1. Original Essay on Patriotism, by S. S. Sumner, Boston, Mass. 4. Osler's Life of Viscount Exmouth, 1. (British) Peace Society-Report, 2. American Peace Society-Agent's Letter, 7. Hartford County Peace Society-Prof. Cogswell's Address, 8. Windham County Peace Society-Extract from Annual Report, 9. Constitution of the Bowdoin Street Ladies' Peace Society, ADVOCATE OF PEACE. No. VII. DECEMBER, 1835. ARTICLE I. WHAT RENDERS WAR NECESSARY. BY THE EDITOR. Ir is a common sentiment, that those who deplore the calamities of war are weak-minded men-destitute of that philosophic spirit and that fortitude which, if they cannot mitigate evil, enable their possessor to endure it as matter of necessity. To all that can be said against war, though argument be accu mulated upon argument, and Humanity, Reason, and Religion, unite in its reprobation, one short answer is sufficient, it is necessary. Acquiescing in the justness of this answer, I propose, in the present paper, to adduce some considerations showing what renders war necessary. 1. It is the duty of governments to guard, with scrupulous care, the moral interests of society, and to defend the moral soundness of the body politic, from every corroding influence. In every government there is a mass of corrupt and abandoned men, which the rulers, in the discharge of such duty, are bound to remove. The most effectual and expeditious mode of accomplishing this object, is to hire or compel these men to as semble in two grand masses, and to shoot or stab each other. This operation is of immense benefit to the state, and as to the individuals who are both its objects and subjects, its transforming influence is no less wonderful than that ascribed to the fancied stone of the alchymists, changing the basest metal to the purest gold. Men, before covered with infamy, and buried in corruption, ascend from the battle-field to heaven-pure and exalted spirits, and their names on earth remain associated with perpetual glory. What wonder that war, producing, as it does, such benefits, should be regarded as necessary! 2. Another consideration, closely allied in its nature to the one just mentioned--is to be found in ignorance and brutal passions. Ignorance leads to misunderstandings between people of different governments. Malevolent passions show themselves in actual strife. False notions of honor and magnanimity prevail over the sentiments of justice and true honor. Rulers of like ignorance, passions, and sentiments, or in subservience to some selfish policy, point their subjects to the field of battle, and they go there-dupes to their rulers, or slaves to their own desires. To enlighten the people, and to elevate them in the scale of moral being, requires a judicious expenditure of money. Such expenditure, for such a purpose, is impracticable. The revenues of nations are required for military service and defence, and for sustaining that physical power on which governments almost exclusively rely. To appropriate public monies to education-I use the term in an enlarged sense-would be to weaken the sinews of war, and impair the energy of the government. Besides, it is the people's money, and in our nation, at least, rulers have a sacrilegious horror of thus wasting the people's money. Schemes of fiscal operation and of commercial aggrandizement receive prompt attention-monied institutions are chartered, railroad companies are incorporated-legislative action is readily extended to almost every interest of a directly pecuniary or political character-but propose measures of justice-of humanity--or measures closely connected with the moral elevation of |