Fifty Notable Years. Adams John Greenleaf

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ of the Rebellion came of a war that existed previous to the withdrawal of the Southern States of our Union, the war of slavery, – for slavery itself is war always, an outrage on the rights of human beings, perpetrated by members of a common brotherhood. And thus one war opened the way to another. They who were warring upon others could no longer bear to have their wrong-doings questioned, but claimed the right to multiply and perpetuate them. So came secession, so came the fratricidal contest. The majority of the nation did not seek war, did not desire it. But the Unionists of the nation deemed themselves justified in resisting the efforts of the secessionists to dismember the nation, and so through a defensive warfare sought to preserve the Union. It was a terrible ordeal, and although the abomination of slavery was swept away, it was at the cost of tens of thousands of lives, of a vast amount of treasure, of suffering as yet unrevealed, and of a lamentable demoralization. The Almighty brought out of it a new order of things with our nation, by abolishing human bondage and placing freedom in the ascendancy. The new order, however, is not yet fully effected. It will take time, wisdom, patience, mutual forbearance, sympathy, and fraternal help to secure this result.

      But one reform aids another. A higher view of the claims of human freedom will tend to effect a clearer perception of the great claims of the human brotherhood. If man is too good to be enslaved by his fellow-man, he is too good to be destroyed by him. If human freedom is sacred, so is human life. And we are sure that this grand conception has been very clearly realized, and as clearly affirmed, during the middle of the present century.

      In the midst of the world's conflicts during this time, the advocates of peace principles, on both sides of the Atlantic, have not been inactive. They have had a hearing, if a limited one, in Christendom. Peace associations have been more operative than before, and the pulpit and press have made new appeals to the public for the promotion of peace principles. Excellent publications in essay, sermon, or oration have been issued from the press. We hear of one Sunday, in 1845, when one hundred and twenty peace sermons were preached in the city of London. Our philanthropic countryman, Elihu Burritt, has done much for this cause. One of the ablest and most admirable of appeals in behalf of "peace on earth and good will to men" was given in 1845, in Boston, by Charles Sumner, – who may be justly reckoned as one of the brightest lights among philanthropists and statesmen of the present century, – on "The True Grandeur of Nations." Moved by the threatening aspect of affairs between the United States and Mexico, the orator denounced the war system as the ordeal by battle still unwisely continued by international law as the arbiter of justice between nations, and insisted that this system ought to give way to peaceful arbitration for the settlement of international questions, as the private ordeal of battle had given way to such substitutes in the administration of justice between individuals. "The oration attracted unusual attention, led to much controversy, and was widely circulated both in America and Europe. It was pronounced by Richard Cobden to be 'the most noble contribution made by any modern writer to the cause of peace.'"31

      The delusion that wars must always be expected more or less with mankind is a vagary of barbarism, and not a true Christian thought. Rather is the poet right, when he says: —

      "War is a game, which, were their subjects wise,

      Kings would not play at."

      Wars may be lessened, may be outgrown in human society. There are better ways of settling human disputes than by an appeal to arms. Facts in the history of our own nation prove it. Here are a few of them: —

      In 1794, the question of the Northeastern boundary between the United States and the dependencies of Great Britain was settled by arbitration.

      In 1822, the question of restitution or compensation for slaves found on board of British vessels during the war of 1812. The matter was referred to the Emperor of Russia, and his award accepted by both nations.

      In 1858, a difficulty between the United States and the government of Chili and Peru, was referred to the arbitration of the King of the Belgians, and settled by his award.

      In 1869, the claims of the United States and Great Britain to landed property in and about Puget Sound were adjusted by peaceable reference.

      In 1871, the well-known Alabama claim, which caused so much ill feeling between the United States and England, and threatened to involve the two countries in a terrible war. President Grant, referring to the settlement of this claim, said in his message of Dec. 3, 1871: —

      "This year has witnessed two great nations, having one language and lineage, settling by peaceful arbitration disputes of long standing, which were liable at any time to bring nations to a bloody conflict. The example thus set, if successful in its final issue, will be followed by other civilized nations, and finally be the means of restoring to pursuits of industry millions of men now maintained to settle the disputes of nations by the sword."

      Is this good possible? Assuredly, if good is able to prevail over evil, right over wrong, love over hatred. And what does the Christian Gospel signify but this: "Peace on earth and good will toward men"? This "good will" shall come, if Christians will do their duty by insisting on the practicability of it. The undercurrent of a better feeling is gaining force as the great truth of the Brotherhood of Man is more deeply and extensively realized. If the present toiling-time is dark, there is light beyond it, the unerring prophecy of the time when "nations shall learn war no more."

      As said Victor Hugo, at the Congress of Peace in Paris, in 1849: —

      "A day will come when the only battle-field shall be the market open to commerce and the mind opening to new ideas; when a cannon shall be exhibited in public museums just as an instrument of torture is now, and people shall be astonished how such a thing could have been. A day shall come when those two immense groups, the United States of America and the United States of Europe, shall be seen placed in presence of each other, extending the hand of fellowship across the ocean, exchanging their produce, their commerce, their industry, their arts, their genius, clearing the earth, peopling the deserts, meliorating creation under the eyes of the Creator, and uniting, for the good of all, these two irresistible and infinite powers, – the fraternity of men and the power of God."

      In agreement with the foregoing statements in reference to the reform movements of our time, we may note more briefly certain other indications of the increase of that spirit which would lessen the afflictions and wrongs and promote the well-being of society.

The Treatment of Criminals

      has been a subject of much thought and discussion during the generation just passed. It has been, and still is, an open question among the more thoughtful, whether the subject of the proper treatment of criminals has been regarded aright. We may justly plead for benevolent sympathy without being the apologist of crime. Conscience must be remembered as well as the cry of pitying tenderness, and punishment must have a meaning, or the distinctions of right and wrong are lost. "It will be a sad day," as one has truly said, "when those who violate our laws are more pitied than blamed." Christians are bound by their religion to labor for the prevention of crime, and for the strict application of all righteous laws to the criminal; to impress as they can the awfulness of sin on their own and on other's consciences, and to recall the fallen back to virtue, shamed by his sin, and resolute and strong in the working of a regenerated will, thus vindicating and imitating "the goodness and severity of God." The treatment of convicts in our prisons at the present time is generally more in accordance with these considerations than in the past, when severity was deemed more needful as applied to criminals who were subjects of total depravity, than a proportionate mercy, which regarded them not only as lost ones, but as capable of a possible restoration to their rightful Owner and Almighty Friend. The reform schools in our different States are working in this Christian direction. The subject of has elicited much attention during the time of which we are speaking. It has been discussed in newspapers, pamphlets, legislatures, pulpits, and lyceum halls. Some of our States have abolished the gallows, others are agitating this subject in their legislatures. The present governor СКАЧАТЬ