the obstacles opposed to them, and be prepared to surmount them. They must persevere "through evil report and good report;" being assured by prophecy, that "in due time they shall reap, if they faint not." There is a vis inertiæ in morals, as well as in matter; and though it is difficult to set a large body in motion, we have this consolation, that it is equally difficult to stop it when once set a going.

The prospect of effecting the desired change in public opinion, and a conviction of the duty of making the attempt, have called out the exertions of the friends of peace, and have united their exertions by the formation of peace societies, both in this country and in Europe. The work is in progress and it goes on as fast, and even faster, than could' have been reasonably expected, and it will arrive at its consummation, if there be any truth in prophecy. I have heard some lament, that they were not born before the American revolution, that they might have shared in the struggle of physical force,which was then carrying on, and many, in future ages, will lament that they had not an oppor

turiy of taking a part in the revolution of opinion, and the struggle of moral force, which is now in operation, and yet, in both cases perhaps, they would have remained idle spectators, or have opposed the change.Wise and great men of the last generation, as I have shewn in this series, anticipated the change, but they thought it at a vast distance, and their hopes were kept alive only by the prophecies and the progress which our opinions had already made, and, therefore whatever might have been their wishes and soltary exertions, they formed no coalition for the purpose of hastening the desired consummation. But we have brighter hopes, and as our hopes invigorate our exertions so our exertions brighten our hopes, andthere is a loud call on every friend of peace, now, now to exert himself. All moral good lies within the reach of moral effort. Every moral evil may be overcome by moral influence.

I close the present number with some excellent remarks by Mrs. Amelia Opie, a pious and justly celebrated English writer.“Individual efforts, however humble, if firm and repeated, must be ultimately success

ful."

"Nothing is impossible to perseverance and exertion." "Nothing is impossible, to zeal and enterprise." "There is no moral evil, which courage, zeal and perseverance will not enable us to overcome, and there never was a period in history, when these qualities seemed more successfully called into action, than at the present moment."

NO. 35.

INTERNATIONAL LAW A REMEDY FOR WAR.

In

my last number, I considered the effect of spontaneous public opinion on peace and war, and now agreeably to my promise, undertake to say something on public opinion, as expressed by compact and agreement, among nations-or international law-or the law of nations as a remedy against war.

The law of nations has, hitherto, depended on the conflicting opinions of civilians, and has never been reduced to a code, to which

the principal nations of Christendom have given their assent. There are, however, some general opinions which have grown into customs, and, by them the rigors of war have been much abated. All other points have been only partially and temporarily agreed upon, in treaties of peace or commerce, and have been disregarded, as soon as the two contracting nations make war again; because war abolishes all treaties. But if three or more nations should agree in a treaty, which should settle the disputed points, a nation would be bound, not only to that with which she might be afterward at war, but to all the other members of the league, and, if it should be agreed on, by the nations joining the public league, that no war should be declared by one party of the league against another, until the matter in dispute had been submitted to a congress of the whole, it is evident that wars must cease among the members of the confederation, and this has been actually the case on a small scale as I shall show in the sequel.

1

Laws may be instituted among nations, as well as among individuals, and, as the insti

tutions of legal tribunals did put an end to personal wars-the judicial combat, and the wars of the feudal system-so, the institution of a national tribunal may put an end to national wars. There is nothing in the nature of things to prevent the establishment by universal consent, of such a tribunal, but the love of military glory and martial renown which many, even in this country, endeavor to keep up, regardless of the misery which war brings on the innocent, the moral degradation and vice which accompany it, and the degradation and slavery by which it is so frequently followed. But when the private and the public robber shall be treated alike by public opinion, and the law of nations wars will cease.

There has been a gradual extension of the laws which bound together a single family, order or tribe, to those which united a number of families, or clans or of independent cities, or of lordships and dukedoms, or of States and Nations, into one league or confederation. In order to put an effectual stop to war among christians, it is necessary to take but one step more, which is to unite all