World Affairs Institute

THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON IN ITS CONNECTION WITH HISTORYAuthor(s): EMORY WASHBURNSource: Advocate of Peace (1847-1884), New Series, Vol. 3, No. 39 (MARCH, 1872), pp. 162-163Published by: World Affairs InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27905246 .

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162 THE ADVOCATE OF PEACE.

THE CONTRAST.

BY REV. DR. N. MOFETRIDGE, PA.

WAR.

Look on yon field where the conflict is waging, Wrapt in dense volumes of smoke and of flame ;

Wildly in slaughter old Moloch is raging, Hell sits in triumph, and men call it "fame."

Under the smoke cloud of battle carouses

Ruin, and crime, desolation and woe ; Ev'ry vile passion in man war arouses,

As he contends on the field with his foe.

Ended the battle, there thousands are lying Mangled and bleeding, strewn over the plain ;

Shrieks pf the wounded and groans of the dying . Greet the sore hearts that lament for the slain.

On sweeps the army exulting, victorious, Leaving the wounded and dying to rot ;

Triumph again that the natiori calls "glorious," Dead to the treasure by which it was bought.

Vines are uprooted, and cities are plundered, Children are butchered, and women defiled ;

Ties the most holy are wantonly sundered, Innocence, honor, and truth? are reviled.

PEACE.

Peace, 'tis the calm, the wild tempest succeeding, Gilding the cloud and adorning the plain ;

Upwards all nature in hopefulness leading, Opening the blossom and ripening the grain.

Bathed in its sunshine earth heightens her splendors, Industries flourish, discussion is free ;

Nature to science her kingdom surrenders, Commerce enlivens the wastes of the sea.

Knowledge unlocks her great storehouse of treasures, Learning advances and riches increase ;

Piety brings the bosom her pleasures, All are enriched with the trophies of peace.

Rouse all ye teachers this peace to awaken, Out of instruction war's splendors erase ;

Earth to its centre by thought can be shaken, Sentiment only can warfare displace.

Come blessed day when our tents shall be folded, Never again to be spread for the night ;

War's cruel instruments gathered and moulded Into the objects of husbandry's right.

When all shall live in fraternal relations, Happy together one king to adore ;

Earth be instinct with love's grand revelations, Peace in perfection shall reign evermore.

THE TBEATY OF WASHINGTON IN ITS CONNEC TION WITH HISTOBY.

BY EMORY WASHBTJRN, LL. D.

[Professor of Law, Harvard University.!

Important as the treaty of Washington may be considered m its bearing upon the question of peace and war between two of the leading nations of the world, it borrows, in my apprehension, a far greater interest from its connection with a chain of events which forms an earnest of a change in the policy of nations, whereby war is to be subjected to law, and the power of inter national sentiment is to become stronger than the array of hos tile armies. It serves to mark a new stage in the progress of civilization, and a new chapter in the history of international law. I propose, therefore, at this time to leave to others the

I madness and barbarism of war, while I confine what I have to

say to the connection there is between Ihe progress of law and the extinction of bloodshed and violence as a remedy and re dress for a public wrong.

The ground upon which we are to hope that war is to be

brought under subjection to law, is the analogy th#re is between its causes and the modes in which it is carried on, and the strife and passions of individuals in a barbarous state of so

ciety, which have been made to yield to the sovereignty of the

State, and the power it exerts over its subjects. There is much too for encouragement when it is considered of what law consists. Call it by what term you please, it is after all, little else than the force of public sentiment. In the State, indeed, it is expressed by a legislative declaration. But if the senti

ment of a people demands a law, they are quite sure to obtain it in some form, whereas, any law is powerless however sol

emnly declared, if it is adverse to the settled convictions of a nation. Under the notion of an international law it is true there is no recognized sovereign having power to impose a decree

upon his subjects, but no single nation can long stand against the united sentiments of other nations around it, upon ques tions of international right and policy, and few subjects have

made a more decided advance in the history of the last few

centuries, than that of this Law of nations. The wrongs of States have in this way, been brought under the cognizance of

law, in the same way, and in some measure to the same extent as those of individual citizens, in relation to the body politic of which they form a constituent part. And the analogy would be complete, if the great republic of nations could be brought to regard the conduct of its individual States, as the body poli tic of the State does that of its subjects, as something to be

regulated and controlled by the judgment and will of the whole. The thing to be regulated or repressed in both, is the

savage passions of man, which in a state of barbarism lead to acts of violence and personal revenge. We need not go far back in our research, to mark the time when the business of

avenging personal wrongs was in the hands of individuals, ovei which the State exercised little or no cognizance or control. If a man, for examp'le, took the life of another, it was left to the friends of the one who had been slain to punish and re

venge his death. And the first effort on the part of the State to check this recognized right of vengeance, which had been cherished by all the early nations as a point of honor, was by providing places for temporary refuge till the circumstances un der which the homicide had taken place could be inquired into, and the party saved if innocent of fault.

CITIES OF REFUGE.

Thus there were the " cities of refuge "

among the Hebrews under the laws of Moses. Among the Greeks and Romans there were altars to which the man slayer might flee and be safe for a period, and the doctrine of Sanctuary was familiar to our Saxon ancestors in England. But if upon inquiry the homicide were not one to be excused, the offender was by the Levitical law, given up to be dealt with by the "avenger of blood" who was the next of kin to him who had been slain.

Nor was this custom of personal revenge done away with in the land of our ancestors, until the king had put all his sub

jects *' within his peace," and assumed as a part of the preroga

tive of the State, to punish crime, while it was held that a

wrong done by one subject to another, was something of which the government should take cognizance, and punish as a wrong done to the whole body politic. The steps and stages by which

private revenge thus yielded to the principle of protection which the law extends over the person of every citizen, are familiar matters in history, while the only vestige of it which is left is the cowardly resort of the bully to the so-called

" laws of honor."

CAUSES OF EARLY WARS.

If we trace the early wars of which history treats, we shall find they sprung from the same causes which originally prompted individuals to seek each other's lives, and that they were carried on with the same savage spirit of barbarism. Pride, jealousy and hate entered into the conflicts of nations in the same manner as of individuals, and slaughter and extermi nation were the legitimate means of carrying them on. The laws of modern, and as it is called, civilized warfare were little if

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THE ADVOCATE OF PEACE. 163

at all regarded. The wars of the Israelites against the inhabi tants of Canaan were those of extermination.

PIRACY.

Piracy was honorable, maritime warfare among the polished and refined Greeks, and in later times among the Northmen.

And as late as the close of the eighth century of the Christian era, Charlemagne, the greatest monarch of his time, and the boasted champion of Christianity, on one occasion slaughtered in cold blood, between four and five thousand prisoners of war,

without incurring the censure or animadversion of any other nation. Indeed, until long after his day, there was but little intercourse or connection between nations, and as little of inter national law. Down even as late as the time of Cardinal

Richelieu, who was cotemporary with the settlement of New

England, it was lawful to seize a stranger coming into a coun

try, even though it was at peace with his own, and though he

might be thrown upon its coast by shipwreck, and hold him as a prisoner of war.

PRISONERS OF WAR.

It was indeed, a great step in the law of civilized warfare and of nations, when instead of murdering prisoners taken in war, they were sold into perpetual slavery. And the propriety as well as the right to do this, is recognized by an ordinance of Massachusetts in 1641, which, while aiming at the abolition of slavery in the colony, recognizes

" lawful captives taken in

just wars" as constituting a class whom it could not reach.

INTERCOURSE OF NATIONS.

The means of influence and control which nations now exer cise over each other, by frequent and familiar intercourse and

interchange of opinions, may be easily traced and will be found to be of a recent origin. It is but about two hundred years since the system of Resident Ministers at the Courts of each other was inaugurated. Whereas now, whatever is done or

thought at one Court is at once known at all the others with which it is at peace, and the public sentiment of nations is about as omnipotent in its influence over each other as that of the people of a State over the policy it is to follow. For an illustration of this, I refer to the treaty between the United States and Prussia in 1785, whereby those nations agreed to disallow privateering in carrying on any war in which they might become involved. And this precedent so honorably es tablished by our own country, had been followed by the Con vention of Paris in 1856, to which more than forty of the Eu

ropean States, including the German principalities, had become

parties. And some were confidently looking forward to the time when the honest merchant may pursue his commerce on the ocean, without living in danger of being robbed by a mod ified form of piracy, under the name of privateering, There are agencies in operation, whose power is stronger than even nations themselves, in working out the moral revolution through which the world is passing, and laying deeper and firmer the foundations of a sound and humane system of international law. Aside from the constantly increasing intercourse between na

tions, by travel and commerce, and official interchange of

thought, there is the power of the Press which is felt in every

department and relation of society,?influencing the policy .of States and empires, in the same manner as it acts upon the do mestic politics and opinions of single States.

The treaty of Washington in adjusting the disputes of inde

pendent nations, may be regarded as the next great step which the world is to take in ridding itself of the mischiefs and ca

lamities of war. It comes in, naturally, after opening for all men a free highway to the commerce of the world. Not that wars are at once to cease, but as a precedent, it will be so

strongly suggestive of the folly and wickedness of such a waste of life and treasure as war always entails upon a nation, that men everywhere will begin to ask in terms which cannot be

misunderstood, why other nations should not follow the same

magnanimous course in settling their difficulties as has been

adopted by England and the United States ? The people of the old world are already beginning to ask why the industry of the laboring classes should be taxed to support wars in which

they have nothing at stake, and why the masses of the citizens should be made " food for powder," to add a new trinket to

royalty, or to draw a new line of demarcation between princi palities with which they have no concern ? But to fix this pre cedent as a principle, and make arbitration between States, a

part of international law, requires a strong and vigorous senti ment in its favor among reflecting minds and a free expression of it on the part of the people who constitute these States. It is for this reason that such meetings as this become a power of immense importance in the land. They help to form and es

tablish a sound public sentiment. They help to swell that tide of individual opinion which, when concentrated becomes the nation's will, and speaks through her rulers and hef public rep resentatives. It only needs such an expression as this in favor of the policy now for the first time inaugurated, to satisfy the other nations of the world, that peace may win a far more glo rious victory than war with all its pomp and circumstances, and to prepare them to welcome to the code which rules their des

tinies, the principle that what is right between men is the only policy which can be wisely adopted in settling disputes between nations.

The foregoing is the substance of the remarks delivered at the recent peace meeting at Cambridge.

PRIVATE AND SOCIAL WAR. BY REV. D. 0. HAYNES.

The great and constant war is a private one. The idea of a

perpetual war amongst nations would fill us all with consterna tion. A civil war as we call it,?a very uncivil one in fact,? a perpetual intestine war in any one nation, would be the great est of calamities. Who is so blind as not to see this ? And

yet, in fact, there is such a war in constant operation every where but in Heaven. There are little fighting squads in num erous neighborhoods, families, schools, and even churches, which are the pest of society ; and what makes this belligerent habit so bad, is the fact that it is deemed nearly innocent, and

quite necessary, whilst in fact it contains the real hateful, soul and peace destroying principle of war in its worst forms.

Neighbors?some few in most neighborhoods, seem possessed of the devil in this respect, and they seldom meet, but at it

they go, like belligerent cats. No one doubts that the same

fiend is a constant guest in some families, and that fathers and even mothers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, abound, who are stupid enough to get into a pas sion with each other, and indulge in angry feelings and hard words. You can hardly take an ordinary walk, but you will see children, who have too well learned the lesson taught them

by ''children of a larger growth," who are making faces, shak

ing fists, and shooting words, and perhaps pulling hair, like old veteran soldiers. And alas*!?must we say it?you can

hardly go to a church meeting, without soon becoming aware

that it is the church militant that has assembled, and that the

god of war is present. Well, what of it ? Of course it is so ; man is a fighting ani

mal. What of it? Much everyway. And first, if we pri vately indulge in the spirit and practice of war, what wonder that we easily fall into the habit of public war, and flare up as

occasion occurs in regard to nations and parts of nations? Your private man of war is your public man of war, as he reaches places of trust. Your fighting boys become your

fighting men. It is slow work making grand peace societies, and inducing nations to resort to arbitration instead of can

nons, where the individuals of community are cultivating the war spirit. We must lay the axe at the root of the tree, here, as in all other vices.

And then second, this perpetual din of private war is the cause of much wretchedness and sin. It is everywhere, all the

time, in constant strife, causing bitterness and hatred and sin, and crime and woe. How many families at this moment, have their greatest troubles in the little tact (so called) that some of

the members have no patience, or forbearance, or mercy, or

humility, or consideration. And last, but by no means least, .the God of Peace as much

forbids private war as public, and as much invites his children to cultivate in themselves, each one for himself, the graces of

Peace, as he does nations. If I controlled a Peace paper, 1 think I should keep in type

Matt. 5 : 1-12. Reader, turn to it just now, and ponder it.

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