The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-09-18

eu lOE, WIT
IS. Resolped, That this Congress recommends
all the friends of Peace to prepare public
opinion in their respective countries, with a
view 10 the formation OF an authoritative code
of International Law
"g. Resolved, That the Congress convinced
that whatever brings the nations of the earth
together in intimate and friendly intercourse
must tend 10 the establishment of peace, by
removing misapprehensions and prejudices and
inspiring mutual respect, halls with unquali-
fed satisfaction the Exhibition of the Industry
Of all Nations az eminently calculated 10 pro
mote that end"
Mr.. Golden made the following speech in IA
vor of the adoption of the third resolution:
"That having been, for the last two morn
ings, occupied until two o'clock, and kept out
of his bed until that unreasonable hour, listen
ing to debates in another assembly and joining
in divisions that he feared would lead to very
small results, il must be admitted that he had
made thereby very poor preparation for do
| ing justice to the important topics that had
been just placed in his hand, or for making
himself heard in that most extensive and infu.
entail audience. But happily the theme upon
which he had TO address them was one that
did not require the stimulus of energy. He
| should rather have to congratulate the meeting
that they had passed out Of the first stage %
their agitation, and that they no longer required
TO have their attention aroused and captvated
by stirring language. Hear, hear. The very
appointment Of their chairman must be consid-
cred as step in advance in the progress OF
their agitation. For his habits Of simple exam
nations, of careful balance, and Of rigorous de-
duction, as applicable to the scientific pursuits
in which he was engaged, led him ever TO APP
ply the intellectual test and 10 avoid all those
passionate appeals which might lead them into
the regions Of the impracticable, however much
they might charm them by their grandeur or
their novelty He had therefore to cOngratu-
late them upon the selection they had made Of
'.gsgt ~i-~'@f. .s7ho 'ii>4qt taAss .'ss'Nd
ings whilst engaged about the not impracuca-
bic object they had in view And proof Of
the wisdom of their choice had been already
given by the fact that the speeches which had
followed his inaugural address had appealed
more to their reason and their judgment than
had almost ever been the case in such an as
sembly He was glad that they were taking
this direction, and assuming such tone in
dealing with the question before them IL was
nothing new to declaim against the horrors of
war For upwards of two thousand years there
was scarcely poet of eminenee who had not
told the world something about the horrors of
war. There was scarcely great writer who
had not lamented over and described them.
In speaking about the horrors of war, they
were but following an old example but the
questionable practical questiOn-that had al
ways been put to them was, How do you pro-
pose to get rid of war; And the practical
object which they had in view was to answer
that question. Hear, hear.l Every one adj
mitted the desirableness of putting an end to
war. Every one said that it would promote
the happiness and prosperity of the people, and
advance the cause ofreligion. Well, then, that
being 80 generally admitted, they had next to
consider how had evil ever been done away
withl Was it not by propagandism VAST
not by individual men going forth-by men
who were thoroughly convinced themselves and
who were in earnest going forth singly, and ar
guing with and convincing others who, in
turn, spread the truth further and wider, until
it became generally acknowledged Hear
hear.1 For, if men who had truth ON their side
were true TO themselves and to their cause, il
would triumph in spite of all opposition. He
strongly urged this individual exertion upon
them He had been dealing with this subject
in another place, where he had had better
opportunity than could be gained elsewhere Of
testing the progress of public opinion in this
country, and he could assure them that in pro
portion as they--the people out Of doors-had
shown disposition to interest themselves in
the advance of peace principles and in the dim
mutton of war ornaments in the same proper
ton did he find that an individual like himself
had in Parliament chance of q patient hear
ing Hear, hear And these remarks brought
him to the question of the resolution that had
been placed in his hands His was not what
could properly be called a peace resolution.
In proposing it, he was assuming that we were
in a state of peace But what he proposed was,
that we should take steps to insure the contin-
uance of peace, and that as preliminary we
should not have war preparations kept up IN
the midst of peace. Hear, hear. He main
tanned that short of the actual suferings, Of the
loss Of life, and the devastation which took
place upon the field of battle, every other So
cial and economical evil that attended upon the
state of war attended the keeping up of war
ornaments They had not the battle-felds
running with blood, nor the destroyed cities,
nor the trampled-down harvests and that was
ALL For they had the heavy taxation. They
had the decentralization of the barracks They
had the waste Of the national resources oc-
casioned by maintaining large bodies of men
in state Of idleness And ON what grounds
were these ornaments maintained in time of
peace Why forsooth, it was said to be be-
cause it>was necessary TO be prepared for war,
in order TO prevent war. That was the answer
which had been embodied in motto which
they had found written over the gates Of a large
town in Belgium. He trusted that their friend
M Visschers would have it removed. Cheers
and laughter The motto was in Latin, but
its meaning was, IL you would preserve peace,
you must be prepared for war; And people
seemed 10 have taken for granted the wisdom
of the saying, and to have gone ON IN that be-
lief, until they found that it was easy to discoy-
er pretence for going to war, when they were
always so ready for it. Hear, hear He had
said some years ago, and he had been ridiculed
for having said it. that he was not afraid OF the
countries on the continent of Europe going to
war with one another he had said 1T three
years ago-he had said it two years ago, and
he now repeated it. They had, indeed seen
connections and wars upon the continent with
in that period, but they were internal commo-
tons and civil wars, not wars of countries with
one another They had seen, indeed, the war
in Hungary, where the sovereign Of Austria
had asked the sovereign Of a neighboring coun-
try TO aid him in putting down his reyolted
subjects. But they had seen no aggression OF
one great country upon another. In fact they
had seen nothing ike the tendency to war
which existed amongst the nations Of Europe
forty years ago. Hear, hear But he should
make this reseryaton-it was his belief that If
they went on increasing their armaments If
they went on increasing the numbers Of their
armies from 100000 to 100000 and from
5000 900 TO 100000 Of bayonets, and if they
continued to wiring their subsistence from the
industrious people, in order to maintain those
masses of Idle men, the nations might become
Indifferent at length whether those masses did
or did not come into mortal conflict They
might become tired Of the burden, and even
willing to get rid Of il by allowing those SOL