of war and conquest: let orators, historians, poets, painters, and all writers and teachers, combine their influence to expose the injustice, the barbarity and the miseries of war, and to excite in all men the love of peace: let conquerors, war-makers, and desolaters of countries, be exhibited as the enemies of human happiness, and the reproach of their species; and let rulers of a pacific character, who shall exert their powers and even hazard their reputation and their lives to prevent war, be regarded as the greatest benefactors of their respective countries and of the world.

Now what will be said of such means for producing war? Why have they never been adopted by war-makers? Common sense requires no answer to these questions. It is seen at once, that war would never be produced by such means. Yet may it not be boldly affirmed, that these means are as naturally adapted to produce war, as the opposite means are to produce or prolong peace?

By this fatal misapplication of means, hostilities have been so common, that some have imagined war to be essential to the nature of man. But now it appears, that wars have been rendered necessary, by a mistake as to the proper means for preventing them. Is it then impossible to correct this mistake? If not, to abolish war is possible.

It will be objected, that many wise and good men have recommended the popular means, as the best means for avoiding war. This is most cheerfully admitted. The writer was himself, for many years, an advocate for such means; and being conscious of his own sincerity, while of that opinion, and having as full confidence in the sincerity of many others, he has now represented the opinion as a mistake, and not a designed imposition. But it should be remembered, that the opinions of the best of men of former ages, have been urged against almost every improvement which has been made in the state of

society for a thousand years. How many laws, usages and customs, which were thought just and necessary by our ancestors, have been exploded by the progress of light!

If the preceding remarks should fail of satisfying the reader, his attention is requested to a few plain questions.-Who would think of preserving men from the small pox, by diffusing the contagion, and exposing our whole race to its deleterious influence? What wise parent would train up his children to the love of ardent spirits and the art of gambling, to prevent their becoming intoxicated and cheated in bad company? or inspire their minds with exalted ideas of the glory of boxing and duelling, to prevent their perishing in such shameful combats? But what better or more rational are the popular means for preventing war? Was there ever a course adopted for a good end more repugnant to religion, to reason, or to nature, than that of employing the genuine means and spirit of war, as the best and almost the only method of preserving peace?

It will not, however, be denied that, in some instances, a display of the spirit of war may have been the means of preventing immediate hostilities. Still it may be affirmed, that this spirit has produced every war with which the human race has been afflicted; and that the more this spirit is cherished by any people, the greater is their danger; and the greater the probability that they will make wanton wars till they shall bring ruin on themselves.

Fifth. The people of the United States are in danger of being ruined by party dissensions. In connexion with the other sources of danger, this deserves the most serious attention.

While the Federal Union comprises upwards of twenty distinct governments, and a large extent of territory, it also comprises a great variety of discordant opinions, habits and

interests. In each of the independent States, the principles and spirit of war are cultivated as the means of safety; the citizens are armed with weapons of slaughter, and taught to glory in martial exploits. Nor will it be doubted that, in each section of the country, there are men of talents and military ambition, prepared for demagogues in a time of great public excitement. Besides, our history has shown that the people of these States are liable to party passions of the most bewildering character,passions which call good evil and evil good, and which transform professed friends to avowed enemies. "Who does not recollect," says the Hon. Judge Story, "the violence with which party spirit in times past raged in this State, breaking asunder the ties of friendship and consanguinity.” . . . . Notwithstanding the more recent calm, unless special care shall prevent, the same spirit may again rise with greater violence, and arm the different sections of the country against each other.

From these facts and circumstances, it is obvious that the people of these States are very liable to the appalling tempests of civil war. In such an event, our boasted strength, our martial spirit, our hostile preparations-the very means relied on for safety, may all become the means of self-destruction, national ruin, and aggravated misery. Then the indescribable horrors of the French Revolution may be realized in these now happy States; and, during the tornado, some Cæsar or Napoleon may rise to power, and transform our numerous Republican Institutions, moulding them into one terrific military despotism, and fill this favoured land with oppression, conscription, proscription, murder, and wretchedness. But, alas! shall our countrymen never be convinced, but by fatal experience, that they who sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind!

of

When these several sources danger shall have been properly con

sidered, the Christian and the Philanthropist will anxiously ask, What course can be adopted to avert the impending evils? To this question a brief answer will be attempted. In general it may be observed, that a refuge may be found by resorting to the God of Peace, the principles of peace, and the spirit of peace. This general remark may comprise the following particulars:

1. Let the white people of the United States display towards the slaves, that benignity and justice which become them as advocates for liberty, and do all that wisdom and benevolence can do to ameliorate the condition, improve the character, and effect the emancipation of this injured and degraded race. Let us as a

nation no more indulge the thought of another war, to revenge any violation of our own rights, till we shall have exemplified a due regard to the rights of the Negroes.

2. Let us do all that can be done to repair the injuries which contempt and avarice have inflicted on the Indian tribes.

3. Let us lay aside our prejudices, our revilings, and our boastings, in regard to the people of foreign countries, and cultivate towards all nations and tribes of men, the spirit of philanthropy and friendship; and, as a substitute for the barbarous thirst for military fame, let us seek that glory which results from doing good to all men, and evil to none.

4. Let party passions no more have an ascendancy in the public councils of our nation, nor in the breasts of our citizens. Let the spirit of forbearance, harmony, and good will, be cultivated between the different sections of our country-between rulers and subjects, and among all classes of citizens in the several States. Let our motto continue to be—“ United, we stand; divided, we fall."

5. Should it be manifest, on examination, that the proposed "recipe for producing a general war in Christendom," is not adapted to this end,

let due exertions be made to apply its principles for the production and preservation of universal peace. Let us no longer rely on the haughty, irritable, irritating, and revengeful war spirit, as the best means of preserving peace and preventing war. The precious figs of peace are not the natural fruit of this noxious thistle. If we would long enjoy the blessing of peace, we must sow its seeds and cherish its plants. Let our children, then, be educated to the love of peace and an abhorrence of war. Let such men of talents be raised to power as shall be distinguished for pacific dispositions and a due command of their own passions-men who will not sacrifice the peace of their country to the idol of a party, to the lust of power, of wealth, or of fame, nor to the passion of revenge. In a word, let the means which are best adapted to preserve peace among neighbouring families, be extended for the prevention of war between neighbouring states and nations. Then the several sources of danger will be continually diminishing; and in pursuing such a policy, the people of every land may safely confide in the ALMIGHTY, as the God of Peace, and the God of their salvation.

It is not, however, supposed that such changes and improvements, as have now been proposed, can be otherwise than gradually introduced; yet, by proper exertions, much may be annually done to diminish the sources of national dangers, and to place these States on the ground of permanent peace.

selves, and calculated, we think, to produce very beneficial effects upon the minds of those who may be willing to give to them a candid attention.

66

After having sent the letter to the Indians in America, with a copy of which we closed our former extracts, William Penn prepared the next year to follow his secretary and the several commissioners, who were the bearers of it. "The first thing he did," Mr. Clarkson, says was to publish the Frame of Government or Constitution of Pennsylvania: to this he added a preface upon the origin, nature, object, and modes of government;" which his biographer justly denominates as noble, beautiful, and full of wise and just sentiments. Here we may take occasion to remark, in opposition to the reasonings and apprehensions of a late writer* against the peculiar principle of the Peace Societies, that the proper execution of judicial authority does not necessarily lead to the establishment and employment of a military force. No one better understood the principles of Peace, nor was more habitually under their influence, than William Penn; no one could be more decidedly principled against all military operations; few legislators, if any, better understood the foundation upon which government ought to rest, and the just and equitable mode in which it ought to operate. Yet, on the one hand, he feared not to enter upon the important work of government, over a mixed people, and amidst bands of armed and warlike Indians, without any, the least, military array: Nor, on the other hand, did he feel that he should en

by Mr. Clarkson.

(Continued from p. 237.) As we are desirous of keeping closely to the avowed and limited object of the Herald of Peace, we shall feel compelled to pass over many passages in these Memoirs which are highly interesting in them

the proper authority of his judicial and governing power, by a decided and uniform avowal of the peculiar principles of the Peace Societies.

* See an Inquiry on the Duty of Christians with respect to War, &c. Let. I.

Admitting that restraint and correction form important parts of legislative duty, he affirms, "that government is as capable of kindness, goodness, and charity, as a more private society." And it does not appear that in the performance of his duty, as the governor of Pennsylvania, he was deficient either in the energy and rectitude proper to the magisterial office, or in the peaceful and amiable dispositions which appertain to the Christian character.

In the different parts of the legislative code adopted for the government of the province, the spirit of Christianity was ever kept in view; and particularly in reference to punishments, “William Penn," says his biographer, "was of opinion, that though the deterring of others from offences must continue to be the great, and indeed only end of punishment, yet, in a community professing itself Christian, the reformation of the offender was to be inseparably connected with it. Hence he made but two capital offences; namely, murder, and treason against the state and hence also all prisons were to be considered as workshops, where the offenders might be industriously, soberly, and morally employed." Happy would it be, we are persuaded, if all countries, calling themselves Christian, were to act upon this striking and beautiful characteristic of the religion of Jesus Christ. The consequences to the community at large, as well as to the miserable offenders themselves, would be highly salutary and beneficial.

Some time after William Penn's arrival in America, it was settled that the treaty with the Indians, which the commissioners who preceded him had entered into with them, should be publicly solemnized and ratified. As this was a treaty of peace, which was never violated, though the parties on one side were warriors by education and long habit, we cannot withhold a particular detail of the

meeting which took place upon this occasion.

"The time now arrived when he was to confirm his great treaty with the Indians. His religious principles, which led him to the practice of the most scrupulous morality, did not permit him to look upon the king's patent, or legal possession according to the laws of England, as sufficient to establish his right to the country, without purchasing it by fair and open bargain of the natives, to whom only it properly belonged. He had therefore instructed commissioners, as I mentioned in the preceding chapter, who had arrived in America before him, to buy it of the latter, and to make with them at the same time a treaty of eternal friendship. This the Commissioners had done; and this was the time when, by mutual agreement between him and the Indian chiefs, it was to be publicly ratified. He proceeded therefore, accompanied by his friends, consisting of men, women, and young persons of both sexes, to Coaquannoc, the Indian name for the place where Philadelphia Low stands. On his arrival there he found the Sachems and their tribes assembling. They were seen in the woods as far as the eye could carry, and looked frightful, both on account of their number and their arms. The Quakers are reported to have been but a handful in comparison, and these without any weapon; so that dismay and terror had come upon them, had they not confided in the righteousness of their

cause.

"It is much to be regretted, when Iwe have accounts of the minor treaties between William Penn and the Indians, that in no historian I can find an account of this, though so many mention it, and though all concur in considering it as the most glorious of any in the annals of the world. There are, however, relations in Indian speeches, and traditions in Quaker families descended from those who were present on the occasion,

from which we may learn something concerning it. It appears that, though the parties were to assemble at Coaquannoc, the treaty was made a little higher up, at Shackamaxon. Upon this Kensington now stands, the houses of which may be considered as the suburbs of Philadelphia. There was at Shackamaxon an elm tree of a prodigious size: To this the leaders on both sides repaired, approaching each other under its widely-spreading branches. William Penn appeared in his usual clothes. He had no crown, sceptre, mace, sword, halberd, or any insignia of eminence. He was distinguished only by wearing a sky-blue sash round his waist, which was made of silk net-work, and which was of no larger apparent dimensions than an officer's military sash, and much like it, except in colour. On his right hand was Colonel Markham, his relation and secretary, and on his left his friend Pearson, before mentioned, after whom followed a train of Quakers. Before him were carried various articles of merchandize, which when they came near the Sachems were spread upon the ground. He held a roll of parchment, containing the confirmation of the treaty of peace and amity, in his hand. One of the Sachems, who was the chief of them, then put upon his own head a kind of chaplet, in which appeared a small horn. This, as among the primitive eastern nations, and according to Scripture language, was an emblem of kingly power; and whenever the chief, who had a right to wear it, put it on, it was understood that the place was made sacred, and the persons of all present inviolable. Upon putting on this horn the Indians threw down their bows and arrows, and seated themselves round their chiefs in the form of a half-moon upon the ground. The chief Sachem then announced to William Penn, by means of an interpreter, that the nations were ready to hear him.

“Having been thus called upon, he

began. The Great Spirit, he said, who made him and them, who ruled the Heaven and the Earth, and who knew the innermost thoughts of man, knew that he and his friends had a hearty desire to live in peace and friendship with them, and to serve them to the utmost of their power. 'It was not their custom to use hostile weapons against their fellow-creatures, for which reason they had come unarmed. Their object was not to do injury, and thus provoke the Great Spirit, but to do good. They were then met on the broad pathway of good faith and good will, so that no advantage was to be taken on either side, but all was to be openness, brotherhood, and love.' After these and other words, he unrolled the parchment, and by means of the same interpreter conveyed to them, article by article, the conditions of the purchase, and the words of the compact then made for their eternal union. Among other things, they were not to be molested in their lawful pursuits, even in the territory they had alienated, for it was to be common to them and the English. They were to have the same liberty to do all things therein relating to the improvement of their grounds, and providing sustenance for their families, which the English had. If any disputes should arise between the two, they should be settled by twelve persons, half of whom should be English, and half Indians. He then paid them for the land, and made them many presents besides from the merchandize which had been spread before them. Having done this, he laid the roll of parchment on the ground, observing again, that the ground should be common to both people. He then added, that he would not do as the Marylanders did, that is, call them children or brothers only ; for often parents were apt to whip their children too severely, and brothers would sometimes differ: neither would he compare the friendship between him and them to