Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1861-05-14
Address from the Peace Society of London
to the People OF the United States.

ET26720S ana pett0ao C2raSt2JuS 1t IS IN nc
presuming or dctatorial spirit that we venture to
address to you these few words of earnest SYM
pathy and respectful expostulation, in reference
to the perilous crisis in your national history
through which you are now passing But hav-
ing been long laboring in our humble measure,
in promoting peace on earth, upon the broad
principles OF our common Christianity, we can
not but feel how deeply that cause to which we
are devoted is implicated in the result of the ex-
pertinent now being enacted in your country
We do not feel ourselves either competent or
entitled to offer any suggestions as to the best
methoi OF solving those internal difficulties
which now agitate you- great Commonwealth -
But we venture confidently to state, that the
worst of all solutions that can be attempted is a
fratricidal war, which must, however long and
iercely it may be waged, leave the merits of the
question in dispute wholly untouched, while it
cannot fail to exasperate, into teD-fold maligni-
ty, the feelings of alienation which already ex-
ist. War under any circumstances, and be-
tween any sections of the human race, is an evil
which reason, religion and humanity cannot be-s
wall too bitterly nCButa civil war in a nation
like your own, one of the very foremost among
the nations of the earth in intelligence, cviliza
tion and Christian enligbtment-a war among
men of the same race, language and religion--a
war which would involve neighbors, friends,
brothers-memberso of the same Christian COM
munions, children, it may be, of the same family,
in mad and tnurGerous conflict with each other,
would. be a spectacle at which all mankind
would stand aghast in horror and dismay; q
spectacle which, more than any event that has
occurred for ages, would smte with discourage
ment, and all but despair, the friends of human
progress throughout the world.
IS fnf nd 1,,h;
thropic men, Witnessing with sorrow the dis
tracted and divided condition of the old world,
and the ferocious and sanguinary wars to which
these national antipathies have led, have fondly
cherished the hope that the time might come
when the several States of Europe might be so
far fedrrated together as to be brought under
the jurisdiction of common tribunal, which
should decide their differences without having
recourse to the irrational arbitrament of the
sword In support of the practicability of such
measure, they have been hitherto wont to ap-
pc triumphantly to the admirable example and
illustration OF such system presented in your
country. But the effect will be disheartening
and disastrous to the last degree, if it be now
found that you, Christian brethren, who had the
immense advantage of growing up side by side
into free communities, exempt from those he
reditary prejudices which have struck their roots
so deep into the soil of Europe, can find no bet
ter means of adjusting your differences than by
having recourse to the old expedient Of barba
rism and blood, of which even Europe is begin
ming to be ashamed, for its combined folly and
brotality. -
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 end with ITSELF
On the contrary, it beqneaths to posterity sin
ister lagacy of hatreds, jealousies and rivalries
which poison the blood of nstions for ages, and
entail upon them burdens hardly less crushing
than those of actual war. The enormous mill
tary establishments that are now sitting like an
incubus on the heart of Europe, all but suffocat
ing its life, are the penalties we have to pay for
the conflicts into which our ancestors plunged,
often in reference to questions which, all men
now can see, might have been easily adjusted
without blow, ii passion had not been permit
ted to usurp the place of reason. But the rank
ling recollections and mutual distrust which
those quarres engendered, are still the source
whence arises the alleged necessity for the
ruinOuS rivalry In ornaments, which is hurrying
US onward on path that, if pursued much lon
ger, can only lead to general bankruptcy. May
Heaven in its mercy deliver America from pol
icy which would entangle it in the coils of sucl.
"a system as this.
We implore you, then, friends and fellow
Christians, to avoid the fatal mistake of imag in
ing that you can decide questions of disputed
right by conflicts of brute force. We appeal to
American patriots to save the land they love
from the dishonor of appearing before the world
in an attitude which can only excite the sorrow
and pity of all good men. We appeal to Amer
lean philanthropists to interpose their influence
to ward off catastrophe which will not only be-
come source of unutterable suffering and de-
moralization to their own country, but which
will exercise malign influence over the desti-
MES of the whole human race. Above all we ap-
peal to Christian churches of all denominations,
and emphatically to the ministers of the Prince
Of Peace, to stand between the living and the
dead that the plague be stayed; by their exam
pie, by their persuasions, by their prayers, to
arrest an evil which will not only paralyze their
own efforts, and desolate Gods Inheritance by a
flood of passion and crime, but which will be a
scandal and reproach to our common Christi
anity. JOSEPH PEAsE, President.
HENRY RICHARD, Secretary.
F,0ndon AnriJ e 1891