distance of six hundred paces, shatters my body: when I expire, at the age of twenty, under pains unspeakable, and amidst thousands in the same miserable condition-when my eyes at their last opening, see my native town all in a blaze, and the last sounds I hear, are the shrieks and groans of women and children, expiring among the ruins!"

Ah! when shall Christendom wipe away the reproaches cast on it by infidels and pagans! When will the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus understand his precepts and conform to his example?

NO. 27.

THE PROFESSION OF ARMS" AS A TRADE.

This is a subject, which I am sensible, must be handled with the utmost caution, lest in my zeal to forward the best interest of my fellow creatures, I should wound the feelings of some humane and generous soul, who under the influence of early prejudice, has taken up, as a trade to get a living by, a pro

fession, the practice of which is closely associated with sighs and tears, injustice and oppression, robbery and murder.

It has been hinted to me, by friends, that some of my previous remarks on the military profession, have given offence by their severity. It is my opinion, that this misconception arises from want of discrimination, which it has been my constant study to make apparent; but it is next to impossible, to make a thing so plain, that prejudiced eyes, which see every thing obliquely, will see it clearly. My remarks have, generally, been applicable to the profession of arms as a trade, or occupation, in which I am free to acknowledge, there may be generous, benevolent, and I may add, strange as it may appear, christian men engaged, who have carried on the trade of war, with as little reflection as the benevolent Newton carried on the slave trade. Whoever has seen his reflections on that abominable traffic, written in the latter part of his life, will see how much his opinions changed, and we have witnessed a like change in some men of the military profession, and hope to witness many more.

The

reader may perhaps recollect a former notice of a British officer, who lately resigned his commission and its emoluments, from a conviction, that the practice of war is incompatible with a christian profession. A French officer, also, who served with credit under Bonaparte, has been convinced by reading the tracts of the British Peace Society, and has become an advocate for peace, to use his own words "in defiance of the remembrance of his former profession,-in defiance of all the seductions which attend military glory."

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Let it be remembered that to bestow good names on bad things is to give them a passport in the world, under a delusive disguise." (Knox's Essays, No. 34.) The glitter and applause, which have accompanied all successful wars, however unjust, has been the main spring of war, and it is chiefly because the profession of arms, after having passed through certain formula, which is often the only thing that distinguishes it from highway robbery, is considered almost universally honourable, that wars have continued from generation to generation. It is true,

I have endeavoured to apply the touchstone, to the glittering habiliments of war, and it is perhaps, impossible, in such an attempt to avoid the imputation of severity.

I have, generally, avoided all personality. But, it must be remembered, that in stepping forward, to advocate the cause of peace, I have not lost the privilege of a citizen of a free republic ; and that public characters are a fair object of public observation. Nor am I without precedent and example, in the meek an benevolent Saviour, who reproved the chief men among his people, to the face. True, I do not, like him, know their hearts, and I do not like him, judge their hearts—it is of their actions only, that I judge.

I have been led, at this time, to these reflections, by reading Com. Porter's letter to the Hon. Mr. Dickerson, and the following paragraph in particular :

"The profession of arms has never been deemed dishonourable, and whether I go to learn it, or to teach it, malignity alone, can find cause, to censure me."

I must allow, that, in common with my Saviour, with the apostles and primitive

Christians, with many respectable sects of modern Christians, and with a great and increasing portion of my fellow citizens, I must bear the brave Commodore's reproach of malignity. I do indeed consider it, as one of the greatest misfortunes which ever befel human nature, and one of the strongest evidences of its depravity, that a man, who "sells his blood for drachmas," who draws his sword, in almost any cause, in which he has a hope of pay, plunder and glory, should be esteemed an honourable man. Were it not for such men, tyrants would want tools to work with, and oppression and war would

cease.

The professed soldier, whatever he may boast of his patriotism, prefers his own honour to the honour of his country. Hence, let the exigency be ever so great, he resigns his commission, if superseded, and if insulted, by an officer of equal rank, does not fail to challenge him to mortal combat, by which he may deprive his country of the services of both.

Should a man, who follows the profession "feeling power and forgetting

of arms,