Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1861-06-28
A CRY FROM LONDON.
.iddress frozs he Peace Society in LORdoa 70 ~
People Of the United States.

f| =.
FRIENDS AND FELLOW CHRISTIANS lit
is in no presuming or dictatorial spirit that
, we venture to address you these few words
of earnest sympathy and respectful expos
tulntion in reference to the perilous crisis
. in your national history through which
you are now passing. But having been
long laboring in our humble measure, in
promoting peace on earth upon the broad
principles Of our common Christianity, we
cannot but feel how deeply that cause to
which we are devoted is implicated in the
result Of the experiment now being enact
ed in your country.
We do rot feel ourselves either compe. q.
tent or entitled to offer any suggestion as
ito the best method of solving those intern
al difficulties which now agitate your great
commonwealth. But we venture conf
IDENTIFY to state that the worst of all solu-
tions that can be attempted is fratricidal
war, which must, however long and fiercely
it may be waged, leave the merits of the
Iquestion iu dispute wholly untouched
while it cannot fail to exasperate into ten
fold .malignity the feelings of alienation
which already exist. War, under any cir
eumstances, and between any sections of
the human race, is an evil which reason, l.,
religion aud humanity cannot bewail too
bitterly. But civil war in nation like
your own, one of the very foremost among
the nations of the earth in intelligence,
civilization and Christian enlightenment
war among men of the same race, Ian
guage and religion war which would
involve neighbors, friends, brothers-mem-
bers of the same Christian communions-
children, it may be, of the same family, in
mad and murderous conflict with each 9TH
er, would be spectacle at which mankind
would stand aghast in horror and dismay--
Ia spectacle, which, more than any event
that has occurred for ages, would smite
with discouragement, and all but despair,
the friends of human progress throughout
the world. For long time past, thought
full and philanthropic men, witnessing with
sorrow the distracted and divided condition
of the old world, and the ferocious and
sanguinary wars to which these national
antipathies have led, fondly cherished the
hope that the time might come when. the
} several States of Europe might be so fede-
rated together, as to be brought under the
} Jurisdiction of common tribunal, which
should decide their differences without
having recourse to the irrational arbitra-
ment of the sword. In support of the
J practicability of such measure, they have
, been hitherto wont to appeal triumphantly
to the admirable example and illustration
of such system presented in your coun-
} try. But the effect will be disheartening
! and disastrous to the last degree, if it be
, found that you, Christian brethren, who
had the immense advantage of growing up
, side by side into free communities, exempt
from those. hereditary prejudices which
{ have struck their roots so deep into the soil
= of Europe, can find no better means of
, adjusting your differences than by having
recourse to the old expedient Of barbarism
} and blood, of which Europe is beginning
. to be ashamed, for its combined folly and
: brutality.
Permit us also respectfully to remind
, you that the evils of war--as we know to
our bitter cost in the old world-do not
S end with itself. On the contrary, it be-
= queathes to posterity sinister legacy Of
l hatreds jealousies, and rivalries, which
= poison the blood Of nations for ages, and
: entail upon them burdens hardly less
crushing than those of actual war. The
d enormous military establishments that are
r now sitting like an incubus on the heart Of
t Europe, all but suffocating its life, are the
!. penalties we have to pay for the conflicts
s into which our ancestors plunged, often in
! reference to questions which all men now
Q can see might have been easily adjusted
without blow, if passion had not beer
permitted to usurp the place of reason
But the nkling recollections and mutual
y distrust which those quarrels engendered
@ are still the source whence arises the allie
7, ged necessity for the ruinous rivalry in ar
g maments which is hurrying us onward OF
n path that, if pursued much longer, car
e only lead to general bankruptcy. Ma.
IT Heaven in its mercy deliver America frou
e policy which would entangle it in the coil
e of such system as this
d We implore you, then, friends and fel
!, low Christians, to avoid the fataL nlistak
10 of imagining that you can decide question
IS Of disputed right by conflicts of brut
J. force.
re We appeal TO American patriots to say
y the land they love from the dishonor Of ap
X pearing before the world in an attitud
t. which can only excite the sorrow and pit
Is of all good men.
y We appeal to American philanthropist
10 to intcrpose their influence to ward off
he catastrophe which win not only become
is source Of funutterable suffering and demon
n alization to their own country, but whic
y, will exercise a milgn influence over tn
IL destinics Of the whole human race.
Above ALL we appeal to Christian Chul
ches Of all denominations aud emphatlca
ia ly to the ministers Of the Prince Of Peac
x 10 stand between the living and the dea'
or that the plague be stayed by their exam
or pie, pcrsuasions, by their prayers, to are
by an evil which will not only paralyzc the
IT, own efforts, and dcsolatc Gods inhcritanc
oil by food OF passion and crime, but whiC
NJ will be- scandal aud reproach to o,
P common Christianity
JOSEPH PEASE, Pres,
Al O..