The Sun.
London, England, 1838-05-28 00:00:00

SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION

OF UNIVERSAL PEACE.

The annual meeting of the " Universal Peace Society" was held on
Tuesday evening, in the Meeting House of the Society of Friends,
Houndsditch. The building was crowded by a large and very respect-
able audience. Edward Bailie', Esq , M.P. for Leeds, was called to the
chair, amid the rapturous plaudit; of the meeting, We observed on
the platform, among other gentlemen of note in the religious and phi-
lanthropic world, John Rundell, Esq., M.P. for the Borough of
stock, the Res,. Dr. Pye Smith, Rev. Dr. Bennett, Rev. Mr. Hargraves,
Rev. John Woodwark, Rev. Mr, Meadows, Rev. Ezra S. Connctt,
Lieutenant John Humley, R.N., &c., &c. George Thompson, Esq.,
the popular and eloquent lecturer on the slave question, entered the
house in the course of the evening, and his appearance was warmly
applauded by the meeting.
Mr. BAINES, in rising to open the business of the evening, was re-
ceived with renewed cheering. The Hen. Gentleman said he had much
pleasure, and no smell pride, in presiding over a meeting haring in view
such a glorious Object as the promotion of permanent and universal
peace.—(Cheers.) It was an object which ought to be dear to the bosenr
of every truly benevolent man--dear to the purer feelings of hu-
manity; and yet, he was sorry to say, it was an object not
sufficiently appreciated end supported by the ministers of congregations
and heads of families in this country.—(hear, hear.) He hoped, how_
ever, that in the course of the evening, statements would be made of
the cheering progress of the principles of peace in the United States of
America, which would have the salutary effect of stimulating and ex-
citing the people of England to a betten sense of their duty and respon-
sibility with regard to this high ancl holy subject.—(Loud cheers.) The
Redeemer of Earth was called " The Prime of Peace," and he (Mr.
Baines) was ambitious of being called the friend and servant of peace.—
(Renewed applause.) To bear such an honourable title was far superior
to the glittering tinsel of camps and Courts. He confessed that he at-
tended that evening under some inconvenience—he did not mean per-
sonal inconvenience, for that he cared not—but inconvenience to a cause
a discussion on which is going on in another place, and which re-
quired his, attendance—(Hear.) He was sure, therefore, that, having
redeemed his pledge to take the Chair en the occasion of their meeting,
they would not find fault if he abdicated it sooner than might have been ex-
pected.lie would leave the company, but he hope 1 they would give him cre-
dit for saying that he would not leave the cause which they were met that
night to support ; for he would go in favour of freedom, peace, and per
feet liberty.—(lmmense cheering.) He would leave them only to go
and prosecute their cause in another place, where it required all the
support which its friends could award.—(Bear.) Under other circum-
stances he would have been most happy to have remained among them;
and he hoped that his departure would be ascribed to any other motive
thee want of attachment to the cause and principles of universal peace.
Mr. Baines having announced that George Bennett, Esq. had con.
Rented to take the Chair in his absence, then left the room amid the
cheers of the meeting, to give his vote in the Mouse of Commons on
Sir E. Wilinot's motion on slavery.
The SECRETARY then read the report of the Society's proceedings during
the past year, which was ofa very gratifying nature, end elicited through.
out its perusal great approbation. Besides the extensive distribution of
tracts and books during the year, lectures had been delivered in varietis
parts of the country with much suc-ess. The amount of receipts from
subscriptions, donations, and the sale of tracts amounted to 565/. I4v. Sit.,
and in addition to this the Committee had to acknowledge a legacy of
1 0 el. The report stated that the principles of the Society were rapidly
progressing in America, and the differept religious Societies of that
country seldom parted at their annual meetings without passing resolu_
lions in favour of pence.—(Cheers) The report regretted that the re-
ligious Societies of England did not adopt such an excellent plan.
The CIIAIR7.IAN then called upon -1
The Rev. JOZIN WOODWARE to move the first resolution which w
to the following effect :
" That the Report now read be received and adopted, and printed a
circulated under the direction of the Committee ; and that the Secretary
and other officers of the Society be requested to continue their services
for the ensuing year."—(Cheers.)
The Rev. Gentleman said ho owed it to the profession to which he
belonged, and to his principles, not to shrink from the candid and open
avowal of his attachment to the Society whose anniversary they were
that day celebrating.—(Cheers.) He held that no man who took the New
Testament as his guide could ever entertain the question whether war
was contrary to its genius or not.—(Hear.) He was quite prepared to
think that, in the present state of society, war might in certain cases be
unavoidaLle ; but it was rot, therefore, to be declared lawful, or cen.
sietect with the Divine will —(Hear, hear.) He perfectly agreed with
that part of the report which stated much good might be done by religi-
ons ministers of all denominations, making the subject of war a constant
theme of their discourses to their flocks ; and it was highly necessary
and important that every Christian teacher shoal be instructed to instil
the principles which they were now met to propagate, into the hearts and
minds of their pupils.—(Cheers.) He, for his own part, spoke as a
Christian parent, and aehmigh he hail no son who was likely to grow up
and become attached to the profession of arms, yet lie had daughters, upon
whoseminds he haul lost no opportunity of impressing those doctrines.—
(Cheers.) It was imperative upon all Christian fathers to make war and
its dreadful and devastating effects, the subject of conversation with their
children —(Hear, hear.) Twenty years ago the very children caught the
spirit of the times, and regarded war and its glories with admiration and
delight ; but it was the duty of every father to strip war of its tinsel and
its gildine, and to set it before his children in its real and hideous de-
onnity —(Loud cheers.) The Rev. Gentleman concluded by proposing
the first resolution, which includes a vote of thanks to the Treasurer,
Secretary, and other members of the Committee, trod the request of the
sneeting to continue their services.
The Rev. Mr. Ileenneves, Home-Secretary, seconded the resolution.
War, said the Rev. Gentleman is a
" Monster of such hideous it sin
Teat te be hated needs but to be seen "
/Cheers.) They had often heard people talk of the necessity, the ex-
pediency and the policy of war. 'These reasons for the continuation of
war were very undefined. Napoleon upon his deate-bed had consoled
bin-vet' by saying that durirg all " the battles, sieges, fortunes, he had
passed" Ise had never been the aggressor..—( A laugh.) If Buonaparte
made that plea, so might the most ruthless warrior that ever lived, and
the principle of defensive war once admitted, they woidd open a wide
field indeed, for he never knew an aggressor yet that did not a,s,rt that
he acted on the clef ensive.—(llear, hear.) He (Mr. Hargraves; would
admit no tied of war, either offensive or defensive, for the swore seas
an unnecessary, an unjust, and a cruel arbiter.—(Cheers.) To talk of
war being expedient, politic, and wise, was to talk in a language which
he did tot understand —(Hear, hear.) Wes it expedient, he
would ask, to burn the habitations of their fellow men to
to devastate whole villages, and to commit their unoffending inhabi-
t:mt.% man, woman, and child, to indiscriminate slaughter ?—(Hear,
hear) Was it expedient to saddle the country with the immense
sums of money, which were expended in the perpetration of these
barbarous cruelties ?—(Loud cheers.) During the. twenty years which
had occurred in the recollection of many present, no less a sum than
one thousand one hundred and seventy-five millions of money had
been expended. Was this, he would ask, expedient.—(('beers) Dur.
ing that war fire millions of their' fellow men bad perished by the
sword. Was that expedient ?—(Loud cries of "No, no.") Where,
then was the expedi ncy, the policy, or the wisdem of war ?—(Loud
Cheers.) Could it possibly be in a moral point of view ? Was the fleet
and the camp a fit place for the encouragement of morality ?—(Cheers.)
But he heard talk of the honour of war and the glories of victory—
(Hear.) Ile held in his hand the prayer of Lord Nelson, written by
himself, a few hours before he received the fatal wound that terminated
his existence, in which he prayed for his country a great and glorious
victory, and that afterwards humanity might be the predominent fea-
ture of the British character.—(tlear, hear, and loud cheers.)
In his (Mr. Ilargraves) opinion a glorious victory involved
a terrible destruction, and it was impossible they could pray that one
side might win, without praying that the other might lose.—(Cheers.)
The glories of war ? Oh 1 let them strip the warrior naked, and look
upon their green and beautiful fields saturated with human gore. Let
them contemplate the rivers of tears shed by the widowed wives and fa-
therless children of the slain, and then let them boast of the glories of
war.—(Applause.) But what divine precedents could they adduce in
support of such practices. Moses forbade a soldier to camp fora certain
time, and David would not be allowed to build the house of God because
he was a man of war.—(Cheers.) He was aware that he was trespassing
at too great a length upon the attention of the meeting—(Cries of " no,
no,")—but there was one subject to which he wished to allude before he
sat down, and that was the subject of slavery.—(Hear, hear.) They
were all honestly, conscientiously and determinedly, opposed to seavery,
and heartily desired that at the proposed time the negro apprenticeship
should end.—(Cheers.) Such opinions were congenial with the principles
they had met to enforce, for it could not be contended but that slavery was
the child of war.— (Loud cheers,) Oh, how he relished that a Sturges
or a Brougham, or a Thompson would discuss the question of slavery in
reference to this subject, and regard it merely as a branch of the tree of
vat.—(Cheers,) He wished that some independent Member in his
place in the House of Commons would inquire why so great an aug-
mentation had taken place in their army and navy, during a period of
such profound peace.—(Hear, hear.) In his opinion, the money ex-
pended on those purposes in England and Ireland would be better
employed for purposes of education.—(Cheers.) He would conclude by
advising them to cast out of their houses all drums and fifes, and such
like warlike toys with which many of them, no doubt, allowed their chit.
dren to bo amused, and all pictures pourtraying the triumphs end
glories of bloodshed—he would have torn and cast into the fire.—
(Cheers) He would not have trespassed thus far upon their time, only
for a sense of duty which, as a Christian, he owed to his fellow-ex:attires
on whom he wished to impress the truth and necessity of that divine
doctrine which taught " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace and good-will to all men." (The Rev. Gentleman sat amidst loud
and long continued applause.)
'I he Rev. Dr. Pee Surnoin a speech in which he was very inaudible,
proposed the next resolution :
" That this meeting considers that the progress of pacific principles,
espet laity in America, Is a loud call for gratitude to God, the giver of all
good."—(Loud applause.)
The Rev, Mr. MEADOWS, from China, seconded the resolution in an
able speech, which was chiefly illustrative of the manners and customs
el' the country to which he had been a missionary.
The resolution was put from the chair, and carried unanimously.
Jone Rue iteee, Esq., M.P. for Tavistock, then addressed the meeting,
in proposing the following resolution :
"That, as this meeting consieers that the principles of peace are dr.
rivet from Divine Revelation, they desire to express the hope that the
clay will soon arrive when these principles shell receive universal
diffusion."
The Hon. Gentleman said he took a great interest i) the Universal
Peace Society, when he remembered that its first auxiliary was
insti-
tuted' in the borough which he represented in Venire-rent_
Mr. RUNDELL expressed his utter condemnation of war, and Isis regret
at the disasters which it brought upon eoy country subject to its in.
ilitence. He also expressed his indigreation et the fact that the naval
and military estimates of England had been greatly increased in a time
of profound peace. He ccoclUded by moving the resolution, and aho
afterwards left the rnecitng to give his vote in the House of 'Co' n.locrs.-3. The Rev. EZRA.. ~ CONNELL, from the Massachussetts PeacenS,c
iety,
U. se second' 1:i the resolution. In a speech of erent rower he impressed open his atedience the necessity of putting Breit* faith
their exoertions would be crowned with success.
Lieutenant Joitx Hormel-, It.N., moved the next resolution, which
"ass "That this meeting ressrectfnllY tireeMinisters of ;he
Gospel in this country to imitate the example of alltlhem any Ministers in
the United States, and endeavour to prosecute, as far as they can, the
principles of peace."
ria,(l..'hieoffißecve.r
nl)).r.vßedeeSietctbe,airrte.solcottrding the resolution, said that if a
seconding
he, as a Minister of the se,espel,
,ould have no hesitation in s
eourges of mankind—pestilence, faa-it: 'Three great ee tin were severe
'eat The two former
'ere the work of God; the tette., was exclusive)
a,"
at the very' rielselit'elY the production of man.
-(Hear.) Man shudeme,
r:lrlion,gitaTssdthe s?t,reets
lees! sound of the dead-ear:l a talc of famine or
!stilence. The soin
the almost tleaeeccel city—the awful ere, " Bring
the other pro.
nftil attendants nu pestilence_aesseee hi;
oeurr
bead . ' and
vet acute
eensations of horror and dread. We tremble °"ns
the
at the thought
a land deprived of bread, and the inhabitants hurried to another world
the
a most terrible of all deaths—famine. But we deck out a calamity
sn equally awful character ie all the gorgeous livery of chivalry
d romance. When we seeek of tear, we are apt mof
1`l" epaulettes, prancing steeds, brilliant achievements,
ue and immortal heroes, and aft the other glittering finery of
ictoM)Pand the court.—(Hear, hear.) How (continued the Rev.
do
es this fact come about ? Is it not only because the pee_
'nee and the famine are the judgments of the A •migety, while the
Filf war is drawn
eeeseseee,
however,
down upon man by himself?—(Hear, ',near,)
s'4ler
wit;,torethink that a change was taking place, jut she
bto this subject ? 'l'4e principee or free
e,-111793Wy been recogna'dd y the British Government. The East
osed it 1 been declared open to promote enterprise, aeul the con-
el., • teen tee desertion and sale of man t
• East India Corr:pane- Ire Y " end wore_
re kns I.W-wed by the kale ' Rev, Doe'scest bored that
ot the doce •
ee eyea end araanala,