ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN PEACE SOCIETY.

This Society will hold its Anniversary in Clinton Hall, in the Anniversary week of May. Particulars will be published in the daily papers.

PREMIUM ESSAY.-The Secretary has the pleasure to inform the leaders of the Calumet, that a good number of Essays on the Congress of nations, has been received, some of high promise. They are under consideration by the hon or able gentlemen chosen to award the premium. We mention their names again, Vice-President J. C. Calhoun Hon. William Wirt, and Judge Story.

THE CALUMET

VOL. 1.

MAY AND JUNE, 1832.

NO. 7.

INTRODUCTION.

In the present number of the Calumet will be found the proceedings of the "American Peace Society" at its annual meeting, and the report; both of which we hope will be read with interest, as they evince not only that something has been done, but they show the necessity of the friends of peace acting more vigorously in the cause which promises so much good to the world. And certainly we should do injustice to our own feelings did we not unfeignedly acknowledge that our labors in so great a cause as the dissemination of the principles of universal peace have been too limited, but we feel bound, at the same time, to acknowledge the great influence of those untold blessings which the Disposer of all Events has been giving to the world during the period embraced in the history of this Society. These blessings have been eminently spread out before us in the thoughts and actions of men, and though they may not be numbered or weighed, yet they are in bold relief on the map of the intellectual and acting world. The evidences of them are within the bosom of every one who has been looking out upon the world and searching for proofs of the moral advancement of mankind, for the unseen spirit has had its appropriate influence upon his own heart, and he, with the friends around him, has taken many steps up that path which must ultimately be completed and end in the moral reign of universal peace. These signs of the times must not, cannot be mistaken, and he who doubts the progress of man in all that is beautiful and good must himself be an exception to the common mass of men, and blacken his moral nature in all that is impure without, and treasure to himself a household of unholy associates, and bar his doors and close his windows against the still small whisperings of improving and purifying influences.

The slightest survey of the history of man presents incontestible proofs of his actual progress in the arts and sciences, in moral and intellectual culture. The whole face of society has changed again and again, and each change has been productive of an advanced and improved step towards a better system of thought and government. These changes, however, have not always produced an immediate and continuous beneficial result, but they have ultimately, directly or indirectly, advanced the great principles of government and lessened the absolute wants of thinking and reasoning beings. Evils, great evils too, have been legitimately connected with the acknowledged principles of the originators or performers of improving systems, but in all cases have

these principles so far been changed in their operation as to produce effects which in their final tendency were calculated to bring about a great amount of actual good to man; and this one truth that nothing is made in vain illustrates clearly the necessity, or at least the propriety, of urging every lover of improvement to look not at simple results, at specific periods, for the ultimate benefit to be derived, but to throw his mite into the scale of good influences, believing, that the evil may be suffered to exist as disciplinary. He must content himself with the thought, that society always changes gradually, and that his efforts must be directed so skilfully, that these changes shall be constantly multiplied and grow deeper and purer in their consequences. But it should not be supposed that all the temporary or ultimate good which is, or which may be produced in human society is the result of sound philosophy or the effect of actions whose rise is in good motives, for either position would be contrary to all experience; yet, we do contend, that so far as permanent, direct, and good influences are desirable, so far should they be found lying deep in the mine of universal truth. Principles which live "to perish never" should be sought for rather than results, which may, or may not, be produced by causes which are abstractly philosophical.

These general thoughts we feel to be deeply important for the consideration of all active friends of peace, and certainly they should not be forgotten in the deliberations for action in a Society formed for the express purpose of exerting an influence over the world which we inhabit, in drawing back all the votaries of war to the service of that master whose principles of government are those of universal peace. The mind of the ruling and the ruled, if we acknowledge the excellence and right of republican governments, must be swayed by sound arguments, and well founded truths, rather than by the circumstances of individual nations, or by the conduct of any one ruler. Feelings and interest may claim the precedence, but truth should always have the ascendency. In all governments, be their characters free or despotic, there is a tendency to draw around them forms and statutes, rights and privileges, which belong legitimately to no society, and which tend in their operation, to beget sectional and selfish feelings, and these evils are among the first which have, in all ages, forced the sword from its scabbard and buried its blade in the heart of the foc. This has always showed itself in the education of republicans as well as kings, in the spirit of commercial enterprise, in the laws of nations and in the common law of every land. Selfishness to a great extent

has been legalized, and the only safe opposer of its characteristics has been the superior strength of its master. And therefore, the world has been deluged with blood, and the preparations for war regarded as great national and necessary works.—And these opinions have been held by the good and the wise; they have been taught to the child in his cradle, that he might awake in manhood with the resolute and determined valor of a soldier.

But deeply rooted as have been these unsound doctrines, they are within the control of judicious and well directed efforts, and we trust that every anniversary of this Society will tell more and more of the good effects of its exertions.

The account of the Anniversary we copy from the New York Observer.

AMERICAN PEACE SOCIETY.

The objects of this Society have not hitherto succeeded in commanding so general an interest as those of the other great benevolent institutions of our land. Its friends, however, have had the gratification of seeing its successive annual meetings attended by growing numbers, and that of the present year, we are happy to learn, was honored by a larger attendance than on any former occasion. We were not able to be present, but a friend who takes a deep interest in the Society, has sent us the following brief notice of the proceedings.