HISTORY OF PEACE SOCIETIES.

BY WILLIAM LADD.

Views on the abolition of war.

Two different opinions.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE SUBJECT.

THE operations of Peace Societies in the United States and in Europe, have been of a nature so mild and gentle that they have attracted but little notice. Many, even of those who considered war to be a tremendous evil, both temporal and eternal, have considered it an irremediable evil, under which mankind are destined to groan, until God, by the exercise of some miraculous power, scarcely inferior to that by which he made the world, shall remodel human nature; and thus, without any agency of ours, convert the sword into a ploughshare, and the spear into a pruning hook.

There are others, however, of a different opinion, who think that we are to expect no new dispensation-that the means we already have in our hands are fully sufficient to work this important change, and that moral revolutions must be effected by moral means; and, in short, that everything which ought to be done can be done-that there is no obstacle to any assignable good, of a moral nature, which zeal and perseverance cannot remove. they think, also, that there is no need of any special effort that the ordinary preaching of the gospel, without any distinct denunciation of war, as unchristian, will ulti

But

Reasons for believing that war will be abolished.

mately produce such a state of purity and holiness in the world, that wars will cease of themselves. These look upon the abolition of war as an end, and not as a means of producing a state of purity in the church and throughout the world.

There is another set of men, who differ from both of the above mentioned classes. They differ from the class first mentioned, by believing that the custom of war may be abolished; and they draw their arguments, first, from prophecy, which plainly and unequivocally predicts that the time shall come when the nations shall learn war no more; and secondly, from history, which informs us that many strange customs, which once existed in the world, have already been abolished, such as the judicial combat, the torture of criminals and witnesses in a court of justice, persecution for conscience' sake, and many other customs, which were once common to the whole of christendom, but now have ceased throughout the whole world. They allude also to more modern customs, such as the slave trade, so lately thought to be a lawful calling, that some of the best and most pious men in modern times have engaged in it, though it is now highly reprobated in those very countries which once carried it on with the greatest avidity; and is now so far from being tolerated, that it is classed with piracy, and held up to the detestation of mankind. They allude also to the manufacture and sale of ardent spirits-a business which some of our most worthy and pious citizens lately engaged in; and though some of our best men may yet be engaged in such business, they are looked upon as singular exceptions, and are exposed too much to the scorn, and receive too little of the pity of their fellow citizens, who ought to have compassion on the weakness of human nature, and make more allowances for the prejudices of educa

Special effort necessary.

Why.

tion, considering that they also are encompassed by the same infirmities, and should correct themselves before they despise others, and pull the beam out of their own eye, before they attempt to pluck the mote out of their brother's eye. Perhaps they themselves are tolerating a custom as detrimental to the interests of their fellow creatures, and more barbarous, than the one they condemn.

The above mentioned class of men differ also from the second class, in believing that a special effort is necessary to the abolition of the custom of war, for the following reasons:-First, because ministers of the gospel do not, generally, preach against war. There are, of late, some praiseworthy exceptions, it is true; but taking the whole number of ministers of religion in christendom, there is not one in a thousand-probably not more than one in ten thousand-who preaches against war. On the contrary, it is probable that there is not more than one minister in a thousand, who does not justify war in some shape or other. To suppose that the ordinary preaching of the gospel will abolish the custom of war, is to allow that the gospel condemns war; but if that condemnation is never heard in the preaching of the gospel, it can have no effect. Secondly, there are men who do not believe the gospel, and never hear it preached. Such a man was Voltaire, who saw clearly the folly of war by the light of nature only, and denounced it accordingly, and denounced the christian religion as upholding the murderous custom.' He judged of the christian religion by the conduct of its professors, and not by the principles of its founder. And there are men who, though they have a speculative belief in the truths of revelation, are governed by its dictates, only through the example of its professors. These must be addressed through their philanthropy, by describing the awful waste of life, the sufferings and

Waste of war.

Appeal to history.

misery, not only on the bloody field of strife, but in the military hospital and prison; and the woes of private life occasioned by war, the groans of the widow and the anguish of the orphan, the sigh which bursts the heart, and the tear which scalds the cheek, must be brought out to their observation. They must be addressed through their desire to see their country wealthy and flourishing; through their just notion of political economy, by showing them the vast amount of wealth uselessly wasted in war -wealth which must be replaced by the hard hand of labor, and abstracted from the mouth of poverty-wealth which, if judiciously expended, would reticulate the whole country with railroads and canals, and give a school house to every hamlet, and an academy to every village, and send the schoolmaster abroad into every dwelling. They must be addressed through their love of liberty and independence, while their attention is directed to a Cæsar, a Cromwell, and a Napoleon, who have waded to empire through a sea of blood, and enslaved their own country, by the armies which have been raised for its defence.

As another argument for a special effort, and the formation of societies to forward the abolition of the custom of war, the friends of this measure appeal to history. The formation of voluntary associations for the accomplishment of any moral purpose, is, like the steam engine, of modern invention, and they have been as powerful in morals as the other has in physics. If the invention of the steam engine has increased physical power almost indefinitely, the invention of voluntary associations has increased moral power no less. How slowly moved moral power before the invention of voluntary associations! What would Sharpe, Wilberforce and Clarkson have accomplished toward the abolition of the slave trade, had they not been assisted by voluntary associations?

The abolition of the slave trade.

Of intemperance.

By the aid of voluntary associations, in a short time, public opinion was so changed, that the British government was compelled, not only to give up a lucrative branch of commerce, but to expend millions, to subsidize other countries, to get their consent to a general abolition of the traffic, and also to incur a debt of twenty millions of pounds sterling, to compensate the slave-holders in their colonies for their supposed loss of property; and this too while the nation was groaning under the weight of an immense debt of over eight hundred millions of pounds sterling, brought on it by war. All these great events have been brought about, in England, mainly by the power of voluntary associations, with but very little help from the pulpit. It was mainly by procuring and exhibiting statistics, showing the crimes and the horrors of the slave trade, that it was finally abolished-a business to which the pulpit was unsuitable.

They collected

If we look into our own country, we shall find the power of voluntary associations almost as wonderful. Long did the pulpit occasionally raise its voice against intemperance. We were getting on fast to be a nation of drunkards, and the derision of Europe. Voluntary associations came to the aid of the pulpit. facts, poured forth their tracts and periodicals, and exhibited the statistics of intemperance to an astonished public. The unbeliever and the believer were equally alarmed. The christian, the philanthropist, the political economist, the moralist, and the statesman, all sprang forward to the rescue, and the nation is saved-or rather will be saved, when temperance shall have had her perfect work. Had there been no societies to print and distribute tracts, to employ agents, and to procure addresses, what would have become of the temperance cause? But the temperance cause has had great assistance from the