ARTICLE XXI.

"If unhappily any disagreement should hereafter arise between the governments of the two republics, whether with respect to the interpretation of any stipulation in this treaty, .or with respect to any other particular concerning the political or commercial relations of the two nations, the said governments in the name of those nations, do promise to each other that they will endeavor, in the most sincere and earnest manner, to settle the difference so arising, and to preserve the state of peace and friendship in which the two countries are now placing themselves; using, for this end, mutual representations, and pacific negotiations. And if, by these means, they should not be enabled to come to an agreement, a resort shall not, on this account, be had to reprisals, aggression, or hostility of any kind, by the one republic against the other, until the government of that which deems itself aggrieved shall have maturely considered, in the spirit of peace and good neighborship, whether it would not be better that such difference should be settled by the arbitration of commissioners appointed on each side, or by that of a friendly nation. And should such course be proposed by either party, it shall be acceded to by the other, unless deemed by it altogether incompatible with the nature of the difference, or the circumstances of the case."

The next Article in the Treaty is an attempt, as has been said, to bind the parties, if they should again fight, (“which is not to be expected, and which God forbid !") to make war on Christian principles!

And let it not be here said, that nations must be left to manage their own concerns for themselves, and that it is the business of no third party to say how they shall settle their quarrels. On the contrary, it does very much concern every nation that every other nation be at peace. It is the busi

ness, very properly and necessarily the business of every nation, that its neighbors be not embroiled in sanguinary conflicts on shore, spoliations upon one another's commerce on the sea, nor that they should in any way interrupt the great channels of human intercourse, trade, and improvement. There may at particular periods be partial benefits, arising from war among their neighbors, to neutral powers; but in general it is the deranger of commerce, the embroiler of international connections beyond the parties directly involved, the signal to confusion and every evil work through the world. The war-trumpet blows discord into the ear of listening nations. A slight contest between inconsiderable powers has sometimes in history brought on that awful era in human events, called "a general war." Much responsibility rests upon those who first break the peace in the family of nations. And from such considerations it is plainly the interest and duty of neutral nations to use their good offices to restore peace between the belligerents. On every ground, too, of humanity and Christianity, it is imperative that democracies of all governments should cordially welcome the amiable intervention of others to heal their discords; for war is the enemy of the people, the enemy of liberty, the certain subverter of most of the benefits proposed by free institutions. History is full of warnings upon this subject, and if we are not deaf as adders, we shall hearken to the solemn voice that issues from the grave of departed republics.

2. Congress of Nations. But mediation or arbitration, valuable as it may be and has been, is not sufficiently systematic and general, to contribute very effectually to extinguish the firebrands of war. We have just had mournful evidence that some more efficacious instrument is demanded for the pacification even of Christian republics and near neighbors.

The most satisfactory plan which has yet been suggested is that of a Congress of Nations; or a Congress and a

Court of Nations, one as the preliminary and legislative body, and the other as the judicial and executive one; the one to enact rules, and the other to judge cases, and carry its decisions into effect. Many objections have been raised against this, and every other project of perpetual pacification among the nations, but they are in general founded either on a misconception of the plan proposed, or on the old notion, that what has been, must be. If an august body should meet, of the wisest and best men, venerable for age and services, experienced in all matters of a legal, judicial, political, and moral character, elevated far above the aims of a selfish ambition, consulting with a large vision not for any narrow sectional interest of one or a few, but for the welfare of the world, it would be a spectacle in itself to command the universal admiration, homage and obedience of mankind. This object would be as sublime as it would be beneficent, to pacificate a warring world, to staunch the bleeding wounds of kingdoms, to actualize the prophetic and millennial age, and establish in steadfast loyalty the undisputed reign of the Prince of Peace.

The details of such a world-Congress, or Court, one or both, would of course require more discussion than can be given to them in this review. They will be found, however, at length in the Prize Essays on a Congress of nations, published by the American Peace Society, and in a compiled Essay on the same subject by the late distinguished philanthropist, William Ladd. We only insert the subject here in connection with another frightful chapter in our history, that speaks in thunder-tones of the need of such an institution, or some one like it, to avert these wholesale murders. When a new idea is first broken to the mind, there is apt to be some revulsion from it as being novel, extravagant, and aggressive upon our previous views. But the longer it is entertained, if it be true and valuable, the more fully do we become convinced that all truth is harmonious, safe, and pro

fitable; and that precisely what the nations are perishing for, is lack of knowledge; that what the "whole creation groaneth and travaileth" for, is the faithful application of the truths of Christ to the wants of human society, in all public affairs as well as in private conduct and to the individual heart. The word of God is no mere fine theory, but the eternal verity, deeper than the sea, higher than the heavens, of these momentous interests of man living with man, and nation with nation; "neither is there salvation in any other."

But most thoroughly are we persuaded that there is nothing in the plan in question more wild or Quixotic than the institution of civil society itself, especially than the leagues and alliances recorded in history, and the Federal Union of thirty independent States in our own government. What is needed is, that the idea of a great pacific tribunal to settle the disputes of the world, should be broached, familiarized to the people, sent abroad on the wings of the press, hammered by dint of heavy and oft-repeated arguments into the mass of admitted and accredited truths, and then the work is done. We have trained mankind to war, we must now train them to peace. When the spirit of peace is largely developed in the public sentiment of Europe and America, this institution will be born in a day. The tendency of these remarks is to show that the agitation of the subject is what is now most exigent. By books and pamphlets, by the living voice and the inspired pen, this theme must be brought home to the minds and hearts of men, and they must be made to feel that every individual, be he high or low, rich or poor, is vitally concerned in having the great quarrels of kingdoms justly and amicably settled, as he is that justice should be done between man and man, and peace and order prevail in his hamlet or village. For in the earthquake shocks of war a thousand homes are overturned, and the mark of blood is left behind

on ten thousand spheres of life once usefully and happily filled by fathers, sons, husbands, brothers. Let us hope, and labor, and pray, that the day may not be far distant when civilized and Christian men will see the madness of war, its bald inconsistency with the theory of a republican government, its hostility to the spirit of the present age, and its nullification of every law, and promise, and prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER XXX.

PACIFICATION OF THE WORLD.

"When the drums shall throb no longer,

And the battle-flags be furled

In the Parliament of man,

The Federation of the world.'

TENNYSON.

"Neither shall they learn war any more." ISAIAH.

SINCE war has so many evils, and peace so many blessings, may we not labor with hope for the fulfilment of the prophet's vision? Since the expenditures of military expeditions, the destruction of multitudes of lives, the barbarities, executions, illegalities, personal, domestic, and political evils, the vices of the camp, the creation of a species of martial literature, the introduction of false maxims of conduct, and the counteraction of the Gospel by the war-spirit, chargeable upon our conflict with Mexico, are virtually the same in all wars, may we not hope that the good sense of mankind. and their feelings of human brotherhood will