3d. Classification of matters to be taken into consideration.lish while the pagan Moloch of war keeps five millions of men Institution of Committees charged with the determination of questions to be studied. Nomination of Reporters. Mode of Correspondence. Printing and distribution of Reports. Nomination of a permanent delegation, charged to represent the Conference until the opening of a subsequent session of the Conference.

Thousands of devoted Christians, represented here, deprecate the connection between a Christian church and a ChrisThe Delegates of the Provisional Committee-David Dudley secular authority should never meddle with. But what is the tian State, as if it must impair spiritual prerogatives which Field, President of the American Committee; "The Interna-peril of this connection compared with that relation in which tional Code Committee;" Rev. James B. Miles, D. D., Secre-war essays to put Christ to Belial, compared with that lynch tary of the same Committee; Hon. Auguste Visschers, Doctor of Laws, Brussels.

are some things worse than war, or that fighting in some states of society may sometimes clear away an evil greater than itself. It is not necessary to deny that a nation has the right to defend itself against outrage and wrong, or that civil governments, in the present condition of things, do not require a base of physical force to hold the unruly in check and preserve the public

peace.

But, admitting all this, or at least admitting that honest differences of opinion may be honestly held on these points, may we not, clearing the question of all these individual differences, unite with all the friends of peace the world over for such an inauguration of a general peace movement as is now contemplated, and lend it our hearty sympathy and generous aid? With no extravagant hopes of immediate success, we do think there is good reason for believing that the steps already taken in the British Parliament, if followed up in the way proposed, or in such other ways as may be deemed best, with the heroism of true conviction, will hasten the day when peaceful and friendly arbitration shall take the place of bloody violence among the nations of the earth.

The Annual Report of the London Peace Society gives a detailed account of the work done prior to the action of Parliament, which it is a refreshment to read. It would seem as if there could hardly be a town or hamlet in all England where the plea for arbitration in some form had not been heard. "Workingmen's Peace Associations," "Arbitration Leagues," "Conferences," "Public Meetings,' ""Trade Councils," are among the agencies employed for scattering the darkness and letting in the light. Social Science Associations have also taken up the question, and, though there was often a difference of opinion on practical points, there was a general acknowledgment of the supreme importance of the question itself. Relig- To say that the thing cannot be done is simply a shame to ious bodies discussed the question at their meetings and passed our Christian faith. The thing that is right can always be resolves in its behalf: leaflets, tracts, periodicals and peace lit-done in time, when it is undertaken with a conviction resting on erature were scattered in factories, work-shops, counting-rooms, homes, to arrest the eyes and enlist the hearts of the people in the great cause of international arbitration. This was the way Mr. Richard's motion was carried. Is it not plain that this essentially, is the way we too must take to wake our people to that kind of interest in the grand movement which is needed to second what England has so nobly done?

The time is ripe for action. It has already begun. The American Peace Society, whose main object from the beginning has been the prevention of international war by peaceful arbitration, taking advantage of the hopeful state of feeling induced by the Geneva settlement, sent its Secretary, Rev. James B. Miles, to Europe to confer with the friends of peace there concerning the feasibility of convening at a proper time and place a sort of National Institute or Representative Congress for the mutual and friendly consideration of this vastly important theme, and the adoption of some plan to be submitted to the nations for their adoption. Mr. Miles has recently returned, bringing the welcome news that he was everywhere received with the greatest courtesy and kindness, and that the general object of his mission was hailed, not simply with favor, but with enthusiasm, and this not by peace societies alone, but by statesmen and publicists-men versed in international law, who believe that the time has come for some effort on a grand scale in behalf of peaceful and rational arbitration.

In all this there is surely something greatly encouraging. It presents a clean-cut, definite object that all can understand. There is great gain in this. All are ready enough to say that peace is a good thing, that it ought to prevail and will in the inillennium, but here and now they don't see what is to be done about it. Here is something clearly defined and practical to be done. Of course the multitude will say, " It will come to nothing. Nations will fight as long as there is occasion. Arbitration will do for slight difficulties, but when a nation's blood is up, and great questions are at stake, nothing but war to the knife will suffice." We don't sympathize with this sad and disheartening view of human nature and human society. We don't believe that war and bloodshed are forever to curse this fair earth of our Father. We believe in human progress, and, so believing, we think it sure that in time the old method of settling national difficulties by bloody violence will pass away. But not without effort. Great evils are removed only by great exertions. The methods of action indicated above are only the beginning. As preliminary steps, they seem to us full of hope.

In order to secure the general interest of all thinking men and women the one grand object-arbitration as a substitute for war-should be cleared of all side issues and side opinions and made to stand out as the one first step in which all who believe in the forward march of humanity may cordially unite. Let it be understood, then, that to give our sympathy and aid to this movement it is not necessary to deny that war has ever accomplished any good in this world. There are honest differences of opinion on that point. It is not necessary to deny that there

God.

Surely if individuals can settle their difficulties in peaceful ways, without resort to fist or bludgeon; if State lines can be adjusted by friendly council; if great international highways, like the Suez Canal, can be guarded by a tribunal of judges selected from the nations immediately interested; if two great nations can settle one great war-breeding difficulty in mutual council, permitting the sanguinary sword to sleep in its scabbard, why, in the name of all that is friendly, just and right, may not the nations of the earth unite in some plan for the rational adjustment of all difficulties that may arise between them? It is reasonable, it is right. And what is reasonable and right may, can, must, shall, will be done, if those who see the right and believe in it will unite their influence in making it victorious.

PEACE MEETINGS.

Last evening very interesting peace meetings were held in the 2d Congregational church in this city and at the City Hall, Saco, at which addresses were made by Rev. D. C. Haynes, Financial Secretary of the American Peace Society, and many prominent citizens. The attendance was large. Rev. Mr. Haynes is a very pleasing speaker and we glean the following facts from his remarks on both sides the river. He said meetings in the interest of peace were being held, the object being to bring about peace more especially among nations. The American Peace Society was formed at the close of the last war with Great Britain.

It started out with the determination to prevent another war between the two countries and has ever since urged ministers to preach peace to the world. About the same time the peace societies of England and France sprung up, all having the one common object.

Mr. Haynes urged there was no necessity for war between civilized nations, and hailed the result of the late Geneva tribunal and the reference to the Emperor of Germany by which the Alabama claims, the fisheries, navigation of Canadian waters and the San Juan difficulties had been settled, as the dawn of a brighter day for the nations. He believed the people needed to be educated up to the standard of peace to ensure the continuance of happy relations and make peace permanent. The Society has advanced until it has succeeded in bringing about a congress of nations which is to meet at Brussels in October. to see if a system of arbitration or a court of nations can be had for the settlement of all questions in dispute.

In order to show the damaging elects of war Mr. Haynes furnished some statistics that are worthy of mention. The cost of war in money to Great Britain from 1688 to the present time-and the pecuniary cost is small in consideration with the damage to industry-has been $6,000,000,000 in gold, and the cost to her foes has been an equal amount, making $12,000,000,000. The standing armies of Europe embrace 2,800,000 of the flower of the youth of the land, and the industries of that

grand division deprived of the labor of those men. The war home, in consequence of sudden indisposition. He requested debt of Christian nations is set down at $23,000,000,000. The any clergymen who might be present to come foward upon the total valuation of the United States was given at $30,000,000,- platform. The Rev. Mr. McKeown, of the Elm Street F. W. 000, and it would just about clean out this country to pay the Baptist Society, took a part in the services of the evening, by debt. At the present time 83 per cent. of all the incomes of reading a portion of the Sermon on the Mount, and offering Great Britain goes to pay the war demands while but 17 per the introductory prayer. cent. is left for other purposes. The money expended in war would purchase every foot of land in the world, clothe the people, build school-houses, and colleges and endow universities, erect churches and support a ministry and render the people comfortably happy. To the pecuniary cost of war is to be added what results to the world from crime and suffering; but these efforts at computation would be futile. In the face of these facts it was the duty and privilege of every Christian to labor to prevent war.

At the close of Mr. Haynes' remarks resolutions endorsing the objects of the Peace Society were adopted.

At the 2d Congregational church after Mr. Haynes concluded his address brief remarks were made by Mayor McMullan, Dr. T. Haley, Rev. J. Malvern, G. N. Weymouth, Esq., Judge Jelleson, Rev. J. D. Emerson.-BIDDEFORD, ME., Daily

Times.

The Rev. Mr. Haynes then spoke for half an hour or more upon the advance of the world from the barbarous custom of war towards the enlightened policy of peaceful arbitration, which had recently achieved so great a victory in the settlement of the long-vexed points of difference between this country and Great Britain. He gave some statistics as to the direful ravages of war, and explained the world-wide interest that is now being felt in the endeavor to render the practice of war as obsolete as the code duello is now becoming.

At the close of his remarks, Mayor Newell offered a series of resolutions which had been prepared; similar, we understand, to those which had been adopted by other meetings of this kind.

The resolutions set forth the evils of war and the advantages of peaceful arbitration, and recommend the convening of an international convention to draw up a code of rules regarding the settlement of difficulties, which may be binding upon all nations.

Alter

A meeting under the auspices of the American Peace Society was held at the Washington street church on Sunday eve- the pleasure it afforded him to offer these resolutions. Mr. Newell made some pertinent remarks, and expressed ning last. The attendance and the attention good. The exercises were opened with singing by the congregation, and prayer being seconded by Rev. Mr. McKeown, they were put to vote by Rev. Mr. Ayer, formerly of this city. Rev. Mr. Harmon by a show of hands. The affirmative called up a large numof Portsmouth, who presided, then introduced Rev. D. C. ber of hands, the negative none; and the matter having been Haynes, Financial Secretary of the Society, who gave an inter- thus satisfactorily concluded, a collection was taken up, the esting history of its origin and some account of the good work doxology sung, and the meeting adjourned.-MANCHESTER, it has accomplished. He was followed by Rev. Dr. Day, who N. H., Daily Union. read the resolutions given below,—and which at the close of the meeting, were unanimously adopted. The Rey. Mr. Brown seconded the motion to adopt in brief but eloquent words. The exercises closed with singing by a select choir and the benediction.

Resolved, that the recent culmination of peace principles in the Treaty of Washington and the subsequent arbitrations, by which past and present difficulties between Great Britain and the United States, without resort to war, have been amicably settled, is evidence of the practicability of those principles, and reason for devout gratitude to the God of peace who has brought about this grand result.

Resolved, that we learn with great pleasure of the successful mission of Rev. James B. Miles, D. D., a Secretary of the American Peace Society, made to Europe in behalf of peace principles, in that he was fraternally and enthusiastically received, and his work endorsed by the Peace Societies and eminent Publicists of Great Britain, France, Italy, Prussia, and

other nations.

Resolved, that we deem the remarkable awakening of the peace sentiment throughout Europe, developed by this mission, evidence of the progress of Christianity, and an incentive to increased efforts for the prevalence of Peace principles over the

world.

COMMUNICATION

REVEREND SIR:

FROM THE HAGUE.
The Hague, Aug. 13, 1873.

It has afforded us great satisfaction to learn from your letter of the 18th last, the confirmation of the fact that was made known to us some days before by M. Auguste Visschers, at Brussels, viz: that the first meeting of jurisconsults and publicists for preparing the codification of the Law of Nations in the direction to establish a permanent Arbitration will take place the 10th of October next.

We hope to receive soon the programme of this Congress, and in expressing our gratitude for your very kind letter, we cannot better answer it than by assuring you of our co-operation with the meeting of the said Assembly. We will be happy in promoting the representation of the Netherlands at this Congress looked for with due interest.

After the encouraging fact of the approval of M. Richard's motion in England, it seems to us still more the duty of all friends of peace to win public opinion in all civilized Europe on behalf of the great cause you did plead on your mission in this part of the world, and which we hope will produce a plentiful harvest for the benefit of mankind everywhere.

Resolved, that we learn with great pleasure of the recent appointment of a committee by the Peace Society, to meet and confer next October with eminent men of other nations in reference to the formation of a Peace Congress and Tribunal of nations, for the purpose of securing a code of international laws, looking to the settlement of all difficulties between na-kind and impedes the progress of civilization. tions without resort to the barbarous custom of war.

Public opinion may not be penetrated as yet in the Netherlands with the practical consequences of the ideas which you, reverend sir, have promoted already in a great measure. But there exists at least a centre of men fully convinced of the truth that war is incompatible with the sublime mission of man

Resolved, that we rejoice in the fact that the American Peace Society in co-operation with similar societies in other countries, is successfully organizing and forwarding earnest efforts for universal peace, and that we hereby pledge to it in this work our sympathies, support and prayers. —Dover Paper.

In accordance with announcement made in the papers Saturday, and the pulpits yesterday, a "Union Peace Meeting' was held last evening in the First Baptist Church.

The church was filled with an attentive audience. In opening the meeting, Rev. Mr. Haynes, one of the Secretaries of the American Peace Society, expressed his regret that the pastor of the church, the Rev. Dr. Graves, had been obliged to go

Our sincere sympathy, and our hearty good wishes are as-
sured to you, reverend sir, in your generous endeavors.
THE GENERAL LEAGUE OF PEACE OF THE NETHERLANDS,
D. VAN ECK, President,
G. BELIFAUTE, Secretary.

To the Rev. James B. Miles, D. D., Boston (United States).

At a demonstration of the Walsall Trades Council (Angust 4), attended by two thousand members and many thousand spectators, a hearty vote of thanks was adopted, to be conveyed to Mr. Henry Richard, M.P., and the Parliamentary majority who supported him in the late discussion on International Arbitration.

THE PRINCE OF PEACE. Sweet Prophet of Nazareth, constant and tender, Whose truth like a rainbow embraces the world, The time is at hand when Thy foes shall surrender, And war's crimson banners forever be furled; When the throat of the lion no longer will utter Its roar of defiance in desert and glen;

SPURGEON ON WAR.

Charles H. Spurgeon, the eminent Baptist minister of London, closes an address to the Emperor of the French and the King of Prussia, in very plain English. If all ministers of the Gospel would be equally bold and explicit, war would soon He says:

cease.

"Did either of you ever think of what war means? Did When the lands will join hands and the black cannon mutter you ever see a man's head smashed, or his bowels ripped open? Their discords no more to the children of men.

As breaks the gold sunlight-when heroes and sages
Were coming and going like meteors in space,
A new glory broke on the gloom of the ages,

And love warmed to birth in the glow of thy face;
The wars of Old Time are waning and failing,

The peace of the New Time o'erarches our fears; The orbs of the Old Time are fading and paling,

The sun of the New Time is gilding the years.

The mist of the ocean, the spray of the fountain,
The vine on the hillside, the moss on the shrine,
The rose of the valley, the pine of the mountain,
All turn to a glory that symboleth Thine;

So I yearn for Thy love, as the rarest and dearest
That ever uplifted a spirit from woe,
And I turn to Thy life as the truest and nearest
To Infinite goodness that mortals may know.

O! Soul of the Orient, peerless and holy,
Reflecting a beauty all angels above-

I would join with the singers who raise up the lowly
And praise Thee in deeds that are Christ-like in love;
Let my words be as showers that fall on the highlands,
Begotten in shadows, expiring in light,

While Thine are the billows that sing to life's islands,
In numbers unbroken by noonday and night.

Why, if you are made of flesh and blood, the sight of one poor
wounded man, with the blood oozing out of him, will make you
feel sick. I do not like to drown a kitten; I can't bear to see
a rat die, or any animal in pain. But a man? Where's your
hearts, if you can think of broken legs, splintered bones, heads
smashed in, brains blown out, bowels torn, hearts gushing with
gore, ditches full of blood, and heaps of limbs and carcasses of
mangled men? Do you say my language is disgusting? How
much more disgusting must the things themselves be?
And you
make them! How would you like to get a man into your pal-
ace-garden and run a carving-knife into his bowels, or cut his
throat? If you did that, you would deserve to be hanged, but
it would not be half so bad as killing tens of thousands, and you
know very well that this is just what you are going to do. Do
you fancy that your drums and fifes, and feathers and fineries,
and pomp, make your wholesale murder one the less abomina-
ble in the sight of God? Do not deceive yourselves; you are
no better than the cut-throats whom your own laws condemn ;
better, why you are worse, for your murders are so many.
Think, I pray you, for your poor people will have to think,
whether you do or no. Is there so little want in the world
that you must go trampling on the harvest with your horses
and your men? Is there so little sorrow that you must make
widows by the thousand? Is death so old and feeble that
you must hunt his game for him, as jackals do for the lion?
Do you imagine God made men for you to play soldiers with?
Are they only meant for toys for you to break? O, kings,
their souls are as precious in God's sight as yours; they suf-
fer as much pain when bullets pierce them as ever you can
will be as much wept over as yours, perhaps more. It will
do; they have homes, and mothers, and sisters, and their deaths

The payment of the Geneva award, which was completed during the last week, was an important event. If anybody had predicted eight years ago that John Bull would pay Broth-be hard for you to think of the blood you have shed when er Jonathan fifteen millions of dollars for damages on ac- you lie dying, and harder still to bear the heavy hand of God count of the Alabama, he would not have been believed. John when He shall cast all murderers into hell. Have pity upon himself would have laughed the idea to scorn. Do we exult your fellow-men. Do not cut them with swords, tear them over John Bull? Not at all. He has acted with unusual wis- with bayonets, blow them to pieces with cannon, and riddle dom. He intended to bully Jonathan a little-as is his nathem with shots. What good will it do you? What have ture—and to make money out of his trouble-being of a mon- the poor men done to deserve it of you? You fight for glory, ey-making turn; but when the bill was presented he saw the do you? I am a plain-talking Englishman, and I tell you the best way was to settle. We made no great bargain out of it. English for glory is DAMNATION, and it will be your lot, O The main point was in getting John to acknowledge that he kings, if you go on cutting and hacking your fellow-men. was responsible for damages and to leave the amount to arbi-Stop this war if you can, at once, and turn to some better business than killing men. Before the deep curses of widows and orphans fall on you from the throne of God, put up your butcher-knives and patent men-killers, and repent.

tration. We had better surrendered the amount ten times-and so

RESULTS OF THE MEETING OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN

had Great Britain-than to go to war. That is the best part after all-the recognition of the fact that war does not pay. Our friends of the Peace Society may properly feel encouraged when nations submit their cases to boards of arbitration and PUBLICISTS AT GHENT.-Ghent, Sept. 12.-The conference of promptly abide by their decisions. When we consider the amount of the award, fifteen millions is a mere bagatelle to the European and American jurisconsults which has been in session injury done us by the British-Confederate cruisers. They stitute of international law. Three subjects have been disin this city during the week, has organized as a permanent indrove our commerce from the ocean, and dealt our great ship-cussed, viz: "International arbitration," The three rules of ping interest a blow from which it has never even begun to recover. They threw the carrying trade of the world back into the Washington Treaty," and the "Codification and adoption the hands of British ship-owners, and almost obliterated the by treaty of regulations relative to private property in time of Stars and Stripes from the face of the deep. England made a issue a manifesto and adjourned to meet in Geneva next year. war. The conference appointed a committee to draw up and pile of money out of our troubles and can well afford to pay the fifteen millions, while it is far better for us to take it than to go to war for more. - Boston Herald.

The Department of State has been informed by Gen. Schenck that the National Association of Science, of London, has offered a prize of £300 sterling to the person who shall write the most able essay on the subject: "In what way ought an international assembly to be constituted for the formation of a code of public international law, and what ought to be the principles on which such a code should be formed?" The Association invites the competition of Americans for the prize.

BRIGHT'S VOICE STILL FOR PEACE.-It is reported that John Bright is opposed to a war against the Ashantees, and will resign his position in the cabinet if it is further prosecuted.

A late number of the St. Petersburg Gazette states that the annual cost of the Russian navy is from eighteen to twenty millions of dollars.

KIRWIN used to say that a pious Scotchman was accustomed to pray: "O Lord, keep me right; for thou knowest if I go wrong it is very hard to turn me."