attention. It is highly gratifying to know, that our friends in Europe deeply sympathise with us in this scheme, and by our mutual operation, we have reason to hope, that the end will be, at length, attained. A member of our Society has also offered one hundred dollars for the best tract on The Duty of Christians, to do what they can to abolish the custom of War," which is to be paid to the successful competitor, provided the American Tract Society shall adopt the tract as one of their own, in which case the same individual promises to pay enough more to keep it in perpetual circulation. Our support from the periodical press increases. Not only have the religious newspapers, without any known exception, opened their columns for our communications, but three or four have devoted a part of their pages expressly to the cause of peace, and furnish matter of themselves and unsolicited, which is expressly in favour of our cause, and many of the larger periodicals grant us their occasional aid. But, in the midst of our prosperity, we have occasion for lamentation. Death has made frightful havoc among our most influential members and supporters. Mead, Jenkins, Lawrence, and Cornelius are no more. They have closed their labours below and gone to their reward above. The two first have left substantial memorials of their affection for the cause in the eloquent sermons they left behind them, on the principles of peace. The two others were among those who afforded us pecuniary support, and only wanted opportunity for more efficient assistance. These instances of the frailty of human life warn us to double our diligence, and to do whatsoever our hands find to do with all our might. John Stafford, P.M. | Joshua Lindley. The Board of Directors subsequently chose the following Committee and Officers. PUBLISHING COMMITTEE. Robert Sedgwick. William Ladd. D. E. Wheeler, Sec. for Domestic Cor. HONORARY MEMBERS. LIFE MEMBERS ACCEPTED BEFORE THE Rev.N.Worcester, D.D. | *Rev. A. Mead. *Rev. J.B. Lawrence. * Deceased. Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Peace Society. Boston, Jan. 25, 1832. THE Annual Meeting of the Massa chusetts Peace Society, was held this evening at the State House. The following officers were chosen for the ensuing year : Trustees. Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D. President. Rev. William Jenks, D.D. Vice-President. Henry J. Oliver, Esq. Treasurer. J.P.Blanchard, Corresponding Secretary. John Baker, Recording Secretary. Rev. Henry Ware, Jr. Thomas Vose, Esq. Robert Waterson, Esq. Rev. Howard Malcolm, Prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Barrett. The sixteenth Annual Report of the Executive Committee was read, and the meeting was then addressed by the Rev. Dr. Jenks, Messrs. William Ladd, Robert Rantoul, Ichabod Tucker and Rev. Dr. Channing. After which, on motion of Rev. Mr. Gannett, it was voted, That the Report be printed, and widely circulated. JOHN BAKER, Recording Secretary. Dr. Jenks addressed the people in a pleasing manner, remarking on the idea, that the slowness in which correct principles in relation to war had progressed should be no discouragement. Each citizen should feel it to be his duty to do all he could in this cause. Here the Doctor aptly introduced a remark of the late Thomas Hollis, the benefactor of Harvard University, that "Nations rise and fall by individuals." Washington was alluded to as a noble example; and we should reckon our day as "the age of Washington." Allusions was here made to the first efforts in the Temperance reformation, and its present bright prospects. It was once the custom for bishops to appear in legislative assemblies in their coats of mail; but the age of chivalry has fled before superior light, and we see the incongruity of ecclesiastics usurping the civil power. This abuse is exploded; and we trust the princi ples of peace, though slow in spreading, will have a sure and certain triumph. He rejoiced to bear testimony, that one christian denomination had uniformly protested against war. They were an example to the world, and he almost envied them the high ground on which they stood in this matter,- -a model to all others. Christians must be united in this cause of universal peace. The people of all countries must unite their energies to banish war. It was judiciously said by one, "that war is a game, which if nations were wise, kings would not play." Providence is giving us the means, in the spread of the gospel, and by Sabbath schools, of counteracting those evil principles from which wars proceed. Mr. Ladd, the general agent of the American Peace Society, moved the acceptance of the Report in the following speech :-Mr. President, could I, like Joshua of old, arrest the march of time, and command the sun and moon to stand still, I might hope to arrest the attention of this audience long enough to lay fairly before them the claims of the Peace Society,—but I know, that both, to me, are equally impossible. I shall, therefore, only touch on a few topics relating to the subject, to none of which can I do justice. Sir, when the Divine Founder of the Peace Society descended from heaven, to tabernacle in the flesh, no blast of trumpet or roar of cannon announced his advent; but angels sang, Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good- will towards men," not to the kings and heroes of the world, but to the humble shepherds of Bethlehem! to the others it would have been an unwelcome sound. The sermon on the mount, was the first peace address that ever was delivered. From that commencement, the light began to spread, and, in a short time, pervaded, though with a feeble ray, the whole civilized world. Alas, “the light shined in darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not." It was obscured by the thick gloom of the dark ages, but dawned again with the reformation, and it shall extend and brighten till it shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, and the sword shall be beaten into a plough share and the spear into a pruninghook, and nations shall learn war no more." Peace comes not, Sir, as war does, like the tempest, blasting the hopes of the husbandman, and scatter ing ruin and destruction; but she comes like the gentle dews from heaven, and is known only by gradual and genial influences. But when she descends to earth, she finds the minds of men preoccupied, by prejudices in favour of all the pomp and circumstance of war, and her "still small voice" is not heard. These prejudices are fostered by our education, from infancy to manhood. Almost all the books we read, from Jack the Giant killer to Homer's Iliad, inspire our minds with the love of military glory. The fine arts have been chiefly employed in decorating the monster, war, and hiding his hideous deformity under gorgeous ornaments. For this reason, when we speak of the millions who have fallen in war, we make no impression. We may calculate how deep and broad would be the river of blood which has been shed in war, if all were collected into one channel, and how long it would flow; how high a mountain the dead corpses would make, if heaped in one hill; and say, how the bleached bones of the slain would whiten like snow, all the surrounding country for many a mile; men heed it not provided they are safe. The amount of misery is so great that the mind cannot grasp it and our selfishness is such, that we do not regard it, if it comes not near us. The dread of the amputation of one of our fingers, causes more pain than would the news, that the whole empire of China had been swallowed up by an earthquake. If we would excite the feelings and sympathy of mankind, the horrors ; of war must be displayed, not in the gross, but in detail, because the sufferings of an individual are more readily brought home to our feelings. The case of one of those British officers, who were called by the bugle, on the holy Sabbath morning, from the ball-room to the battle-ground of Waterloo, may excite our feelings for a moment. He lies bleeding for fourteen or fifteen days and nights, among thousands of others, as wretched as himself; his wounds undressed, and exposed to the midnight chills and midday's scorching sun unheeded. Without food to eat, and scarce a drop of water to cool his parched tongue; for the storm of war had rolled on in pursuit of the living, regardless of the dying and the dead. No kind mother is there to sooth his pillow; no tender sister administers his medicines; and no one who has still stronger claims to his affections is there, with her anxious solicitude, to watch over him. No female approaches the field of battle, for the halo of glory which surrounds it, shuts out even the angel Pity. No female, did I say ? Yes, by the light of the lurid moon, I think I see a female form advancing, one of those fiends in female shape, who prowl around the purlieus of the camp, and, like the vulture, scent the battle from afar, who strip the dead and dying, and when they cannot wrest from the convulsive grasp of the victim of ambition, that last gift of plighted love, which he has sworn never to part with while alive, to finish the work of death; and this by a woman's hand! woman, the last, best temporal gift of God to man. Oh, how does a familiarity with the scenes of war degrade her below the level of common demons! poor Sir, are these evils inevitable, like the earthquake, the hurricane, and the pestilence? If they be, we can only sit down in the dust, like Job, and weep like Jeremiah. But these evils are not inevitable: they are not natural but moral evils, dependant on human volition, and may be successfully resisted by moral power. Every thing which ought to be done can be done," and there is no moral evil which zeal and perseverance may not prevent. If we are asked, where lies the remedy? We answer, in public opinion. Has she not already overcome religious intolerance, and snatched the martyr from the stake? Has she not unclutched the grasp of avarice, and almost abolished the slave-trade; and is she not, even now, restoring to Africa her long lost children? Has she not, in a great degree, overcome intemperance, and dashed the fascinating, but poisonous bowl, from the lips of the drunkard? If she can do this, can she not overcome the love of glory, that lives on her smile and expires at her frown? Sir, that Iron Colossus, that has bestrode the world and trampled down the nations, and bedewed his steps with gore and watered them with tears, powerful and gigantic as he is, lives on the breath of the people. His food is glory; let that be withheld, and he dwindles to a pigmy and expires. Spontaneous public opinion is of itself sufficient to abolish war. But public opinion is always fluctuating, and requires some support from forms and modes of government. I would now enter on the subject of a Congress of Nations for the prevention of war, but 66 time's beaconing finger" on yonder dial-plate, warns me not to trespass on the short space which remains, and which may be better occupied by those who are to succeed me, and I can only drop a few hints. know, that this " great scheme" is thought to be only a dream of bene. volent enthusiasts, by those who never examined it. But, Sir, it can be carried into effect: and it has been done, on a small scale. Although I might quote many examples, I will confine myself to one: the confederation of Switzerland, in which twenty-two independent states, of different manners, different forms of government, different religious creeds, and different I languages, all live together in peace and harmony, by means of a general congress or diet, to which is referred all disputes arising among the cantons; and this scheme has prevented war among the members of the confederacy for centuries. Why is not a similar scheme, on an enlarged scale, adopted, and a congress formed, at which all the nations of Christendom, or, at least, the most civilized of them, should be represented, which should settle, in time of peace, all the principles of international law, which have hitherto depended on the conflicting opinions of civilians; and establish a court, for judging cases of dispute, arising in the intercourse of nations, subject to an appeal to the whole body, which would supersede both individual arbitration and war? Why, Sir, is not this done? Simply, because men prefer glory to happiness, and would rather be victorious slaves, than peaceful freemen. But will it be always so? The progress of improvement answers No. Sir, I have trespassed too long on your patience, and must cease; but before I sit down, I beg leave to call on the philanthropists in this assembly. Your brothers' blood calls on you from the ground. Will you not hear it? God demands of you "where is your brother?" Will you answer, "I know not: am I my brother's keeper?" Christians, I call on you; particularly on my orthodox brethren. Do you indeed believe, that the man who dies unconverted will be doomed to everlasting anguish ? Are you sincere, and will you not lift a finger to abolish a custom, which, devillike, fits men for everlasting perdition, and then sends them, thousands in an hour, to that place, "where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched?" If the blood from the ground does not move you Oh, at least, hear the groans of despair. Mr. Rantoul, of Beverly, followed in some remarks on the impropriety of punishing certain crimes with death, and its bad influence. Mr. Tucker, of Salem, alluded to the necessity of being governed by christian principles, and by the peaceful example of the Redeemer. These would effectually banish war from our world. He spoke of the value of our free schools, and lamented that the youth of New England should be sent to West Point, to learn military tactics and the love of war. He hoped this custom would cease. Dr. Channing then addressed the meeting. He was delighted to observe in the public mind the new tone of feeling in relation to war. Men were beginning to regard its miseries with the horror which they feel in the desolations of a volcano. Its general principles are reprobated. We see the value of peace, in the blessings which it diffuses through our country. If we look at the state of the world, we see all over Europe, as well as in our own country, the destruction of old opinions on this subject, and new schemes of policy beginning amongst the nations. The circumstances of I our own free country are favourable to the continuance of peace. Freedom, chastened by virtuous intelligence, is peace. Our community are too enlightened to be hastily driven into a war, should our rulers even desire it. The people would not easily consent to plunge themselves into a calamity so desolating. Independent and individual judgment would be exercised on the question, and every man would feel that he had a right to his opinion, and to be heard with candour. influence of political leaders in this nation is lessening, and men are exercising their own powers and intelligence. The opinions of two men* have principally governed us heretofore; but the influence of leaders is diminishing, and must continue to diminish, from the increasing ability of the people to think for themselves, and to act correctly. Our free institutions are favourable to peace, and *Washington and Jefferson. The to individual happiness. Under their influence, men are acquiring property, and educating their children to become useful citizens. On the question of war, each man will inquire, will it increase my own felicity, or the nation's prosperity? The immediate reply must be, No! - War hardens the heart, and banishes the finer feelings of domestic peace.-War is expensive, and men who have industriously acquired property, will choose to spend it in their own way. Our citizens are not illiberal, but they ask not their rulers to direct their expenses; nor will they submit to the imposition of useless burdens, not demanded by the public good. In the event of war, the minority have their rights, and they would speak in a righteous cause, with a voice that could not but be heard through our continent. How was it in the last war? There was, it is true, a majority for the measure; but there was also an imposing minority against it; and this minority protested against and avoided its evils with strength. We have nothing to gain by war, but much to lose! It has been said, Sir, that republics are disposed to war, and the old republics are adduced in proof. But there is a wide difference between them and us. They were without instruction and without industry; a hungry populace, comparatively slaves, desiring to be fed from the public treasury. They were small states, sometimes of but one city, and easily led by demagogues. We are not so. We have an extent of territory, reaching from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the farther north. Our federal government is large, and established on liberal principles, securing general interests. We have also for all minor purposes, the local authorities of twenty-four sovereign states. We are friends maintaining a social and unrestrained intercourse; and we have not within our borders the seeds of war. Union we know to be strength, and peace is our pursuit. Some have |