The peace manual : or, War and its remedies

Preface

This little work is designed to furnish the most important facts, arguments and explanations, on the main topics embraced in the cause of peace. I hope it will suffice for the satisfaction of most minds ; and those who wish for something fuller or more thorough, can resort to the larger publications on Peace by the American Peace Society, such as its Prize Essays 071 a Congress of Nations, a splendid octavo of more than 700 pages, and its Book of Peace, containing in smaller compass still more matter from some of the ablest pens that ever wrote, and altogether the best thesaurus or encyclopedia of information on Peace that can be found in the English or any other language.

1 flatter myself that nearly every position taken in these pages, will secure the concurrence of all fair minds. I have sought with special care to present those aspects of the subject which I think best fitted to awaken a practical interest in the cause I plead, and to unite all good men in efforts for the abolition of war. For extracts from others, due credit is given, but none of o«urse for anything taken from my own writings.

The cause of peace aims solely to do away the custom of international war ; and I trust there will be found in this book nothing that does not bear on this object, nor anything that interferes with the legitimate authority of government. As a friend of peace, I am of course a supporter of civil government, with all the powers requisite for the condign punishment of wrong-doers, the enforcement of law, and the preservation of social order. I deem government, in spite of its worst abuses, an ordinance of God for the good of mankind ; nor can I, as a peace man, hold any doctrines incompatible in my view with its just and necessary powers over its own subjects. I condemn oiilij the great duel of nations,

G. C. B.

Section i. — General Treatment of Warriors, .... 43 II. — Military Punishments, 47

III. — Marches, 55

IV. — Sieges, 60

v.— Battles, 68

VI. — Hospitals, or Treatment of the Sick and Wounded, 75

IV. — Social and Domestic Sufferings from War, 82

V. — A Few Sketches of the Horrors of War, . 98

Part II. Moral Evils Of War

CHAPTER I. — Moral Elements of War, ...

II.— Causes of War,

III. — ^The Vices and Crimes of War, IV. — War Viewed in the Light of Nature, V. — War Viewed in the Light of Revelation, Section i. — General Contrariety of War to Revealed Religion 11. — War and the Old Testament, ....

III. — War and the New Testament

IV.— Difficulties from the New Testament, . V. — Early Christians on War, .... VI. — Malign INIoral Influences of War, Section i. — Upon Individual and Social Character,

II. — Upon Social Institutions

HI.— Upiin the Enterprises of Christian Benevolence, IV. — On the Salvation of Mankind,

Part III. Re3iedies For War

CHAPTER I.— The Supports of W.a.r 201

Section i.— Pleas in Favor of War 201

II. — Influences that still Support the Custom of War, 212 n. — Practicability of Peace, or the Evils of War

NOT Incurable, 221

III. — Substitutes for War, 229

Section i. — Temporary Substitutes for War 230

II. — Permanent Substitutes for War, .... 232

rV.— Concluding Appeals, ... . . 244

Introduction

Peace is no new theme. Ancient prophets foretold it as one of the peculiar glories of Messiah's reign ; and the angels, sent to announce his advent, sang over his manger-cradle, Glory to God in the highest and on earth Peace, good will to men ! Peace was thus the birth-song of ChristianitY ; and its principles, fully embodied by our Saviour in his sermon on the mount, and thickly scattered through the New Testament, were so strictly put in practice by the early Christians, that not a few of them went to the stake rather than bear arms. The church, however, relapsed into a deep, protracted degeneracy on this subject, as on many others ; and for more than a thousand years after her fatal union with the state under Constantino in the fourth century, did she lend her sanction to the custom of war with scarce a thought of its glaring contrariety to her religion of peace. Still she was not entirely without witnesses on this point ; for the Waldenses bore their testimony in the very midnight of the dark ages, and Erasmus, the day-star of the Reformation and of Modern Literature, wrote in behalf of peace with an eloquence worthy of the first scholar of the world. We know too well how little his voice was heeded by the warring Christians of I* that age ; but the seed sown by his hand has begun, in the present century, to spring up more or less among Christians of every name, and to promise in due time a rich and glorious harvest.

Every one knows the noble testimonies borne against war by George Fox, William Penn, and their followers for the last two centuries ; but it was not till near the downfall of Napoleon, and the consequent pacilieation of Europe, that any general or effective efforts were made for the specific purpose of abolishing this custom. David L. Dodge, a pious, philanthropic merchant of New- York, was the real pioneer of these efforts in America. He began his labors before the commencement, in 1812, of our last war with England, but delayed any formal public organization until several months after the close of that war, when in August, 1815, there was formed in the city of New-York the first Peace Society of modern times. The first effectual appeal to the public at large, howev^, was made by Noah Worcester in his Solemn Review of the Custom of War, published in December, 1814, and followed the next December by the Massachusetts Peace Society, and by the London Peace Society in June, 1816; societies that ever since have in one form or another sustained the cause through the world. This concert among the friends of peace in the two hemispheres, was without any knowledge at the time of each other's movements or designs, and thus gave striking proof that the hand of an all-controlling providence was at work to call forth and concentrate the benevolent energies of Christendom for the removal of this terrible scourge. Similar societies were in time multiplied. The American Peace Society, as a bond of union among the friends of peace through the United States, was organized in 1828 under the auspices of its venerable founder,

William Ladd; and kindred efforts have been made, not only in various parts of the British empire, but in France, Switzerland, and other portions of Christendom.

The object of this movement should be distinctlyunderstood at the outset. It aims merely to abolish the specific, loell-difined custom of international war. All the relations among men may be resolved into the relation of individuals to one another, the relation of individuals to society or government, and the relation of one society or government to another. The principles of peace may be applicable, more or less, to all these relations ; but the cause of peace is restricted to the latter class, those between governments alone, and aim.^s solely at such an application of the gospel to the intercourse of nations, as shall put an end to the practice of settling their disputes by the sword. When this shall have been accomplished, a vast deal more will doubtless remain to be done ; but the associated friends of peace will then have fulfilled their specific mission.

This view of peace relieves it from a variety of extraneous questions. If our only province is the intercourse of nations, and our sole object the abolition of war between them, then have we nothing to do with capital punishments, or the right of personal self-defence, or the strict inviolability of human life, or the question whether the gospel allows the application of physical force to tile government of states, schools and families. All these are grave questions, but come not within our province. We go merely against war ; and war is defined by our best lexicographers to be '■ a contest by force between nations." It is such a conflict between governments alone; and hence, neither a parent chastising his child, nor a teacher punishing his pupil, nor a father defending bis family against a midnight assassin, nor a traveller resisting by force a highway robber, nor a ruler inflicting the penalties of law upon a sentenced criminal, can properly be called war, because the parties are not nations alone, but either individuals, or individuals and government. The cause of peace is not encumbered with such cases, but confines itself to the single purpose of abolishing the custom of war.

For the accomplishment of this purpose, there is need of specific^ associated efforts. The object itself is sufficiently distinct ; as much so as that of temperance, or missions, or any other benevolent enterprise. It is, also, important enough to justify and require such efforts. It is tributary to the highest interests of mankind, fraught with the weal or the woe of our whole race for time and eternity. It is difficult to conceive an enterprise aiming to prevent more evil, or to secure a greater amount of good ; and surely an object so immeasuraby important may rightly demand the special, associated efforts of good men. In no other way can it ever be accomplished ; for the evil will no more cure itself than would the slave-trade, or intemperance, or paganism, or any other evil wrought into the web and woof of a world's habits for five thousand years. A delusion so long cherished, and fortified by so many and so powerful influences, can be dislodged from the general mind only by specific, concentrated and long-continued efforts. •The evil itself is specific ; Christianity has provi led a specific remedy : and of this remedy, Christians must make a direct, specific application, before th( 7 can expect a thorough cure of the war gangrene 1 ^storing for so many ages on the bosom of universal humanity. We need this reform, also, to clear the skirts of Christians themselves from the guilt of war, to exhibit our religion

INTUOB'JCTION. 9

of peace in its original purity, and thus pave tlie way for the world's speedy conversiou ; nor can we doubt that the extinction of war through Christendom would operate as life from the dead to the church, and prove the harbinger of her millennial triumphs and glories.

This cause, moreover, requires the cordial union of all its friends. They all believe that war ought to be abolished, but reach this conclusion by ditferent modes of reasoning. A very few assert the unlawfulness of all physical force, and deny the right of one man to punish, coerce or even rule another ; — positions to which no peace society has ever been committed, which our own has always regarded as foreign to its object, and which most men would deem subversive of all human government and all social order. Others, assuming the strict inviola bility of human life, oppose war mainly as a whole sale violation of this simple, comprehensive principle ; — a principle adopted by a small portion of the friends of peace, but never recognized as the basis of our cause ; a principle involving of course the abolition of all death-penalties, and extremely difficult, if not impossible, to be reconciled with the safety or legitimate functions of government. A third class, far outnumbering both the former, discard this principle, yet deem all war contrary to the gospel ; while a fourth class, more numerous than all the foregoing, think it right for nations to draw the sword in strict self-defence, that is, when their only alternative is to kill or be killed, yet hold the custom itself m deep abhorrence, and sincerely desire its abolition. We wish to unite all tliese classes of peace men, unless perhaps the first one be too small to be noticed ; and we would fain unite them by constructing a platform on which they can all coneistently work togetlier for their common purpose, the abolition of war. On this point they perfectly agree ; and, since their object is the same, we would let them all labor for it. each in his own way, without making one responsible for the views of another.

Let us see on what terms the friends of other causes have united. They have required, not perfect uniformity of views, but only cordial, active cooperation for the attainment of their common object. If a man would from any motives unite with them in putting an end to the slave-trade or intemperance, he was welcomed as a coadjutor, and left to take such views, and urge such arguments, as he himself felt most, and therefore thought likely to make the best impression upon others. Every cast of mind was to be met ; and hence all were not only permitted, but desired to press each his own favorite arguments upon men of kindred stamp.

Here is sound good sense ; nor do we see why it should not be applied to peace, and all its professed friends be allowed to retain their present views, and still co-operate, if they will, for their common object. There are points of coincidence between them sufficient for this purpose. They are one in their desires for the abolition of war ; they agree in most of their views touching peace, and differ only on one or two points ; they would, in laboring for their common cause, use essentially the same means ; and the diversity in their modes of exhibiting the subject, is in fact necessary to reach with the best effect all the variety of minds that we wish to enlist.

The cause of peace, then, ought to be prosecuted with the same liberality as other enterprises, and all its friends be permitted, without rebuke or suspicion, to promote it in such ways as they respect ively prefer. The test should be. not the belief of this or that dogma, but a n'Ulingmss to co-operata for

INTRODUCTION. IJ

the entir abolition of war ; and all that will do this, and just as far as they do it, should be regarded aa friends of peace. If any doctrine be required as a test, let it be the broad principle on which the first General Peace Convention in London (1843) was constituted, viz., that war is inconsistent with Christianity^ and the true interests of mankind. We grant that this language is indefinite, allowing a pretty free play of the pendulum ; but this is just what we want in order to meet the diversity of opinion among the friends of peace. We can make it express the belief of all war unchristian ; but it fledges us only to a condemnation of the custom. To this principle there can be no objection from any one willing to labor for the abolition of war ; and hence the test of principle would in fact be the very test of action on which alone we insist. We ask men to abolish war ; and, if they gird themselves in earnest for this work, we would let them do it in their own way, nor quarrel with them about their motives.

Any other course must clog our cause with a variety of superfluous issues. Let me suppose you arguing against the slave-trade. Not satisfied with proving it wrong, you try to bring it under the condemnation of some general principle applicable to a hundred other things — the principle, if you please, that all love of money, or all physical coercion of men, both of which are so deeply concerned in that trade, is unchristian. Your antagonist readily admits the trajfic itself to be wrong, but joins issue on your general principle, and thus compels you to waste nearly all your strength upon what is not essential to your purpose. Were you endeavoring to abolish duelling, would you first establish the principle, that self-defence, or the taking of human life in any case, or all use of brute force, is uncliristiaii, and then forbid the co-operation of any that did not embrace one or all of these princi pies? True, if you prove either, you condemn duelling ; but if neither is true, that practice may still be utterly wrong. So in peace. I prove it just as wrong for nations to fight as it is for individuals ; but a stickler for simplification, presses me to know on what principle I condemn war. ' Principle ! Why, I have just adduced a dozen in the shape of so many arguments against it.' " But on what one in particular do you deem it wrong ? What is your stand-point?" If in reply I say, that human life is inviolable, or that the gospel discards all physical force, or forbids my injuring another for my own benefit, he starts at once a new trail of objections, not against my sole aim of abolishing war, but against my principle as applicable in his view to something else which he thinks right. He says it condemns capital punishment, and even subverts all human government ; and thus he leads me away from my sole object into disputes which have little or no connection with peace. If you prove human life inviolable, or all use of brute force unchristian, you certainly condemn war ; but is it wrong on no other grounds ? If it is, then let all that choose, discard it on those grounds, nor insist that they shall argue against it only in your own favorite way.

We plead, then, for the cordial, zealous co-operation of all peace-men, and would fain take away from every friend of God or man the last shred of excuse for refusing to co-operate. Associated solely for the abolition of international war, they should be pledged only to that end, and allowed to retain each his own opinions, and to labor for their common object in such ways as they respectively prefer, without insisting upon any other basis of co-operation than the belief, that war, being inconsistent with Christianity, and the true interests of mankind, ought to be abolished. Such a course would remove not a few obstructions, conciliate a much larger number of co-workers, and pave the way for a speedier and more glorious triumph.

The time has come for a much more extensive rally in behalf of this cause than has ever yet been attempted. It is the grand interest of the world; and its claims we would urge upon every friend whether of God or man. We should spread our sails for every breeze that may waft us sooner into the port of universal and permanent peace. We should press into our service every possible auxiliary. We need and may secure all the good influences of the world ; and, should we make our platform broad enough to include all that are really desirous, from any motives, of putting an end to the time-hallowed tyranny of the sword, we might ere-long rally for its utter abolition every well-wisher to mankind.

It is by a very simple process we hope under God to reach this glorious result. Public opinion in the long run governs the world ; and if we can once revolutionize the war-sentiments of mankind, and bring the custom under their universal ban, it must of necessity cease everywhere. It exists solely because they choose it ; and, when nations shall all discard it as the arbiter of their disputes, or the instrumr-nt of their ambition, cupidity or vengeance, it will of course vanish from the earth like darkness before the rising sun, and give place to rational, peaceful methods, such as stipulated arbitration, or a congress of nations, more effectual for all purposes of protection or redress, than the sword ever was, or ever can be. We propose to supersede the alleged necessity of war, by the adoption of feasible, effective and satisfactory substitutes.

TESTIMONIES TO PEACE.

"America," says tbe Rev. Mr. Jeffries, a distinguished English Missionary in India, " has the honor of inventing two of the most valuable institutions that ever blessed mankind, — the Peace Society, and the Temperance Society ; and, if every American viewed them as I do, he would join them immediately.'''' Dr. Keed, of London, describes this cause as " a field worthy of the church, worthy of angels," and calls upon Christians to " glorify their religion by banding together as an army of pacificators."

JuDSON, the Apostle of Burmah, says, "I hail the establishment of peace societies as one of the most auspicious signs of the present eventful era, and regard them as combining with Bible and Missionary societies to form that threefold cord which will ultimately bind all the families of man in universal peace and love. Since war has been universally advocated and applauded, it appears to me that it is not optional with any to remain neutral or silent on this great question ; since, thus remaining, they must be considered as belonging of course to the war party. Notwithstanding, therefore, I am a missionary, I have determined to make whatever eff'orts are necessary to comply with the dictates of conscience, and wash my hands of the blood that is shed in war. I regret that I have so long delayed to enter my protest against this practice by some overt act ; a measure which appears, in the present state of things, the indispensable duty of every Christ ian.^^

Ecclesiastical bodies, representing nearly every

Christian denomination in our country, have borne their testimony to this cause, — Congregationalists, both Unitarian and Orthodox, Baptists, Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed, Methodists, Free-will Baptists, and Christians. They " commend this cause to the Christian community as worthy of a place among the benevolent enterprises of the age," and regard " the American Peace Society as eminently entitled to the cordial cooperation and support of all the churches of Christ." They deem it "the duty of ministers to preach in favor of the cause of peace as a prominent part of the gospel, and of Christians to pray for the spread of peace through the world." They think, also, "that the subject of peace, being in its strictly evangelical principles and bearings a part of the gospel, ought to be discussed in the pulpit on the Sabbath, just like the other principles of the Bible ;" and that " ministers should continue to preach, Christians to pray, and all to contribute in favor of universal and permanent peace."

" Much may be done," says Chalmers, " to accelerate the advent of perpetual and universal peace, by a distinct body of men embarking their every talent, and their every acquirement in the prosecution of this as a distinct object. This was the way in which the British public wore gained over to the cause of Africa. This is the way in which some of the other prophecies of the l^ible are at this moment hastening to their accomplishment ; and it is in this way, I apprehend, that the prophecy of peace may be indebted for its speedier fulfilment to the agency of men selecting this as the assigned field on which their philantliropy shall expatiate. Were each individual member of such a scheme to prosecute his own walk, and come forward with his own peculiar contribution, the fruit of the united labors of all would be one of the finest collections of Christian eloquence, and of enlightened morals, and of sound political philosophy, that ever was presented to the world. 1 could not fasten on another cause more fitted to call forth such a variety of talent, and to rally around it so many of the generous and accomplished sons of humanity, and to give each of them a devotcdness and a power far beyond whatever could be sent into the hearts of enthusiasts by the mere impulse of literary ambition/'

" It is high time," says John Angell James, " for the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus to study the genius of their religion. A hatred of war is an essential feature of practical Christianity ; and it is a shame upon what is called the Christian world, that it has not long since borne universal and indignant testimony against that enormous evil which still rages not merely among savages, but among scholars, philosophers, Christians and divines. Real Christians should come out from the world on this subject, and touch not the unclean thing. Let them act upon their own principles, and become not only the friends but the advocates of peace. Let ministers from the pulpit, writers from the press, and private Christiaris in their intercourse with each other and the world, inculcate a fixed and irreconcilable abhorrence of war. Let the Church of God be a

SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF

UNIVERSAL Peace."

" Would to God," exclaims Bishop Watson, " that the spirit of the Christian religion would exert its influence over the hearts of individuals in their public capacity, as much as, we trust, it does over their conduct in private life ! Then there would be no war. When the spirit of Christianity shall exert its proper influence over the minds of individuals, and especially over the minds of public men in their

^/ablic capacities, war will cease throughout the Christian world."

" War," said the sainted Payson, " is surrounded by a deceitful lustre. The monster, unveiled in all his deformity, is seen steeped from head to foot in human gore, gorging his insatiable maw with the yet quivering limbs of mangled victims, and feasting his ears with the wailings of disconsolate widows and helpless orphans ; while the flash of cannon, the glare of bombs, and the red blaze of cities wrapt in conflagration, furnish the only light which illuminates his horrid banquet. Such is the idol whom the votaries of war adore ; such is the Moloch on whose altars men have exultiugly sacrificed, not hecatombs of beasts, but millions of their fellow creatures; on whose blood-thirsty worshippers beauty has lavished her smiles, and genius its eulogies ; whose horrid triumphs, fit only to be celebrated in the infernal world, painters and sculptors, poets and historians, have combined to surround with a blaze of immortal glory.

But let the monster's hideous form be exposed in its true colors ; and it will be an honor to Christianity, a powerful argument in her favor, to be known as his most decided and successful foe. To accomplish this work, to place before men in naked deformity the idol they have so long ignorantly worshipped in disguise, and thus turn against him the powerful current of public opinion, is the great object of the associated friends of peace. Nor is it easy to conceive how any one who believes the Scriptures, and professes to be the disciple of the Prince of Peace, or a friend to the human race, can justify himself in withholding his aid from a cause so evidently the cause of God. Who would not wish to share this honor ? After the glorious victory shall have been won. after wars shall have been made to cease 2* under the wliole heaven, who will not then wish to have been among the few that first unfurled the consecrated banner of peace ?"

We might, also, multiply testimonies for peace from men of the world. '' The very things." says Seneca, "which, if men had done them in their private capacity, they would expiate with their lives, we extol when perpetrated in regimentals at the bidding of a general. Enormities forbidden in private persons, are actually enjoined by legislatures, and every species of barbarity authorized by decrees of the senate, and votes of the people."

''- War," says Machiavel, " makes villains, and peace brings them to the gallows."

" How frightful," exclaims Washington, " is that false ambition which desolates the world with fire and sword ! It is time for knight-errantry and mad heroism to be at an end."

"AVar," says Jefferson, "is an instrument entirely inefficient towards redressing lorong^ and multiplies instead of indemnifying losses. Will nations never devise a more rational umpire of their difi'erences than force?"

'■ All wars," says Franklin, " are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones. There never has heen^ nor ever icill be, any such thing as a good WAR. OR A BAD PEACE. Better for mankind to settle their difiiculties even by the cast of a die, than by fighting and destroying each other. When will mankind be convinced of this, and agree to settle their diificulties by arbitration? We daily make great improvements in natural philosophy; there is one I wish to see in moral — the discovery of a plan that would induce and oblige nations to settle their disputes without first cutting one another's throats."

'• I have been," says Louis Buonaparte, " as enthusiastic and joyous as any one else after victory ; still I confess that even then the sight of a field of battle not only struck me with horror, but even turned me sick. And now that I am advanced in life, I cannot understand, any more than I could at fifteen years of age, how beings who call themselves reasonable, can employ this short existence, not in loving and aiding each other, and passing through it as gently as possible, but in striving, on the contrary, to destroy each other, as though time did not do this with sufficient rapidity. What I thought at fifteen years of age, I still think, that war, and the pain of death which society draws upon itself, are but organized barbarisms, an inheritance of the savage state, disguised or ornamented by ingenious institutions, and false eloquence."