3. An Oration delivered at Newburyport on the 4th of July. By Hon. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 1837.

We have long regarded this festival of our nation as fraught with immense mischief to the community; but we are glad to see it either celebrated by politicians in a more rational way, or turned by Christians and philanthropists into an occasion for promoting the cause of virtue, piety and benevolence. The spirit usually called into exercise on the 4th of July, is as contrary to the gospel as darkness is to light, and we wonder that Christians should so generally have failed to see and deplore the fact.

It is difficult to characterize the performance before us, a strange compound of good and evil; but we are very willing to lay it under contribution to the cause of peace, and to glean from it proof that this reform is sending its silent influence among the rulers of nations. We quote a few of the author's glowing thoughts on the progressive improvement of mankind especially in reference to the cause of peace:

"Fellow-citizens! fellow-Christians! fellow-men! Am I speaking to believers in the gospel of peace? To others, I am aware, that the capacities of man for self or social improvement are subjects of distrust, or of derision. The sincere believer receives the rapturous promises of the future improvement of his kind, with humble hope and cheering confidence of their final fulfilment. He receives them too, with the admonition of God to his conscience, to contribute himself, by all the aspirations of his heart, and all the faculties of his soul, to their accomplishment. Tell not him of impossibilities, when human improvement is the theme. Nothing can be impossible, which may be effected by human will. See what has been effected! An attentive reader of the history of mankind, whether in the words of inspiration, or in the records of antiquity, or in the memory of his own experience, must perceive that the gradual improvement of his own condition upon earth is the inextinguishable mark of distinction between the animal man, and every other animated being, with the innumerable multitudes of which every element of this sublunary globe is peopled. And yet, from the earliest records of time, this animal is the only one in the visible creation, who preys upon his kind. The savage man destroys and devours his captive foe. The partially civilized man spares his life, but makes him his slave. In the progress of civilization, both the life and liberty of the enemy vanquished or disarmed are spared; ransoms for prisoners are given and received. Progressing still in the paths to perpetual peace, exchanges are established, and the prisoner of war restored to his country, and to the enjoyment of all his rights of property and of person. A custom, first introduced by mutual special convention, grows into a settled rule of the laws of nations, that persons occupied exclusively upon the arts of peace, shall with their property remain wholly unmolested in the conflicts of nations by arms. We ourselves have been bound by solemn engagements with one of the most warlike nations of Europe, to observe this rule, even in the utmost extremes of war; and in one of the most merciless periods of modern times, I have seen, towards the close of the last century, three members of the society of Friends, with Barclay's Apology, and Penn's Maxims in their hands, pass peaceful travellers through the embattled hosts of France and Britain, unharmed and unmolested, as the three children of Israel in the furnace of Nebuchadnezzar.

War, then, by the common consent and mere will of civilized 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, that this total abolition of war upon earth is an improvement in the condition of man, entirely dependent on his own will. He cannot repeal or change the laws of physical 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.

The improvements in the condition of mankind upon earth have been achieved from time to time by slow progression, sometimes retarded by long stationary periods, and even by retrograde movements towards primitive barbarism. The invention of the alphabet and of printing are separated from each other by an interval of more than three thousand years. The art of navigation loses its origin in the darkness of antiquity; but the polarity of the magnet was yet undiscovered in the twelfth century of the Christian era; nor, when discovered, was it till three centuries later, that it disclosed to the European man the continents of North and South America. The discovery of the laws of gravitation, and the still more recent application of the power of steam, have made large additions to the physical powers of man; and the inventions of machinery, within our own memory, have multiplied a thousand fold the capacities of improvement practicable by the agency of a single hand.

It is surely in the order of nature, as well as in the promises of inspiration, that the moral improvement in the condition of man should keep pace with the multiplication of his physical capacities, comforts and enjoyments. The mind, while exerting its energies in the pursuit of happiness upon matter, cannot remain inactive or powerless to operate upon itself. The mind of the mariner, floating upon the ocean, dives to the bottom of the deep, and ascends to the luminaries of the skies. The useful manufactures exercise and sharpen the ingenuity of the workman; the liberal sciences absorb the silent meditations of the student; the elegant arts soften the temper, and refine the taste of the artist; and all in concert contribute to the expansion of the intellect, and the purification of the moral sense of our species. But man is a gregarious animal. Association is the second law of his nature, as self-preservation is the first. The most pressing want of association is government, and the government of nature is the patriarchal law, the authority of the parent over his children. With the division of families commences the conflict of interests. Avarice and ambition, jealousy and envy, take possession of the human heart, and kindle the flames of war. Then it is that the laws of nature become perverted, and the ruling passion of man is the destruction of his fellow-creature, man. This is the origin and the character of war, in the first stages of human societies. But war, waged by communities, requires a leader with absolute and uncontrolled command; and hence it is that monarchy and war have one and same origin, and Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord, was the first king and the first conqueror upon the record of time.

"A mighty hunter, and his prey was man."

In process of time, when the passions of hatred, and fear, and revenge, have been glutted with the destruction of vanquished enemies,-when mercy claims her tribute from the satiated yet unsatisfied heart, and cupidity whispers that the life of the captive may be turned to useful account to the victor,-the practice of sparing his life on condition of his submission to perpetual slavery was introduced, and that was the condition of the Asiatic nations, and among them the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah, when the prophecies of Isaiah were delivered. Then it was that this further great improvement in the condition of mankind was announced by the burning lips of the prophet. Then it was that the voice commissioned from heaven, proclaimed good tidings to the meek, mercy to the afflicted, liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.

How long, O! how long will it be before that object itself shall be accomplished? Not yet are we permitted to go out with joy, and to be led forth with peace. Not yet shall the mountains and the hills break forth before us into singing, and all the trees of the field clap their hands. Not yet shall the fir-tree come up instead of the thorn, nor the myrtle-tree instead of the brier. But let no one despair of the final accomplishment of the whole prophecy.

Let no

one surrender his Christian faith, that the Lord of creation will, in his own good time, realize a declaration made in his name,-made in words such as were never uttered by the uninspired lips of man,-in words worthy of omnipotence. The progress of the accomplishment of the prophecy is slow. It has baffled the hopes, and disappointed the wishes, of generation after generation of men. Yet, observe well the history of the human family, since the birth of the Sayiour, and you will see great, remarkable and progressive approximations towards it. Such is the prevalence, over so large a portion of the race of man, of the doctrines promulgated by Jesus and his apostles,-lessons of peace, of benevolence, of meekness, of brotherly love, of charity,—all utterly incompatible with the ferocious spirit of slavery. Such is the total extirpation of the licentious and romantic religion of the heathen world. Such is the incontrovertible decline and approaching dissolution of the sensual and sanguinary religion of Mahomet. Such is the general substitution of the Christian faith for the Jewish dispensation of the Levitical law. Such is the modern system of the European law of nations, founded upon the laws of nature, which is gradually reducing the intercourse between sovereign states to an authoritative code of international law. Such is the wider and wider expansion of public opinion, already commensurate with the faith of Christendom; holding emperors, and kings, and pontiffs, and republics, responsible before its tribunals, and recalling them from all injustice and all oppression to the standard maxims of Christian benevolence and mercy, always animated with the community of principles promulgated by the gospel, and armed with a two edged sword, more rapid and consuming than the thunderbolt, by the invention of printing."

4. Letter to Hon. Henry Clay on the annexation of Texas to the United States. By WILLIAM E. CHANNING. Boston. 1837.

We have no room for extracts or notice; but we cannot refrain from commending to the friends of peace, as well as of liberty and right, this and every other appeal against admitting Texas into the Union, or taking any part whatever in support of a cause so flagrantly wrong in every point of view.

ARTICLE IX.

INTELLIGENCE.

1. REPORTS.

Second Annual Report of the Boston Ladies' Peace Society.

THE second annual report of the Boston Ladies' Peace Society must record the confirmed conviction of many of its members, that they decided wisely in associating themselves in a society whose object is the diffusion of the principles announced in their constitution. We have held several meetings, which have not in general been fully attended. Much interesting conversation, however, occurred at these meetings, and important differences of opinion appeared in different members of the society. The question seems to be undecided among us, whether war under any circumstances can be justified; and our constitution does not convey the same meaning to all who have adopted it. Many are yet undecided on important questions connected with, and growing out of our peace principles. We are endeavoring to shed light and harmony over a "discordant and sorrow-stricken world;" and if our exertions seem to be vainly made, is it not that we would blindly lead the blind? And should we not clear our own moral vision, lest we incur the doom of the presumptuous? Let us console ourselves, however, by believing that the remark of a distinguished writer, "that a season of preparation for a better order of

things is not a season of favorable appearances, but the reverse," is true; and let us look earnestly for the gradual and beautiful evolution of light and order from the chaotic darkness of uncertainty and indecision. Above all, we must come to the conclusion, that it is no easy task we have set ourselves, to uproot many of the cherished associations of our childhood, to dissipate the visionary and romantic dreams of our youth, to pierce the illusive mists with which song and fable would veil the revolting features of ambition, hatred and murder. We must learn to love and reverence principles and conduct that we must continually hear contemned and derided. We would fain believe, that our minds have not been vainly agitated by the peace question, but that we are now being subjected to a process by which the pure and peaceable fruits of righteousness shall be produced in our hearts, and that we shall, when beginning to find our labors effectual in the wide future to which we are called, look back with satisfaction even to this portion of our experience as the necessary preparation for a better order of things. We would dwell on the importance of settling our own belief, and freeing our own minds of error and prejudice, rather than on topics which might on a cursory glance be thought more essential to a society's report.

We should not be disheartened by our situation in the human family. We may learn, as we "sit at the feet of history," that from remotest time, the influence of woman has been felt in society for good or evil. We find war proclaimed, dissensions fomented, and fatal feuds excited, to gratify the ambition, hatred or revenge of women. They gloried in being the mothers of a valiant race. As they bent the twig, so did the tree incline; and thus has the earth been filled with violence. Have we less power for good than they had for evil? If, as mothers and teachers, we endeavor to train a portion of the future public as citizens who will turn with disgust and horror from the glory and the guilt of war, and decline all cooperation in warlike preparations;—as preachers who will proclaim a gospel of peace and good-will;-as statesmen who will uplift their voices in the nation's councils in behalf of truth, and will not hesitate to say to assembled legislators, to you is the command addressed, love your enemies;'-may we not trust that our exertions will be crowned with success, and that we may joyfully answer them who then ask how we can act in behalf of our principles?

Nor is the direct influence we can exert inconsiderable. We believe that the solemn convictions of no mind on a question of duty were ever uttered in vain; and though we could do no more than thus avow our belief, we should not be without the means of doing good. A word spoken in season, how good it is! How often falls some expression carelessly from the speaker, forgotten as soon as uttered, which may seem to be vainly spoken, but like seeds that remain for years deeply buried in the soil, till some convulsion throws them near the surface, and they spring up, and bear fruit after their kind, so do these words, " unnoticed in their hour perchance, but back returning with a magic tone," often produce in the mind which receives them, enduring results.

It is to be hoped that our society has been in some measure faithful during the year that has gone. The conversations we have held, the books we have read and circulated, the correspondence we have conducted with other societies, have without doubt done something for the cause; and though we may not see with our own eyes the results of our labors, we cannot but hope the good seed we have scattered has often fallen in good ground, and will spring up, and bear fruit abundantly.

Boston, April 21, 1837.

Report of the Philadelphia Ladies' Peace Society.

In attempting a report of the Philadelphia Ladies' Peace Society, we have to lament, that so little that is cheering to the friends of peace can be presented on the occasion. The subject gains but slowly upon the minds of our citizens; that is, so far as an open profession of peace principles is concerned. There are very few, we believe, among us, who are not ready enough to acknowl12

edge war to be a great and crying evil, heartily to be deprecated, as most destructive to national prosperity, to human life, to morality, to the social endearments of home and friends, and, in short, to every thing conducive to the happiness of a country, and all that can make life desirable. Yet, while they devoutly and fervently pray to be preserved from so great a calamity, they cannot conceive how wars are to be prevented, but deem them unavoidable, and, in fact, necessary in some cases; and, while they sincerely hope for the preservation of peace, of civil and national good feeling, they cannot subscribe to the utility of adopting the principles of peace, as enforced by this society, and of urging them upon the people, as at all auxiliary to the growth of individual and national pacification. Even the greater part of professing Christians among us are slow to believe, that any thing salutary can be effected by the society. They are disposed to look upon war as an instrument of the Almighty for the punishment of nations, and as a visitation, that our most strenuous efforts cannot avert, so long as the human heart remains perverted by pride, ambition and revenge. They fully believe in the prophecy of Scripture, that the time will come, when swords shall be beaten into ploughshares, and spears into pruning-hooks; that nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more;" and they rely on the fulfilment of this prophecy by supernatural means, or by the progressive influence of the march of Christianity towards the era of its accomplishment.

We have merely mentioned these things cursorily, as objections often made to our society in this city, without any intention or space to say how far we conceive them to be right, or how far wrong. Many good people, too, are apt to look upon the efforts of the peace society as tending in a measure to depreciate the general influence of gospel principles, taken as a whole. They think the chain should be preserved entire; and that one link, detached and presented for special consideration, serves to weaken the whole. They think that the general doctrines and precepts of the gospel, embraced with sincerity, will most assuredly produce the peaceful fruits of righteousness, without insisting so particularly upon any one principle distinct from the rest. This, too, it is not our place to controvert in a common report; but far be it from us to say or do aught that would in any light tend to disparage the efficacy of the general principles of the gospel of Christ; for upon this gospel, and upon this alone for a foundation, is built the superstructure of the peace cause. The custom of war we believe to be at variance with the whole doctrines of the gospel; and by urging the inculcation of the principles of peace, individually and nationally, we think, that instead of disparaging the general principles of the gospel, it rather tends to establish them all.

In the formation of the Philadelphia Ladies' Peace Society, it was not expected very much could be done immediately. The ladies did not expect to reform the city, to convert the arsenal into an hospital, the navy yard into a flower garden, and the officers and marines into horticulturists. Their hopes were not quite so sanguine, nor their views so extended, but confined to the narrower limits of home and friends-to the fireside, the social circle, and the stated meetings of their society. They wished to consult together for their mutual encouragement, and to discuss plans for the dissemination of the principles of peace and good-will, so far as their influence extended. It was first in their own hearts, that the great principles of meekness, forbearance and peace were to be fostered, to be manifested in the education and government of their children, and to have their pacific sentiments felt and acknowledged by fathers, husbands and brothers.

And who can doubt the good effects of all this? These ladies are not grappling with a subject beyond their comprehension. They are not meddling with things out of their proper sphere; they are only binding themselves the closer to their own peculiar duties. By a careful investigation of the principles of the peace society, founded upon the gospel, and presented in various publications, tracts, pamphlets, &c., combining, along with scripture proofs, numerous interesting historical anecdotes, and facts, illustrative of the horrors of