nations. Would that mth pen or 
 tongue I could adequately expose the enormity of this system, in- 
 volving, as it does, a violation of the precepts of religion, of the 
 dictates of common sense, of the suggestions of economy, and of 
 the most precious sympathies of humanity ! Would that now, to 
 all who hear me, I could impart something of the strength of my 
 own convictions ! 
 
 I need not dwell on the waste and cruelty thus authorized. These 
 stare us wildly in the face, wherever we turn, as we travel the page 
 of history. We see the desolation and death that pursue War's 
 demoniac footsteps. We look upon sacked towns, upon ravaged 
 territories, upon violated homes ; we behold all the sweet charities 
 of life changed to wormwood and gall. The soul is penetrated by 
 the sharp moan of mothers, sisters and daughters — of fathers, 
 brothers and sons, who, in the bitterness of bereavement, refused to 
 be comforted. Our eyes rest at last upon one of those fair fields, 
 Avhere nature, in her abundance, spreads her cloth of gold, spacious 
 and apt for the entertainment of mighty multitudes — or, perhaps, 
 from the curious subtlety of its position, like the carpet in the Ara- 
 bian tale, seeming to contract for the accommodation of a few only, 
 or to dilate so as to receive an innumerable host. Here, under a 
 bright sun, such at shone as Austerlitz or Buena Vista — amidst the 
 peaceful harmonies of nature — on the Sabbath of Peace — we be- 
 hold bands of brothers, children of a common Father, heirs to a 
 common happiness, struggling together in the deadly fight ; with 
 the madness of fallen spirits seeking with murderous weapons the 
 lives of brothers who have never injured them or their kindred. 
 The havoc rages. The ground is soaked with their commingling 
 blood. The air is rent by their commingling cries. Horse and rider 
 are stretched together on the earth. More revolting than the man- 
 gled victims, than the gashed limbs, than the lifeless trunks, than 
 the spattering brains, are the lawless passions which sweep, tempest- 
 like, through the fiendish tumult. 
 
 Nearer comes the storm and nearer, rolling fast and frightful on. 
 
 Speak, Ximena, speak and tell us, who has lost, and who has won ? 
 
 " Alas ! alas ! 1 know not ; friend and foe together fall, 
 
 O'er the dying rush the living ; pray, my sister, for them all I""
 
 THE DUEL OF NATIONS. 17 
 
 Horror-struck, we ask wherefore tliis hateful contest? The melan- 
 choly, but truthful answer comes, that this is the cstahlishcd method 
 of determining justice between nations! 
 
 The scene changes. Far away on the distant pathway of the ocean 
 two ships approach each other, with white canvas broadly spread to 
 receive the flying gales. They arc proudly built. All of human 
 art has been lavished in their graceful proportions, and well-com- 
 pacted sides, while they look in dimensions like floating happy is- 
 lands of the sea. A numerous crew, with costly appliances of com- 
 fort, hives in their secure shelter. Surely these two travellers shall 
 meet in joy and friendship ; the flag at the mast-head shall give the 
 signal of fellowship ; the delighted sailors shall cluster in the rig- 
 ging, and even on the yard-arms, to look each other in the face, 
 while the exhilarating voices of both crews shall mingle in accents 
 of gladness uncontrollable. Alas ! alas ! it is not so. Not as broth- 
 ers, not as friends, not as wayfarers of the common ocean, do they 
 come together; but as enemies. The » gentle vessels now bristle 
 fiercely with death-dealing instruments. On their spacious decks, 
 aloft on all their masts, flashes the deadly musketry. From their 
 sides spout cataracts of flame, amidst the pealing thunders of a fatal 
 artillery. They, who had escaped "the dreadful touch of merchant- 
 marring rocks ;" who on their long and solitary way had sped un- 
 harmed by wind or wave ; whom the hurricane had spared ; in 
 whose favor storms and seas had intermitted their immitigable war ; 
 now at last fall by the hand of each other. The same spectacle of 
 horror greets us from both ships. On their decks, reddened with 
 blood, the murders of St. Bartholomew and of the Sicilian Vespers, 
 with the fires of Smithfield, seem to break forth anew and to con- 
 centrate their rage. Each has now become a swimming Golgotha. 
 At length these vessels — such pageants of the sea — once so stately 
 — so proudly built — but now rudely shattered by cannon-balls — 
 with shivered masts and ragged sails — exist only as unmanageable 
 wrecks, weltering on the uncertain waves, whose temporary lull of 
 peace is their only safety. In amazement at this strange, unnatural 
 contest — away from country and home — where there is no country 
 or home to defend — we ask again, wherefore this dismal duel ? 
 Again the melancholy, but truthful answer promptly comes, that 
 this is the established method oi determining justice between nations. 
 2
 
 18 "WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALin OF NATIONS. 
 
 Yes ! the barbarous brutal relations wliich once prevailed between 
 individuals, which prevailed still longer between the communities, 
 principalities and provinces composing nations, are not yet ban- 
 ished from the great Christian Commonwealth. Religion, reason, 
 humanity, first penetrate the individual, next small communities, 
 and, widening in their influence, slowly leaven the nations. Thus 
 while wc condemn the bloody contests of individuals, of towns, of 
 counties, of provinces, of principalities, and deny to them the right 
 of waging u-ar, or of appeal to the Trial hy Battle, we continue to 
 uphold an atrocious System of folly and crime, which is to nations, 
 what the System of Petty Wars was to principalities and provinces, 
 what the Duel was to individuals ; for War is the Duel of Nations.^ 
 As from Pluto's throne flowed those terrible rivers, Styx, Acheron, 
 Cocytus and Phlegethon, with their lamenting waters and currents 
 of flame, «o from this established System flow the direful currents of 
 War. " Ours is a damnable profession," is the recent confession of 
 a veteran British general. " War is a trade of barbarians," ex- 
 claimed Napoleon, in a moment of truthful remorse, prompted by 
 his bloodiest field. " Give them Hell," was the language written on 
 a slate by a speechless, dying American officer. Alas ! these words 
 are not too strong. The business of War cannot be other than a 
 damnable profession — a trade of barbarians ; and War itself is 
 certainly Hell on earth. But consider well — do not forget — let 
 the idea sink deep into your souls, animating you to constant endeav- 
 ors — that this damnable profession, that this trade of barbarians, is 
 a part of the War System, which is sanctioned by International 
 Law, and that War itself is Hell, recognized, legalized, established, 
 organized by the Commonwealth of Nations ! 
 
 " Put together," says Voltaire, " all the vices of all the ages and 
 places, and they will not come up to the mischiefs of one campaign." 
 This is a strong speech. Another of surer truth might be made. 
 
 *Plautus speaks, ,ia the Epidicus, of one who had obtained great riches by the 
 diiellinc/ art, meaning the art of War : 
 
 Arte diwllica 
 
 Divitias magnas adeptum. 
 
 And Horace, in his Odes (Lib. iv. 15) hails the age of Augustus, as at peace or free 
 from JJucls, and with the temple of Janus closed : 
 
 . . . Tua, Csesar, oetas 
 . . . . vacuum diidlii 
 Jovem Quirini clausit.
 
 MISERIES OF WAR. 19 
 
 Put together all the ills and calamities from the visitations of God, 
 from convulsions of nature, from pestilence and famine, and they 
 shall not equal the ills and calamities inflicted by man upon his 
 brother-man, through the visitation of War — while alas ! the suf- 
 ferings of War are without the alleviation of those gentle virtues 
 which ever attend the involuntary misfortunes of the race. Where 
 the horse of Attila had been, a blade of grass would not grow ; but 
 in the footprints of pestilence, of famine, and the earthquake, the 
 kindly charities have sprung into life. 
 
 The last hundred years have witnessed tlu'ce peculiar visitations of 
 God ; first, the earthquake at Lisbon ; next, the Asiatic Cholera, as 
 it moved slowly and ghastly, with its scythe of death, from the Del- 
 ta of the Ganges, over Bengal, Persia, Arabia, Syria, llussia, till 
 Europe and America shuddered before the spectral reaper ; and, 
 lastly, the recent famine in Ireland, consuming, with remorseless 
 rage, the population of that ill-fated land. It is impossible to esti- 
 mate precisely the deadly work of the Cholera or of famine, or to 
 picture the miseries which they caused. But the single brief event 
 of the earthquake can be portrayed in authentic colors. 
 
 Lisbon, whose ancient origin is referred by fable to the wanderings 
 of Ulysses, was one of the fairest cities of Europe. From 'the sum- 
 mit of seven hills, it looked down upon the sea, and the bay studded 
 with cheerful villages — upon the broad Tagus, expanding into a 
 harbor ample for all the navies of Europe, and upon a country of 
 rare beauty, smiling with the olive and the orange, amidst the grate- 
 ful shadows of the cypress and the elm. A climate, which offered 
 flowers in winter, enhanced these peculiar advantages of position ; 
 and a numerous population thronged its narrow and irregular streets. 
 Its forty churches, its palaces, its public edifices, its warehouses, its 
 convents, its fortresses, its citadel, had become a boast. Not by 
 War, not by the hand of man', were these solid structures levelled, 
 and all these delights changed to desolation. 
 
 Lisbon, on the morning of November 1st, 1755, was taken and 
 sacked by an earthquake. The spacious warehouses were destroyed ; 
 the lordly edifices, the massive convents, the impregnable fortresses, 
 with the lofty citadel, were toppled to the ground ; and as the af- 
 frighted people sought shelter in the churches, they were crushed 
 beneath the falling ruins. Twenty thousand persons perished in this 
 catastrophe. Fire and robbery mingled with the earthquake, and
 
 20 "WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 this beautiful city seemed to be obliterated. The powers of Europe 
 were touclied by this great misfortune, and succor from all sides was 
 soon offered to repair the loss. Within three months English vessels 
 appeared in the Tagus loaded with generous contributions — £20,- 
 000 in gold — a similar sum in silver — ^six thousand barrels of salt 
 meat, four thousand barrels of butter, one thousand bags of biscuit, 
 twelve hundred ban-els of rice, ten thousand quintals of corn, be- 
 sides hats, stockings and shoes. 
 
 Such was the desolation, and such the charity sown by the earth- 
 quake at Lisbon — an event, which, after the lapse of nearly a cen- 
 tury, still stands without a parallel. But War shakes from its 
 terrible folds all this desolation, without its attendant charity. Nay, 
 more ; the Commonwealth of Nations voluntarily agrees, each with 
 the other, under the grave sanctions of International Law, to invoke 
 this desolation, in the settlement of controversies among its mem- 
 bers, while it expressly enjoins upon all its members, not already 
 parties to the controversy, to abstain from rendering succor to the 
 imhappy victim. High tribunals are established, whose special duty 
 it is to uphold this Arbitrament, and, with unrelenting severity, to 
 enforce these barbarous injunctions, to the end that no aid, no char- 
 ity, shall come to revive the sufferer, or to alleviate the calamity. 
 Vera Cruz has been bombarded and wasted by the American arms. 
 Its citadel, its churches, its houses have been shattered, and peaceful 
 families at their firesides have been torn in mutilated fragments by 
 the murderous, bursting shell ; but the universal English charities^, 
 which helped restore Lisbon, were not offered to the loiined Mexican 
 city. They could not have been offered, without a violation of the 
 Laws of War ! 
 
 It is because men have thus far seen War chiefly in the light of 
 their prejudices, regarding it only as an agency of attack or defence,, 
 or as a desperate sally of wickedness, that it becomes difficult to re- 
 cognize it as a form of judgment, sanctioned and legalized by Pub- 
 lic Authority. Let us learn to regard it in its true character,, as an 
 estaUishment of the Commonwealth of Nations, and one of the 
 " liberties" of inlependent states ; and it will no longer seem^ merely 
 an expression of the lawless passions of men ; no longer a necessary 
 incident of imperfect human nature ; no longer an unavoidable, un- 
 controllable volcanic eruption of rage, of vengeances and counter- 
 vengeances, knowing, no bounds ; but it will be recognized as a
 
 THE LAWS OF WAK. 21 
 
 monstrous and gigantic Institution for tlie adjudication of interna- 
 tional rights, — as if it was established that an earthquake, with its 
 uncounted woes, and without its attendant charities, might be legally 
 invoked as the Arbiter of Justice. 
 
 All must unite in condemning the Arbitrament of War. Does 
 any one hesitate ? He who runs may read and comprehend its enor- 
 mity. But if War be thus odious ; if it be the Duel of Nations ; 
 if it be the yet surviving Trial by Battle ; then it must affect with 
 its barbarism all its incidents, all its enginery and machinery, all 
 who sanction it, all who have any part or lot in it ; in fine, the whole 
 vast System by which it is upheld. It is impossible, by any discrim- 
 ination, to separate the component parts of this System. We must 
 regard it as a whole, in its entirety. But half our work would be 
 done, if we confined ourselves to a condemnation of this Institution 
 merely. We condemn also all its instruments and agencies, all its 
 adjuncts and accessories, all its furnitiu-e and equipage, all its arma- 
 ments and operations ; the whole apparatus of forts, of navies, of 
 armies, of military display, of military chaplains, and of military 
 sermons ; all together constituting, in connection \yith. the Institu- 
 tion of War, what may be called the War System. It is this 
 which we seek to abolish ; believing that religion, humanity and 
 policy all require the establishment of some peaceful means for the 
 administration of international justice, and that they still further 
 require the general disarming of the Christian nations, to the end 
 that the enormous expenditures now lavished upon the War System 
 may be applied to purposes of usefulness and beneficence, and that 
 the business of the soldier may finally cease. 
 
 While earnestly professing this object, let me again disclaim all idea 
 of questioning the right of strict self-defence, or the duty of upholding 
 government, and of maintaining the supremacy of the law, whether 
 on the land, or on the sea. Reluctantly admitting the necessity of 
 Force, even for such purposes, Christiauity revolts at Force as a sub- 
 stitute for a judicial tribunal. The example of the great Teacher, 
 the practice of the early disciples, the injunctions of self-denial, of 
 love, of non-resistance to evil — which are sometimes supposed to 
 forbid the resort to Force in any exigency, even in self-defence, — 
 all these must apply with unquestionable certainty to the established 
 System of War, Here, at least, there can be no doubt. If, sorrow- 
 fully, necessarily, cautiously — in a yet barbarous age — the sword,
 
 22 AVAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF XATIONS- 
 
 in the hand of an assaulted individual, may become the instrument 
 of sincere self-defence ; if, under the sanctions of a judicial tribunal, 
 it may become the instrument of Justice also ; mrely it can never he 
 the Arbiter of Justice. Here is a distinction vital to our cause, and 
 never to be forgotten in presenting its Christian claims. The sword 
 of the magistrate is unlike — oh ! how unlike — the flaming sword 
 of War. 
 
 Let us now look briefly in detail, at some of the component parts 
 of the War System. All of these may be resolved into Pkepaea- 
 TiONS FOR War, as court-house, jail, judges, sheriff's, constables 
 and posse comitatus are preparations for the administration of muni- 
 cipal justice. If justice were not to be administered, these Avould 
 not exist. If War were not sanctioned by the Commonwealth of 
 Nations, as the means of detemiining international controversies, 
 then forts, navies, armies, military display, military chaplains and 
 military sermons would not exist. They would be as useless and 
 irrational — except for the rare occasions of a police — as similar 
 preparations would now be in Boston for defence against its neigh- 
 bor Cambridge ; or in the County of Essex for defence against its 
 neighbor County of Middlesex ; or in the State of Massachusetts for 
 defence against its neighbors, Rhode Island and New York. It is 
 only recently that men have learned to question the propriety and 
 righteousness of these preparations ; for it is only recently that men 
 have begun to open their eyes to the true character of the Sys- 
 tem, in which they are a part. It will yet he seen that sustaining 
 these we sitstain the System. Still further, it will yet be seen, that, 
 sustaining these, we off'end by \vicked waste against the demands of 
 economy, and violate also the most precious sentiments of Human 
 Brotherhood ; taking counsel of distrust instead of love, and pro- 
 voking to rivalry and enmity, instead of association and peace. 
 
 Time would fail me now to discuss adequately the nature of these 
 preparations ; and I am the more willing to abridge what I am 
 tempted to say, because on another occasion I have treated this part 
 of the subject. I should do wrong, however, nott to expose their 
 downright inconsistency with the spirit of Christianity. It is from 
 a clear comprehension of the imchristian character of the War System, 
 that we shall perceive the unchristian character of the preparations 
 which it encourages and requires. I might exhibit this chai'acter by 
 an examination of the Laws of War, drawn originally from no ce- 
 lestial founts, but from a dark profound of Heathenism. This is
 
 PREPARATIONS TOR WAR. 23 
 
 unnecessary. The Constitution of our own country furnishes an 
 illustration so remarkable as to be a touchstone of the whole Sys- 
 tem. No town, county, or State has the " liberty" to " declare 
 War." The exercise of any proper self-defence, arising from actual 
 necessity, requires no such " liberty." But unhappily Congress is 
 expressly authorized to " declare War" — that is to appeal to the Ar- 
 bitrament of arms. And the Constitution proceeds to state that all, 
 ** giving aid and comfort to the enemy," shall be deemed " traitors." 
 Mark now, what the Gospel has said : Love your enemies ; if tkine 
 enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink. Thus shall 
 obedience to this positive iiij unction of Christianity, expose a per- 
 son, under the War System, to the penalty of the highest crime 
 known to the law. Can this be a Christien system ? 
 
 But the true character of these preparations is distinctly, though 
 unconsciously, attested by the names of the vessels in the British 
 Navy. I select the following offensive catalogue from the latest 
 official List. Most of these are steam-ships of recent construction. 
 They may be considered, therefore, to represent the spirit of the Brit- 
 ish Navy in our day — nay, of those War Preparations, of which 
 they are a most effective part: — Acheron, Adder, Alecto, Avenger, 
 Basilisk, Blood-hound, Bull-dog, Crocodile, Erebus, Firebrand, 
 Fury, Gladiator, Goliah, Gorgon, Harpy, Hecate, Hound, Jackal, 
 Mastiff, Pluto, Rattlesnake, Revenge, Salamander, Savage, Scorpion, 
 Scourge, Serpent, Spider, Spiteful, Spitfire, Styx, Sulphur, Tartar, 
 Tartarus, Teazer, Terrible, Terror, Vengeance, Viper, Vixen, Virago, 
 Volcano, Vulture, Warspite, Wildfire, Wolf, Wolverine ! 
 
 Such is the Christian array of Victoria, Defender of the Faith ! It 
 may remind us of the Pagan swarm of savage warriors upon our own 
 continent, led by Black Hawk, Man-Killer, and the Wild Bear ; or 
 of the companions of King John, in Avicked depredations upon his 
 subjects, at another period of English history, " Falco without Bow- 
 els," " Maclean the Bloody," " Walter Buch, the Murderer,^' "Sot- 
 tim, the Merciless," and " Godeschal, the Iron-Hearted." Or it 
 might seem to be 
 
 all the grisly legions that troop 
 
 Under the sooty flag of Acheron. 
 
 As a man is known by the company he keeps — as a tree is known 
 by its fruits, so shall the War System be fully and vmequivocally 
 known by these its chosen ministers, and by all the accursed fruits 
 of War. Employing such representatives, sustained by such agon-
 
 24 "NVAR system: of COMMO^rWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 cies, animated by such Furies — and producing such fruits of tears 
 and bittcnicss, it must be hateful to good men. Tell me not it is 
 sanctioned by the religion of Christ ; do not enrol the Saviour and 
 his disciples in its Satanic squadron ; do not invoke the Gospel of 
 Peace, in profane vindication of an Institution, which, by its own too 
 palpable confession, exists in defiance of all the most cherished 
 Christian sentiments ; do not dishonor the Divine Spirit of gentle- 
 ness, of forbearance, of love, by supposing that it can ever enter into 
 this System, except to change its whole nature and name, to cast out 
 the devils which possess it, and fill its gigantic energies with the holy 
 inspiration of Beneficence. 
 
 I need say little of military chaplains, or military semions. Like 
 the steamships of the navy, they come under the head of Prepara- 
 tions for War. They are unquestionably a part of the War System. 
 They belong to the same school Avith the priests of former times, 
 who held the picture of the Prince of Peace before the barbarous 
 champion of the Duel, saying, " Sir Knight, behold here the remem- 
 brance of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who willingly gave 
 his most precious body to death in order to save us. Now, ask of 
 hull mercy, and pray that on this day he may be willing to aid you, 
 if you have right, for he is the sovereign judge."* They belong to 
 the same school with the English prelates of our day, who, in the 
 name of the Prince of Peaee, consecrate banners to be used in re- 
 mote East Indian wars, saying, " Be thou in the midst of our hosts, 
 as thou wast in the plains of India, and in the field of Waterloo, 
 and may these banners, which we bless and consecrate this day, lead 
 thee ever on to glorious victory." In thus consenting to degrade 
 the " blesedness" of the Gospel to the "blasphemy" of the War 
 System, they follow long established custom, doubtless often with- 
 out considering the true character of the System, whose ministers 
 they become. Their apology will be, that " they know not what 
 they do." 
 
 And here the important practical question occurs. Is the Militia 
 obnoxious to the same unequivocal condemnation? So far as the 
 militia constitutes a part of the War System, it is impossible to dis- 
 tinguish it from the rest of the System. It is a portion of the ap- 
 paratus provided for the administration of international justice. 
 From this character it borrows the unwholesome attractions of War, 
 
 *Cauchy, DuDael, Tom I. cap. Ill, p. 74.
 
 THE MILITIA. 25 
 
 while, like a North American Indian, it disports itself in finery and 
 parade. Of the latter feature I will only incidentally speak. If 
 War be a Christian Institution, let those, who act as its ministers, 
 shroud themselves iu colors congenial with their dreadful trade. Let 
 them, with sorrow and solemnity, not with gladness and pomp, pro- 
 ceed to their melancholy office. The Jew, Shylock, speaking 
 through the wisdom of Shakspeare, exposes the mockery of the 
 street-shows of Venice in words which sometimes find an echo here : 
 
 Wlien A- on licar the drum, 
 
 And the vile squeaking of the wry-necked fife, 
 Clamber not up to the casements then, 
 Nor thrust your head into the public street, 
 To gaze on Christian fools with varnished faces ; 
 But stop my house's ears, I mean my casements; 
 Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter 
 My sober house. 
 
 Not as a part of the War System, but only as an agent for pre- 
 serving domestic peace, and for sustaining the law, can the militia 
 be entitled to support. And here arises the important practical 
 question — interesting to the opponents of the War System and to 
 the lovers of order — whether the same object may not be accom- 
 plished by an agent, less expensive, less cumbersome, and less tardy, 
 forming no part of the War System, and, therefore, in no respect 
 liable to the objections encountered by the militia. Even the sup- 
 porters of the militia do not disguise its growing unpopularity. The 
 eminent Military Commissioners of Massachusetts, to whom, in 1847 
 was referred the duty of arranging a system for its organization and 
 discipline, confess that there is " either a defect of power in the 
 State government for an efficient and salutary militia organization, 
 or the absence of a public sentiment in its favor, and a consequent 
 unwillingness to submit to the requirements of service, which alone 
 can sustain it ; " and they add, that " they have been met, in the 
 performance of their task, with information from all quarters, of its 
 general neglect, and of the certain and rapid declension of the mili- 
 tia in numbers and efficiency. " And the Adjutant General of Mas- 
 sachusetts, after alluding to the different systems which have been 
 vainly tried, and have fallen into disuse, remarks, that " the fate of 
 each system is indicative of public sentiment, and until public sen- 
 timent changes, no military system whatever can be sustained iji the
 
 26 WAU SYSTEM OF COMMOXWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 state. " Nor is this condition of public sentiment for the first time 
 noticed. It was also recognized by the Commissioners, who, as 
 long ago as 1839, were charged by the legislature with this subject. 
 In their report they say, " It is enough to know that all attempts 
 hitherto to uphold the system in its original design of organization, 
 discipline and subordination, are at last brought to an unsuccessful 
 issue. " 
 
 None, who are familiar with public opinion in our country and, 
 particularly in Massachusetts, will question the accuracy of these of- 
 ficial statements. It is true, that there is an indisposition on the 
 part of citizens to assume the burthens of the militia. Still further, 
 its offices and dignities have ceased to be an object of general re- 
 gard. This certainly must be founded in a conviction, that it is no 
 longer necessary or useful ; for it is not customary with the people 
 of Massachusetts to {lecline occasions of service, necessary or useful 
 to the community. The interest which once attended military cele- 
 brations has decayed. Nor should the fact be concealed, that there 
 are large numbers, whose sentiments on this subject are not of mere 
 indiff"erence ; who regard with aversion the fanfaronade of a militia 
 muster ; who question not a little the influence which it exercises 
 over those who take part in it, or even within it, and who look with 
 regret upon the expenditure of money and time which the service 
 requires. 
 
 If such be the condition of the public mind, it is wrong for the 
 Government not to recognize it — that ovir legislation may be ac- 
 commodated thereto. The soul of all effective laws is an animating 
 public sentiment. This gives vitality to what else would be a dead 
 letter. In vain do we enact what is not inspired by this spirit. No 
 skill in the device of the system ; no penalties ; no bounties even ; 
 can uphold it. But happily we are not without remedy. If the 
 State Legislatures should deem it proper to provide a substitute for 
 this questionable or off"ensive agency, as a conservator of domestic 
 quiet, it is entirely within their competency. Let the general voice 
 demand the suhstitute. 
 
 Among the powers, recognized as reserved to the States, under 
 the Federal Constitution, is the power of Internal Police. Within 
 its territorial limits a State is sovereign. Its municipal arrange- 
 ments depend entirely upon its own will. In the exercise of this 
 will, let it establish a system, congenial with the sentiment of the
 
 ITS COST. 27 
 
 age, wliich stall supply the place of the militia, as a guardian of 
 inunicipal quiet. This system may consist of unpaid volunteers or 
 special constables, like the fire companies in the country, or»of hired 
 men, enrolled for this particular purpose, and always within call, 
 like the fire companies in Boston. It would not be thought desira- 
 ble, iji all probability, that they should be clad in showy costume, 
 or subjected to all the peculiarities of the military drill. I cannot 
 doubt that a system so simple, practical, efficient, unostentatious, 
 and cheap, especially as compared with the militia would be in en- 
 tire harmony Avith the existing sentiment, while it could not fail to 
 remedy those evils which are feared from the present neglect of the 
 militia. Many unsuccessful attempts have been made to reform the 
 militia. It remains that a proper effort should be made to j)7'ovide a 
 substitute for it. 
 
 An eminent English jurist, of the last century — renowned as a 
 scholar also — Sir William Jones, in a learned and ingenious tract, 
 entitled " An Inquiry into the Legal Mode of suppressing Riots, 
 with a Constitutional Plan of Future Defence," ''•' after developing 
 the obligations of the citizen, under the common law, as a part of 
 the Power of the Country, has presented a system of organization 
 which is to act indepedently of the military. It is not probable that 
 this system would be acceptable, in all its details, to the people of 
 our community ; but there is one of his recommendations, which 
 seems to harmonize with the existing sentiment. " Let the compa- 
 nies," he says, " be taught in the most private and orderly manner 
 for two or three hours early every morning, until they are complete- 
 ly skilled in the use of their arms ; let them not necessarily march 
 through the streets or high roads, nor make amj the least militarij par- 
 ade, but consider themselves entirely as 'part of the civil State.'' 
 
 But, while divorcing the Police from the unchristian and barbarous 
 War System, I would never fail to inculcate the vital importance of 
 maintaining law and order. Life and property should be guarded. 
 Peace must be preserved in our streets. And it is the duty of the 
 Goverment to provide such means as shall be most expedient for this 
 purpose, if those already established are found in any respect inade- 
 quate, or uncongenial with the Spirit of the Age. 
 
 I cannot close this exposition of the War System without a brief 
 endeavor to display the inordinate expenditure by which it is sustain- 
 
 *Jones's 'Works, Yol. VI. p. 685.
 
 28 WAE SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 ed. And here figures appear to lose their functions. They seem to 
 pant, as they toil vainly to represent the enormous sums consumed 
 in this unparellelled waste. Our own experience, measured by the 
 concerns of common life, does not allow us adequately to conceive 
 these sums. Like the periods of geological time, or the distances of 
 the fixed stars, they baffle the imagination. Look, for instance, at 
 the cost of this System to the United States. Without making any 
 allowance for the loss sustained by the withdrawal of active men 
 from productive industry, we find that, from the adoption of the 
 Federal Constitution down to 1848, there has been paid directly 
 from the National Treasury — 
 
 For the Army and fortifications, 8366,713,209 
 
 For the Navy and its operations, $209,994,428 
 
 $576,707,687 
 This amount of itself is immense. But this is not all. Regarding 
 the militia as a part of the War System, we must add a moderate 
 estimate for its cost during this period, which, according to the cal- 
 culations of an able and accurate economist, may be placed at 
 $1,500,000,000. The whole presents an inconceivable sum-total of 
 more than two thousand millions of dollars, which have been dedica- 
 ted by our Government to the support of the War System — more 
 than seven times as much as was set apart by the Government, dur- 
 ing the same period, to all other purposes whatsoever ! 
 
 Look now at the Commonwealth of European States. I do not 
 intend to speak of the War Debts, under whose accumulated weight 
 these States are now pressed to the earth. These are the terrible 
 legacy of the Past. I refer directly to the existing War System, 
 the establishment of the Present. According to recent calculations, 
 its annual cost is not less than a thousand million of dollars. En- 
 deavor for a moment, by a comparison with other interests, to grap- 
 ple with this sum. 
 
 It is larger than the entire profit of all the commerce and manu- 
 factures of the world. 
 
 It is larger than all the expenditure for agricultural labor, for the 
 production of food for man, upon the whole face of the globe. 
 
 It is larger, by a hundred million, than the amount of all the 
 exports of all the nations of the earth. 
 
 It is larger, by more than five hundred million, than the value 
 of all the shipping of the civilized world.
 
 SELF DEFENCE. 29 
 
 It is larger, by nine hundred and ninty-sovcn million, than the 
 annual combined charities of Europe and America for preaching the 
 Gospel to the Heathen. 
 
 Yes ! the Commonwealth of Christian States, including our own 
 country, appropriates, without hesitation, as a matter of course, up- 
 wards of a thousand million of dollars annually to the maintenance 
 of the War System, and vaunts its two millions of dollars, labor- 
 iously collected, for diffusing the light of the Gospel in foreign 
 lands ! With untold prodigality of cost it perpetuates the worst 
 Heathenism of War, while, by charities insignificant in comparison, 
 it doles to the Heathen the message of Peace. At home it breeds 
 and fattens a cloud of eagles and vultures, trained to swoop upon 
 the land ; to all the Gentiles across the sea it dismisses a solitary 
 dove. 
 
 Still further ; every ship of war that floats costs more than a 
 well endowed college. 
 
 Every sloop of war that floats costs more than the largest public 
 library in our country. 
 
 But it is sometimes said, by persons yet in the leading-strings of 
 inherited prejudice, and with little appreciation of the true safety 
 found in the principles of Peace, that all these comprehensive prepar- 
 ations are needed for the protection of the country against enemies 
 from abroad. Wishing to present our cause, without raising any 
 superfluous question as to what have been called " defensive wars," 
 on which there are varieties of opinions among the opponents of War, 
 let me say in reply — and here all can unite — that if these prepara- 
 ions should be so needed at any time, according to the aggressive 
 martial interpretation of the right of self-defence, there is much 
 reason to believe it would be, beCause the unchristian spirit in 
 which they have their birth, and which lowers and scowls in the 
 very names of the ships, had provoked the danger ; as the presence 
 of a bravo in our houses might challenge the attack he was hired to 
 resist. Frederick of Prussia, sometimes called the Great — with an 
 honesty or impudence unparallelled in the history of warriors — has 
 left on record, most instructively prominent among the real reasons 
 which urged him to make war upon Maria Theresa, that he had 
 troops always ready to act. Thus did these preparations for War 
 become, as they have to often shown themselves, the incentives to 
 War. A careful consideration of human nature, as manifest in the
 
 30 "WAR SYSTEM OF COMMOXW'EALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 conduct of individuals or of communities, will show that the fatal 
 "War Spirit derives much of its aliment from these preparations. 
 Indeed they sow the seeds of the evil, which, it is sometimes vainly 
 supposed, they help to avert. Let it never be forgotten — let it be 
 treasured as a solemn warning of history — that it was the posses- 
 sion of troops ahvays ready to act, that served to inspire that succes- 
 sion of bloody wars, which, first pouncing upon Silesia, at last 
 mingled with the strifes of England and France, and, even in the 
 distant colonies across the Atlantic, ranged the savages of the forest 
 under hostile European banners. 
 
 But I deny, distinctly, that these preparations are needed for any 
 just self-defence. In the first place, it is difficult, if not impossible, 
 to suppose any such occasion, in the Fraternity of Christian States, 
 if War should cease to be an established Arbitrament or if any 
 State should be so truly great as to decline its umpirage. There is 
 no such occasion among the towns, or counties, or states, of our ex- 
 tended country. There is no such occasion among the counties of 
 Great Britain, or among the provinces of France. But the same 
 sentiments of good will and fellowship, the same ties of commerce 
 which unite towns, counties, states and provinces, are fast drawing 
 into similar communion the whole Commonwealth of Nations. 
 France and England, so long regarded as natural enemies, are now 
 better known to each other, than, only a short time ago, were differ- 
 ent provinces of the former kingdom. And at the present moment, 
 there is a closer intimacy in business and social intercourse, between 
 Great Britain and our own country, than there was at the beginning 
 of the present century, between Massachusetts and Virginia. 
 
 But admitting that an enemy might approach our shores, with 
 purposes of piracy, or plunder, or conquest, who can doubt that the 
 surest protection would be found — not in the insane waste of previous 
 preparations — not in the idle fortresses along our coasts, built at a 
 cost far surpassing all our light-houses, and all our colleges — but in 
 the intelligence, union, and pacific repose of good men, with the 
 unbounded resources derived from an uninterrupted devotion to pro- 
 ductive industry ? I think it may be assumed as beyond question, in 
 the present light of political economy, that the people who have spent 
 most sparingly in preparations for War — all other things being equal 
 — must possess the most enduring means of actual self-defence at 
 home, on their own soil, before their own hearths — if any such 
 melancholy alternative should occur. Consider the prodigious sums,
 
 SELF DEFENCE. 31 
 
 exceeding in all two thousand million of dollars, squandered by 
 the United States, since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 
 in support of the War System. Surely, if these means had been 
 devoted to railroads and canals, to schools and colleges, our country 
 would possess, at the present moment, an accumulated material 
 power grander far than any she now boasts. But there is another 
 power of more unfailing temper, which would also be hers. Over- 
 flowing with intelligence, with charity, with civilization, with all 
 that constitutes a generous state, she would be able to win peaceful 
 triumphs transcending all she has yet achieved — surrounding the 
 land with an invincible self-defensive might, and, in their unfading 
 brightness, rendering all glory from War impossible. Well docs 
 the poet say, with most persuasive truth. 
 
 What constitutes a State ? 
 Not high-raised battlement or labored mound, 
 
 Thick wall or moated (/ate ; 
 Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned ; 
 
 Not bays and broad-armed ports, 
 Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; 
 
 But MEN, high-minded MEN. 
 
 Such men will possess a Christian greatness, rendering them unable 
 to do an injury to a neighbor ; while their character, instinct with 
 all the guardian virtues, must render their neighbors unable to do 
 an injury to them ; and there can be none to molest them or make 
 them afraid. 
 
 The injunction, " In time of Peace prepare for War," is of Heathen 
 origin. As a rule of international conduct, it is unworthy of an 
 age of Christian light. It can be vindicated only on two grounds. 
 First, by assuming that the Arbitrament of War is the proper 
 agency for deciding controversies between nations, and that the War 
 System is, therefore, to be maintained and strengthened, — as the 
 essential means of international justice. Or, secondly, by assuming 
 the rejected dogma of an Atheist philosopher, Hobbes, that war is 
 the natural state of man. Whatever may be the infirmities of 
 our passions, all must perceive that the natural state of individuals, 
 in which they have the highest happiness, and to which they tend 
 by an irresistible heavenly attraction, is Peace. And this is true of 
 communities and of nations, as well as of individuals. The proper 
 rule should be, " In time of Peace cultivate the arts of Peace." 
 So doing, you will render the country truly strong and truly great ;
 
 32 -WAR. SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 not by arousing the passions of War ; not by nursing men to the 
 business of blood ; not by converting the Land into a flaming arsenal, 
 a magazine of gunpowder, or an " infernal machine," all ready to 
 explode ; but by dedicating its whole energies to productive and 
 beneficent works. 
 
 The incongruity of this System of Armed Peace may be illustra- 
 ted by an example. Look into the life of that illustrious philoso- 
 pher, John Locke, and you will find that, in the journal of his tour 
 through France, describing the arches of the amphitheatre at Nismcs, 
 he says, " there is a stone laid about twenty inches or two feet 
 square, and about six times the length of my sword, loliich loas about 
 a philosophic yard long.'' Who is not struck with the incongruity 
 and unseemliness of the exhibition, as he sees the author of the 
 Essay on the Human Understanding, travelling with a sword by his 
 side ? But in this he only followed the barbarous custom of his 
 time. Individuals then lived in the same relations toward each 
 other, which now characterize nations. The War System had not 
 yet entirely retreated from municipal law and custom, to find its last 
 citadel and temple in the laws and customs of nations. Do not 
 forget that, at the present moment, our own country, the great Au- 
 thor, among the nations, of a new Essay on the Human Understand- 
 ing, not only travels with a sword by its side, but lives encased in 
 complete armor, burthensome to its limbs, and costly to its treasury. 
 In condemning the War System, as a barbarous and most waste- 
 ful agency, the token and relic of a state of society alien to Chris- 
 tian civilization, we may except the navy, so far as it is necessary in 
 the arrest of pirates, of traffickers in human flesh, and generally in 
 preserving the police of the sea. But after the present survey, it 
 will be difficult for the unprejudiced mind to regard the array of for- 
 tifications and of standing armies, otherwise than as obnoxious to 
 the condemnation which attaches to the War System. The fortifica- 
 tions are the instruments, and the armies are the hired champions, 
 of the great Duel of Nations. 
 
 But here I quit this part of the subject. Sufficient has been said 
 to expose the true character of the War System of the Common- 
 wealth of Christian Nations. It stands before us as a colossal im- 
 age of International Justice, with the sword, but without the scales ; 
 like a hideous Mexican idol, besmeared with human blood, and sur- 
 rounded by the sickening stench of human sacrifice. But this im-
 
 TENDENCIES T0"\VAIIDS UNITY. 33 
 
 age, which seems to span tlic continents, M'hile it rears aloft its 
 flashing form of brass and of gold, and far in the clouds hides " the 
 top and round of sovereignty" which it wears upon its head, can yet 
 be laid low ; for its feet are of clay. Every thing which exists in 
 violation of right and reason, of religion and humanity, is weak 
 and brittle. And such is the condition of the War System. It 
 stands on wrong and folly, on impiety and inhumanity. Surely, its 
 feet are of cla3^ 
 
 IL And now I come, in the second branch of this Address, to 
 the more grateful consideration of the means by which the War Sys- 
 tem can be overthrown. Here I shall unfold the tendencies and 
 examples of nations, and the sacred efforts of individuals, constitut- 
 ing the Peace Movement, now ready to triumph, and shall offer 
 some practical suggestions on our duties to this great cause, with a 
 concluding glance at the barbarism of Military Glory, In this re- 
 view I shall not be able to avoid the details incident to a multipli- 
 city of topics ; but I shall try to introduce nothing that does not 
 bear directly on the subject. 
 
 Civilization now writhes in great travail and torment, and asks 
 for liberation from the oppressive sway of the War System. Like a 
 slave, under a weary weight of chains, it raises its exhausted arms, 
 and pleads for the angel Deliverer. And lo ! the beneficent angel 
 comes ; not like the Grecian God of Day, with vengeful arrow to 
 slay the destructive Python ; not like the Archangel Michael, with 
 potent spear to transfix Satan to the earth, but with words of gentle- 
 ness and Christian cheer, saying to all nations, and to all children of 
 men, " Ye are all brothers, of one flesh, of one fold, of one shep- 
 herd, children of one Father, heirs to one happiness. By your own 
 energies, by united fraternal endeavors, in the name of Christ, shall 
 the tyranny of War be overthrown, and its Juggernaut be crushed 
 to the earth." 
 
 In this spirit, and with this encouragment, we should labor for 
 that grand and final object, the watchword of all ages, the Unity of 
 the Human Family. Not in benevolence, but in selfishness, has this 
 been sought in times past ; not to promote the happiness of all, but 
 to establish the dominion of one. It was the mad lust for power 
 which carried Alexander from conquest to conquest, till he boasted 
 that the whole world was one empire, of which his Macedonian pha- 
 3
 
 34 WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 lanx was the citadel. Again, the same passion animated Rome, 
 till, at last, while Cnrist lay in his manger, this city swayed broader 
 lands than had been ruled by Alexander. The Gospel, in its simple 
 narrative, says, " And it came to pass about these times, that a de- 
 cree went out from Ceesar Augustus, that all the world should be 
 taxed." History points to the exile of Ovid, who, falling under the 
 displeasure of the same Emperor, was condemned to close his days 
 in vain longings for Rome, far away in Pontus, beyond the Euxine 
 Sea. With singular significance, these two contemporaneous inci- 
 dents reveal the universality of Roman dominion, stretching from 
 Britain to Parthia. But this empire crumbled, to be re-constructed 
 for a brief moment, in part by Charlemagne, in part by Tamerlane. 
 In our own age. Napoleon made a last effort for Unity, founded on 
 Force. And now, from his utterances at St. Helena, the expressed 
 wisdom of his unparalleled experience, comes the remarkable con- 
 fession, worthy of constant memory, " The more I study the world, 
 the more am I convinced of the inability of brute force to create 
 any thing durable." From the sepulchre of Napoleon, now sleeping 
 on the banks of the Seine, surrounded by the vain trophies of battle ; 
 nay, more, from the sepulchres of all these broken empires, seem to 
 proceed the words, " They that take the sword shall perish by the 
 sword." 
 
 Unity is the longing and tendency of Humanity ; not the enforced 
 Unity of military power ; not the Unity of might triumphant over 
 right ; not the Unity of inequality ; not the Unity which occupied the 
 soul of Dante, when in his treastise Be Monarchia, the earliest politi- 
 cal work of modern times, he strove to show that all the world ought 
 to be governed by one man, the successor of the Roman Emperor. 
 Not these ; but the blessed, voluntary Unity of the various people 
 of the earth in fraternal labors ; — the Unity promised, when it was 
 said, " there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, 
 there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus ;" 
 — the Unity which has filled the delighted vision of good men, of 
 prophets, of sag-es, and poets, in times past ; — the Unity which, in 
 our own age, prompted Beranger, the incomparalile lyric of France, 
 in an immortal ode, to salute the Holy Alliance of the peoples, sum- 
 moning them in all lands, and by whatever names they may be called, 
 French, English, Belgian, German, Russian, to give each other the 
 hand, to the end that the useless thunderbolts of War shall all be 
 quenched, and Peace shall sow the earth with gold, with flowers,
 
 TENDENCIES TOWARDS UNITY. 35 
 
 and with corn ; — the Unity which prompted an early American states- 
 man and poet to anticipate the time when all the nations shall meet 
 in Congress ; 
 
 To give each realm its limits and its laws, 
 Bid the last hreath of dire contention cease, 
 And bind all regions in the leagues of Peace, 
 Bid one great empire, with extensive sway. 
 Spread with the sun, and hound the walks of day. 
 One centered system, one all-ruling soul 
 Live through the parts, and regulate the whole ; 
 
 the Unity, which has inspired the contemporary British poet, of ex- 
 quisite beauty, Alfred Tennyson, to hail the certain day, 
 
 When the drums shall throb no longer, and the battle-flags be turled, 
 In the Parliament of Man, the Federation of the World. 
 
 Such is Unity in the bonds of Peace. The common good and 
 mutual consent are its adamantine base ; Justice and Love its ani- 
 mating soul. These alone can give permanence to any combinations 
 of men, whether in states or in confederacies. In these is the vital 
 elixir of nations — the true philosopher's stone of divine efficacy, po- 
 tent to keep alive the civilization of mankind. So far as these are 
 neglected or forgotten, will the people, though under one apparent 
 head, cease to be in reality united. So far as these are regarded, 
 will the people within the sphere of their influence constitute one 
 body, and be inspired by one spirit. And just in proportion as 
 these sentiments find recognition from individuals, and from nations, 
 will all War be impossible. 
 
 But not in vision, nor in promises only, is this Unity discerned. 
 History reveals constant efforts for it in the voluntary associations, 
 confederacies, leagues, coalitions and Congresses of Nations, which, 
 though fugitive and limited in their influence, all attest the unsatis- 
 fied desires of men, solicitous for union, and show the means by 
 which it may yet be permanently accomplished. Let me briefly 
 enumerate some of these. 1. The Amphictyonic Council, embra- 
 cing, at first, twelve, and finally thirty-one states or cities, was estab- 
 lished in the year 497 before Christ. Each city sent two deputies, 
 and had two votes in the Council, ivhicJi had full power to consider 
 all differences that might arise between the associate cities. 2. Next 
 comes the Aclicean League, founded at a very early period, and re- 
 newed in the year 284 before Christ. Each member of the League
 
 36 AVAK SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 was independent, and yet all together constituted one body. So 
 great was the fame of their justice and probity, that the Greek cities 
 of Italy were glad to refer disputes to their peaceful arbitration. 3. 
 Passing over other confederacies of antiquity, I come to the Han- 
 seatic League, begun in the twelfth century, completed near the 
 middle of the thirteenth, and comprising at one time nearly eighty 
 cities. A system of International Law was adopted in their general 
 assemblies, and courts of arbitration were established to determine 
 .controversi(S among the cities. The decrees of these courts were en- 
 forced by placing the condemned city under what was called the ban, 
 a sentence equivalent to the excommunication of the ecclesiastical 
 law. But this League was not alone. 4. In the twelfth and thir- 
 teenth centuries, various other cities and nobles of Germany, entered 
 into alliances and associations for i.^utual protection, under various 
 names, as the League of the Rhine, and the League of Suahia. 5. 
 To these I may add the combination of the Armed Neutrality in 
 1780, uniting, in declared support of certain principles, a large 
 cluster of nations — Russia,-- France, Spain, Holland, Sweden, Den- 
 mark, Prussia and the United States. 6. And still further, I may 
 refer to various Congresses, whether at LTtrecht, at Westphalia, at 
 Cambray, at Aix la Chapelle, or at Vienna, whose professed object 
 has been, after the wasteful struggles of War, to arrange the terms 
 of Peace, and to arbitrate between nations. 
 
 These examples, which belong to the Past, reveal the tendencies 
 and capacities of nations. There are other instances, however, which 
 come with the effect of living authority, while they afford a practical 
 illustration of the means by which the War System of the Common- 
 wealth of Christian States may be overthrown. There is, frst, the 
 Swiss Republic, or Helvetic Union, which began as long ago as 1830, 
 and has preserved Peace among its members during the greater 
 part of five centuries. In speaking of this Union, Vattel says, 
 in the early part of the last century, * " The Swiss have had 
 the precaution, in. all alliances among themselves, and even with 
 the neighboring powers, to agree beforehand on the manner in 
 which their disputes were to be submitted to arbitrators, in case 
 they could not adjust them in an amicable maniier. This wise 
 precaution has not a little contributed to maintain the Helvet- 
 ic Republic in that flourishing state which secures its liberty, 
 and renders it respctable throughout Europe." Since these 
 
 ♦Law of Nations, Book II. chap. 18, } 329.
 
 TENDENCIES TOWAIIUS UNITY. 37 
 
 words were written, there have been many changes in the Swiss 
 Constitution ; but its present Federal System embracing ui)wards 
 of twenty-four different states, established on the downfall of 
 Napoleon, and again confirmed in 1830, provides that dili'erences 
 among the states shall be referred to " special arbiti'ation." This is 
 an instructive example. But secondly, our own happy country fur- 
 nishes one yet more so. The United States of America are a Feder- 
 al Union of thirty independent sovereign States, — each having pecu- 
 liar interests, — in pursuance of a Constitution established in 1788, 
 which not only provides a high tribunal for the adjudication of con- 
 troversies between the States, but expressly disarms the individual 
 States, declaring that " no State shall, without consent of Congress, 
 keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, or engage in any 
 war, unless actually invaded, or in suck imminent danger as will not 
 admit of delay.'" (Art. 1. Sec. 9.) A third example, not unlike 
 that of our own country, is the Corfederation of Germany, compos- 
 ed of thirty-eight sovereignties, who, by reciprocal stipulation in 
 their Act of Union, (Sec. 12,) on the 8th of June, 1815, deprived 
 each sovereignty of the right of war with its confederates. The 
 words of this stipulation, as well as those of the Constitution of the 
 United States, might furnish a model to the Commonwealth of Na- 
 tions. They are as follows: " The members further bind themselves 
 under no pretence to declare war against one another, nor to pursue 
 their mutual differences by force of arms, but engage to submit them 
 to the Diet. The Diet is, in such cases, competent to attempt a re- 
 conciliation by the appointment of a select committee, and should 
 this not prove successful, to procure a decision from a well-organized 
 Court of Arbitration, tvhose sentence is implicitly binding upon the 
 disputing parties." 
 
 Such are some of the authentic, well-defined examples of history. 
 But this is not all. It seems in the order of Providence, that indi- 
 viduals, families, tribes, and nations, should tend, by means of asso- 
 ciation, to a final Unity. A law of mutual attraction, or affinity, 
 first exerting its influence upon smaller bodies, draws them by de- 
 grees into well-established fellowship, and then continuing its power, 
 fuses the larger bodies into nations ; and nations themselves, stirred 
 by this same sleepless energy, are now moving towards that grand 
 system of combined order, which will complete the general har- 
 mony ; 
 
 Spiritus intus alit, tot.imciue infusa par aitus 
 Mens agitat molcm, et in.xgno sc corpora iniscct.
 
 38 WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 History bears ample testimony to the potency of this attraction. 
 Modern Europe, in its early periods, was filled by petty lordships, 
 or communities, constituting so many distinct units, acknowledging 
 only a vague nationality, and maintaining among their cherished 
 " liberties," the right of ivar with each other. The great states of 
 our day have grown and matured into thbir present form, by the 
 gradual absorption of these political bodies. Territories, which 
 once possessed an equivocal and turbulent independence, now feel 
 new power and happiness in peaceful association. Spain, composed 
 of races, dissimilar in origin, religion and government, slowly as- 
 cended by progressive combinations among its principalities and 
 provinces, till at last, in the fifteenth century, by the crowning 
 union of Castile and Aragon, the whole country, with its various 
 sovereignties, was united under one common rule. Germany once 
 consisted of more than three hundred different principalities, each 
 with the right of war. These slowly coalesced, forming larger 
 principalities, till at last the whole complex aggregation of States, 
 embracing bishoprics, abbeys, arch-bishoprics, duchies, counties, bail- 
 iwcks, electorates, margraviates, and free imperial cities, as grad- 
 ually resolved into the present Confederation, wherein each State 
 expressly renounces the right of war with its associates. France 
 has passed through similar changes. By a power of assimilation, 
 in no nation so strongly marked, she has absorbed the various races, 
 and sovereignties, which once filled her territories with violence and 
 conflict, and has converted them all to herself. The Roman or Ibe- 
 rian of Provence, the indomitable Celtic race, the German of Alsace, 
 have all become Frenchmen, while the various provinces, once in- 
 spired by such hostile passions, Brittany and Normandy, Franche 
 Comte and Bourgoyne, Gascogne and Languedoc, Provence and 
 Dauphiny, are now blended in one powerful united nation. And 
 Great Britain shows the influence of the same law. The many hos- 
 tile principalities of England were first resolved into the Heptarchy ; 
 and these seven kingdoms became one under the Saxon Edgar. 
 Wales, which was forcibly attached to England under Edward I., 
 has at last entirely assimilated with her conqueror. Ireland, after a 
 protracted resistance, was finally absorbed under Edward III., and 
 at a later day, after a series of bitter struggles, was united — I do 
 not say how successfully — under the imperial parliament. Scotland 
 became connected with England by the accession of James I. to the 
 throne of the Tudors; and these two countries, which had so often
 
 TENDENCIf:S TOAVARDS UNITY. 39 
 
 encountered in battle, at last, imdcr Queen Anne, were joined to- 
 gether by an act of peaceful legislation. 
 
 Thus has this tendency to Unity predominated over independent 
 sovereignities and states, slowly conducting the great process of 
 crystallization, which is constantly going on among the nations. 
 But this cannot be arrested here. The next stage must be the 
 peaceful association of the Christian States. In this anticipation we 
 but follow the analogies of the material creation, whether regarded 
 in the illumination of chemical or of geological science. Every 
 where nature is proceeding with her combinations ; with occult in- 
 calculable power, drawing elements into new relations of harmony ; 
 uniting molecule with molecule, atom with atom, and, by progres- 
 sive changes, in the lapse of time, producing new structural arrange- 
 ments. Look still closer, and the analogy will still continue. At 
 first we detect only the operation of cohesion, rudely acting upon 
 particles near together. This is followed by subtler influences, 
 slowly imparting regularity of form, while heat, electricity, and po- 
 tent chemical affinities, all conspire in the work. Yet still we have 
 an incomplete body. Light now exerts its mysterious powers, and 
 all assumes an organized form. So it is also with mankind. The 
 rude cohesion of early ages, acting only upon individuals near to- 
 gether, first appears. Slowly does the work proceed. But time 
 and space, the great obstructions, if not annihilated, are now sub- 
 dued, giving free scope to the powerful affinities of civilization. At 
 last light — hail ! holy light ! — in whose glad beams are knowl- 
 edge, morals and religion, with empyrean sway, shall resolve these 
 separate and distracted elements into one organized system. 
 
 Thus much for the examples and tendencies of nations. In har- 
 mony with these are the eforts of ijidividuals in various ages) 
 strengthening with time, till now at last they swell into a voice 
 that must be heard. A rapid glance at these will show the growth 
 of the cause which we have met to welcome. Far ofi" in the wri- 
 tings of the early Fathers of the Christian Church, we learn the 
 duty and importance of Universal Peace. But the rude hoof of 
 War trampled down these sparks of generous truth, destined to 
 flame forth at a later day. In the fifteenth century, the character of 
 the gnod Man of Peace was described in that work of unexampled 
 circulation, which has been translated into all modern tongues, and 
 republished more than a thousand times, the Imitation of Christ, by
 
 40 WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 Thomas a Kcmpis. At the close of the same century, the cause of 
 Peace found important support from the pen of a great scholar, the 
 gentle and learned Erasmus. At last it obtained a specious advoca- 
 cy from the throne. Henry IV., of France, with the cooperation of 
 his minister, Sully, conceived the beautiful scheme of blending the 
 Christian States in one .Confederacy, with a high tribunal for the 
 decision of controversies between them. He had drawn into his 
 plan Queen Elizabeth of England, when all was arrested by the 
 dagger of the assassin. But this gay anJ gallant monarch was 
 little penetrated by the divine sentiment of Peace ; for at his death 
 he was gathering the materials for fresh War ; and it is unhappily 
 too evident, that even in his scheme of a European Congress, he 
 was animated by a selfish ambition to humble Austria, rather than 
 by a comprehensive humanity. Still his scheme has performed the 
 important office of holding aloft before Christendom the practical 
 idea of a tribunal for the Commonwealth of Nations. 
 
 The cause of Universal Peace was not destined thus early to re- 
 ceive the direct countenance of governments. But the efforts of 
 private persons now began to multiply. Grotius, in his great work 
 on the Law of Nations, while lavishing learning and genius in illus- 
 trating the Arbitrament of War, still bears testimony in favor of a 
 more rational tribunal for international controversies. " It would 
 be useful, and in some sort necessary," he says, in language which, 
 if carried out practically, would sweep away the whole system of 
 the Laws of War, " to have Congresses of the Christian Powers, 
 where differences might be determined by the judgment of those 
 who are not interested in them, and means might be found to con- 
 strain parties to accept peace on just conditions."* To the discredit 
 of his age, these moderate words were received with smiles of deri- 
 sion, and the eminent expounder of the Laws of \'l^ar and Peace 
 was, on this account, condemned as rash, visionary and impractica- 
 ble. But the sentiment, in which they had their origin, found other 
 forms of utterance. Before the close of the seventeenth century, Ni- 
 cole, the friend of Pascal, belonging to the fellowship of Port-Royal, 
 and one of the highest names in the Church of France, gave to the 
 world, in his Moral Essays, a brief Treatise on the means of pre- 
 serving Peace among men, (Traite des Moyens de conserver le Paix 
 avec les Hommes) a production which Voltaire, in exaggerated praise, 
 
 ♦Lib. II. Cap. 23, § 8.
 
 EFFOKTS OF INDIVIDUALS. 41 
 
 terms, " a master-piece to which nothing equal has been left by anti- 
 quity." There next appeared a work, little known in our day, enti- 
 tled Nouveau Cijncas — the name being suggested by the pacific ad- 
 viser of Pyrrhus, the warrior king of Epirus — wherein the unknown 
 author counselled sovereigns to govern their states in Peace, and to 
 cause their differences to be judged by an established tribunal. And 
 in Germany, as we learn from Leibnitz, who also mentions the last 
 authority, at the close of the seventeenth century, a retired general, 
 who had commanded armies, the Landgrave lamest of Hesse Ilein- 
 fels, in a work entitled The Discreet Catholic, offered a project for 
 Perpetual Peace, by means of a tribunal established by associate 
 sovereigns. Contemporaneously with these efforts, "William Penn, 
 in England, published an " Essay on the present and future Peace of 
 Europe," in which he urged the plan of a general Congress for the 
 settlement of international disputes, and referred with praise to the 
 "great design" of Henry IV. Thus, by his writings, as also by his 
 illustrious example in Pennsylvania, did he show himself the friend 
 of Peace. 
 
 These were soon followed by the untiring labors of the good Abbe 
 Saint Pierre, of France, the most efficient among the early apostles 
 of Peace. He is not to be confounded with the eloquent and eccen- 
 tric Bernardin de St. Pierre, the author of Paul and Virginia, who, 
 at a later day, beautifully painted the true Fraternity of Nations.* 
 Of a genius less artistic or literary, the Abbe consecrated a whole 
 life, crowned by extreme old age, to the improvement of mankind. 
 There was no humane cause which he did not espouse ; but he was 
 especially filled with the idea of Universal Peace, and with the im- 
 portance of teaching nations, not less than individuals, the duty of 
 doing to others as they would have others do unto them. His views 
 are elaborately presented in a work of three volumes, entitled A 
 Project for Perpetual Peace, wherein he proposes a Diet or Congress 
 of Sovereigns for the adjudication of international controversies 
 without resort to War. Throughout his voluminous writings, he 
 constantly returns to this project, which was the chei'ished vision of 
 his life. More than once the regret falls from him, that the exalted 
 genius of Newton and Descartes had not been devoted to the study 
 
 *(Euvres de Bernardin de St. Pierre, Tom. X. p. 138. Harmonies dela'Sature; Torn* 
 II. p. 168. VcBux d'un Solitaire.
 
 42 "WAK SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 and exposition of the great laws which determine the welfare of 
 men and of nations, believing that they might have succeeded in 
 organizing Peace. He often dwells on the beauty of Christian pre- 
 cepts, as a rule of public conduct, and on the true glory of beneficence, 
 while he exposes the vanity of military renown, and does not hesi- 
 tate to question that false glory which procured for Louis XIV, from 
 flattering courtiers and a barbarous world, the undeserved title of 
 Great. He enriched the French language with the word hienfais- 
 ance ; and D'Alembert said that it was right he should have 
 invented the word, who practised so largely the virtue which it ex- 
 presses. 
 
 I need hardly add that, though thus of benevolence all-compact, 
 St. Pierre was not the favorite of his age. A profligate minister. 
 Cardinal Dubois — the ecclesiastical companion of a vicious regent 
 in the worst excesses, condemn'^d his ideas in a phrase of satire, as 
 "the dreams of a good man." The pen of La Bruyere wantoned in 
 a petty portrait of the good man's personal peculiarities. Many 
 averted from him the countenance. To the scandal of literature and 
 of science, the academy of France, of which he was a member, on 
 the occasion of his death, forebore the eulogy which is its customary 
 tribute to a departed academician. But an incomparable genius in 
 Germany, — an authority not to be questioned on any subject upon 
 which he ventured to speak, — Leibnitz, bears his testimony to the 
 Project of Perpetual Peace, and in so doing, enrolls his own mighty 
 name in the sacred catalogue of our cause. In some observations 
 on this Project, communicated to its author, under date of Feb. 7, 
 ITlo,"^'" after declaring, that it touches a matter which interests the 
 whole human race, and is not foreign to his studies, as from his youth 
 he had occupied himself with law, and particularly with the Law of 
 Nations, Leibnitz says : " I have read it icith attention, and am per- 
 suaded that such a Projert on the whole is feasible, and that its exe- 
 cution would be one of the most useful things in the loorld. Although 
 my suflfrage cannot be of any weight, I have nevertheless thought 
 that gratitude obliged me not to withhold it, and to join to it some 
 remarks for the satisfaction of a meritorious author, who ought to 
 have much reputation and firmness, to have dared and been able to 
 oppose w'ith success the prejudiced crowd, and the unbridled tongue 
 of mockers." Such language from Leibnitz must have been precious 
 
 ♦Leibnitz, Opera, Tom. V. pp. f>6 — 62, (ed Dutens.)
 
 EFFORTS OF IXDIVIDUALS ST. PIERRE. 43 
 
 even to Saint Pierre. I cannot close this brief sketch of a philan- 
 thropist ever constant in an age when philanthropy was little regarded, 
 without offering him my unaffected homage. To him may be ad- 
 dressed the sublime salutation, which hymned from the soul of Milton: 
 
 Servant of God, well-done ! well hast thou fought 
 
 The better fiitht, who single hast maintained 
 
 Against revolted multitudes tlie cause 
 
 Of truth, in word mightier than in arms ; 
 
 And tor the testimonj' of truth hast borno 
 
 . . . . reproach, far worse to bear 
 
 Than'violence ; for this was all thy care. 
 
 To stand approved in siglit of God, though worlds 
 
 Judged thee perverse. 
 
 Our world hereafter, as it wakos from its martial trance, shall salute, 
 with gratitude and admiration, the true greatness of his career. It 
 may well measure its advance in civilization by its appreciation of 
 his character. 
 
 Saint Pierre was followed in 1761 by that remarkable genius Rous- 
 seau, in a small work to which he modestly gave the title. Extract, 
 from the Project of Perpetual Peace, by the Ahhe Saint Pierre. 
 Without referring to those higher motives — as the love of true glory 
 and of humanity, a regard for the dictates of conscience, and the pre- 
 cepts of religion — for addressing which to sovereigns. Saint Pierre 
 incurred the ridicule of what are called practical statesmen — Rous- 
 seau appeals to the common sense of rulers, and shows how much 
 their actual worldly interests -would be promoted by submitting their 
 pretensions to the Arbitration of an impartial tribunal, rather than 
 to the uncertain issue of arms, which cannot bring even to the vic- 
 tor adequate compensation for the blood and treasure expended in 
 the contest. If this project, he says, fails to be executed, it is not 
 because it is chimerical ; but because men have lost their wits, and 
 it is a sort of madness to be wise in the midst of fools. As no 
 scheme more grand, more beautiful, or more useful ever occupied the 
 human mind, so, says Rosseau, no author ever deserved attention 
 more than one proposing the means for its practical adoption ; nor 
 can any humane and virtuous man fail to regard it with something 
 of enthusiasm. 
 
 The recommendations of Rosseau w^ere encountered in Germany 
 by a writer who will, probably, be remembered only by his hardi- 
 hood on this occasion. I allude to Embser, who treats of Perpetual 
 Peace in a work first published in 17 79, under the title of The Idol-
 
 44 AVAll SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 atries of our Philosophical Century, (Die Abgotterei unscrs philo- 
 sophischen Jahrhunderts,) and, at a later day, appearing with a new 
 title, under the alias of the Refutation of the Project of Perpetual 
 Peace (Widerlegung des ewigen Friedens-projekts.) The objections, 
 still common with superficial or prejudiced minds, are here vehe- 
 mently urged ; the imputation upon Grotius is reproduced ; and the 
 idea is pronounced visionary and impracticable, while War is held up 
 as an instrument more beneficent than Peace in advancing the civil- 
 ization of mankind. 
 
 But the cause of St. Pierre and Eousseau was not without cham- 
 pions. In 1763 appeared at Gottingen the work of Totze, entitled 
 Permanent and Universal Peace, according to the Plan oj He7iry IV. 
 (Ewiger und allgemeiner Friede nach der Entwurf Heinrichs IV.) 
 And in 1767, at Leipzig, was published an ample and mature trea- 
 tise on this subject, by Lilienlels, under the name of New Constitu- 
 tion for States (Neues Staatsgebaude.) Truth often appears con- 
 temporaneously to different minds, having no concert with each other; 
 and this work, though in remarkable harmony with the labors of 
 Saint Pierre and Rousseau, is said to have been composed without any 
 knowledge of them, Lilienfels exposes the causes and calamities 
 of War, the expenses of arroaments in time of Peace, and the mis- 
 erable chances of the battle-field, where controversies are deter- 
 mined, in defiance of all principles of justice, as by the throw of 
 dice ; and he urges the advantage of a submission of such matters 
 to Arbitrators, unless a Supreme Tribunal should be established to 
 administer the Law of Nations, and to judge between them. Such 
 a Tribunal, according to him, should enforce its decrees by the com- 
 bined power of the Confederacy. 
 
 It was left to another German mind, in intellectual pre-eminence 
 the successor of Leibnitz, by especial and repeated labors, to illus- 
 trate this cause. At Konigsberg, in a retired part of Prussia, away 
 from the great lines of travel, Immanuel Kant consecrated his days 
 to the pursuit of truth. During a long, virtuous and disinter- 
 ested career, stretching beyond the period appointed for man — from 
 1724 to 1804 — in retirement, undisturbed by the shocks of revolu- 
 tion and war, never drawn by the temptations of life more than seven 
 German miles from the place of his birth, he assiduously studied 
 books, men and things. Among the fruits of his ripened powers 
 was that system of Philosophy, known as the Critique of Pure 
 Reason, by which he was at once established as a master-mind of
 
 EFFORTS OF INDIVIDtTALS KANT. 45 
 
 his country. His words became the text for writers almost without 
 number, who vied with each other in expounding, in illustrating, or 
 in opposing his principles. At this period — after an unprecedented 
 triumph in philosophy, when his name had become familiar wherever 
 his mother-tongue was spoken, and while his rare faculties were yet 
 untouched by decay, in the Indian summer of his life — the 
 great thinker published a work On Perpdual Peace (Zum ewi- 
 gen Frienden, 1796.) The interest in the author, or in the cause, 
 was attested by prompt translations of this philanthropic production 
 into the French, Danish and Dutch languages. The same cause was 
 espoused in another effort entitled Idea for a General History in a 
 Cosjnopolitan Vieio (Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in welt- 
 burgerlichcr Absicht;) and finally in his Metaphysical Elements of 
 Jurisprudence (Metaphysiche Anfangsgrunde der llechtslehre.) In 
 the lapse of time, the speculations of the philosopher have lost much 
 of their original attraction ; and other systems, with other names, 
 have taken their place. But these early and faithful labors for Per- 
 petual Peace cannot be forgotten. Perhaps by these the fame of the 
 applauded philosopher of Konigsberg may yet be preserved. 
 
 By Perpetual Peace, Kant understood a condition of states in 
 which there could be no fear of War; and this condition, he said, 
 was demanded by reason, which abhors all War, as little adapted to 
 establish right, and which must regard this final development of the 
 Law of Nations as a consummation worthy of every eff'ort. To this 
 all persons, and particularly the rulers of states, should bend their 
 energies. A special league or treaty should be entered into, which 
 may truly be called a Treaty of Peace, differing from other treaties 
 \xi. this regard, that, whereas these terminate a single existing War 
 only, this should seek to terminate forever all War between the par- 
 ties to it. Treaties of Peace, tacitly acknowledging the right to 
 wage war, as all treaties now do, are nothing more than a truce ; 
 they are not Peace. By these treaties an individual war may be 
 ended ; but not the state of loar. There may not be constant hos- 
 tilities ; but there will be constant fear of them, with constant 
 threats of aggression and attack. The soldiers and armaments now 
 nursed by civilized states, as a Peace establishment, become the fruit- 
 ful parent of new wars. With real Peace, these would be aban- 
 doned. Nor should states hesitate to submit, like individuals, to 
 law. They should form one comprehensive Federation of Nations, 
 which, by the addition of other nations, should at last embrace the
 
 46 WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 whole earth. And this, according to Kant, in the succession of 
 years, by a sure progress, is the irresistible tendency of nations. 
 
 These views found immediate support from another German phi- 
 losopher, Fichte, of remarkable acuteness and perfect devotion to 
 truth, whose name, in his own day, awakened an echo inferior only 
 to that of Kant. In his Groundwork of the Law of Nature (Grund- 
 lage des Naturrechts,) published in 179G, he urges a Federation of 
 Nations, with a tribunal for the determination of international con- 
 troversies, as the best way of securing the triumph of justice, and of 
 subduing the power of the unjust. To the suggestion that by this 
 Federation, injustice might be done to an individual state, he replied, 
 that it would not be easy for the confederate nations to find any 
 common advantage to tempt them to do this wrong. This subject 
 was again handled in 1804, by a learned German, Charles Schwab, 
 whose work, entitled Of unavoidahJe Injustice (Uber das unvermeid- 
 liche Unrecht) is marked by great clearness and directness. He 
 looks forward to the Universal State, in which nations shall be united 
 to"-ether, as citizens are now united in a municipal state. He does 
 not believe that in this condition justice wdll be always inviolate ; 
 for, as between citizens in the state, it is not so ; but that it Avill be- 
 come generally established. As in the municipal state War no lon- 
 ger prevails, but offences, wrongs and sallies of vengeance often 
 proceed from individual citizens, and insubordination and anarchy 
 may sometimes show themselves ; so in ^_the Universal State War 
 will be extinguished ; but here also, between the different nations, 
 who wall be as citizens in the Federation, there may be wrongs and 
 aggressions, and even the common power may be resisted. In short, 
 the Universal State Avill be subject to the same accidents with the 
 municipal state. 
 
 The cause of Permanent Peace now became a thesis for Univer- 
 sities. At Stuttgard, in 1796, there was an oration by J. H. La 
 Motte, entitled Utrum Fax Perpetua pangi possit, nee ne 7 And 
 again at Leyden, in Holland, in 1808, a Dissertation was written by 
 Gabinus de Wal, on taking his degree of Doctor of Laws, entitled 
 Disputatio Philosophico-Juridica de Conjunctione Populorum ad 
 Pacem Perpetuam. This learned and elaborate performance reviews 
 the previous efforts in the cause, giving a pre-eminence to those of 
 Kant. Such a voice from a pupil of the University is a token of the 
 sentiments of the time, and an example for the youth of our own day.
 
 EFFORTS OF IXDIVIDUALS BENTHAM. 47 
 
 Meanwhile in England, that indefatigable jurist and reformer, 
 Jeremy Bentham, entered upon similar speculations. In an Essay 
 on International Law, bearing date from 1786 to 1789, and first 
 published in 1839, by his Executor, Dr. Bowring,* he develops a 
 plan for Universal and Perpetual Peace in the spirit of Saint Pierre. 
 According to him, such is the extreme folly, the madness of War, 
 that on no supposition can it be otherwise than mischievous. AH 
 trade, in its essence, is advantageous, even to that party to whom it 
 is least so. All war, in its essence, is ruinous ; and yet the great 
 employments of government are to treasure w]) occasions of War, 
 and to put fetters upon trade. To remedy this evil, Bentham pro- 
 poses, first, " the reduction and fixation of the forces of the several 
 Nations, that compose the European system," and enforcing this 
 proposition, he says, " Whatsoever nation should get the start 
 of the other in making the proposal to reduce and fix the 
 amount of its armed force, would crown itself with everlasting hon- 
 or. The risk would be nothing — the gain certain. This gain would 
 be, the giving an incontrovertible demonstration of its own disposi. 
 tion to peace, and of the opposite disposition in the other nation in 
 case of its rejecting the proposal." He next proposes the establish- 
 ment of a Court of Judicature for the settlement of international 
 difterences, with power to report its opinion, and cause it to be circu- 
 lated in the territories of each state ; and after a certain time, to put 
 a refractory state under the ban of Europe. The whole arrangement 
 he urges, can in no respect be styled visionary, for it is proved,^rs^, 
 that it is the interest of the parties concerned ; secoJidly, that they 
 are already sensible of that interest; and thirdly, the situation in 
 which it would place them is not new, but finds a parallel in the 
 dfficult and complicated conventions, which have already been effect- 
 ed between nations. 
 
 Coming to our own country, I find many names worthy of com- 
 memoration in our cause. No person, in all history, has borne his 
 testimony against War in phrases of greater pungency and of more 
 convincing truth than Benjamin Franklin. " There never haa 
 been," he says, " nor ever will be, any such thing as a good War, 
 or a bad Peace ; " and he asks, " When will mankind be convinced 
 of this, and agree to settle their difficulties by Arbitration ? Were 
 they to do it even by the cast of a die, it would be better than by 
 
 * Bentham's Works, Part VIII., pp. 537 - 554.
 
 48 AVAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 figlitlnj? and destroying each otlier." As a diplomatist, Franklin 
 strove to limit the evils of War. From him, while Minister of the 
 United States, at Paris, proceeded those instructions, more honora- 
 ble to the American name than any battle, directing the naval cruis- 
 ers of our country, among whom were the redoubtable Paul Jones, 
 if they should encounter the returning expedition of the great Eng- 
 lish navigator, Capt. Cook, to allow it, in the sacred interests of 
 universal science, a free and undisturbed passage. And still later, 
 to him belongs the honor of introducing, into a treaty with Prussia, 
 a clause for the abolition of that special scandal, private War on 
 the ocean. In similar strain with Franklin, Jefferson says, " Will 
 nations never devise a more rational iimpire of differences than 
 Force ? War is an instrument entirely inefficient towards redressing 
 wrong, and multiplies instead of indemnifying losses." And he 
 proceeds to exhibit the waste of War, and the beneficent consequen 
 ces, if its expenditures could be diverted to purposes of practical 
 utility. 
 
 To Franklin and Jefferson we freely render thanks for their au- 
 thoritative words and example. But there are three names, fit succes- 
 sors of Saint Pierre, — I speak now, of course, only of those whose 
 career is ended, and on whose good works is the heavenly signet of 
 death, — which more than theirs deserve the affectionate regard of 
 the friends of Peace. I refer to Noah Worcester, William EUery 
 Channing, and William Ladd. It would be a grateful task to dwell 
 on the services of these our virtuous champions. The occasion will 
 allow only a passing notice. In Worcester we behold the single- 
 minded country clergyman, little gifted as a preacher, with narrow 
 means, — and his example teaches what such a character may ac- 
 complish, — in his humble retirement pained by the reports of War, 
 and at last, when the great European drama of battles closed at 
 Waterloo, published that appeal, entitled " A solemn Review of the 
 Custom of War," which has been so extensively circulated at home 
 and abroad, and has done so much to correct the inveterate preju- 
 dices which surround our cavise. He was the founder, and for some 
 time the indefatigable agent, of the earliest Peace Society in the 
 country. The eloquence of Channing, both with tongue and pen, 
 was often directed against War. He was heart-struck by the awful 
 moral degradation which it caused, rudely blotting out in men the 
 image of God their Father ; and his words of flame have lighted in 
 many souls those exterminating fires that shall never die, until this 
 evil is scourged from the earth. William Ladd, after completing
 
 THE PEACE MOVEMENT. 49 
 
 his education at Harvard Univcrsit}', entered into commercial pur- 
 suits. Early blessed with competency through his own exertions, 
 he could not be idle. He was childless ; and his affections embrac- 
 ed all the children of the human family. Like Worcester and Chan- 
 ning, his attention was arrested by the portentous crime of War, and 
 he was moved to dedicate the remainder of his days to earnest, un- 
 tiring efforts for its abolition ; going about from place to place, to 
 inculcate the blessed lessons of Peace ; with simple, cheerful manner, 
 winning the hearts of good men, and dropping in many youthful 
 souls the precious seeds which shall ripen in more precious fruit. 
 He was the founder of the American Peace Society, in which waa 
 finally merged the earlier association, established by Worcester. By 
 a long series of practical labors in our cause, and especially by de- 
 veloping, maturing and publishing to the world, the plan of a Con- 
 gress of Nations, has William Ladd enrolled himself among the ben- 
 efactors of mankind. 
 
 Such are some of the names which, hereafter, when the warrior 
 no longer receives from the world the " blessings " promised to the 
 " Peace-maker," shall be inscribed on immortal tablets. 
 
 And now at last, in the fulness of time, in our own day, by the 
 labors of men of Peace, by the irresistible co-operating affinities of 
 mankind, nations seem to be visibly approaching — even amidst tu- 
 mult and discord — that Unity, so long hoped for, prayed for. By 
 steamboats, railroads, and telegraphs, outstripping the traditional 
 movements of governments, men of all countries daily commingle ; 
 ancient prejudices fast dissolve ; while ancient sympathies strength- 
 en, and new sympathies come into being. The chief commercial 
 cities of England send addresses of friendship to the chief commer- 
 cial cities of France ; and the latter delight to return the salutation. 
 Similar cords of amity are woven between cities in England, and 
 cities in our own country. The visit to London of a band of French 
 National Guards is reciprocated by the visit to Paris of a large com- 
 pany of Englishmen. Thus are pacific conquests now achieved, 
 where formerly all the force of arms could not prevail. Mr. Vatte- 
 mare perambulates Europe and the United States, to establish a hap- 
 py system of literary international exchanges. By the daily agency 
 of the press we are made sharers in the trials and triumphs of our 
 brethren in all lands, and learn to live no longer in the solitude of 
 insulated nationalities, but in the communion of associated states. 
 4
 
 50 WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 By the multudinous reciprocities of commerce, are developed relations 
 of mutual dependence, stronger than treaties or alliances written on 
 parchment ; while, from a true appreciation of the ethics of govern- 
 ment, we arrive at the conviction, that the divine injunction, ' Do 
 unto others as you would have them do unto you,' was spoken to 
 nations as well as to individuals. 
 
 From increasing knowledge of each other, and from a higher 
 sense of our duties as brethren of the Human Family, aris?s an 
 increasing interest in each other ; and charity, which was once, 
 like patriotism, exclusively national, is beginning to clasp the world 
 in its loving embrace. Every discovery of science, every aspiration 
 of philanthropy, in whatever country it may have its birth, is now 
 poured into the common stock of mankind. Assemblies, whether of 
 science or of philanthropy, are no longer merely municipal, but gladly 
 welcome delegates from all the nations. Science has had her Con- 
 gresses in Italy, in Germany, and in England. Great causes — 
 grander even than science — like Temperance, Freedom, Peace — 
 have drawn to London large bodies of men from different countries, 
 under the title of Woj'Id Conventions, in whose very name, and in 
 whose spirit of fraternity, we discern the prevailing tendency. Such 
 a convention, dedicated to Universal Peace, held at London in 1843, 
 was graced by the presence of many persons well known for their 
 labors of humanity. At Frankfort, in 1846, was assembled a large 
 Congress from all parts of Europe, to consider what could be done 
 for those who were in prison. The succeeding year witnessed, at 
 Brussels, a similar Congress, convened in the same charity. And at 
 last, in August, 1848, we hail, at Brussels, another Congress, in- 
 spired by the presence of a generous American, Elihu Burritt, — who 
 has left his anvil at home to teach the nations to change their swords 
 into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, — presided 
 over by an eminent Belgian magistrate ; and composed of numerous 
 individuals, speaking various languages, living under diverse forms 
 of government, differing in political opinions, differing in religious 
 convictions,but all drawn together by a common sacred sentiment, to 
 pledge themselves to united strenuous efforts for the abolition of 
 War, and for the disarming of the nations. 
 
 The Peace Congress at Brussels constitutes an epoch in our cause. 
 It is a palpable development of those international attractions and 
 affinities which are now awaiting their final organization. The re- 
 solutions which it has put forth, are so important, that I cannot hesi- 
 tate to introduce them here :
 
 THE PEACE MOVEMENT. 51 
 
 1st. That, in the judgment of this Congress, an appeal to arms for thn 
 purpose of deciding disputes among nntions, is a custom condemned alike 
 by religion, reason, justice, iiunianity, and the best interests of the people; 
 and that, therefore, it considers it to lie tlie duty of the civilized world to 
 adopt m asures calculated to effect iis entire abolition. 
 
 2d. Tliat it is of the highest importance to urge on the sc\Tral Govern- 
 ments of Kurope and America the necessity of introducing a clause into all 
 International Treaties, providing ibr the settlement of all disputes by Arbi- 
 tration, in an amicable manner, and according to the rules of justice and 
 equity, by special Arbitrators, or a Supreme International Court, to be in- 
 vested with power to decide in cases of necessity, as a last resort. 
 
 3d. Ttiat the speedy convocation of a Congress of Nations, composed of 
 duly appointed representatives, for the purpose of framing a well digested 
 and authoritative International Code, is of the greatest importance, inas- 
 much as the organization of such a body, and the unanimous adoption of 
 such a Code, would be an effectual means of promoting universal Peace. 
 
 4th. That this Congress respectfully- calls the attention of civilized Gov- 
 ernments to the necessity of a general and simultaneous disarmament, as a 
 means whereby ttsey may greatly diminish the financial burdens which press 
 upon them;, remove a fertile cause of irritation and inquietude; inspire mu- 
 tual confidence ; and promote the interchange of good oflrices; which, while 
 they advance the interests of each state in particular, contribute largely to 
 the maintenance of general Peace, and the lasting prosperity of nations. 
 
 In France these resolutions have received the adhesion of Lamar- 
 tine ; in England, of Richard Cobden. They have been welcomed 
 throughout Great Britain, by large and enthusiastic popular assem- 
 blies, hanging w^ith delight upon the practical lessons of peace on 
 earth and good will to men, poured by eloquent voices into unaccus- 
 tomed ears. At the suggestion of the Congress at Brussels, and in 
 harmony with the demands of an increasing public sentiment, an- 
 other Congress, in the approaching month of August, will be con- 
 vened at Paris. The place of meeting is aiispicious. There, as in 
 the very cave of ^Eolus, whence have so often raged forth the con- 
 flicting winds and resounding tempests of War, will assemble dele- 
 gates from various nations, including a large number from our own 
 country, whose glad work will be t ) hush and imprison these winds 
 and tempests, and to bind them in the chains of everlasting Peace 
 May God prosper 'the endeavor ! 
 
 But not in voluntary assemblies only has our cause found wel- 
 come. It has effected an entrance into legislative halls. A docu- 
 ment now before me in the hand-writing of Samuel Adams, an ap- 
 proved patriot of the Revolution, boars witness to his desires for 
 action on this subject in the Congress of the United States. It ia 
 in the form of a Letter of Instructions from the Legislature of Mas- 
 sachusetts to the delegates in Congress from that State ; and, though
 
 52 "WAR SYSTEM OF COMilOXWEALTH OF XATI0X3. 
 
 without date, seems to have been prepared some time between the 
 Treaty of Peace in 1783, and the adoption of the Federal Consti- 
 tution in 1789. It is as follows : 
 
 Gextlf,mf..v, — 
 
 AUhoii^h the General Court have lately instructed you concerning various 
 matters of \er\- jireat importance to this Commonwealth, they cannot finish 
 the business of (he year until they have transmitted to you a further instruc- 
 tion which they have long had in contemplation: and which, if their most 
 ardent wish could be obtained, might in its consequences extensively pro- 
 mote the hapjiiness of man. 
 
 Yon are, therefore, hereby instructed and urged, to move the United 
 States in Congress assembled to take into their deep and most serious con- 
 sideration, whether any measures can by them be used, through their influ- 
 ence with such of the nations in Euro[)e with whom they are united by 
 Treaties of Am'ty or Commeice, that Natii^nal Differences maybe settled 
 and determined, without the necessity of Wak, in which the world has tco 
 long bee;i deluged, to the destruction of human hnppiness, and the disgrace 
 of human reason and government. 
 
 If. after the most mature deliberation, it shall appear that no measures can 
 be taken at prrsent on thi.s very interesting subje<-t, it is conceived, it would 
 redound much to the honor of the United States, that it was attended to by 
 their great Representative in Congress, and be accepted as a testimony of 
 gi-atilude for most signal favo s granted to the said States by Him who is the 
 almighty and most gracious Father and Friend of mankind. 
 
 And you are further instructed, to movethat the foregoing Letter of In- 
 structions he entered on the Journals of Congress, if itmavbe thought pro- 
 per, that so it may remain for the inspection of the delegates from this Com- 
 monweaUh, if necessary, in any future time. 
 
 I am not able to ascertain whether this document ever became a 
 legislative act ; but it attests, in an authentic form, that a prominent 
 leader of public opinion in Massachusetts, after the establishment of 
 that Independence for which he had so assiduously labored, hoped 
 to enlist not only the Legislature of this State, but the Congress of 
 the United States, in efforts for the emancipation of nations from 
 the tyranny of War. For this early effort at a period when the 
 catise of Permanent Peace had never been introduced to any legis- 
 lative body, Samuel Adams deserves grateful mention. 
 
 At last, many years later, the subject reached Congress. In 1838, 
 the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Piepresentatives 
 of the United States, in a report drawn up by the late Mr. Legare, 
 prompted by memorials from the friends of Peace, while injudicious- 
 ly discountenancing the idea of an Association of Nations, as not yet 
 sanctioned by public opinion, acknowledge, •' that the union of all 
 nations in a state of Peace, under the restraints and protection of law, 
 is the ideal perfection of civil society ; that they accord fully in the
 
 THE PEACE MOVEME>fT. 53 
 
 benevelent object of the memorialists, and believe there is a visible 
 tendency in the spirit and institutions of the age towards the practi- 
 cal accomplishment of it, at some future period ; that they heartily 
 agree in recommending a reference to a Third Power of all such 
 controversies as can be safely confided to any tribunal unknown to 
 the Constitution of our country ; and that such a practice will be 
 followed by other powers, and will soon grow up into the customary 
 law of civilized nations." The Legislature of Massachusetts, by a 
 series of resolutions, in harmony with the early sentiments of Samuel 
 Adams, adopted with exceeding unanimity in 1844, declare, that they 
 " regard Arbitration as a practical and desirable substitute for War, 
 in the adjustment of international differences ; " and still further 
 declare their " earnest desire that the government of the United 
 States would, at the earliest opportunity, take measures for obtain- 
 ing the consent of the powers of Christendom to the establishment 
 of a General Convention or Congress of Nations, for the purpose of 
 settling the principles of international law% and of organizing a high 
 Court of Nations to adjudge all cases of difficulty which may be 
 brought before them by the mutual consent of two or more nations." 
 During the winter of 1849, the subject was again presented to the 
 American Congress. On Tuesdaj', January 16th, Mr. Tuck asked 
 the unanimous consent of the House of Representatives, to offer 
 the following preamble, and resolution : 
 
 Whereas the evils of War are acknowledged by all civilized nations, and 
 the calamities, individual and general, which are inseparably connected with 
 it, have attracted tlie attention of many humane and enlio;htened citizens of 
 this and and other countries ; and whereas, it is the disposition of the people 
 of the United States to co-operate M'ith others in all approriate and judi- 
 cious exertions to prevent a recurrence of national conflicts; therefore 
 
 Resolved, That the Committee on Foreign Affairs be directed to inquire 
 into the expediency of authorizing a correspondence to be opened by the 
 Secretary of State with Foreign Governments, on the i-ubject of procuring 
 Treaty stipulations for the reference of all iuture disputes to a friendly Arbi- 
 tration, or for the establishment instead thereof of a Congress of Nations, 
 to determine International law and settle International disputes. 
 
 Though for the present unsuccessful, this excellent effort will prepare 
 the way for another trial. 
 
 Nor does it stand alone. Almost contemporaneously, M. Bouvet, 
 in the National Assembly of France, submitted a proposition of a 
 similar character, the official record of which is as follows : 
 
 NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. 
 
 Proposition relative to the opening of a Universal Congress, having for its 
 object a proportional disarmament among all recognized States. I'resented
 
 54 WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATION'S. 
 
 the 8tli of January, 18-19, by th' Citizen, Francisque Bouvet, ropresentative 
 of tlic People. Referred to th3 Conunittee ot Foreign Afiairs. 
 
 (^Ur(jency Demands.') 
 
 Seeinnj that War between nations is contrary to religion, humanity, and 
 the put)l'c well-beinnf, the French National Assembly decrees: 
 
 First yVrtit-le. — The French llepiiblic proposes to the Governnripnts and 
 Rcpresemative Assemblies of the diili-rent States of Europe, America, and 
 other civilized countiies, to unite by their representation, in a Confrress 
 which shall have for its object a proportional disarmament amoni; the pow- 
 ers, the abolition of War, and a siibsiitiitioa for that barbarous usagi% of an 
 Arbitral jurisdiction, of which the said Congress shall immediately fulfil the 
 functions. 
 
 Second Artii-le. — The Universal Congresa shall commence on the 1st of 
 May, 1849, at Constantinople. 
 
 Third Article — The i 'resident of the Republic is charged to notify the 
 present proposition to all the Governnu'nts and Representative Assemblies 
 of civilized States, and to use all the means in his power to induce them to 
 concur in it. 
 
 In an elaborate report, the French Committee on Foreign Affairs, 
 while ' declining at present to recommend this proposition, distinctly 
 sanction its object. 
 
 At a still earlier date, some time in the summer of 1848, Arnold 
 Rugc brought tho same measure before the German Parliament at 
 Frankfort, by moving the following amendment to the Report of the 
 Committee on Foreign Relations : 
 
 Th it, as armed peace, by its standing armies, imposes an intolerable bur- 
 den upon the people of Europe, and endangere civil freedom, we therefore 
 recognize the necessity of calling into existence a Congress of Nations, for 
 the object of cfFccling a general disarmament of Europe. 
 
 Though this proposition failed to be adopted, yet the mover is report- 
 ed to have sustained it by a speech, -which was received with ap- 
 plause both in the assembly and in the gallery. Among other things 
 he used thess important words : 
 
 There is no necessity of feeding an army of military idlers and eaters. 
 There is nothing to fear from our neighboring barbarians, as they are called. 
 You must give up the idea that the French ■<rille:\t us up, and that the Prus- 
 sians am cat us up. Soldiers must cease to exist ; then shall no more cities 
 be bombarded. 'Ihcse opinions nmst be kept up and propagated by a Con- 
 gress of Nations. I vote that the nations of Europe disarm at once. 
 
 In the British Parliament, also, our cause has found an able repre- 
 sentative in Mr. Cobden, whose name is an omen of success. He has 
 not only addressed many large popular bodies in its behalf, but al- 
 ready by speech and motion, in the House of Commons, has striven 
 for a reduction in the armaments of Great Britain, and has only late-
 
 THE PEACE MOVEMENT. 65 
 
 ly given notice of the following motion, whicli he intends to call up 
 in that assembly at the earliest moment : 
 
 That ai hiunble address be prpsented to licr Majesty, praylnp; she will be 
 graciously pleased to direct her Prini'ipal S.'cretary of State fi)r Foreign 
 AlVairs, to enter into conimunication with Foreign J'owers, inviting llieni to 
 concur in treaties, binding the respective parlies, in the event of any future 
 misunderstanding which cannot be arranged by amicable negotiation, to refer 
 the matter in dispute to the decision of arbitrators.* 
 
 ♦Mr. Sumner brought the hislor)' of the Peace movement down to the date of his 
 address in 1819 ; but it maybe well to add a brief sketch of its progress to the 
 present time, (Januarj', 1854,) in reference especially to Substitutes for War. 
 
 Pkace Congkesses. — Since the delivery of Mr. Sumner's Address, there have 
 been held in Europe three General Peace Congresses — one at Paris, in August, 
 1849; another at Frank fort-on-thc-Maine, in August, 1850 ; and a third at London, 
 in July, 1851, iu connection with the World's Industrial Exhibition ; — all, but more 
 especially the last one, numerously attended, and honored with the presence and 
 active support of some of the ablest and most influential men in the Old World. 
 Each of these Congresses took, with entire unanimity, the same ground with the 
 Congress at Brussels on all the great practical issues and meas\ircs of the Peace 
 Cause, besides other lesolvcs of like impoit, especially on Non-intervention as a 
 pace movement. 
 
 Action hy oua N.vtion.vi- Government — The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 
 which closed our war with Mexico, and was ratified by the U. S. Senate in May, 
 1848, embodies, though in clumsy, indecisive terms, the great idea of Stipulated Ar- 
 bitration for the settlement of all future controversies betw en the two Republics. 
 A proxision so vaguely expressed cannot be regarded as a reliable guaranty against 
 War ; and yet it very distinctly recognizes the prini.i()le for which the friends of 
 Peace contend. It is as follows : — 
 
 Article XXI. If unhappily any disagreement should hereafter arise between 
 the governments of the two rcpu'ilics, whether with respect to the interpretation of 
 any stipulation in this tteaty, or with r spect to any other particular concerning the 
 politic-al or commercial relations of tlie two nations, tlie said governments, in the 
 name of those nations, do promise to earli otlier that they will endeavor, in the 
 most sincere and earnest manner, to settle the differences so arising, and to pteservo 
 th'! St ite of peace and friendship in which the two countries are now ])lacing them- 
 Felves, using, for this end, mutual representations and paciHc negotiations. And 
 if, by these ms-aUs, they should n t i)e enabled to come to an agreement, a resort 
 shall not, on this account, be had to reprisals, agirression, or hostility of any kind, 
 by the one repulilic ag dust the oth'^r, uuti! the government of that which deems it- 
 self aggrieved shall have maturely considered, in the spirit of pea'-e and good 
 neighl:orsiiip, whether it would not be better that such difference should lie settled 
 by the arbitration of commissioners appointed on each side, or by that ol a friendly 
 nation. And should .->uch c(mrse be proposed by either parly, it sha'.l be acceded to 
 by the other, unless deemed by it altogether incompatible with the nature of the 
 difference, or the circumst mces of the case. 
 
 It is worthy of note, that no objection was made to this article. ' I was present,' 
 said a Senator to us, in conversation on this point. ' during all the protracted discus- 
 sions in the Senate on the Treaty ; and, though objections were urged to almost 
 every other part, I recollect none whatever to this provi ion.' 
 
 In February. 1851, Hon. He.vryS. Foofi;, of Mississippi, as Chairman of the 
 Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations, recommended unanimously the adoption 
 of the following j)reamble and lesolution : — 
 
 Whereas appeal-, to the sword for the determination of national controversies are 
 always productive of immense evils ; and whereas the spirit and enterprises of the
 
 56 "VVAK SYSTEM OF COMMOXWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 Such is the Peace Movement. With the ever-flowing current of 
 time it has gained ever-increasing strength ; and it has now become 
 like a mighty river. At first but a slender fountain, sparkling upon 
 some lofty summit, it has swollen with every tributary rill, with the 
 friendly rains and dews of heaven, and at last with the associate waters 
 cf various nations, until it washes the feet of populous cities rejoic- 
 ing on its peaceful banks. By the voices of poets ; by the aspira- 
 tions and labors of statesmen, of philosopers, of good men ; by the 
 experience of history ; by the peaceful union into nations of families, 
 tribes and provinces, divesting themselves of the " liberty " to wage 
 "War ; by the example of leagues, alliances, confederacies and con- 
 gresses ; by the kindred movements of our age, all tending to Uni- 
 ty ; by an awakened public sentiment, and a growing recognition of 
 the Brotherhood of Mankind ; by the sympathies of large popular 
 assemblies ; by the formal action of legislative bodies ; by the prom- 
 ises of Christianity, are we encouraged to persevere in our work. So 
 doing, we shall act not against nature, but loith nature, making our- 
 selves, according to the injunction of Lord Bacon, its ministers and 
 interpreters. From no single man, from no body of men, does our 
 cause proceed. Not from Saint Pierre or Leibnitz, from Rousseau 
 or Kant, in other days ; not from Jay or Burritt, from Cobden or 
 Lamartine in our own. It is the irrepressible utterance of longing 
 with which the great heart of Humanity labors ; it is the universal 
 
 age, but more especially the genius of our own government, the habits of our peo- 
 ple, and the highest permanent prosperity of our republic, as well as the claims 
 of humanity, the dictates of enlightened reason, and the precepts of our holy reli- 
 gion, all require the adoption of every feasible '.neasure, consistent with national 
 honor, and the security of our rights, to prevent, as far as possible, the recurrence of 
 ■war hereafter; therefore, — 
 
 Kesolved. That, in the judgment of this body, it would be proiper and desirable 
 for the government of these United States, whenever practicable, to seeuie, in its 
 treaties with other nations, a provision for referring to the decision of umpires, all 
 future misunderstandings that cannot be satisfactorily adjusted by amicable negoti- 
 ation, in the first instance, before a resort to hostilities shall be had. 
 
 There was no time for action then on the subject ; and, when it came before the 
 Senate at its next session, the Hon. J. R. UxDEiiAVOOD, of Kentucky, on behalf of 
 the same standing committee, made a long and very ablt- report fully in favor of 
 Stipulated Arbitration as a Substitute for War. See his report in the Appendix. 
 
 The Legislatures of Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine and Connec 
 ticut, at their sessions in 1852-3, passed resdves decidedly in favor of the same 
 measure, with entire unanimity, we believe, in every case except one, and requested 
 their Senators and Representatives in Congress to use their best endeavors for the 
 accomplishment of the object. Had the subject been duly brought before the Leg- 
 islatures of other States, there is reason to believe they would have taken similar 
 action. G. C. B.
 
 OUK AIMS PRACTICAr. 57 
 
 expression of tlic Spirit of the Age, tliir.sting after Harmony ; it is 
 the heaven-born whisper of Truth, immortal and omnipotent ; it is 
 the word of God, published in commands as from the burning bush ; 
 it is the soft voice of Christ, declaring to all mankind that they are 
 brothers, and saying to the turbulent nationalities of the earth, as to 
 the raging sea, " Peace, be still ! " 
 
 Gentlemex of the Peace Society, — Such is the War Sys- 
 tem of the Commonwealth of Nations ; and such arc the means and 
 auguries of its overthrow. It is the chosen object of our Society, to 
 aid and direct public sentiment so as most to hasten the coming of 
 this day. All who have candidly attended me in this exposition, 
 already too long protracted, will bear witness that we attempt no- 
 thing in any way inconsistent with the human character ; that we do 
 not seek to suspend or hold in check any general laws of nature, 
 but simply to bring nations within that established system of social 
 order, which has already secured such inestimable good to civil soci- 
 ety, and which is as applicable to nations as to individuals. 
 
 The tendencies of nations, as revealed in history, teach that our 
 aims are in harmony with those prevailing natural laws, which God, 
 in his benevolence, has ordained for mankind. 
 
 Examples teach also that we attempt nothing that is not directly 
 practicable. If the several states of the Helvetic Republic; if the 
 thirty independent States of the North American Union ; if the 
 thirty-eight independent sovereignities of the German Confederation 
 can, by formal stipulations, divest themselves of the 7'ii;/it of war 
 with each other, and consent to submit all mutual controv crsicsto 
 Arbitration, or to a Pligh Court of Judicature, then can the Com- 
 monwealth of Nations do the same. Nor should tbey hesitate, 
 w^hile, in the language of William Penn, such surpassing instances 
 show that it may he done, and Europe, by her incomparable miseries, 
 that it ought to he done;. Nay more ; if it would be criminal in 
 these several clusters of states to re-establish the Institution of War, 
 as the Arbiter of Justice, then is it criminal in the Commonwealth of 
 Nations to cpntinue it. 
 
 Changes already wrought in the Laws of War teach still further 
 that the whole System may be abolished. The existence of laws 
 implies an authority that sanctions or enacts, which in the present 
 case is the Commonwealth of Nations. But this authority can, of 
 course, modify or abrogate what it has originally sanctioned or cu-
 
 ^ -WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTU OF NATIONS. 
 
 acted. In tlio exercise of this power, the Laws of War have, from 
 time to tiin3, been modified in many importimt particulars. Prison- 
 ers taken in battle cannot now be killed ; nor can they be reduced 
 to slavery. Poison and assassination can no longer be employed 
 against an enemy. Private property on land cannot be seized. Per- 
 sons, occupied on land exlusively with the arts of Peace, cannot be 
 molested. It remains that the authority, by which the Laws of 
 War have been thus modified, should entirely abrogate them. Their 
 existence is a disgrace to civilization ; for it implies the common con- 
 sent of nations to the Arbitrament of War, as regulated by these 
 laws. Like the Laws of the Duel, they should yield to some arbi- 
 trament of reason. If the former, once firmly imbedded in the sys- 
 tems of municipal law, could be abolished by individual states, so 
 also can the Laws of War, which are a part of international law, be 
 abolished by the Commonwealth of Nations. In the light of reason 
 and of religion, there can be but one Law of War — the great law 
 which pronounces it unwise unchristian, and unjust, and forbids it 
 forever as a crime. 
 
 In thus distinctly alleging the practicability of our aims, I may 
 properly introduce here an incontrovertible authority. Listen to the 
 words of an American statesman — whose long life was spent in the 
 service of his country at home and abroad, and whose undoubted 
 familiarity with the Law of Nations was never surpassed — John 
 Quincy Adams. " War," he says, in one of the legacies of his ven- 
 erable experience,-'' " by the common consent, and mere will of civ- 
 ilized man, has not only been divested of its most atrocious cruelties, 
 but for multitudes, growing multitudes of individuals, has already 
 been, and is abolished. Why should it not be abolished for all ? Let 
 it be impressed upon the heart of every one of you — impress it 
 upon the minds of your children, t/iat this total abolition of War upon 
 earth is an improvement in the condition of man, entirely depend- 
 ent on his own will. Pie cannot repeal or change the laws of physi- 
 cal nature. He cannot redeem himself from the ills that flesh is 
 heir to ; but the- ills of war and slavery are all of his own creation. 
 He has but to will, and he effects the cessation of them altogether." 
 
 Well does John Quincy Adams say, that mankind have but to will 
 it, and War shall be abolished. Let them will it ; and War shall 
 disappear like the Duel. Let them will it ; and War shall skulk 
 
 * Oration at Newburyport, July 4, 1839.
 
 CONGRESS OF NATIONS. 59 
 
 like the torture. Let them will it ; ami War shall fade away liko 
 the fires of religious persecution. Let them will it ; and AV^ir sluill 
 pass among profane follies, like the ordeal of hurning ])lough.shares. 
 Let them will it ; and War shall hurry to join tlie earlier Institu- 
 tion of Cannibalism. Let them will it ; and ^Var shall ho chastised 
 from the Commonwealth of Nations, as slavery has been chastised 
 from their municipal jurisdictions, by England and France, by Tunis 
 and Tripoli. 
 
 To arouse this powerful pvllic will, which, like a giant, yet sleeps, 
 but w^hose awakened voice nothing can withstand, should be our 
 earnest endeavor. To do this we must never tire in exposing the 
 true character of the War System. To be hated, it needs only to be 
 comprehended ; and it will surely be abolished as soon as it is sin- 
 cerely hated. See, then, that it is comprehended. Expose its mani- 
 fold atrocities, in the light of reason, of humanity of religion. Strip 
 from it all its presumptuous jH'ctences, its sj^ccious apologies, its hide- 
 ous sorceries. Above all, let men no longer deceive themselves by 
 the shallow thought that this System is a necessary incident of imper- 
 fect human nature, and thus continue to cast upon God the responsibil- 
 ity for their crimes. Let them see clearly, that it is a monster of their 
 own creation, born with their consent, whose vital spark is fed by 
 their breath, and without their breath must necessarily die. Let 
 them see distinctly what I have so carefully presented to-night, that 
 War, under the Law of Nations, is an Institution, and the whole 
 War System is an Establishment for the administration of interna- 
 tional justice, for which the Commonwealth of Nations is directly 
 responsible, and which this Commonwealth can at any time remove. 
 
 As men come to recognize these things, they will instinctively 
 cease to cherish War, and will refuse all appeal to its Arbitrament. 
 They will forego their rights even rather than wage an irreligious 
 battle. But criminal and irrational as is "War, unhappily we cannot 
 — in the present state of human error — cxjjcct large numbers to 
 appreciate its true character, and to hate it with that perfect hatred, 
 which shall cause them to renounce its agency, uiiless we can offer 
 an approved and practical mode of determining tlie controversies of 
 nations as a substitute for the imagined necessity of an appeal to the 
 sword. This we are able to do ; and so doing, we reflect new light 
 upon the atrocity of a System which discards reason, defies justice, 
 and tramples upon all the precepts of Christian love.
 
 60 "WAll SYSTEM OF COMMON'NVKALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 1. The most complete and permanent substitute for War would be 
 a Congress of Nations, and a Higli Court of Judicature organized 
 in pursuance thereof. Such a System, while admitted on all sides 
 to promise many excellent results, is opposed on two grounds. 
 First, it. is said, that, as regards the smaller states, it would be a 
 tremendous engine of oppression, subversive of their political inde- 
 pendence. Surely it could not be so oppressive as the War System. 
 But the experience of the smaller states in the German Confedera- 
 tion, and in the American Union — nay, the experience of Belgium 
 and Holland, by the side of the overtopping power of France, and 
 the experience of Denmark and Sweden in the very night-shade of 
 Russia — all show the futility of this objection. And, secondly, it is 
 said that the decrees of such a Court could not be carried into effect. 
 Even if they were enforced by the combined power of the associate 
 states, as the executive arm of the high tribunal, the sword would 
 be the melancholy instrument of Justice only, but not the Arbiter of 
 Justice. But there can be no occasion to entertain the question 
 of the propriety or rightfulness of such a resort, so abhorrent 
 to many of the friends of Peace, though clearly not obnoxious to 
 the conclusive reasons against international appeals to the sword. 
 We may learn, however, from the experience of history, and particu- 
 larly from the exporience of the thirty States of our Union, that 
 there will be little occasion for any executive arm. The State of 
 Rhode Island, in its recent controversy with Massachusetts, submit- 
 ted, with much indifference, to the adverse decree of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States ; and I doubt not that Missouri and Iowa 
 will submit with equal contentment to any determination of their 
 present controversy by the same tribunal. The same submission 
 would attend the decrees of any Court of Judicature, established by 
 the Commonwealth of Nations. There is a growing sense of Jus- 
 tice, combined Avith a growing might of public opinion, whereof the 
 soldier knows little, which would maintain the jvidgments of the 
 august tribunal, assembled in the face of the nations, better than 
 the swords of all the Marshals of France, better than the bloody 
 terrors of Austerlitz or Waterloo. 
 
 The idea of a Congress of Nations, and of a High Court of Judi- 
 cature, established in pursuance thereof, is as practicable as its con- 
 Bummation is confessedly dear to all friends of Universal Peace. 
 Whenever this Congress is convened, as surely it will be convened, 
 I know not all the names that will deserve commendation in its
 
 ARBITRATIoy. Gl 
 
 earliest proceedings ; but there are two, whose particuhir and long- 
 continued advocacy of this Institution will connect them forever 
 indissolubly with its fame — the Abbe Saint Pierre, of France, and 
 William Ladd, of the United States. 
 
 2. But there is still another substitute for War, which is not 
 open even to the superficial objections made to a Congress of Na- 
 tions. By formal treaties between two or more nations, Arbitration 
 may be established as the mode of determining controversies be- 
 tween them. In every respect this is a contrast to War. It is 
 rational, humane and cheap. Above all, it is consistent with the 
 precepts of Christianity. As I mention this substitute, I should do 
 injustice to the cause, and to my own feelings, if I did not express 
 the obligations of all the friends of Universal Peace to its efficient 
 introducer and advocate, our fcUow-citizcn, and the President of our 
 Society, the honored son of an illustrious father, whose absence to- 
 night enables me, without offending his known modesty of charac- 
 ter, to introduce this tribute — I mean William Jay. 
 
 The complete overthrow of the War System, involving, of course, 
 the disarming of the Christian States, would follow the establish- 
 ment of a Congress of Nations, or of a general System of Arbitra- 
 tion. Then at last would our aims be accomplished ; then at last 
 would Peace be organized among the nations, and once more angelic 
 voices should fill the skies, and be echoed in every Christian breast. 
 Then, indeed, might Christians repeat the fitful boast of the 
 generous Mohawk, saying, " We have thrown the hatchet so high 
 into the air, and beyond the skies, that no arm on earth can reach 
 to bring it down." The incalculable sums, now devoted to arma- 
 ments and the destructive industry of War, would be turned to the 
 productive industry of Art, and to offices of Beneficence. As in the 
 dead and rotten carcass of the lion, which roared against the strong 
 man of Israel, after a time there was a swarm of bees and honey, 
 so should crowds of useful laborers, and all good works take the 
 place of the wild beast of War, and the riddle of Samson once more 
 be interpreted ; " Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the 
 strong came forth sweetness." 
 
 Put together the products of all the mines of the world — the 
 glistening ore of California, the accumulated treasures of Mexico 
 and Peru, with the diamonds of Golconda, and the whole shining 
 heap will be less than the means thus diverted from War to Peace. 
 Under the blessed influence of such a change, civilization shall be
 
 62 AVAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATI0N3. 
 
 quickened anew. Then shall happy labor find its reward, and the 
 whole land be filled with its increase. There is no aspiration of 
 knowledge, no vision of charity, no venture of enterprise, no fancy 
 of art which may not then be fulfilled. The great unsolved problem 
 of Pauperism will at last be solved. There will be no paupers, 
 when there arc no soldiers. The social struggles, that now so fear- 
 fully disturb the European states, would die away in the happiness 
 of an era of nnarraed Peace, no longer encumbered by the oppres- 
 sive System of War ; nor can there be well-founded hope of any per- 
 manent cessation of these struggles so long as this System endures. 
 The people ought not to rest ; nay, they cannot rest, Avhile the Sj'stem 
 endures. As King Arthur, prostrate on the earth, with bloody 
 streams running from his sides, could not be at ease until his 
 sword, the vengeful Excalibar, was thrown into the flood ; so the 
 nations, now prostrate on the earth, with bloody streams running 
 from their sides, cannot be at ease until they fling far away the 
 wicked sword of War. 
 
 Lop oft' the unchristian armaments of the Christian States ; extir- 
 pate these martial cancers — that they may no longer feed upon the 
 best life-blood of the people — and society itself, which is now so 
 weary and sick, will become fresh and young ; not by opening its 
 veins, as under the incantation of Medea, in the wild hope of infus- 
 ing new strength ; but by the amputation and complete removal of a 
 deadly excrescence, which is the occasion of unutterable debility and 
 exhaustion. The energies, hitherto withdrawn from proper health- 
 ful action, will then replenish it with unwonted life and vigor, giving 
 new expansion to every human capacity, and new elevation to every 
 human aim. And society at last shall rejoice, like a strong man, to 
 run its race. 
 
 Imagination toils in vain to picture the boundless good that will 
 be thus achieved. As war and its deeds are infinitely evil and 
 accursed, so will this triumph of Permanent Peace be infinitely be- 
 neficent and blessed. Something of its consequences were seen, as 
 in prophetic vision, even by that incarnate Spirit of War, Napoleon, 
 when, from his prison-island of St. Helena, looking back upon his 
 mistaken career, he was led to confess the True Grandeur of Peace. 
 Out of his mouth let its praise be spoken, " I had the project," he 
 said, mournfully regretting the opportunity he had lost, " at the 
 general peace of Amiens, of bringing each Power to an immense 
 reduction of its standing armies. I Avished a European Institute,
 
 OtTR CAtrSE, 63 
 
 with European prizes, to direct, asHociatc, and bring together all tho 
 learned societies of Europe. Then, perhaps, through the universal 
 spread of light, it might be permitted to anticipate for tho great 
 European Family, the establishment of an American Congress, or an 
 Amphyctionic Council ; and what a perspective, at last, of gran- 
 deur, of happiness, of prosperity 1 What a sublime and magnificent 
 •jpectacle ! " 
 
 Such is our cause. In its mighty influence it embraces all the 
 causes of human benevolence. It is the comprehensive charity, en- 
 folding all the charities of all. There is none so vast as to be above 
 its powerful protection ; there is none so lowly as not to feel its gen- 
 erous care. Religion, Kinwledge, Freedom, Virtue, Happiness, in 
 all their manifold forms, depend upon Peace. Sustained by Peace, 
 they lean as upon the Everlasting Arm. And this is not all. Law, 
 Order, Government, derive new sanctions from our cause. Nor can 
 they attain to that complete dominion which is our truest defence 
 and safeguard, until, by the overthrow of the War System, they com- 
 prehend the Commonwealth of Nations ; 
 
 And SoTcveign LAW, Ihc world's collected will, 
 
 O'er thrones and globes elate, 
 Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill. 
 
 In the name of Religion profaned by War ; of Knowcdgc misap- 
 plied and perverted ; of Freedom crushed to earth ; of Virtue 
 dethroned ; of human Happiness violated ; in the name of Law, 
 Order, and Government, I call upon you to unite in efforts to estab- 
 lish the supremacy of Peace. Let no person hesitate. With the 
 lips you all confess the infinite evil of War. Are you in earnest ? 
 Let the confession of the lips be followed by corresponding action. 
 Let all unite in endeavors to render the recurrence of this evil im- 
 possible. Science and humanity every where put forth their best 
 energies against cholera and pestilence. Let equal energies be direct- 
 ed against an evil more fearful than cholera or pestilence. Let each 
 man consider the cause his own concern. Let him animate his 
 neighbors in its behalf. Let him seek, in all proper ways, to influ- 
 ence the rulers of the Christian States, and above all, the rulers of 
 this happy land. 
 
 Let the old, the middle-aged, and the young, combine in a com- 
 mon cause. Let the pulpit, the school, the college, and the public 
 street all be moved to speak in its behalf. Preach it, minister
 
 64 WAR SYSTEM OF COMMON\VEAI.TH OV KATIONS. 
 
 of the Prince of Peace! Let it never be forgotten in conversation, 
 in sermon or in prayer ; nor any longer seek, by subtle theory, to 
 reconcile the monstrous War System with the precepts' of Christ ! 
 Instil it, teacher of childhood and youth, in the early thoughts of 
 your precious charge ; exhibit the -wickedness of V^ar, and the 
 beauty of Peace; let these sink deep among those purifying and 
 strengthening influences Avhich shall ripen into a character of true 
 manhood. Scholar ! write it in your books. Poet ! let it inspire 
 to higher melodies your Christian song. Let the interests of com- 
 merce, whose threads of golden tissue intcrknit the nations, enlist 
 all the traffickers of the earth in its behalf. And you, servant of 
 the law! sharer of my own peculiar toils, mindful that the law is 
 silent in the midst of arms, join in endeavors to preserve, uphold and 
 extend its sway ! Remember, politician ! that our cause is too uni- 
 versal to become the exclusive possession of any political party, but 
 that all are welcome beneath its white banner. And to you, states- 
 man and ruler ! let the principles of Peace be as a cloud by day, and 
 a pillar of fire by night. Let the Abolition of War, and the over- 
 throw of the War System, with the Disarming of the Christian 
 nations, be your constant aim ! Be this your pious diplomacy ! Be 
 this your devoted Christian statesmanship ! 
 
 As a measure, at once simple and practical, obnoxious to no ob- 
 jections, promising incalculable good, and presenting an immediate 
 opportunity of labor in the cause, let me invite your instant active 
 co-operation in the efforts now making by the friends of Peace, at 
 home and abroad, to establish Arbitration Treaties among the na- 
 tions. If there is a tendency only in this scheme to avert War ; 
 certainly, if we may hope through its agency to prevent a single 
 war — and who can doubt that such may be its result ? — we ought 
 to adopt it. Make the initiative. Try it ; and nations will be slow 
 to return to their present system. They will begin to learn war no 
 more. Let it be the high privilege of our country, through its re- 
 presentatives abroad, to volunteer tlie, proposal to all civilized gov- 
 ernments. Let, it thus inaugurate the idea of Permanent Peace in 
 the diplomacy of the world. Nor should it weakly wait for the 
 movements of other governments. In a cause so holy, no govern- 
 ment is justified in waiting for another to make the first advance. 
 Let us, then, take the lead in this great work. Let our republic, 
 the powerful child of Freedom, go forth, as the Evangelist of 
 Peace. Let her offer to the world a Magna Charta of International
 
 OUR CAUSE. 65 
 
 Law, by which the crime of "War shall be forever abolished. liOt 
 her do this ; and hers will be a Christian glory, by the side of whicli 
 all the glory of battle shall be as the flashing of a bayonet by the 
 side of the heavenly light which beamed from the countenance of 
 Christ. 
 
 And now, while I thus encourage you in the cause of Universal 
 Peace, the odious din of War mingled with pathetic appeals for 
 Freedom, reaches us from struggling Italy, from convulsed Germany, 
 from aroused and triumphant Hungary; the populous North, at the 
 stern command of the Russian Autocrat, threatens to pour its bar- 
 barous multitudes upon the scene ; and a portentous cloud, charged 
 with "red lightnings and impetuous rage," hangs over the whole 
 continent of Europe, as it echoes once again to the tread of muster- 
 ing squadrons. Alas ! must this dismal work be renewed? Can 
 Freedom be born, can nations be regenerated, only through the ab- 
 horred baptism of blood ? In our aspirations let us not be blind to 
 the lessons of history, or to the actual condition of men, so long ac- 
 customed to brute force, that, to their imperfect natures, it seems 
 the only means by which injustice can be crushed. With sadness let 
 me say, I cannot expect the domestic repose of nations until tyranny 
 is overthrown, and the principles of self-government established ; 
 especially do I not expect imperturbable peace in Italy, so long as 
 foreign Austria continues to tread, with insolent iron heel, upon any 
 part of that beautiful land. But whatever may be the fate of the 
 present crisis, whether it be doomed to the horrors of prolonged 
 fraternal strife, or whether it shall soon brighten into the radiance 
 of enduring concord, I cannot doubt that the nations arc now gravi- 
 tating, with resistless might, even through fire and blood, into peace- 
 ful forms of social order, where the War System shall no longer be 
 known. 
 
 Nay, from the very experience of this hour, let me draw the happy 
 auguries of Permanent Peace. Not in international strife ; not in duels 
 between nation and nation ; not in the selfish conflicts of ruler with 
 ruler ; not in the unwise " game " of War, as played by king with 
 king, do we find the elements of the present commotions, " with 
 fear of change perplexing monarchs." It is to overturn the enforced 
 rule of military power, to crush the tyranny of armies, and to sup- 
 plant unjust governments, — whose only stay is physical force, and 
 not the consent of the governed, — that the people have at last risen 
 
 6
 
 66 WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 ill miglity madness. So doing, they wage a battle in whicli all our 
 sympathies must be with Freedom, while in our sorrow at the un- 
 welcome combat, we confess that victory is only less mournful than 
 defeat. But through all these bloody mists, with the eye of faith 
 we may clearly discern the ascending sun of permanent Peace — 
 struggling to shoot its lifegiving beams upon the outspread earth, 
 already teeming with the powerful products of a new civilization. 
 Everywhere the glad signs of Progress salute us ; and the prom- 
 ised land smiles at our approach. His soul is cold, his eye is dull, 
 who docs not perceive these things. Vainly has he read the history 
 of the Past, vainly does he feel the irrepressible movement of the 
 Present. Man has waded through a red sea of blood, and for forty 
 centuries wandered through a wilderness of wretchedness and error, 
 but he stands at last on the top of Pisgah ; like the adventurous 
 Spaniard, he has wearily climbed the lofty mountain heights whence 
 he may descry the vast, unbroken Pacific sea ; like the hardy Portu- 
 guese, he is sure to double this fearful Cape of Storms, destined 
 ever aftenvards to be called the Cape of Good Hope. Let me not 
 seem too confident. I know not, that the nations will, in any brief 
 periods like kindred drops, commingle into one ; that, like the ban- 
 yan-trees of the East, they will interlace and interlock, until there 
 is no longer a single tree, but one forest, 
 
 A pillard shade 
 
 High overarched, and echoing walks betTreen ; 
 
 but am I assured, that, without renouncing any essential qualities of 
 individuality or independence, they may yet, even in our own day, 
 arrange themselves in harmony ; as magnetized iron rings — from 
 which Plato once borrowed an image — under the influence of the 
 potent, unseen attraction, while preserving each its own peculiar 
 form, all cohere in a united chain of independent circles. From the 
 birth of this new order will spring not only international repose, but 
 domestic quiet also ; and Peace will become the permanent ruler of 
 the Christian States. The stone shall be rolled away from the sep- 
 ulchre in which men have laid their Lord ; and we shall hear the 
 new-risen voice, saying, in words of blessed import, " Lo, I am with 
 you alway even unto the end of the world." 
 
 And here I might fitly close. But, though admonished that I 
 have already occupied more of your time than I could venture to 
 claim, except for the cause in whose behalf I now speak, I cannot
 
 MILITAET GLOKY. 67 
 
 forbear to consider, for a brief moment, yet one other topic, which ] 
 have left thus far untouched, partly because it was not directly con- 
 nected with the question of the War System, and 'therefore seemed 
 inappropriate to any earlier stage of the discussion, and partly be- 
 cause I wished, with my last words, to impress it upon your minds 
 and upon your hearts. I refer to that greatest, most preposterous 
 and most irreligious of earthly vanities, the monstrous reflexion of 
 War — more worthy of the beasts of the field than of intelligent 
 Christian men — MiliLary Glory. 
 
 Let me not disguise the truth. It is too true that this is still 
 cherished by mankind; that it is still an object of regard and am- 
 bition ; that men follow War, and count its pursuit " honorable ; " 
 that the feats of brute force in battle are pronounced " brilliant ; " 
 and that a yet prevailing public opinion animates unreflecting and 
 mistaken mortals to " seek the bubble reputation even in the can- 
 non's mouth." It is too true, that nations persevere in offering 
 praise and thanksgiving — such as no labors of Beneficence can 
 achieve — to the chief w^hose hands are red with the blood of his 
 fellow men. 
 
 But whatever may be the usage of the world, whether during the 
 long and dreary Past, or in the yet barbarous Present, it must be 
 clear to all who are willing to confront this question with candor, 
 and in the light of unquestioned principles and examples, that all 
 " glory," won in bloody strife among God's children, must be fugi- 
 tive, evanescent, unreal — vmstable as water, worthless as ashes. It 
 is the offspring of a deluded public sentiment, and must certainly 
 disappear, as men learn to analyze its elements, and to appreciate its 
 true character. Too long, indeed, has mankind worshipped what 
 St. Augustine called the splendid vices, neglecting the simple virtues. 
 Too long has mankind cultivated the flaunting and noxious weeds, 
 careless of the golden corn which produces the bread of life. Too 
 long has mankind been insensible to those Christian precepts, and to 
 that high example, which, whatever may be the apologies of self- 
 defence, rebuke all the pretensions of military glory. 
 
 Look for one moment at this " glory." Analyze it in the growing 
 light which is shed by the lamps of liistory. Regarding War as an 
 established Arbitrament for the adjudication of controversies among 
 nations, — like the Petty Wars of an earlier period between cities, 
 principalities and provinces, and the Trial by Battle between indi- 
 iduals, — the conclusion is irresistible, that an e^nlightened civiliza-
 
 68 WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF KATIONS. 
 
 tion must condemn all the partakers in its duels, and all their vaunt- 
 ed achievements, precisely as we now condemn all the partakers in 
 those miserable contests which disfigure the commencement of mod- 
 ern history. The prowess of the individual is all forgotten in un- 
 utterable disgust at the inglorious barbarism of the strife in which it 
 was displayed. 
 
 Observe yet again this " glory," in the broad illumination of 
 Christian truth. In all ages, even in heathen lands, men have look- 
 ed with peculiar reverence upon the relation of Brotherhood. Feuds 
 among brothers, from that earliest " mutual murdering " contest be- 
 neath the walls of Thebes, have been accounted dismal and abhor- 
 red ; never to be mentioned without condemnation and aversion. 
 This sentiment was revived in modern times ; and men sought to 
 extend the holy circle of its influence. According to curious and 
 savage custom, valiant knights, desirous of associating as brothers, 
 voluntarily caused themselves to be bled together, that the blood of 
 each other, as it spirted from the veins, might intermingle, and 
 thus constitute them of one hlood. By this peculiar sanction, the 
 powerful emperor of Constantinople confirmed an alliance of friendship 
 with a crusading king. The two monarchs being first bled together, 
 drank of each other's blood, in token of Brotherhood ; and their at- 
 tendants, following the princely example, bled each other, caught the 
 flowing blood in a wine-cup, and then drank a mutual pledge, saying 
 *'We are brothers of one blood.'' 
 
 Alas ! by such profane and superfluous devices have men, in their 
 barbarism, sought to establish that relation of Brotherhood, whose 
 Tjeauty and holiness they perceived, though they failed to discern 
 that, by the ordinance of God, without any human stratagem, it justly 
 comprehended all their fellow-men. In the midst of Judaism, which 
 hated all nations, Christianity proclaimed love to all mankind, and 
 •distinctly declared that God had made of one Mood all the nations of 
 men. And as, if to keep this sublime truth ever present to the mind, 
 the disciples were taught, in the simple prayer of the Saviour, to ad- 
 dress God as their Father in Heaven not in phrase of exclusive wor- 
 ship, as " my Father ; " but in those other words of high Christian im- 
 port, " Our Father ;" with the petition not merely " to forgive me my 
 trespasses," but with a diviner prayer, "to forgive us our trespasses ;" 
 thus in the solitude of the closet, recognizing all alike as children 
 of God, and embracing all alike in the petition of prayer. 
 
 JConfessing the Fatherhood of God, and the consequent Brother-
 
 MILITARY GLOEY. 69 
 
 hood of Mankind, we find at once a divine standard, of unquestiona- 
 ble accuracy and applicability, by which to estimate the achievements 
 of battle. No brother can win " glory " from the death of a bro- 
 ther. Cain won no " glory," when he slew Abel ; nor would Abel 
 have won "glory," had he, in the exercise of strict sclf-dcfcMice, suc- 
 ceeded in slaying the wicked Cain. The soul recoils in horror from 
 the thought of praise or honor, as the meed of any such melancholy, 
 hateful success. And what is true of a contest between two bro- 
 thers, is equally true of a contest between maJiy. No army can win 
 *' glory " by dealing death or defeat to an army of his brothers. 
 
 The ancient Romans, ignorant of this sacred and most compre- 
 hensive relation, and recognizing only the exclusive fellowship which 
 springs from a common country, accounted civil war as fratricidal. 
 They branded the opposing forces — even under well-loved names in 
 the Republic — as impious ; and constantly refused " honor," 
 *' thanksgiving," or "triumph," to the conquering chief whose sword 
 had been employed against his fellow- citizens, even though traitors 
 and rebels. As the J3rothcrhood of mankind — now professed by 
 Christian lips — becomes practically recognised, it will be impossi- 
 ble to restrain our regard within the exclusive circle of country, and 
 to establish an unchristian distinction of honor between civil war 
 aad international war. As all men are brothers, so, hy irresistible 
 consequence, all war must be fratricidal. And can " glory " 
 come from fratricide ? No, no. Shame and sorrow must attend it ; 
 nor can any war, under whatever apology of necessity it may be vin- 
 dicated, be justly made the occasion of " honor," of " thanksgiving," 
 or of " triumph." Surely none can hesitate in this conclusion, who 
 are not fatally imbued with the Heathen rage of nationality, that 
 made the Venetians say, " they were Venetians first, and Christiana 
 afterwards." 
 
 Tell me not, then, of the homage which the world yet offers to the 
 military chieftain. Tell me not of the " glory " of War. Tell me 
 not of the "honor" or "fame," won on its murderous fields. All is 
 vanity. It is a blood-red phantom, sure to fade and disappear. 
 They who strive after it, Ixion-like, embrace a cloud. Though seem- 
 ing for a while to fill the heavens, cloaking the stars, it must, like the 
 vapors of earth, pass away. Milton likens the early contests of the 
 Heptarchy to the skirmishes of crows and kites ; but God, and the 
 exalted Christianity of the Future, must regard all the bloody feuds 
 of men in the same likeness ; looking upon Napoleon and Alexan-
 
 70 "WAR SYSTEM OF COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. 
 
 der, so far as they were engaged in war, only as monster crows and 
 kites. Thus shall it be, as mankind ascends from the thrall of bru- 
 tish passions. Nobler aims, by nobler means, shall fill the soul. A 
 new standard of excellence shall prevail ; and honor, divorced from 
 all deeds of blood, shall become the inseparable attendant of good 
 works alone. Far better, then, shall it be, even in the judgment 
 of this world, to have been a door-keeper in the house of Peace, 
 than the proudest dweller in the tents of War. 
 
 There is a legend of the early Church, that the Saviour left his image 
 miraculously impressed upon a napkin which had been placed upon his 
 countenance. The napkin was lost, and men attempted to portray 
 that countenance from the Heathen models of Jupiter and Apollo. 
 But the image of Christ is not lost to the world. Clearer than in tho 
 precious napkin, clearer than in the colors or the marble of modern 
 art, it appears in every virtuous deed, in every act of self-sacrifice, in 
 all magnanimous toil, in every recognition of the Brotherhood of 
 Mankind. It will yet he supremely manifest, inunimagined loveliness 
 and serenity, when the Commonwealth of Nations, confessing the 
 True Grandeur of Peace, renounces the wickedness of the War Sys- 
 tem, and dedicates to labors of Beneficence all the comprehensive 
 energies now so fatally absorbed in its support. Then, at last, shall 
 it be seen, that there can he no Peace that is not honoral/le, and there 
 ean he no War that is not dishonorable.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 HON. J. R. UNDERWOOD'S REPORT, 
 
 MADE TO THE SENATE OF TUE UNITED STATES, FEB. 23. 1853. 
 
 TTie Committee on Foreign Relations^ to whom were referred the memorial of the 
 American Peace Socic-ty, signed by its principal officers, and various other memo- 
 rials, numerously signed, from many States of the Union, praying fur the adoption 
 of measures to avert the evils of war, and suggesting the pi opriety of '■'securing 
 in our treaties with other nationt,, a procision for referring to the decision of um- 
 pires all misunderstandings that cannot be satisfactorily adjusted by amicabU 
 negotiation," have had the same under consideration, and now report : 
 
 That the subjects of these memorials is of vast importance, involving inquiries 
 into the effects produced by war upon the physical, intellectual, moral, and reli- 
 gious welfare of mankind, and, if these effects be found deleterious, then the 
 consideration of plans to arrest the evil. 
 
 The committe. after due deliberation, are of opinion, that wars which suc- 
 cessfully resist oppression may, in their results, more than compciisaie for the 
 blood and treasure expended in their prosecution. But wars commenced to 
 maintain the rights of the people, when unsuccessfully terminated, only strength- 
 en the hands of despotism, and generally" place those who have taken up arms to 
 resist wrong, in a worse condition tlian they were in the beginning. The revo- 
 lution by which the people of the United States broke the dominion of Great 
 Britain, and establishid a free popular government, furnishes an instance where 
 the consequences of war have fully compensated tlie expenditure. But this is a 
 rare instance in the history of revolutions. It is unnecessary to refer to those 
 which have attempted, and have failed, leaving the oppressed in a worse condi- 
 tion after than before the war. 
 
 While tlie committee do not intend to deny the right of any people or nation 
 to resort to war for the purpose of ridding themselves of oppression, or of de- 
 fending themselves against aggression, when it cannot be accomplished by 
 peaceable means, yet they regard tlie tendencies of war to be injurious to the 
 progrecs of mankind in science, art, morals, civilization and happiness ; and 
 hence it can be justified only upon the ground, that it is a less evil than that 
 which can be avoided only by tlie resort to war. In this view, war presents it- 
 self as a clioice between evils. 
 
 That war is an evil of stupendous magnitude in its effects upon the physical 
 welfare of mankind, no one can deny who regards and reasons upon incontro- 
 vertible facts. The business of war is to force and secure submission on the 
 part of the enemy, by inflicting a destruction of life and property. The purpose 
 of a campaign is to conquer, to subdue the enemy. The means to accomplish 
 it are found in the sacrifice of life in bloody battles, in the sacking of cities, in 
 the devastation of countries, in tlie sinking of ships, in the seizure and confisca- 
 tion of cargoes, and in forcing contributions from those wlio are overrun. The 
 immediate object of war is to create human misery to such a degree, that those 
 who suffer will tlicreby be influenced to yield to tlic demands, whether right or
 
 72 APPENDIX. 
 
 wrontj, of those who inflict the injurj-, rather than prolong; their sufferings bj a 
 contimuuice of the war. Under such a system, fathers, husbands, sons, and 
 brothers are eonsioiitd, in the vijzor of manhood, to sudden death, and their 
 bodies often abandoned without burial, k-aviiij; mothers, wives, dautrhters and 
 sisters, to lament with excriiciatin<^ anguish the loss of that society which con- 
 stituted their chief eartliiy happiness. But, even if they survive the battle, it 
 may be at the expense of an eye, an arm, or a lej^ ; and, when they retire from 
 the army, if their bodies are not mainiod and mutilated, their physical constitu- 
 tions are often broken do'wn, and they fall eaily victims to diseases, contracted 
 in the service. It is needless to comment upon the distress and wretchedness 
 •which families experience when deprived of those who supplied the wants of 
 •women and children with food and raiment. Every person can call to mind 
 some known and familiar instance of a family whose comfort and happiness have 
 been destroyed by the consequences of war. Individual and family suflerings 
 lire the continent particles which form the great streams of national calamity; 
 and the committee, without dwellinp; upon them, will proceed to present some 
 general considerations and facts which, they trust, -will exhibit the evils of war in 
 a li^'ht so striking as to induce every patriot and philanthropist to labor for its 
 extermination. 
 
 Armies, to render efficient service, must be composed of intelligent, able- 
 bodied men — such as are ca]iable, in civil employments, to increase greatly the 
 products of agriculture, mechanism, ai.d commerce, upon which the physical 
 comforts of every people essentially depend. Abstract the labor of 100.000 men 
 from the tillage of the earth, from the mechanic and manufacturing arts, and 
 from the business of commerce, convert them into soldiers ; and what conse- 
 quences naturally follow the procedure 1 
 
 The first is, that they become consumers, instead of producers — maintained, 
 not by their own, but by the labor of others. However actively and industri- 
 ously they may be engaged to meet and overcome the enemy, all their labors for 
 such purposes, instead of adding to, only consume and waste, the food and rai- 
 ment and implements furnished by the labor of others. The consequence is, that 
 the laboring producers must work harder, to keep up their own customary sup- 
 plies, and to support, in addition, tde army of consumers and non-producera 
 whose business it is to live on the labor of their friends, and to destroy the lives 
 and property of their enemies. 
 
 The second consequence is, that the 100,000 men, taken from the industrial 
 pursuits which create the means of comfortable living, and placed in an army 
 to lead the life of soldiers, must be furnished with the implements and munitions 
 which belong to their new trade of destruction. Swords, pistols, rifles, mus- 
 kets bayonets, cannon, powder, balls, and bombshells must be fabricated and 
 supplied. In addition, there must be tlie means of transportation by land and 
 water. Beasts of burden, and wagons of all sorts, and without number, must be 
 provided. Water-crafts of all kinds and dimensions, from the common ferry- 
 boat to the magnificent three-decked man-of-war ship, must be constructed or 
 purchased. When a suitable armament is obtained, and military and naval op- 
 erations begin, every movement is attended with deterioration and waste of 
 material, making a perpetual renewal absolutely necessary. The forage for 
 horses, mules, and oxen, and the destruction and loss of animals and carriages 
 attached to armies, constitute no inconsiderable item to be kept up by the labor 
 of tlie country which furnishes the supplies. 
 
 The third consequence is, that, if the laboring classes, upon whom the burden 
 falls of supporting the non-j)roducing army in food and raiment, and of pro- 
 viding the munitions of war to render the army efficient, cannot do it for want 
 of means, and the government under which they live cannot therefore venture to 
 increase the taxes, the people and their government are driven by the urgency 
 of circumstances to anticipate their revenues by borrowing money. Hence the 
 creation of national debts, and witii them a new set of non-producers, who live 
 sumptuously upon the interest of their money, and by dealing in stocks. Thus 
 the living generation are often required to toil and labor to discharge the princi- 
 pal and interest of national debts created in former ages. Besides the current
 
 APPENDIX. 73 
 
 and necessary annual expenditures of government, they nro called on to pay tlie 
 debts of centurii's, and tuxation hccomes an intolcrnhle burden. 
 
 Thattbeso are tbe natural oon^('([llCIU't's of war, no one can doubt who is at 
 all acquainted with the history of nations, and their pulilic debts. Exempted 
 as are tbe people of tbe United States from oppressive taxation to meet the in- 
 terest of their public debt, and small as that debt is compared with the detits of 
 other nations whose resouress are not equal to our.s, yet it is well known that 
 nearly the whole of our debt, exceedinfj on tbe lirst ivf January last, $05 OOO.OOO, 
 has been the result of war. To show the i)urdens wliieh wars entail on nutions 
 by public deiits, the (ommittee herewith present two tables, taken from Hunt's 
 Merchants' Majrazinc of May, 1843. The lirst exhibits tbe public debt of Great 
 Britain, taken from the l)Uili:et of 1840, at various periods in Uritish history; 
 and the other gives tbe amount, in German dollars, of the debt of many nations 
 of Europe, their population, and avcra;.^e of debt to each inhabitant. * These 
 tables may not be perfet-tly accurate, but, no doubt, approximate tbe truth suffi- 
 ciently near for every purpose of fair argument and illustration. Taking into 
 consideration the debts of tbe smaller European States and free cities, and add- 
 ing them to the aggre^iate of debt as stated in the second table, it may he safe- 
 ly affirmed, that the total r)ul)lic debt of the States of I'lurope was not less than 
 eight thousand millions of dollars in 1840! t The annual interest on this enor- 
 mous amount of debt, supposing it to average only four oer cent, per annum, is 
 equal to three hundred and twenty millions of dollars each year. In other 
 words, each man, woman, and child, if the interest were raised by a capitation 
 tax, would have, to contribute $1.29 per annum, in addition to the sums neeessa- 
 ryjto meet the annual expenditures of government for other purposes, estimating 
 the countries which owe the debts to contain a population of 248,000.000. Tur- 
 key in Europe has been omitted in these calculations, because the committee 
 had no data before them upon which that country could be included. 
 
 If we consider, by way of contrast, the more beneficial uses to which war-taxes 
 and war-debts might be applied, could wars bo avoided, we shall see more clear- 
 ly the immense losses and deprivations which mankind have sustained in conse- 
 quence of devoting their energies and resources to the purposes of war. Thus 
 the interest on the European debt would pay an annual salary of $400 to eight 
 hundred thousand teachers of children. These teachers, allowing thirty children 
 to each, could instruct twenty-four millions of children, of suital)Ie ages, in tho 
 usual branches of a common education — as reading, writing, arithmetic, geogra- 
 phy and grammar. Thus the debts of the States of Europe, created by wars, 
 would, as an education fund, teach every child of suitable age within their ter- 
 ritories, those rudiments of learning which open the door to the highest attain- 
 ments in science. What blessings would this confer upon the children of the 
 
 *Table I. — Public Debt of Great Britain. 
 
 Principal. Int. & Mangt. 
 
 Debt of Great Britain at the Revolution in 16S9, - - - X0W,2G3 i.39,85o 
 Excess of debt contracted during the reign of William III above 
 
 debt paid off, 17.730.439 1,771,087 
 
 Debt at tlie accession of Queen Ann in 1702, - - - liJ,.3!>4,7u2 1,310,98-2 
 
 Debt contracted during Queen Ann's reir;n, ... 37 7.!)0,Gyl 2,040,416 
 
 Debt at tlie accession of George I. in 17l4, - - - 54.14.i,3tJ3 3,351,358 
 
 Debt paid ofl duiiiig the reign of Geoige I. above debt contracted, 5,0-03,125 l,33,8o7 
 
 Debt at the accession of George II. in 1747, - . - 52,092,237 2,217,551 
 Debt contracted from the accession of George II. till tho peace of 
 
 Paris m 1763, three years after the accession of George III., 86.773,192 2,6.34,500 
 
 Debt in 170i, 138,865,430 4,S.')2.051 
 
 Paid dur ng peace from 1703to 1775, 10,281,795 3-:o,.lH() 
 
 Debt at the commenceiiient of tlie American war in 1775, - 12o,583,635 4,471,541 
 
 Debt contracted during the American war, - - . . 101,^67,993 4.'JSii,'j)l 
 
 Debt at tlie conclusion of the Americau war in 1784, ... 249,8.51,6^8 9,4.'>1,772 
 
 Paid during peace from 1784 to 1793, li),.'jol.380 243,277 
 
 Debt at the comnuMie.'iiKiit of the French war in 1793, - - 2.39,35),148 9,208,497 
 
 Debt contnietwi (hiring the French war, 601,500,343 22,829,679 
 
 Total funded and unl'iindi-d debt on the 1st of Fehruary, 1817, when 
 
 the English and Irish exchequers were consolidated, - 844l8.'')0.491 33,038,291 
 
 Debt cancelled from February 1, 1817 to January 5, 1838, - 48,,544,o49 2,576,703 
 
 Debt and charge thereon January 5, 1838, - - - 792,306,142 29,461,528 
 
 fTable il — see next page.
 
 74 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 lower classes of Paris and of London ; and not only these, but upon the children 
 of all the poor, whose circumstances prohibit the expenditure of money, even if 
 they had it, in educatinj^ thjir cliildren. 
 
 T!ic imorci^t for one year on European war debts would construct eight thou- 
 sand miles of railroad, and provide depots, locomotives, cars, and everything 
 needful for tlie transportation of freiglit and travellers, at a cost per mile not 
 excecdintr ^'40.000. Tiius a railroad nii<;ht be constructed from Paris to Can- 
 ton, in China, for less than a year's intert'St on the war-debts of Europe. 
 
 The interest payable annually upon war-debts, is but a small ponion of the 
 annual burden imposed upon the people for war-purposes. The expense of 
 keeping and sustaining large standing armies and navies is tenfobl greater than 
 paying the interest on national debts. And, although the nations of P^uropo 
 have been at peace for many years, from recent information it appears, that there 
 has been no diminution of their military establishments. The following ex- 
 tract, taken from a recent ]iul)licatii)n in London, and which refers to Parlia- 
 mentary papers and the budgets for the year 1835 and 1852 in support of the 
 truih of the statements, exliiliits the condition of things on this point in regard 
 to the Uniti d Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The publication states : 
 " While its (United Kingdom) national debt has not been materially diminish- 
 ed, its war establishment has been fearfully increased. In the space of seven- 
 teen years, namely, from 1835 to 1852, its armed men have multijilied from 145, 
 84G in the one period, to 272,481 in the other, being an addition, in those com- 
 paratively few years, no less than 12G.G35 men in arms " The publication pro- 
 ceeds to state, th it an aditional force of 80.000 men had recently been provided 
 for " in the form of a militia at a cost of £350,000 ($1.750.000)t to the country 
 
 t Table II. — Debts of Europe in German dollars — equal to about eighty two cents 
 of the United States currency . 
 
 Countries. 
 
 Debt. 
 
 No inhab'ts- 
 
 Avg. to ea. 
 iuhab't. 
 
 Holland, 
 
 England, 
 
 Frank tort-on-the-Maine, 
 
 France, 
 
 Bremen, ..... 
 
 Hamburg, . . . . - 
 
 Denmark, - . . - . 
 
 Greece, ..... 
 
 Portugal, . . . . - 
 
 Lubec, ...... 
 
 Spain. ...... 
 
 Austria, . . . . - 
 
 Belgium, ..... 
 
 Papal States, . . - . - 
 
 Hesse Hamburg, .... 
 
 Saxe Jleiiiengen, .... 
 
 Anhalt Kotlien, ... 
 
 Brunswick, . . . . - 
 
 Bavaria, . - - - - 
 
 Naples, ..... 
 
 Saxe Weimar, .... 
 
 Hanover, - - - > - 
 
 Prussia, ..... 
 
 Nassau, - - - . - - 
 
 Russia and Poland, - . . - 
 
 Baden, . . , - 
 Wurtenburg, ..... 
 
 Parma, ...... 
 
 Hesse Darmstadt, .... 
 
 Modena, ..... 
 
 Sardinia, - - - 
 
 Saxon)', ..... 
 
 Saxe Altenbiirg, .... 
 
 States whose debts do not amount to $5 for each inhabitant are omitted. 
 Total 10.499,710,000. A German authority, quoted by Hunt's Mer. Mag., Nov. 
 1831, puts the war debts of Europe at 11,397,076,000 German dollars. — Ed. 
 
 JThe militia is found TOct. 1853) to cost some $3,000.000.— Ed. 
 
 800.000,000 
 
 5,556,000,000 
 
 5,000,000 
 
 1,800,000,000 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 7,000.000 
 
 98,000,000 
 
 44,000,000 
 
 144,000,000 
 
 1.700,000 
 
 467,000,000 
 
 380,000,000 
 
 120,000,000 
 
 67,000,1100 
 
 587,000 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 800,000 
 
 5,000,000 
 
 72,350,000 
 
 126,(.»00.000 
 
 8,0()(),iHi0 
 
 19,0^11.000 
 
 150,000,000 
 
 3,700.000 
 
 545,000,000 
 
 11,000,000 
 
 14,000,000 
 
 3,700,000 
 
 6,250 000 
 
 3,000,(100 
 
 32,0<.l( 1,000 
 
 11,000,(«IO 
 
 700,000 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 25,000,000 
 
 65,0(X) 
 
 33,000,000 
 
 55,000 
 
 155,000 
 
 2,100,000 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 3,800,000 
 
 45,000 
 
 13,000,000 
 
 12,000,000 
 
 4,000,000 
 
 2,500,000 
 
 25,000 
 
 140,000 
 
 39 000 
 
 260,000 
 
 4,2.50 0(X> 
 
 7,600,000 
 
 240.000 
 
 1,700,000 
 
 13,500,000 
 
 370,000 
 
 60,000,000 
 
 1.2.50.000 
 
 1,600 000 
 
 430,000 
 
 800,000 
 
 403.0(K3 
 
 4,500.000 
 
 1,700,000 
 
 120,000 
 
 266 
 
 66 
 
 2 2 
 
 24 
 
 90 
 
 91 
 
 54 
 
 54 
 
 54 
 
 54 
 
 45 
 
 16 
 
 44 
 
 57 
 
 44 
 
 00 
 
 38 
 
 63 
 
 97 
 
 78 
 
 ;« 
 
 92 
 
 31 
 
 67 
 
 30 
 
 09 
 
 26 
 
 80 
 
 23 
 
 48 
 
 21 
 
 43 
 
 20 
 
 51 
 
 19 
 
 23 
 
 17 
 
 00 
 
 16 
 
 58 
 
 12 
 
 50 
 
 11 
 
 47 
 
 11 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 00 
 
 9 
 
 09 
 
 8 
 
 80 
 
 8 
 
 75 
 
 8 
 
 60 
 
 7 
 
 81 
 
 7 
 
 44 
 
 7 
 
 11 
 
 6 
 
 47 
 
 5 
 
 83
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 75 
 
 and more recently still, they (the ministry.) have flcm.indcd and ohtnincd, for 
 on increased navy, another sum of £G00,000, (3.000,000.) makini,' to^etlier oiio 
 liiillion .sterlinjjj taken from the income of the empire in 1852, in addiiion to the 
 larj^e aniuml expenditure for similar purposes." The same puMiiMtion states, 
 that "in 18.35 the wliole co.st of the army, navy, and ordnance of Great liritain 
 was .£11,657,487 .-itcrling (558.287,435 ;)' in 1852, the cliurfie for the same do- 
 ))artmentj (iticlndini; tlie CailVe war, &c.) lias I'isen to the startling: sum of XIG, 
 500,000, ($82,500,000,) bcinfr an increase of no less than £4.842 513 sterlinp.and 
 thi.s does not include the £(500 000 recently added to the navy." We shall con- 
 clude these extracts by givin>^ the commentary of the writer on the preceding 
 facts. He .says; " Tlie injury wliicii tiiis immense drain on our national re- 
 sources must iufliet upon commerce, is incalcula!)le. Take Mandieslcr and 
 Salford as an instance ; their united ])Oi;ula;ion of al'out 400,000 inhahitant?, 
 aceordinn; to the existin^j average of laxaiioii, jjay annualhj, for jjast pre,>ent and 
 future wars, no less than the astonisliin<; sum of £875.000, (.■jj: 4, 3 7 5.000, or ^JllO 
 per head!) and at this rate sucli a population, durinj; the last ihiity years of 
 peace, will have lost from their united resources, for war-purposes alone, the al- 
 most overwhelming sum of not less than twcntij jive iiiillions stcilliirj .' What the 
 inhabitants of these two great borougbs coulil have accomplished with this vast 
 amount, defies all descripiiun ; i)Ut it is uiideniable that solid improvements, and 
 on a scale of the most commanding magninule, in all the soci.il, sanitary and 
 intellectual departments of activity, might have been carried out to their full 
 completion by those resources which, through a system of warlike extravagance, 
 are now for ever lost. The inhabitants of the United Kingdom at large will 
 have contributed to this extravagant outlay during the thirty years of jjcace, 
 the {jcifcctly bewildering amotint of more than one thousand tuo hinnlnd and 
 Ji/iy millions i^ir/fV;.' .' —(SO. 250,000,000.) 
 
 " Nor does the agricultural market sutler less, in proportion, than the manu- 
 facturing, of which the following statement is a convincing and melancholy 
 proof. Its 600,000 laiiorers, who with their families amount to nearly two mil- 
 lions and a half of t!ie entire population, will not receive as wages for their 
 whole jear's toil, more than fifteen millions sterling, (§75,000,000;) while, for 
 armed men alone, the country will pay as stated above, upivards of sixteen mil- 
 lions (80.000,000) for the same space of time. Thus the tillers of the soil, 
 whose hard and honest labor provides the substance of our daily bread, will re- 
 ceive fur that labor millions less than men in arms, who of necessity must be 
 mere idlers in the State, except when engaged in the work of mutual destruc- 
 tion." 
 
 It might seem useless further to pursue these investigations in reference to 
 the States of Europe. But it is deemed proper to make a brief retercnce to the 
 state of things now, or very recently, existing in Fraiue, taken from a transla- 
 tion of an article published in the Siecle. From this it appears that in France 
 and Algeria tiicre are kept up " 102 regiments of infantry, ten battalions of foot 
 chasseurs, three regiments of zouaves, three battalions of African light infantry, 
 and nineteen companies of discipline. These corps contain 261, 095 officers, non- 
 commissioned ofiicers, and soldiers, at an expense of pay and living alone of 78,- 
 000.000, francs, (equal to $14,820,000.) The article proceeds to say : '-Our fifty- 
 eight regiments of cavalry, two squadrons of guides, four comiianies of the body 
 called Curaliers de Reinonte, OGMiini C>1 ,\S' men and 44,707 horses, at an ex- 
 pense of 57,000,000 francs, (equal to §;10,830.000.) The artillery — which is 
 divided into fourteen regiments, a regimentof pontoneers, four S(iuadrons of 
 park artillery, and thirteen companies of workmen — consists ot 32 000 men 
 and 743 horses, and the wagon train of 5000 men and 4425 horses. The 
 gendarmerie and veterans form a chapter of the budget apart." 
 
 Tlie number of the gendarmerie and veterans is not state<i, nor the annunl 
 snm required for their support. Neither is the annual cost of the artillery, en- 
 gineers and wagon-train given. Hut, supjiOsing that it is equal, in proportion, 
 to that of the cavalry, it is not less than 33,683,000 francs, or $6,399,770. Thus 
 the army of France, exclusive of the gendarmerie and veterans, com])03jd of 
 368,572 men and 61,018 liorse.«, costs annually, to pay and support them, more 
 than S30,000,000 in peace. This estimate does not include the navy of Franco.
 
 76 APPENDIX. 
 
 Accordinp; to the forcfrointr d:\tn, tlie standins:; armies of Grent Britain and 
 France exceed 640.000 men. Incliidins; thf armies of all other European States. 
 the number cannot fall short of 2,000,000 men, without taking any account of 
 the naval armaments and number of marines, sailors, and officers * Your com- 
 mittee have seen a pul)lication in which it is estimated, that the annual charge 
 upon tlie peof)le of Europe to mantain their military estalishment, is not less 
 than $'500 000,000, and to pay the interest on their national debts not less than 
 $300,000,000. In the opinion of the committee, these estimates arc fully sustain- 
 ed by tlie data ihej have examined The thought is appalling, that thj' laboring 
 and prodiictive classes of Europe sliould be annually taxed to the extent of 
 $;800,000,000 to pay interest on war-debts, and to support millions of men, with- 
 drawn from the arts of agriculture, commerce, and mechanism, in idleness du- 
 ring peace, and to prepare them to destroy each other in time of war ! 
 
 We will close these investigations by remarking, that our own public debt, 
 nearly all of which is the consequence of war, and the expense of our army and 
 navy a single year — the army having cost $8, 689, .530, and the the navy, includ- 
 ing dry-docks and ocean steam mail contracts, $7,450,300, during the fiscal 
 year ending in June, 1853, according to official reports — would build a railroad, 
 at $.'35,000 per mile, from the Mississippi river to San Francisco, in California. 
 A single year's interest at six per cent, on the amount of our national debt, and 
 the amount expended for military and naval purposes during the last fiscal year, 
 would pay a salary exceeding $200 to one hundred school teachers in every 
 congressional district in the United States. We shall only allude to the system 
 of pensions, and the burthens entailed on nations to support pensioners. For 
 the next fiscal year, to meet these claims, more than $2,000,000, according to the 
 Secretary's report, will be wanting. All this is the consequence of war. 
 
 The facts and considerations already presented are enough to show what man- 
 kind have lost by applying their labors and money in scourging nations with 
 the calamities of war. Had the labor and money, thus thrown away in making 
 nations miserable, been applied in constructing roadj and canals and telegraphs, 
 in supplying towns and cities with pure water and other improvements, in build- 
 ing churches and school-houses, in procuring books and apparatus, and in paying 
 teachers to instruct children, instead of paying soldirrs to butcher their fellow 
 men in cold blood without knowing whom they are killing ; if this wasted labor 
 and money had been used with a view to the physical, intellectual and moral 
 advancement of mankind, the imagination cannot grasp the incalculable bless- 
 ings which would have been the result. 
 
 We shall not dwell upon the deleterious effects of war upon the moral and 
 intellectual progress of mankind. To trace its consequences, and to show that 
 no people can advance, when maddened and harassed by the intense excite- 
 ments and engagements which occupy them in a state of war, as they could in 
 peace, would he to waste time in proving a self-evident proposition. We there- 
 fore dismiss this part of the siib|eet, and take up the inquiry whether it he 
 possible to prescribe a remedy for the evils of war, and, if so, what is the re- 
 medy. 
 
 It is an axiom, sanctioned by the experience of mankind in all ages and un- 
 der all circumstances, that no one can be trusted as judge in his own case. Civil 
 governments are based upon the idea, that disinterested tril)unals must be estab- 
 lished in order to administer justice between contending individuals, and their 
 conflicting claims. If individuals, members of the same society, and residing 
 in the same neighborhood, cannot be allowed to judge of the extent of their in- 
 juries, and to redress, each for himself, the wrong of which he complains, be- 
 cause of his incajtacity, under the influence of selfishness, to perceive what justice 
 requires, and to keep himself within the boundaiifs of exact justice when he un- 
 dertakes to right himself, how is it more reasonable that States, being only the 
 aggregate of individuals, should, through their governments, be allowed to judge 
 
 *In 1850, Baron von Reden, a very able statistician in Germany, stated that there were at 
 that time lull four luillions aciually under arms iu Europe — Ed .
 
 ArrENDIT. 7 1 
 
 exclusively of tlic wron;,' siifTereil, find the extent iind nntnre of llio remedy to 
 be applied ? Arc aepreijatcs of men, or associated multitudes, exempt from 
 all tlie ]iassions. [)rejudiec,s and sellislmess wliieii operate ufion tli(; iiulividuals 
 who compose them ? Are g-overnnieiits less infUieneed hy the sjiirit of afrcriessiop. 
 and a^ifjrandizment than individuals 1 We think the history of nations furnishes 
 a ne<rative answer to these questions. The peace, hafipincs:* and ^jood order of 
 society imperatively demand the cstatilislimcnt of courts of justice, in wUich 
 disinterested judsrcs shall settle individual controversies; and wc helieve that 
 civilization could hardly exist among any peojile where cacii individual was al- 
 lowed to he the judge and avenger of liis own wronLTS. Thai governments 
 should he allowed so to exercise privileges and powers in deciding their dis- 
 putes with other governments, which could not for a moment be conceded to in- 
 dividuals, can be tolerated onlyuiion the ground of necessity. It may he said, 
 and with truth in the present posture of the alfairs of tiie world, that there is 
 no superior, paramount authority to which nations can a)ii)ly for redress against 
 each other, and therefore each must judge and redress for itself the wrong it 
 gulTers. We shall not deny this position in respect cith.'r to individual nations 
 or governments, when tliey are independent, and not subject to the control of some 
 liigher power. Savages, in a state of nature, without the restraint of laws, must 
 judge and act for themselves. Each must redress his own wrong, or engage 
 others to assist him, as best he may. But as men have emerged from a s'ate of 
 nature into the social system of estahlisliiug government, and surrendered the 
 right of self-redress, except in cases where threatened spoliation and injuries may 
 be averted by self-defence, and have been eminently blessed by making the sur- 
 render, it is worthy of the gravest consideration, wliether nations and govern- 
 ments may not establish a tribunal into whose hands their right of self-redress 
 maybe safely surrendered. The several States, constituting the people and 
 government of the United States under the control of the federal or national 
 constitution, have surrendered their right of self-redress against each other, and 
 against foreign nations and governments, in many highly important particulars. 
 Perhaps it is not going too far to say, that this right has been fully surrendered 
 to th"^ general government in all cases where the injury comphiined of has been 
 fully perpetrated and completed, retaining, however, the fullest right to repel 
 the infliction of injuries from any quarter which may be attempted, and which 
 are not consummated — just as any citizen may defend his person, his family, or 
 bis property against violent attacks, notwithstanding his surrender of the right 
 of self-redress to his government in most cases. In the opinion of some of the 
 committee, the day will come, in the progress of intelligence and Christianity, 
 when nations will unite in establishing a tribunal in which all international con- 
 troversies shall be adjudged and determined ; hut, as the committee do not at 
 present intend to recommend measures to that extent, they forbear to go into 
 details of the plan of its operation, or the reasons in support of it. 
 
 All that the committee are willing to advise and recommend for the present is, 
 that in the treaties which are licreafter to be made witii foreign nations, it shall 
 be stipulated between the contracting parties, that all differences which may 
 arise shall be referred to arbitrators for adjustment. Under such stijiulation, 
 the board of arbitrators, or the single arbitrator, would be selected after the 
 occurrence of the difficulty. Each ])arty would bo careful to select impartial 
 persons, distinguished for their virtues and talents, and each would have the 
 opportunity of objecting to any one proposed who might not possess these high 
 qualities. In the opinion of the committee, the arbitrators should be eminent jurists 
 having little or no connection with political aft'airs. If the parties could not agree 
 in the selection of arbitrators, and could not themselves settle the controversy 
 by a Jicw treaty, then cither might undertak-e to redress, according to its own 
 judgment, the grievance complained of But, before a resort to arms, in order 
 to retain the respect of mankind, it would be necessary to make an honest effort 
 to select capable and impartial arbitrators. The trickery to dofeat the arbitra- 
 tion, and at the same time apparently comply with the requirements of the 
 treaty, would be certain to bring general odium on the guilty party, to avoid 
 which nations and individuals, in tliis age of the world, will do much. 
 
 It may be objected, that the arbitrators, through imbecility or corruption, may
 
 78 APPENDIX. 
 
 err in tlioir awaid. It is not likely they will be destitute of capacity. If they 
 are, it will l>c the fault of tliose who select such. Buf suppose they arc corrupt, 
 and should render an award palpably unjust, what is then to be done? It is a 
 le'>:al luaxin, that fraud vitiate? everything. AH contracts, judjitncnts and 
 awards fradulentlv obtaincil, are to Ijc set aside, and held for naught; and there 
 is a ciiancery jurisdiction providcil in well-rctrulatcd governments to supervise 
 and aunul every transaction based upon fraud. Now. m case the arbitrators 
 should make a fraudulent award, thtn the jjarty injured by it must of necessity, as 
 there is no higher jurisdiction to supervise and annul it, refuse to execute it, and 
 publish to the world their reasons for the refusal. If, in doing so, it could be 
 shown that the award was the result of partiality or corruption, the honest sen- 
 timent of mard<ind would justify the nation injured by it in resisting its execu- 
 tion by war, should milder means prove incfl'ectual. Thus, in case national dif- 
 ferences are submitted to arbitrators for adjustment, and the award should be of 
 such .1 character that one of the parties cannot submit to, resistance and war 
 may he resorted to in the end. 
 
 It may be asked, why go through the forms of arbitration, unless the avrard 
 is to be conclusive and final 1 What good can result from the dela}', the ex- 
 pense, and the ceremonies of an arbitration, if the parties to it may, after it is 
 over, still renew the quarrel, and go to war? We answer, much good. The ne- 
 cessary delay in selecting the arbitrators, and preparing for and conducting the 
 trial, will prevent hasty declarations of war. It will allow time for the blood 
 to cool, and for the mind to reflect. Calm deliberation is the friend of peace. 
 The award will show the contending nations what epinion disinterested judges 
 entertain of their quarrel. Just and able arbitrators will, by their reasonings 
 in regard to the controversy, exhibit the right and justice of the case, and the 
 wrong committed by one or both parties, in such a clear light, that all disinter- 
 ested persons will perceive what ought to be done for the true interest of the dis- 
 putants. An award sanctioned by the common sense and justice of the world, 
 could not be resisted by either party, unless ruin, manifest and inevitable, would 
 be the consequence of executing it. In tliat event, there is a higher principle 
 which would allow resistance — the principle of self-preseryation. Nations and 
 individuals may sometimes be placed in such circumstances, that they may right- 
 fully refuse to execute their engagements, entered into through improvidence, 
 ■want of forecast, or pressing necessity. Many examples might be given by way 
 of illustration ; but we shall mention only one case. By treaty made in I77S, the 
 United States agreed to guaranty to France, " forever, against all other powders, 
 her present possessions in America."' The alliance with France, which so 
 essentially aided us in the war of the Revolution, if we are not entirely in- 
 debted to it for our national ind'ependence. required us to take part in her future 
 ■wars, so far at least as to make good the above guaranty. But the Father of his 
 Country, consirlering the imminent peril which we should incur by the fulfilment 
 of this stipulation of the treaty, issued his celebrated proclamation of neutrality, 
 in 1793, refusing to take ])art on the side of France against England in the war 
 then raging, even to protect the French West India colonies. So, likewise, 
 whore nations refer a controversy to arbitration, and the award is such as to 
 put the very existence of the unsuccessful party in jeopardy by its specific ex- 
 ecution, the nation decided agaii:st is not bound to sacrifice itself. In all such 
 cases, however, there is the strongest moral obligation to make adequate com- 
 pensation, if it be possible. Thus there can be no danger to the real interest of 
 any nation likely to remit from the submission of disputes with other nations to 
 arbitration, as the question of executing the award -will remain open after it has 
 been made, and its execution may be resisted for sufficient cause. But just ar- 
 bitrators will always regard tise condition of the party against whom the award 
 is to be made, and will not require impossible things — things that are morally 
 impossible, because they cannot be conceded without ruin. 
 
 Nations, by a reference of their disputes to arbitrators, might reasonably 
 calculate that, however onerous the award, its fulfilment would not cost 
 as ranch as the resort to war. If its execution presents a burden somewhat o])- 
 pressive, still that which would be saddled upon the people by war, in all proba- 
 bility would be more grievous.
 
 APrrxDix. 79 
 
 It soiiT^timcs linppcns, tliat tho " point of lioiior " between nations seems to 
 deniaiid iinnK-tliato action, and a blow is ^ivcn witliout time I'or diiibcration. 
 The nation struck resents, and a war is tlie oonsequonec. Treaty stijjulations 
 requirinij: arbitration, would be a salutary remedy in such cases. The " point 
 of honor " wouM then consist in adherinj; to the treaty. 
 
 Cantcm]datcd in all its aspects, the eonunittee pereoivc no evils likely to re- 
 sult from treaty stipulations in favor of rcferrin;; national disjiutes to arbitra- 
 tion for adjustment. B^lievinf; that much pfood will result, they do not hesitate 
 to recconiniend, as a part of our permanent forci;;n policy, the incorfioration of ii 
 l)rovision in all treaties to the eflVct that, should controversies aiise, they shall 
 be sulinutted to the decision of disinterested and impartial arUitrators, to bo 
 mutually chosen, with the privilege on the part of the arbitrator- to select an 
 umpire, in case tliey arc equally divided. 
 
 The present state of the world is peculiarly favorabl? for the introduction of 
 such a policy. The ])0werfal Cliristian nations are at peace iviiii each other. 
 Their prosperity and happiness have been rapidly advancin^:^ dui-iny: the years of 
 ])Cace they have enjoyed. No greater calamity can bcfal thtin than breakiiij^ 
 up their peace which so happily prevails. 
 
 The United States, of all others, is the proper country to propose this policy 
 to the nations of the earth. We have shown in our past history a capacity for 
 war. The love of military glory is a passion as strong with us as with any 
 other peo|ile, if not stronger. Our institutions invite every citizen to become a 
 soldier in time of war. Our ranks are filled with volunteers panting for an op- 
 portunity to distinguish themselves. Our young men rush to battle with the 
 full assurance, that the highest civil honors often reward the toils and dangers 
 of the triumphant soldier. Our institutions, therefore, tend to make ns a mili- 
 tary people. We are rapidly growing in power. Our progress is without a 
 parellel. Under such circumstances, in proposing a policy of peace, it cannot 
 be supposed that we are influenced by any other motives than those ■which 
 jpring from the purest philanthroi)v. The policy proposed is adverse to ag- 
 gression. It respects the rights of all nations. Its object is "'peace on earth, 
 good will to men." 
 
 May we not hope to be successful in our cfForts for peace ? So far as nation- 
 al arbitrations have been tried, we do not know any case where the award, 
 however complained of, tias been jroUictive of a hundredth part of the evil which 
 would have resulted from war. Take any award which has been rendered, 
 concede it to be wrong, admit the arbitraiors were mistaken and erred in judg- 
 ment, and then weigh and compare the evils which would result from the exe- 
 cution of such award with those which follow a state of war; and it will be 
 found that war is infinitely the greater evil. So far as past experience can 
 be relied on, we think it favors the policy of adopting national arbitrations as 
 the best means of settling national disputes. 
 
 There are powerful and rapidly accumulating interests in favor of peace, and 
 adverse to war. The interests of commerce, which, through the enterprise of 
 (Christian nations, has penetrated almost every region of the earth, binding 
 our race together by a more intimate intercourse and stronger fellowship, would 
 be greatly injured by a state of war. These interests appeal to the rulers of man- 
 kind, and ask for peace. 
 
 The interests of science civilization and Christianity implore the governments 
 of the world to smpress wars. The scientific traveller desires to explore every 
 square mile of the globe, to study its botany, and mineralogy, its re])tiles, birds 
 and beasts, its soils arid climates, its population, and their manners and customs, 
 their laws and religion, and thus to acquire and diifuse that knowledge which will 
 enlarge and liberalize the mind, instruct commerce where to find supplies to 
 purchase, and markets in which to sell, and teach agriculture by spreading the 
 knowledge of the implements and tillage and productions best suited for the va- 
 rious soils and climates of the earth, as ascertained by the experience of cen- 
 turies. War obstructs all this, because during a state of war, travellers are re- 
 garded with suspicion, if not arrested as spies. 
 
 Civilization and Christianity are making vigorous efforts to penetrate and en- 
 lighten the dark lands of barbarism and idolatry. The devout missionary
 
 80 APBENDIX. 
 
 looks forward with undoubting faith to the period when peace, universal and 
 pcrinanuiit. shull pervade the earth ; when nations " shall beat their swords into 
 ])loULih-.>liaros. and their spears into pruiiinjj: hooks." and when " nation shall not 
 lift np sword ajjainst nation, neither shall tliey learn war anymore." He be- 
 lieves that the day is coininjj when the tactics of death and destruction will 
 cease to be a study among men, He believes that the promised Messiah lias 
 come; that '" of tlie increase of his government and peace there shall be no end," 
 and tliat " he shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto 
 the ends of the earth." He bL-lieves, that this great purpose is to be brought 
 about by human agency, acting under the influence of the Spirit of God ; and 
 with this faitli, he goes fortli to " preach the gospel to every creature," accord- 
 ing to the command of his divine Master. His mission is one of love and peace. 
 His purpose is to elevate man by instructing his mind and soul, and to make 
 him a new creature in Chriu Jesus. This work of missions, as the best 
 means of converting heathen nations to the doctrines and faith of Christiani- 
 ty, has grown in popular favor with all classes of Christians. It has been adopt- 
 ed alike by Catholic and Protestant. It is relied on to bring all nations into 
 a common brotherhood, by spreading over the earth a common religion, in 
 which the same Decalogue, the same moral principles, shall be taught and em- 
 braced by all. This great object of Christian effort would be obstructed, if noC 
 entirely defeated, by the prevalence of wars. It is difficult where peace and 
 commercial intercourse exist between a Christian and an anti-Chriatian nation, 
 for the missionary of the former to penetrate the territories, and conciliate the 
 favor and esteem of the heathenf It would be impossible in a state of war. 
 
 The cotnmittte believe, that the petitions presented to them indicate that there 
 is a strong religious and philanthropic sentiment pervading our whole country 
 in favor of peace among all nations. The sentiment is universal among Chris- 
 tians of all denominations, in the opinion of the committee, and is manifesting 
 itself through the petitions before us. The political strength of the Christians of 
 our country is such as to command attention and respect on all occasions, eren 
 if we did not entirely concur in their views ; but when, as in this case, the mem- 
 bers of the committee heartily concur with what they believe to be the Christian 
 sentiment of the country, it is an occasion for congratulation that they have the 
 opportunity of co-operating with the memorialists in eiforts to accomplish 
 their noble purpose. 
 
 The committee recommend the adoption of the following resolution: 
 Resolved, That the Senate advise the President to secure, whenever it may be 
 practicable, a stipulation in all treaties hereafter entered into with other nations, 
 providing for the adjustment of any misunderstanding or controversy which 
 may arise between the contracting parties, by referring the same to the decision 
 of disinterested and impartial arbitrators, to be mutually chosen.
 
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