Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-05-02
PEACE DEPARTMENT.
THOUGHTS ON PEACE.


mon consent it is denounced as an accursed
thing-worse than the pestlence which walketh
in darkness-worse than the destruction which
wasteth at MONDAY The martial array no lon
ger appears as beautiful pageantry the battle
trumpet no longer delights the ear. We associ-
ate with the sword its deeds of blood, and deem
1t no more suitable for an ornament than the sur
geon's amputatng-knife. We look upon the
parade of arms, and think Of the death-agonies
of the battlefield and consider its pomp and dis
play, its "form and circumstance" as untitled
for the duty of the soldier, as they would be for
the public executoner. If it be necessary to de-
stroy life in any manner, we no longer attach to
it either glory or honor. There is true de-
mocracy looking in upon the world! Each man
is considered as brother, whatever be his coun-
try or his home, or however poor or degraded he
may be- Individual life is no longer consider
ed of little value. Happiness to the people is
more thought of now than the glory which asso-
ciated itself IN times past with the talent for hui
man destruction.
What Christian shall say that war is not an
accused thing, when it is known that there is
not crime that it does not sancton,-not sin
that it does not produces practically suspendng
the laws of God, making robbery and murder a
duty?
Who, let me ask, can say that war is not an
accursed thing, when the soul sickens as ii looks
upon its horrid scenes of suffering and moral de-
graduation? What two nations exerting themselves
to the utmost for human destruction-using all
their skill, all their knowledge by force and by
stratagem, in the night time and in the day, on
the ocean and on the land, to Danish happiness
from the earth, and to fill it with crime and mis-
ery and is not this an accused thing? Yet we
are told that it is at times necessary, at times eX-
pedient, at times Chrstian-like With one breath
it is denounced as the worst of evils, and then it
is spoken of as essential to the happiness the
wel-being, the prosperity of the nation!
WAR A SUICIDAL PRoCEss.-How many have
been slaughtered upon the sunny fields of Spain,
how often have the streets of her cities run with
human blood Ever since we can recollect any
thing, have come to US the stories of her bitter
wrongs, and her fierce contentious. Our sym
pathies are worn out for her. Murder there is
thing of course-war seems to be woven into
the very texture Of the nation
How perfectly the condition of Spain refutes
the position, that one sword keeps another in the
scabbard; that being prepared and ready for
war is the best means for the preservation of
peace: that the people who would preserve their
liberty should be ready to fight for it.
Will you look to Great Britain, overwhelmed
with an immense debt, with more than fifty abject
poor to one rich man; will you read the bills of
mortality and learn that the rise ola few shlngs
on a quarter of wheat has ever been the death
warrant of thousands, so near to starvation are
the poor laborers; will you examine the ship
loads of her sub ects who come here, that they
may not perish there; and then encourage mil
itary spirit in these free states?
The CHIEF SUFFERERS FROM wAR.-Know
you not that glory and military honor spring di-
rectly from the misery and degradation of the
people! Whose bodies are these which fill the
ditch! The laborers Who give up their all for
their countrys rights! The laborers, What
creates an aristocracy! What tends to an une-
quail distribution of wealth! Military spirit
Will you look upon the dongs in South Anne
llCd! HClc lids Ueeu COullHueu H9Hllng tHerG
Have the people achieved their libertiesl Are
human rights secured? Is human happiness
safe?
WAR NOT THE CAUSE OF OUR LIBERTIES
Americans, your independence was not achiev-
ed by the sword. 1t was not your valor that ha'
secured to you your political institutions Thu
South Americans have fought more than yol
have fought, yet have not overcome their tyants
They have been no towards; no craven love O
life has kept them from the battle Then, brut
force, the courage to fight, the fortitude to en-
dure, never yet in themselves gave freedom hap
plness, and prosperity to our people.
If we are free, if human rights with us be Sc
cure, if equal laws, if sound democracy her
prevails where the lowest and humblest man
safe, is protected, you owe it not to your valo
,or to your wars. 1t is on the strength and par
ty of moral sentiment that you depend. 1t is o
the religious principle, the love to God and t
man, that has been your dependence. As hig
as you may rise in true nobeness of soul, in thu
dignity of character, so high will be your polite
principies-So high will be the value of citizel
ship in these states