The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-10-23

WE " IoSosb Va Oue . uUur fuurIuR WHICH
the delegates employed their leisure in
signing the credentials Of the new mission
airy bishop.
From the Baltimore Sun, 22d.
Meeting of the Friends Peace Assoc
ciation-speech OF John B. Cren.
shaw and others.
A meeting Of the Peace Association of
Friends in America was held last night at
the Friends Westinghouse corner of Eu-
taw and Monument streets. The speakers
were from different States Of the Union.
Daniel Hill, Of Ohio, first addressed the
meeting. He said if the Christians iof the
country had carried out the principles of
their religion the country would have been
saved the late terrible war, and the thou.
sands who have gone down to early graves
would have been saved to the country.
Shall the sword devour forever? Let the
Christians stand firm. Let the great evil
be met in our schools, where our children
are taught that war is honorable, that
bravery on the battlefield is heroic, and
their young hearts are fred by what they
hear and read of the ,honors and applause
which the world gives the soldier. Let them
be taught different lesson by their teach
ers and their parents--that war is unchris
tian and full Of horrors, Sc. = .
Joseph Moore, of North Carolina, next
spoke. He spoke of the necessity Of con-
sidering the preventiyes. of war They.
should speak, write, and preach against it.
It will not be enough for Christians to be
non-participants in war, but they must bat
tie against it. The man who dies on, the
battlefield now receives the praise Of the
poet and historian, the, eulogies of the: edi-
tor, and the applause of the world, whether
ne falls in good or in a bad cause. Chris
tians must be active in their efforts to OPP
pose these false views and correct the pub
lie sentiment of the world. DR.. tanner
was the means of saving more lives than
Napoleon was the means Of destroying, and
why should not thesname of the former be
equally SIS renowned as 1.-THE latter 1t
shows that the man who kills ID more
honored than the man who, !, saves life.
Christians should teach their children that
it is more brave, nobler, and, heroic to save:
life than to destroy it that it is more heroic
to suffer wrong. than to do wrong. The
shallower q man is the easier he gets
angry. The best means to put a stop to war
is to strip the cloak from it. But even
Christian ministers draw the cloak over it.
John B. Crenshaw, Of Virginia. gave
history of the action of the Friends in the
South during the late war. They appoint
ed committee to, wait upon the President
Of the Confederate States, and claim clear
exemption from military service under the
Constitution. y They told Mr.. Davis they;
could take no part in the fight; it was a
principle that they could not give up on
any earthly consideration. 4: Mr.. Davis re-
fused their appeals, and would not recon-
mend their exemption to theGongress., He
said that he was sorry that there were
any people in their midst who would not
take M arms to aid their country. Not
withstanding their appeal was rejected
with scorn, they next addressed the mselves
to the Confederate Congress-. They were
heard before a congressional committee
composed of prominent men, most of them
lawyers, and the manner in which the
Friends were cross-questioned was most
terrifying scene. They were asked if they
saw their wives about to be killed if they
would not be justified in cutting down the
slayer. The Friends replied that under no
circumstances could they take up carnal
weapons. But, unfortunately, the Dunkers
acknowledged that in times Of great tribu-
lation they would be justified in paying
tax for their exemption, and it was finally
settled in that way. He then cited numer-.
Gus instances Of the wonderful preserya-
ton of the lives of Friends who stood firm
in their faith. One who refused to fight
was forced to stand one hour and half
under the fire of battlefield, and escaped
unframed, while the man at his side was
shot down. Another Friend was forced to
stand up; with his musket tied to his side,
in the trenches of Petersburg, lexposed to a
terrible fire, but he escaped unhurt. But
for ministers Of the South the people could
not have been forced into war.
DR.. James G.. Thomas made a. few re-
marks. He said that few were aware how
much they were Influenced by the senti-
ment and opinion of the people among
whom they lived upon the subject of peace
and war as well as other subjects, and he
well knew the effort it required ito battle
with it. He read some extracts from q ser
mon against war by the celebrated DR..
Spurgeon, Of London, to show that the
Friends did not stand alone in their opposi-
tion to war. ,-.. ~
John Hammer, of Kansas, related an in
teresting incident of the prevention Of .
battle between the Cheyennes and the Kan
sas Indians through the persuasion Of: q
committee Of Friends, of which he was a
member, who visited the, Kansas Indians.
They consented to return to their homes,
Law down their arms, and trust to God.
They knelt down and prayed, the Indians
prostrating themselves upon the ground.
Their prayers were heard. The Cheyennes,
from some Gauge unkno wn, returned to their
homes, and bloody battle was yerted.
Francis II. King, of Baltimore, spoke Of
| the wond erful preservation from the calami-
ties of war which had alway s1attended the
Society of Friends for two hundred years.
The history of William Penn and his colo
ny, surrounded by Indians, of which for
seventy years not q single Friend was ever
killed. In the war in Ireland the Friends
escaped destruction in remarkable man.
ner. In QuantrelPs, raid in Kansas the
portion of the town settled by Friends was
passed over IN. an unaccountable manner,
while all around them was. slaughter and
devastation. In North Carolina, when
Sherman's army was near Raleigh, and
Johnson 8 army was approaching, not forty
miles apart, the Friends settlements were
between them, expecting to suffer ali the
calamities of war from their position, when
the impending battle was ayerted. 1t was
on the, spot where fora two hundred years
peace principles had been maintained that
the great war was concluded. fMr. King
said he believed the question Of war and
peace will be the great question hereafter
in the churches, in politics, and in society.
The statesmen of Europe are earnestly dis
.cussing the question, and nearly half Of the
threatened wars inEnrope of late years