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PEACE PUBLICATIONS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES. WE rejoice to say that our appeal, on behalf of the above object, in the last Herald, has excited considerable attention and interest. We have received several very encouraging communications, not the least gratifying of which, certainly was the following note from a Working Man :

Forres, 11th February, 1851.

SIR, I beg to hand you the enclosed post-office order, for one pound sterling, being the amount of subscription of one shilling each, from a few working men, on behalf of the Fund for the Peace Movement.

I remain, yours respectfully,

JOHN TAYLOR, Tinsmith,

Treasurer.

We subjoin two other communications, for the sake of the practical hints they contain. Mr. Tuckett's letter, brings before the friends of peace, some most valuable suggestions. So high indeed is our own estimate of the value of this form of operation, that we should be almost prepared to sustain his proposal, and to say, that if we cannot successfully combine with it other modes of action, it were well worth while to devote all our energies and resources to it alone between this and the opening of the Exhibition. We do support with all the energy of our convictions and feelings what he says respecting the necessity of the unofficial members of the society manifesting their personal interest in the matter. His proposal, that they should themselves take and distribute the publications both at home, and especially when travelling abroad, appears to us most admirable, and we earnestly trust our friends everywhere, will take it to heart. A tract when delivered by a friend, with a few words of kindly comment, is far more likely to engage the attention and sympathies of the recipient, than when thrust into his hand by an indifferent person who does it, as a mere matter of business. We are happy to say, however, that Mr. Tuckett, is mistaken in supposing that the Committee have any intention of relinquishing the scheme. Many of the Society's publications are already translated into French; and there are several at this moment in the hands of a German translator. But the extent to which the plan can be carried out, must depend entirely upon the amount of means which the liberality of their friends may place in the hands of the committee. For very cheering and satisfactory as are the responses already given, it is obvious, that hitherto the fund contributed, is utterly inadequate to enable them to effect their object, in a manner at all commensurate with the magnitude of the occasion.*

Manchester, 7th February, 1851.

SIR, The appeal in the Herald of Peace for contributions towards the expense of the Society's publications in foreign languages for distribution amongst the visitors to the Exhibition, has attracted my attention, and I have much pleasure in inclosing ten pounds, my donation towards the object, as I consider the importance of it cannot be over-rated. I hope your intended pamphlets will say a few words on behalf of our countrymen that will in some measure_neutralize the insulting effect, that will be produced on the minds of our brethren, from distant countries, in witnessing the monuments and bridges that have been erected in our streets and squares, and over our rivers in commemoration of military achievements in former wars, which ought now to be forgotten. I am, Sir, your very obedient Servant, GEORGE HAdfield.

TO SAMUEL GURNEY, ESQ.,

Treasurer to the Peace Society, London.

See Subscriptions for Peace Publications in Foreign Languages, &c. Page 108.

Bloomsbury Square, 23rd Second Month, 1851.

TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE PEACE SOCIETY. GENTLEMEN,-I am sorry to observe in the "Herald of Peace for the present month, under the head of "Peace Publications,” that though it was the intention of the committee to have had prepared, previous to the opening of the great Exhibition of the industry of nations, an abundant supply in foreign languages, adequate to the opportunity for distributing them; yet, that for want of a demand, or for want of aid, the execution of that intention remains doubtful. I attach so much importance to such action on the part of the Society and its friends, in order, on the ensuing occasion, to diffuse amongst many people a knowledge of peace principles, and objects, as yet unknown, or very imperfectly comprehended, even in the civilized world; that if both could not be accomplished, I could have wished that the Society should rather have suspended its usual action in the provinces, where it has laboured for more than a quarter of a century, and appropriated all the means, talent, and industry at its disposal, to prepare for the most effective action during the period of the ensuing Exhibition. But even then it would not suffice that the Society's shelves should be loaded with translated tracts, or that these by uninterested distributors should be thrust into the reluctant hands of strangers.

It appears to me to be important that a demand for the tracts should originate and govern the supply, and that they should be bespoke by all of us, who profess to believe that the affairs of nations can be safely administered in strict accordance with the Christian principles set forth in the approved publications of the Society. I should hope that the great majority of the friends of the cause would gladly secure to themselves a supply of a selection of tracts in foreign languages, that thus when foreigners visit this country, or when our countrymen and country women visit foreign countrics, they may be enabled to introduce the subject to attention, by personally soliciting a perusal of the arguments and examples advanced in behalf of it. For the cause will never prevail whilst so many who support the associated action of the Society, remain in their individual capacity at home, or when travelling abroad, as inert, inactive, and silent, as they could well be, if they were ashamed of the cause and of the association.

Be the officials of any society which aims at a reform of public opinion and conduct, ever so purely devoted to the accomplishment of its objects, for the love of virtue, their abilities ever so great, and their exertions unwearied,-notwithstanding, if the public imagine that the cause is not living and stirring in the hearts of the unofficial members of such society, it will gain few or but lukewarm adherents, and is very likely to be regarded as only an emanation of party politics, or of other controversial elements; and then its true object, that of bringing all men into the way of peace, may be overlooked. For example, if the friends of the Peace Society, in visiting the continent, were to speak of their interest in the cause, and to distribute explanatory tracts, a diffusion of knowledge would be rapidly effected, and even the adhesion of many gained, whilst by an equal diffusion of tracts made only by uninterested parties, no considerable adhesion or conviction might be gained, because their effort would be cancelled by the general indifference to the subject of that portion of tourists (not to speak of the opposition and contempt of others) who preserve some appearance of belonging to any of the many varieties of which the religious public consists. Entertaining these views, I wish to aid "this most important project," not by making a donation of funds as "an act of liberality;" but if the committee permit, by making a prepayment, which is to entitle me to obtain at the office of the Society, a supply of tracts in the French, German, and Italian languages (in each or any, I trust in all the three) in value adequate to the amount. On these terms, I shall gladly send three pounds, and should hope that most of the friends of the Peace Society would provide themselves with some quantity, even those who may not intend to be in London during the Exhibition; since all attractive localities in Great Britain and Ireland will doubtless be visited by an unusual number of foreigners, and thus the friends of the cause, in the country, may find many favourable opportunities of promoting it. In conclusion, I beg to propose to the committee, that the particular treatises selected for translation, and the languages adopted be specified for public information in the next number of the "Herald,” and otherwise advertised. That the friends of the Peace Society be invited

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The Gospel in Central America; containing a Sketch of the Country, Physical and Geographical, Historical and Political, Moral and Religious; a History of the Baptist Mission in British Honduras, and of the Introduction of the Bible into the Spanish American Republic of Guatemala.

THIS work amply redeems the promise given in the above copious title-page. We know not, indeed, where to look for an account that can for a moment be compared with it, either in extent, or accuracy of the little known, but very interesting region, of which it treats. The author is Mr. Frederick Crowe, who was for several years engaged as a missionary at Belize, the chief town of British Honduras. He thus introduces himself to the reader, far on in the volume, while describing the success which had attended the ministry of Mr. Henderson, who had been sent out to labour in that country, under the auspices of the Baptist Missionary Society:

"About this period, the increased labours of the station appeared to demand an augmented agency, and Mr. Henderson laid the matter before the committee, in a letter dated September the 6th, 1837. In it he states that there were upwards of 200 scholars present daily. The services of a second female teacher had also been engaged. * Ten persons had been immersed on the Lord's

day previous. In a subsequent letter, he adds, that on the 1st of October, six more followed their Lord in that ordinance. Among them was a European youth of nineteen, who had been assisting in the school for a few weeks. 'At that time,' says Mr. Henderson, his infidel views and hostility to godliness made me rather pleased when he found another employ. Soon after, I found him combating his companions with the very weapons which, but a little before, I had used against him. As they could not silence him, he was compelled to bear the epithets 'cracked,' 'fool,' &c."

This converted young infidel was the author of the present volume. The relation he gives of the efforts and conflicts of the small band of earnest Christians with whom he became thus associated, is full of deep and touching interest. They were thwarted, impeded, and persecuted in various ways, but they persevered with stedfast courage in their course. The picture drawn by Mr. Crowe of the state of the Society in British Honduras is most painful and appalling. The work contains some hideous illustrations of the demoralizing influence of a military garrison, which we have no doubt, might be paralleled in most of our other colonies. In narrating the story of the imprisonment of a person named Davies, on account of his conscientious objection to take an oath, the following revelations are incidentally made of the state of military morality at Belize:

"A practice, calling for the severest reprobation, has hitherto prevailed in the garrison of Belize, and, it is believed, is also sanctioned at Jamaica, in the Bahamas, and elsewhere in the West Indies. It is that of permitting a number of dissolute women to pass the night in the barracks, from which they are driven like a herd of swine, before daybreak, in the morning. On the occasion in question, an African private of the 2nd West India Regiment, in a fit of jealous revenge, discharged his musket into one of the beds, and killed the unhappy woman, instead of his rival. Davies being serjeant major of the company, and the person entrusted with the care of that dormitory, was required to give evidence upon oath. The oath he respectfully declined. All efforts to intimidate or persuade him having proved fruitless, he was sent from the court-house to the civil jail."

Davis was afterwards discharged from the army, and became a deacon of the missionary church. But in commenting further on this case, Mr. Crowe remarks :

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"This trial, while it manifested the faithfulness of a weak and unlearned man, and demonstrated the power of Christian principle, served to exemplify the absurdity, futility, and danger of enforcing judicial swearing by coercive measures; and also to expose the demoralizing tendency and existing corruptions of the military system as it is. Some of the grosser evils arising out of it, have long been felt by the inhabitants of Belize. Formerly the slaves, and now the servants of some, and of course the sisters and the daughters of others, are seduced by the soldiers, and debauched after this promiscuous and wholesale manner; so that a numerous class of the most reckless and abandoned is formed and fostered in the bosom of the community. Who can set a limit to the injuries which are thus inflicted! Only a few of the soldiers are permitted to marry, even when they desire it. In many respects their condition is little better than that of the plantation slave. It loudly calls for redress and should that call fail to be heeded, its cry to God, which has already entered into His ears, cannot fail to produce a certain and a just retribution."

We have no doubt that if the moral history of the troops and garrisons, which in our protecting and paternal tenderness we inflict upon the colonies, were to be faithfully selected, it would be found to present a mass of corruption, which has done and is doing frightful injury to society in those infant communities. And let our readers remember, while remarking the loathsome abominations alluded to above, that the christian men and women of this country are taxed to support those dens of profligacy, where they are practised, in the shape of military garrisons.

Among the members of the Missionary Church at Belize, we rejoice to find that there were some, who conscientiously and courageously refused to bear arms on the broad ground assumed by the primitive christians, "that it is not lawful for a christian to fight."

"At the close of the year, and during the first two weeks in January, the inhabitants of British Honduras are required by law to turn out,' to disguise themselves as soldiers, and to relieve the regular troops of the duty of mounting guard at Governmenthouse, and at the jail. As to the lawfulness of this duty to a follower of the Prince of Peace, some of the Church had serious doubts. A member of the Society of Friends had already suffered some indignities at the hands of the pseudo-military, for refusing to identify himself with this annual demonstration. A young brother, being fully convinced in his own mind that the step, though enjoined by law, was in itself improper, refrained from enrolling himself in the artillery, or white corps. He was dragged from his house by an escort, and confronted with Colonel Frank, of that division, who first fined him in thirty dollars for refusing to enrol, and then placed his name on the muster-roll without his consent. Being still unwilling to bear arms, he was, on a subsequent occa sion, dragged to the guard-room at the court-house, placed under arrest, and after spending two nights and three days in that situation, he was publicly reprimanded, coarsely abused, and threatened with increased severities by the colonel commanding. Determined never to take the life of a fellow creature under any circumstances, he refused either to learn how to handle a musket, or in any way to appear as if he were willing to break the sixth commandment, as he felt he would, by taking the life of a fellow-creature even in self-defence. The private entreaties of the colonel to induce him to consent to be drilled for a short time, accompanied with a promise that he would then be released, having failed to alter his conscientious determination, he was committed to the common jail. The efforts of Mr. Henderson, who applied to the superintendent on his behalf, soon obtained his release and future exemption from such service, on the ground that he was employed as a teacher in the Mission Schools. This exemption was disputed by the militia colonel: but as the superintendent's signature had been given, and was tenaciously held, he was never again required to perform militia duty. Other members of the church suffered repeated fines, and several were afterwards imprisoned for their non-payment."

On the whole, this is a book that we can very cordially recommend. It is brimful of interest and instruction. Let none imagine from the citations we have made that it is confined to a narrative of missionary labour. It abounds with information of every kind, on the past history and the present political, social, and religious condition of the country, its natural productions, its commercial capabilities, its popular customs and habits, the character of the Aboriginal tribes, the influence of Popery upon them, and the future prospects and destinies of this remarkable race.

Borneo Facts versus Borneo Fallacies; an Inquiry into the alleged Piracies of the Dyaks of Serebas and Sakaran.-By LOUIS ALEXIS CHAMEROVZOW.

ABOUT twelve or fourteen months ago the people of this country were startled by the announcement, that Sir James Brooke, Governor of Labuan, had waylaid and attacked a fleet of boats belonging to the Serebas and Sakaran Dyaks, and had slaughtered 1,500 men without the loss of a single individual on the part of the assailants. The description given by those who were present, and who were the friends and admirers of the Labuan hero, represented the scene as one of mere coarse and bloody butchery. We were further informed, that the people of England were to have the pleasure of paying £20,700, which had been awarded as head-money to the gallant men engaged in this exploit. The Peace Society and the Aborigines' Protection Society deemed it their duty, solemnly to protest, in the name of humanity and religion, against this transaction, and happily succeeded in turning public attention pretty steadily to the subject. Some, however, blamed them vehemently for objecting to this hideous massacre of 1,500 unresisting barbarians, and exclaimed angrily, They were only pirates." We never could see the pertinence of this reply in the mouth of Christian men, even if the fact were as they alleged. But the fact was not as they alleged. The wretched men who perished by wholesale, were never proved to have been pirates in any other sense than all savage tribes, who are engaged in constant warfare with each other, are so. assumption that they were so, however rested, the only pretext of justification that could be urged on behalf of Sir James Brooke. In the pamphlet before us, Mr. Chamerovzow has entered upon an elaborate and thorough investigation of the evidence on that subject. He has consulted all the authors who have written on the Archipelago, beginning with Sir Stamford Rafiles, and ending with Brooke himself, and the demonstration of the following points is clear, abundant, unimpeachable :-That all the travel

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SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE PEACE SOCIETY. Received from January 25th to February 22nd, 1851. Town Collection.

Mr. Thomas Ashworth
Mrs. Wallis, Etobicoke
Mr. George Tabor

Mr. George Fenn, 2 years

On the

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lers, who visited that region before Rajah Brooke, distinctly absolve the Dyaks of the charge of piracy; that, he himself, before it suited his purpose to change his sentiments and policy in regard to them, described them as "mild, industrious, and so scrupulously honest, that a single case of theft had not come under his observation;" that, after careful investigation, not a single instance has been adduced of their ever having molested or attacked any British vessel; that they were the hereditary encmies, and in constant intertribal warfare with Sir James Brooke's newly-acquired subjects at Sarawark; and that the only piracies proved against them are their attacks on these enemies, just after the approved and honourable' manner of the Christian and civilised nations of Europe. Such being the case, what shall we say of the massacre of the 31st of July, 1849? Was it a gallant exploit, or was it--but in mercy to the feelings of those who don't like strong language, even where 1,500 innocent lives have been sacrificed- -we will not characterise it. We do very strongly recommend Mr. Channerovzow's pamphlet. It is the fruit of immense research, and the conclusions are stated in a manner perfectly calm and impartial.

A Colloquy between the Gallows and the Hangman: a Poem on the Erils of Capital Punishment, with Notes. By ALBERT MIDLAINE. London, C GILPIN, Bishopsgate Street Without.

We have much pleasure in recommending this useful little Poem to the attention of our readers. It owes its origin to a debate on the lawfulness, expediency, and necessity of Capital Punishment, which took place in the Discussion Class of the Athenæum at Newport, in the Isle of Wight-the author delivering his sentiments in verse, in favour of its abolition. In the form of a dialogue are effectually brought forward the principal arguments against taking away the lives of our fellow-beings by judicial murder, and many a person may be swayed by the considerations urged in these simple but spirited lines who would not be induced to peruse the usual treatises on this subject. We should add that the Notes contain much pertinent information.'

Stourbridge, by Mr. J. Dorrieutt.

SUBSCRIPTIONS, COLLECTIONS, ETC., BY REV. WILLIAM STOKES. Mr. John Bickford

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Of R. Barclay Fox, Esq., sole Executor of the late George Croker Fox, of Falmouth, Legacy, £50., less duty, £5., £45.

FORM OF A BEQUEST TO THE SOCIETY.

I give unto the Treasurer or Treasurers for the time being of "The Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace," established in London in the year 1816, the sum of Pounds Sterling, to be raised and paid for the purposes of the said Society, out of such part only of my Personal Estate as shall not consist of Chattels real, or money secured on Mortgage of Lands or Tenements, or in any other manner affecting Lands or Tenements; and for which the receipt of such Treasurer or Treasurers shall be a sufficient Discharge.

THE HERALD OF PEACE.

"Put up thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."- MATT. xxvi. 52. “They shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."-ISAIAH ii. 4.

No. X. NEW SERIES.

FURTHER SIGNS OF PROMISE.-ARBITRATION

IN AMERICA.

APRIL, 1851.

We have the pleasure of laying before our readers in the present number, two communications that seem to us to possess singular interest and importance, one from America and the other from Germany. We stated in a former number the efforts that have recently been made by the American Peace Society, to bring the subject of Arbitration under the notice of the federal Legislature. The result has been exceedingly gratifying, as will appear by the following extract from a letter published in the New York Tribune :

"I happened to be in the Senate-chamber to-day when Mr. Foote, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, reported, in response to a petition from the American Peace Society, and several hundred other petitions from various and widely-distant parts of the country, the following preamble and resolution, which I deem important enough to transmit to your columns: "Whereas,-Appeals to the sword for the determination of national controversies are always productive of immense evils; and, whereas, the spirit and enterprise of the age, but more especially the genius of our own Government, the habits of our people, and the highest permanent prosperity of our republic, as well as the claims of humanity and the precepts of our holy religion, all require the adoption of every feasible measure consistent with the national honour and the security of our rights to prevent as far as possible the recurrence of war hereafter therefore,

:

"Resolved,―That, in the judgment of this body, it would be proper and desirable for the Government of the United States, wherever practicable, to secure in its treaties with other nations, provision for referring to the decision of umpires all future misunderstandings that cannot be satisfactorily adjusted by amicable negotiation in the first instance, before a resort to hostilities shall be had.'

"Mr. Foote said the committee were cordial and unanimous in recommending the measure, and he presumed the senate would adopt it without objection. It will probably pass, with little if any opposition, except from a few such fiery spirits as the Mexican war has foisted into the senate; and, if ever adopted by our Government in earnest for the prevention of war, it will go far to avert from us hereafter that terrible scourge. This simple measure may become of vast importance, as an entering wedge, to subvert or supersede in time the monstrous practice of settling national disputes by the sword. Let a few leading powers adopt this easy substitute, and their example might before long grow into the customary mode of determining all controveries among nations. I have had the curiosity to inquire into the historical claims of our republic to take the lead in such a step for the improvement of international law; and I find, in the records of our diplomacy, most ample proof that our revolutionary sages and patriots, more especially such men as Jefferson and Franklin, laboured very earnestly to ameliorate the practice of nations on points like this. Their correspondence is full of it; the instructions of the old Continental Congress are to the same effect; and our first treaties with France and Prussia in particular, the first so early as February, 1778, are imperishable monuments of the wisdom, liberality, and pacific spirit which distinguished the founders of our republic. They just endeavoured to carry the spirit of our Government at home

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into policy with other nations; and, if any people are entitled to the honour of taking the initiative in such measures of peace, it certainly is ours."

The form of the above resolution is not indeed all that we could wish. We especially regret the last proviso, in which the precious privilege of "having resort to hostilities" is so carefully guarded. Still, it is no small point gained to have the principle of arbitration deliberately recognized in so high a quarter, and our conviction is strong, that if we only succeed in getting the civilized nations to seek habitual recourse, honestly and in good faith, to this method of settling their differences, the practice of appealing to the sword will as a necessary consequence fall into desuetude. But it appears to us that the representation given in the subjoined letter to ourselves from the Rev. George Beckwith, Secretary of the American Peace Society, of the cordial disposition in favour of Arbitration treaties, which he found to prevail among the leading statesmen of all parties at Washington, is even of more hopeful significance than the above formal resolution.

"Washington, February 11, 1851.

"MY DEAR SIR,-I take the liberty of addressing you a few lines from our metropolis, where I have been spending a fortnight or more on behalf of our cause, in the hope of securing some incipient action by our Government in favour of stipulated Arbitration as a substitute for war.

"You are already aware, that the friends of peace in this country have petitioned our rulers at the present session of Congress, to provide such substitutes; your Committee sent me hither to look after these petitions, and see what could be done now in behalf of our object. This session, terminating by law on the fourth of March, and, consequently, but some ninety days long, is too short for any decisive discussion of the subject in either House, especially in the popular and more numerous branch; but we had some slight hope, that the senate might be induced to give such an expression of their views as would encourage the Cabinet to negotiate treaties with a clause providing for the settlement of our disputes with other nations, in the last resort, by arbitration instead of the sword, and thus begin a practice that may in due time grow into the customary mode of determining all national controversies by amicable

means.

"You probably understand the way in which our foreign policy is conducted. Our Executive, or what you would perhaps call the Government, negotiate treaties; but these treaties can be consummated only by a two-thirds vote of the senate. Hence the necessity of securing the concurrence of both these branches of our general Government in the principle of stipulated arbitration for which we plead. As the Executive will ever be reluctant to embody in their treaties any principle or provision not likely to meet the general approbation of the senate, we wished, if possible, to procure from the latter such an expression of their views as would signify to the former their readiness to concur in the principle of Arbitration which we propose. We have now an excellent Executive for our purpose; and this rendered us more anxious to get from the senate some endorsement of our principles, and thus remove every obstacle to favourable action by the former.

"Our hopes were not a little encouraged by the tone of marked

respect and courtesy with which our petition was received in the senate; but, on my arrival here, I found even a better disposition than I had ventured to expect. The chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, to whom the Peace Memorials, several hundred in all, from nearly every part of the country, had been referred, entered at once into our views, and obtained, as he informed the senate, their cordial and unanimous consent to the report which I send herewith. He said, on presenting it, he thought the senate would adopt it with little or no objection; and, in private conversation with me, he expressed himself still more strongly to the same effect. If there should be time at this session for any action on the resolution offered, it will undoubtedly pass by a large and most decisive majority; and, even if nothing more is done at present, the report alone, entirely unanimous from a committee so important, and composed mainly of men from portions of the country least enlightened and least favourable on the subject of peace, will be quite sufficient to convince our Executive, that nothing will be hazarded by incorporating an arbitration clause in all our future treaties.

Since this report was made in the senate, I have seen the leading members of the Executive, from the President downward; and I find them all favourable to the principle. Some of them expressed themselves as promptly and strongly in its favour as any member of your own committee would have done; and not one either dissented, or objected, or seemed unwilling to adopt the principle as a part of our foreign policy. My chief apprehension now arises from the delicacy felt by diplomatists in starting such a practice, as they generally have such a horror or shyness of innovation upon old usages; but I pressed upon them the idea, that it behoves our government to take the initiative in this matter, as in harmony with our history, character, and position before the world. I have also called upon some of the foreign ministers here, and find the principle favourably entertained by them. Indeed, the prospects of success in this movement exceed my highest expectations; and, should the proposition meet with like favour in other high quarters, I think we may reasonably hope to see the experiment of arbitration as a substitute for the sword put, ere long, to a fair trial. The result I cannot doubt. Let this simple measure be adopted by a few leading nations, like England, France, the United States, and perhaps Russia; and the vast advantages that would follow, must very soon commend it so fully alike to people and to rulers, that they could not, even if they would, get back again to the old brutal arbitrament of lead and steel.

"With great regard, yours, &c.,

"G. C. BECKWITH."

The

It would seem, however, that the proceedings in reference to Arbitration, do not constitute the only "heavy blow and great discouragement" given to the war system by the American Legislature during the last twelve months. Advocate of Peace, just come to hand, in a little paragraph headed "Favourable Indications in the Right Quarter," says, "In the House of Representatives there have been within a year or little more, three votes very significant of progress ;the first, on the question of referring Peace petitions to a select committee; the second, the rejection of the bill for creating a retired list of officers in the army and navy; and the last, the reduction of the appropriations for fortifications."

PROGRESS OF PEACE PRINCIPLES IN GERMANY. We are sometimes asked what practical result has flowed from the Frankfort Congress. We might answer, much in every way. A great and fruitful idea has been flung broadcast into the soil of central Europe. Thousands of the most able and enlightened minds in Germany have been familiarised with a powerful moral and social tendency, which is rising and growing in the heart of England, France, Belgium, and America; and to be familiarised with such a thought, is to ensure the interest and the sympathy of multitudes. But we are not without the means of answering the question, in a still more direct and definite form. We believe that the document, extracts from which we are now about to submit to our readers, will be read by them with more than ordinary delight. It is

the "Report of the Peace Society of Koenigsberg, in Prussia," which has just been transmitted to us from one of the able and eminent men whose zealous labours it so well describes.

REPORT OF THE PEACE SOCIETY OF KOENIGSBERG, IN PRUSSIA. Some time since, one of the professors of the university in this city conceived the idea of founding a Peace Society in that place, where the great philosopher, Immanuel Kant, first made known his thoughts on the subject of universal peace-a society whose object should be to diffuse and carry into practice the ideas of that philosopher. He wished in this way to commence in Germany also, that philanthropic work in which so many excellent men in America, England, Belgium, and France, had been engaged, and that with such signal success. In the summer of 1850, when he commenced his work, he found many of his friends of this city willing, heart and soul, to enter into his plans and co-operate with him. Among these we may mention the celebrated reformer of the Protestant Church in Germany, Dr. Julius Rupp; the minister of the French Reformed Church, Dr. Detroit; the Baptist minister, Herr Harder; the ministers of the free Protestant Churches, Herr Herrendörfer, from Filsit, and Herr Rasche, from Prussian Eylau; the superintendent of the free Protestant Church of this place, Herr Röckner; and many other friends and fellow-citizens, especially the members of the large free Protestant Church of this city. This Church passed a resolution to send some of its members to act as its representatives at the Peace Congress at Frankfort. For this purpose they sent Dr. Motherby as a deputation. This gentleman took considerable part in the proceedings of the Congress; and on his return laid before them a full and complete report of it. Dr. F. H. Lobeck was prevented from attending by the duties of his office, and Dr. I. Rupp by police regulations, though both of them intended to do so; but they were all the more active in promoting the cause of peace at home. Dr. I. Rupp, not only by means of the eloquent and powerful discourses which he delivers regularly in his capacity of minister, but also through a series of articles in the Ottpreussischer Volksbote, which he edits with much ability, and which is as yet the only newspaper in our country advocating the principles of ecclesiastical, political, and social reform. In the meantime, Dr. F. H. Lobeck was engaged in private conferences with the persons we have already mentioned as being favourable to their plans; after which they called a public meeting, in order definitively to constitute the Society. This meeting was held on the 19th September, and was attended by about 500 persons. It was opened by Dr. Lobeck with a short speech, in which he stated it to be his wish that the society they were about to form should adopt the same resolutions that had been agreed to at the Peace Congresses of Brussels, Paris, and Frankfort, that the city of Königsberg might also at this time vindicate her former glory—that city which, although it was more distant from European civilization, and more exposed to the incursions of Asiatic barbarians than any other city of Germany, has nevertheless always been first and foremost in any great liberal undertaking tending to promote the true interests of their country, or of mankind at large.

Dr. Detroit, at the suggestion of Dr. Lobeck, was then called to the chair. He continued the subject in a long and exceedingly impressive speech, in which he showed that the principles of this Society were none other than those which the Founder of Christianity, the teacher of Nazareth, set before the world as a great moral lesson nearly two thousand years ago. He thought there was only one means of attaining their object, and that was to bring the principles of peace well before the people, to show them the folly and cruelty of war, which reduces man to a state of slavery. This Society, said he, can never be willing to employ any other means. Although the goal may seem distant, it is nevertheless high time to commence this work. This is a cause in which all, of whatever persuasion or class in society they may be, to whatever political party they may belong, can cordially unite. However weak and contemptible the commencement of this good work may seem, it is the cause of truth, and Magna est veritas, et prevalebit.

The next speaker was Dr. Motherby, who said he could not help adding his feeble voice in favour of such a society as the meeting had come together to form. He then gave a sketch of the last Peace Congress held at Frankfort, which he had attended as a deputation from the free Protestant Church already mentioned. This sketch was extremely interesting and life-like, and

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