O ARE THE PEACEMAKERS; FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED THE CHILDREN BOND OF CONDUCTED BY London: JOB CAUDWELL, 335, Strand. Council are but as dust in the balance, compared with the difficulties of the battle field. It is deeply to be regretted that from England should have gone the only distinct refusal to accept the invitation to take part in the proposed Congress at Paris. It is satisfactory, however, to know that that rejection has been based rather upon a want of personal confidence in the Emperor than in any fundamental objection to a Congress of Nations. No one has attempted to deny that council is better than carnage, or to assume that the sword without ultimate negotiation can ever really settle any matter in dispute between Nations. Why then has the Emperor's invitation been rejected by the British Government, and why is that rejection approved by certain classes and journals in this country? Is it that the thing proposed-the Congress-is in itself-in its nature and attributes-thought to be an irrational or an inexpedient thing? That cannot be, since England has often taken part in a Congress of the Great Powers, and has professed a very high respect and value for the decisions and results which have been obtained. It has been urged, that in this instance, uncertainty as to the ulterior views and designs of the Emperor shook the confidence of those who were invited to join him in council, and that without a previous certainty of concert the Congress would be a source rather of aggravated mischief than of harmonious union. To this it may be replied that the very idea of a Congress involves the idea of dissentient feelings and conflicting interests. If all were of one mind, and no Power had any thing to demand from others, or to concede itself, there would be no need either for a Congress or for War. The Congress is invited to meet just because those elements of discord and divergence are in existence, and because moot questions, yet unsettled, are threatening to drift the Nations down upon the arbitrament of the Sword, that the proposal has come for a timely interposition, by which European difficulties and estrangements may find their solution in the council chamber instead of the camp. To refuse to take part in the Congress because uncertain of its issues, and at the same time to be making the costliest preparations for War, although its issues must always be a thousand fold more uncertain, is surely a line of policy unworthy alike the intelligence and the Christian courage of the English nation. They have been invited to Paris not to endorse or to carry out an Imperial policy, but to discuss what each or all may deem the most important questions affecting the general interest of Europe. The Congress would have ample powers to accept or to refuse whatever proposals were submitted to it incompatible, in its judgment, with the general good. England, by accepting the invitation, would have indicated her approval of the principle of a Congress, without abrogating one jot or tittle of her authority or power to pronounce her own opinion. She would have lost nothing by consenting to confer. She might have gained much for humanity, by adding the weight of her influence and advice at the Council Board. We do not, of course, mean to say that England might not, in Congress,have been asked to give up something with which she might be loth to part; but she would enter the Congress expecting to unite in asking from others a surrender of some things that might be equally cherished by them. The very foundation principle of such a Congress must needs be a general readiness of mutual concession for the general good. Can it be that there are Englishmen ungenerous and unjust enough to dream of a Congress in which they might be permitted to make large demands upon Russia, in the interest of plundered Poland, to draw freely upon the generosity of Austria, as regards Hungary and Venetia-to press upon France the duty of restitution when the names of Savoy and Nice should come up; but to cry out, like injured innocents, should any one venture to hint that, territorially, Gibraltar belonged rather to Spain than to Great Britain; and that Malta might possibly be thought, geographically, to be somewhat more an adjunct of Italy than England. It cannot but be feared that many of our countrymen would have been ready enough to join the Congress, if they could have been quite sure that they would have been asked only to unite in taking away from others, without being called on to do any thing in the way of restoration, themselves. There are, however, many, we trust, among our right-minded countrymen, who in this matter, as in many others, will feel that it would be a "more blessed thing for their country to give than to receive." It is possible, too, that one cause for the unwillingness felt by the British Government to accept the invitation to join the Congress, was their fear of the opposition they would have to encounter, at home, from those powerful and influential classes whose interests might seem to be placed in jeopardy by one suggested result of the deliberations at Paris. The Emperor was dangerously candid when he asked, with significant emphasis,-"Lastly, must we renounce without fresh attempts at conciliation, the hope of lightening the burthen imposed on the Nations by the disproportional armaments occasioned by mutual distrust? " The Emperor forgot, perhaps, when he dropped this valuable practical hint as to the possibility of arriving, through the instrumentality of the Congress, at some mutual agreement for the reduction of the overgrown armament of Europe, that war is a trade; and that those whose profession is fighting constitute a party who exercise great political influence in States. When Lord Russel penned his reply to the Emperor's invitation he no doubt had in his mind a lively remembrance of that formidable phalanx of officers, military and naval, who occupy seats in the House of commons, and who might very seriously imperil the parliamentary majority of any Government which should have the temerity to take an active part in promoting a movement for reducing the armaments of Europe. Thus it may have happened that the people have lost a present opportunity of deliverance from some of the crushing burdens of the war system, and a chance of witnessing the commencement, at least, of that great change which shall ultimately establish the umpirage of reason and justice in lieu of the blind and barbarous arbitrament of war, because the personal and family influence of our professional fighting legislators was too strong for the Government of the day to disregard; and because their influence in society is sufficient to popularize a policy of war instead of a policy of international council and conciliation, It is for the people, whose interests are so deeply compromised by the present unsatisfactory and unchristian state of European relations, to raise their voice in support of the principle of a CONGRESS OF NATIONS, even though their Government may not have had faith and courage enough to accept the Emperor's invitation to unite in some conciliatory attempts now to reduce this grand idea to practice. It is by no means sure that the Congress will not be held, even without the copartnership of England. Whether this be so or not, the idea is too good and grand to be lost; and the reality, wherever it be reached, will be hailed as the highest achievement of political wisdom, and the noblest triumph over the errors and barbarisms of by-gone times. E. F. Peace Lectures. On Monday, November 23rd, Mr. Edmund Fry visited Chipping Norton, in Oxfordshire, and delivered a lecture in the Town Hall, explanatory of the principles and objects of the Peace Society. The audience was a large one, and was presided over by the Mayor. The audience, to most of whom, the subject was entirely new, listened with marked attention and sympathy throughout the lecture, and appeared to go heartily with the lecturer in the opinion to which he gave expression with reference to the recent cruel and wicked outrage perpetrated in Japan, by a British squadron, under Vice-Admiral Kuper, in the bombardment and destruction of the great city of Kagosima. The Rev. Mr. Green, Baptist minister, moved a vote of thanks, which was carried with enthusiasm. The following day, Mr. Fry proceeded to Hook Norton, and met a number of gentlemen, at the house of Mr. Edwin Pumphrey, a very earnest and active member of the Peace cause. These gentlemen came together, at Mr. Pumphrey's invitation, to consider the practicability of forming a Local District Peace Association. The subject was discussed with lively interest, and finally it was resolved to form such a Society, with the view of promoting an organized dissemination of Peace principles throughout the district. The names of gentlemen, resident in various towns, were given in as promoters of the movement, and members of the Association; which starts with the purpose and prospect of rendering efficient aid to the cause of Peace. In the evening a public meeting was held in the Baptist Chapel, which was presided over by the Baptist minister, and after a lecture by Mr. E. Fry, the meeting was addressed by gentlemen from Banbury, Chipping Norton, Deddington, &c., and a lively feeling of interest prevailed throughout. On Wednesday, the 25th, Mr. Fry lectured to a good audience(principally of the agricultural class) in the Baptist Chapel, at Paxford. Joseph Reynolds, Esq., who presided, spoke forcibly in condemnation of the grievous outrage at Kagosima, and the sympathy of the audience went fully with the speakers in reprobation of the cruel and vindictive spirit of the War system, as exemplified by the British naval forces in Japan. |