[29] Agamemnon of Æschylus: Chorus. This is from the beautiful translation by John Symmons.

[30] Mr. Monroe to Commissioners, April 15, 1813: American State Papers, Vol. VIII. pp. 577, 578.

[31] Mr. Monroe to Commissioners, June 27, 1814: Ibid., Vol. VIII. p. 593.

[32] Mr. Jefferson, in more than one letter, declares the peace an armistice only, "because no security is provided against the impressment of our seamen."—Letter to Crawford, Feb. 11, 1815; to Lafayette, Feb. 14, 1815: Works, Vol. VI. pp. 420, 427.

[33] Alison, Ch. 67, Vol. VIII. p. 815.

[34] Alison, Ch. 72, Vol. IX. p. 497.

[35] Napier, Book XXIV. ch. 6, Vol. VI. p. 687.

[36] Ibid., Book XVI. ch. 7, Vol. IV. p. 476.

[37] Hudibras, Part I. Canto 3, vv. 23, 24.

[38] Robertson, Hist. of Charles V., Vol. I. note 21. Semichon, La Paix et la TrÈve de Dieu, Tom. II. pp. 35, 53.

[39] Sismondi, Hist. des FranÇais, Part. V. ch. 9, Tom. X. p. 514.

[40] The pivotal character of Trial by Battle, as an illustration of War, will justify a reference to the modern authorities, among which are Robertson, who treats it with perspicuity and fulness (History of Charles V., Vol. I. note 22),—Hallam, always instructive (Middle Ages, Vol. I. Chap. II. pt. 2),—Blackstone, always clear (Commentaries, Book III. ch. 22, sec. 5, and Book IV. ch. 27, sec. 3),—Montesquieu, who casts upon it a flood of light (Esprit des Lois, Liv. XXVIII. ch. 18-33),—Sismondi, humane and interesting (Histoire des FranÇais, Part. IV. ch. 11, Tom. VIII. pp. 72-78),—Guizot, in a work of remarkable historic beauty, more grave than Montesquieu, and enlightened by a better philosophy (Histoire de la Civilisation en France depuis la Chute de l'Empire Romain, Tom. IV. pp. 89, 149-166),—Wheaton, our learned countryman (History of the Northmen, Chap. III. and XII.),—also the two volumes of Millingen's History of Duelling, if so loose a compend deserves a place in this list. All these, describing Trial by Battle, testify against War. I cannot conceal that so great an authority as Selden, a most enlightened jurist of the Long Parliament, argues the lawfulness of the Duel from the lawfulness of War. After setting forth that "a duel may be granted in some cases by the law of England," he asks, "But whether is this lawful?" and then answers, "If you grant any war lawful, I make no doubt but to convince it." (Table-Talk: Duel.) But if the Duel be unlawful, how then with War?

[41] Robertson, Hist. Charles V., Vol. I. note 22.

[42] Montesquieu, Esprit des Lois, Liv. XXVIII. ch. 19.

[43] Liutprandi Leges, Lib. VI. cap. 65: Muratori, Rerum Italic. Script., Tom. I. pars 2, p. 74.

[44] Sismondi, Hist. des FranÇais, Part. IV. ch. 15, Tom. VIII. pp. 338-347.

[45] Guizot, Hist. de la Civilisation en France, LeÇon 14, Vol. IV. pp. 162-164.

[46] Guizot, Hist. de la Civilisation en France, LeÇon 14, Vol. IV. p. 151.

[47] "Benoist soient tuit li apaiseur."—Joinville, p. 143.

[48] Sismondi, Hist. des FranÇais, Part. IV. ch. 12, Tom. VIII. p. 196.

[49] Selden, The Duello, or Single Combat, from Antiquity derived into this Kingdom of England; also, Table Talk, Duel: Works, Vol. III. col. 49-84, 2027.

[50] Madox, Hist. of Exchequer, Vol. I. p. 349.

[51] "Est autem magna Assisa regale quoddam beneficium, ... quo vitÆ hominum et status integritati tam salubriter consulitur, ut in jure quod quis in libero soli tenemento possidet retinendo, duelli casum declinare possunt homines ambiguum.... Jus enim, quod post mullas et longas dilationes vix evincitur per duellum, per beneficium istius constitutionis commodius et acceleratius expeditur." (Glanville, Tractatus de Legibus et Consuetudinibus Regni AngliÆ, Lib. II. cap. 7.) These pointed words are precisely applicable to our Arbitrament of War, with its many and long delays, so little productive of justice.

[52] Robertson, Hist. Charles V., Vol. I. note 22.

[53] Proceedings in the Court of Chivalry, on an Appeal of High Treason by Donald Lord Rea against Mr. David Ramsay, 7 Cha. I., 1631: Hargrave's State Trials, Vol. XI. pp. 124-131.

[54] Hansard, Parl. Debates, XXXIX. 1104. Blackstone, Com., III. 337: Chitty's note.

[55] Juvenal, Sat. XIII. 105. The same judgment is pronounced by FÉnelon in his counsels to royalty, entitled, Examen de Conscience sur les Devoirs de la RoyautÉ.

[56] Discourse before the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, by A.H. Vinton.

[57] Earl of Abingdon, May 30, 1794: Hansard, Parl. Hist., XXXI. 680.

[58] "Vel iniquissimam pacem justissimo bello anteferrem" are the words of Cicero. (Epist. A. CÆcinÆ: Epp. ad Diversos, VI. 6.) Only eight days after Franklin had placed his name to the treaty of peace which acknowledged the independence of his country, he wrote to a friend, "May we never see another war! for, in my opinion, there never was a good war or a bad peace." (Letter to Josiah Quincy: Works, ed. Sparks, Vol. X. p. 11.) It is with sincere regret that I seem, by a particular allusion, to depart for a moment from so great a theme; but the person and the theme here become united. I cannot refrain from the effort to tear this iron branch of War from the golden tree of Christian Truth, even though a voice come forth from the breaking bough.

[59] De Moribus German., Cap. 7.

[60] Joseph de Maistre, SoirÉes de Saint-PÉtersbourg, Tom. II. p. 27.

[61] Romans, xv. 33.

[62] Ibid., xvi. 20.

[63] A volume so common as Cruden's Concordance shows the audacity of the martial claim.

[64] Iliad, V. 31.

[65] Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chap. XVI. Vol. I. p. 680.

[66] Coleridge, Religious Musings, written Christmas Eve, 1794.

[67] The Point of Honor has a literature of its own, illustrated by many volumes, some idea of which may be obtained in Brunet, "Manuel du Libraire," Tom. VI. col. 1636-1638, under the head of Chevalerie au Moyen Age, comprenant les Tournois, les Combats Singuliers, etc. One of these has a title much in advance of the age in which it appeared: "Chrestienne Confutation du Point d'Honneur sur lequel la Noblesse fonde aujourd'hui ses Querelles et Monomachies," par Christ. de Chiffontaine, Paris, 1579.

[68] The death of the culinary martyr is described by Madame de SÉvignÉ with the accustomed coldness and brilliancy of her fashionable pen (Lettres L. and LI., Tom. I. pp. 164, 165). It was attributed, she says, to the high sense of honor he had after his own way. Tributes multiply. A French vaudeville associates his name with that of this brilliant writer, saying, "Madame de SÉvignÉ and Vatel are the people who honored the age of Louis XIV." The Almanach des Gourmands, in the Epistle Dedicatory of its concluding volume, addresses the venerable shade of the heroic cook: "You have proved that the fanaticism of honor can exist in the kitchen as well as the camp." Berchoux commemorates the dying exclamation in La Gastronomie, Chant III.:—

"Je suis perdu d'honneur, deux rÔtis ont manquÉ."

[69] Esprit des Lois, Liv. III. ch. 3-7.

[70] This is well exposed in a comedy of MoliÈre.

"Don Pedre. Souhaitez-vous quelque chose de moi?

"Hali. Oui, un conseil sur un fait d'honneur. Je sais qu'en ces matiÈres il est mal-aisÉ de trouver un cavalier plus consommÉ que vous....

"Seigneur, j'ai reÇu un soufflet. Vous savez ce qu'est un soufflet, lorsqu'il se donne À main ouverte sur le beau milieu de la joue. J'ai ce soufflet fort sur le coeur; et je suis dans l'incertitude, si, pour me venger de l'affront, je dois me battre avec mon homme, ou bien le faire assassiner.

"Don Pedre. Assassiner, c'est le plus sÛr et le plus court chemin."

Le Sicilien, Sc. XIII.

[71] This proposition is enforced by Socrates, with unanswerable reasoning and illustration, throughout the Gorgias, which Cicero read diligently while studying at Athens (De Oratore, I. 11).

[72] Gorgias, Cap. LXIV.

[73] Cowper, The Task, Book II. vv. 33-36.

[74] La Tresjoyeuse, Plaisante et Recreative Hystoire, composÉe par le Loyal Serviteur, des Faiz, Gestes, Triumphes et Prouesses du Bon Chevalier sans Paour et sans Reprouche, le Gentil Seigneur de Bayart, Chap. XXII.: Petitot, Collection ComplÈte des MÉmoires relatifs À l'Histoire de France, Tom. XV. pp. 238-244. BrantÔme, Discours sur les Duels: Œuvres, Tom. VIII. pp. 34, 35.

[75] "Cari sunt parentes, cari liberi, propinqui, familiares; sed omnes omnium caritates patria una complexa est." (De Offic., Lib. I. cap. 17.) It is curious to observe how Cicero puts aside that expression of true humanity which fell from Terence, "Humani nihil a me alienum puto." He says, "Est enim difficilis cura rerum alienarum." Ibid., Lib. I. cap. 9.

[76] Character, prefixed to Political Works, p. viii.

[77] New Spain, Vol. III. p. 431.

[78] Here and in subsequent pages I have relied upon the EncyclopÆdia Britannica, the Annual Register, McCulloch's Commercial Dictionary, Laurie's Universal Geography, founded on the works of Malte-Brun and Balbi, and the calculations of Hon. William Jay, in War and Peace, p. 16, and in his Address before the Peace Society, pp. 28, 29.

[79] I have verified these results, but do little more than follow Judge Jay, who has illustrated this important point with his accustomed accuracy.—Address before the American Peace Society, p. 30.

[80] Jay, War and Peace, p. 13.

[81] Executive Document No. 15, Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session, pp. 1018-19.

[82] Hon. Josiah Quincy.

[83] Executive Document No. 132, Twenty-Seventh Congress, Third Session.

[84] Report of Secretary of War, Senate Document No. 2, Twenty-Seventh Congress, Second Session,—where we are asked to invest in a general system of land defences $51,677,929.

[85] Executive Document No. 3, Twenty-Seventh Congress, Third Session.

[86] Longfellow, The Arsenal at Springfield.

[87] The Duke of Wellington.

[88] I refer to the pamphlet of S.E. Coues, "United States Navy: What is its Use?"

[89] The Earl of Leicester, father of Sidney, in an anxious letter, August 30, 1660, writes his son: "It is said that the University of Copenhagen brought their Album unto you, desiring you to write something therein, and that your did scribere in Albo these words [setting forth the verses], and put your name to it"; and then he adds, "This cannot but be publicly known, if it be true.... Either you must live in exile or very privately here, and perhaps not safely." The restoration of Charles the Second had just taken place. (Meadley, Memoirs of Algernon Sidney, pp. 84, 323-325.) Lord Molesworth, in a work which first appeared in 1694, mentions the verses as written by Sidney in "the Book of Mottoes in the King's Library," and then tells the story, that the French Ambassador, who did not know a word of Latin, on learning their meaning, tore them from the book, as a libel on the French government, and its influence in Denmark. (Molesworth, Account of Denmark, Preface.) The inference from this narrative would seem to be that the verses were by Sidney himself.

[90] Æneid, VI. 852.

[91] De Republica, Lib. II. cap. 43.

[92] Erasmi Adagia, Chil. III. Cent. VII. Prov. 1: ScarabÆus aquilam quÆrit. Hallam, Literature of Europe, Part I. ch. 4. sec. 43, 44.

[93] If countenance were needed in thus exposing a pernicious maxim, I might find it in the German philosopher Kant, whose work on Perpetual Peace treats it with very little respect. (Kant, SÄmmtliche Werke, Band VII., Zum Ewigen Frieden, § 1.) Since this Oration, Sir Robert Peel and the Earl of Aberdeen, each Prime Minister of England, and practically conversant with the question, have given their valuable testimony in the same direction. Life has its surprises; and I confess one in my own, when the latter, in conversation on this maxim, most kindly thanked me for what I had said against it.

[94] Address before the American Peace Society, pp. 23, 24.

[95] Scholars will remember the incident recorded by Homer in the Odyssey (XIV. 30, 31), where Ulysses, on reaching his loved Ithaca, is beset by dogs, described as wild beasts in ferocity, who rush towards him barking; but he, with craft (that is the word of Homer), seats himself upon the ground and lets his staff fall from his hand. A similar incident is noticed by Mr. Mure, in his entertaining travels in Greece, and also by Mr. Borrow, in his "Bible in Spain." Pliny remarks, that all dogs may be appeased in the same way: "Impetus eorum et sÆvitia mitigatur ab homine considente humi." Nat. Hist., Lib. VIII. cap. 40.

[96] Book XXIV.

[97] Liv., Lib. V. cap. 41. Plutarch, Life of Camillus.

[98] Moffat, Missionary Labors and Scenes in Southern Africa, Ch. 32.

[99] "Ille regit dictis animos et pectora mulcet."

Æneid, I. 146-154.

[100] Guizot, Histoire de la Civilisation en France, Tom. II. p. 36.

[101] Longfellow, Poets and Poetry of Europe, p. 161: TegnÉr.

[102] "Non enim pax quÆritur ut bellum excitetur.... Esto ergo etiam bellando pacificus."—Augustini Epistola CCV., ad Bonifacium Comitem: Opera, Tom. II. p. 318.

[103] Executive Document No. 15, Twenty-eighth Congress, First Session.

[104] Coleridge, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Part VII.

[105] Paston Letters, CXIII. (LXXVII. Vol. III. p. 315.)

[106] Juvenal, Sat. XV. 159-164.

[107] There was a moment when the aspiration of the French marshal seemed fulfilled even in France, if we may credit the early Madame de Lafayette, who, in the first sentence of her Memoirs, announces perfect tranquillity, where "no other arms were known than instruments for the cultivation of the earth and for building, and the troops were employed on these things." Part of their work was to divert the waters of the Eure, so that the fountains at Versailles should have a perpetual supply: but this was better than War.—Madame de Lafayette, MÉmoires de la Cour de France pour les AnnÉes 1688 et 1689, p. 1.

[108] Preface to Penn's Frame of Government of the Province of Pennsylvania: Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, Vol. I. p. 338. See also Clarkson's Memoirs of Penn, Vol. I. p. 238, Philadelphia, 1814.

[109] Clarkson's Memoirs of Penn, Vol. I. Ch. 18.

[110] Ibid., Vol. II. Ch. 23.

[111] These are the concluding words of that most exquisite creation of early genius, the "Comus." Beyond their intrinsic value, they have authority from the circumstance that they were adopted by Milton as a motto, and inscribed by him in an album at Geneva, while on his foreign travels. This album is now in my hands. The truth thus embalmed by the grandest poet of modern times is also illustrated in familiar words by the most graceful poet of antiquity:—

Hor., Carm. I. xxii. 1-4.

Dryden pictures the same in some of his most magical lines:—

The Hind and the Panther, Part I. 1-4.

[112] Minos, § 12.

[113] TheÆtetus, § 85.

[114] According to the legends of the Catholic Church, this most admired instance of justice opened to Trajan, although a heathen, the gates of salvation. Dante found the scene and the "visible speech" of the widow and Emperor storied on the walls of Purgatory, and has transmitted them in a passage which commends itself hardly less than any in the divine poem.—See Purgatorio, Canto X.

[115] "Ils veulent Être libres, et ne savent pas Être justes," was the famous exclamation of SieyÈs.

[116] The services of the choir on this occasion were performed by the youthful daughters of the public schools of Boston.

[117] Hansard, LXVIII. 667.

[118] Hon. John G. Palfrey.

[119] Wendell Phillips Esq.

[120] 1. Remarks on Prisons and Prison Discipline in the United States. By D.L. Dix. Second Edition. Philadelphia. 1845. 8vo. pp. 108.

2. Nineteenth Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Prison Discipline Society. Boston. 1844. 8vo. pp. 116.

3. Prisons and Prisoners. By Joseph Adshead. With Illustrations. London. 1845. 8vo. pp. 320.

4. Report of the Surveyor-General of Prisons on the Construction, Ventilation, and Details of the Pentonville Prison. London. 1844. fol. pp. 30.

5. Revue PÉnitentiaire des Institutions PrÉventives, sous la Direction de M. Moreau-Christophe. Tom. II. Paris. 1845. 8vo. pp. 659.

6. Du Projet de Loi sur la RÉforme des Prisons. Par M. LÉon Faucher. Paris. 1844. 8vo.

7. Considerations sur la RÉclusion Individuelle des DÉtenus. Par W.H. Suringar. Traduit du Hollandais sur la seconde Édition. PrÉcÉdÉes d'une PrÉface, et suivies du RÉsumÉ de la Question PÉnitentiaire, par L.M. Moreau-Christophe. Paris et Amsterdam. 1843. 8vo. pp. 131.

8. Nordamerikas Sittliche ZustÄnde. (The Moral Condition of North America.) Von Dr. N.H. Julius. 2 BÄnde. Leipzig. 1839. 8vo.

9. Archiv des Criminalrechts, herausgegeben von den Professoren Abegg, Birnbaum, Heffter, Mittermaier, WÄchter, ZachariÄ. (Archives of Criminal Law, edited by Professors Abegg, etc.) Halle. 1843. 12mo. pp. 597.

[121] Howard, State of the Prisons, p. 22.

[122] Ibid. p. 45.

[123] Juv., Sat. II. 78-81.

[124] Adshead, pp. 127, 129.

[125] Revue PÉnitentiaire, Tom. II. p. 589.

[126] Life, pp. 44, 45.

[127] Speech, August 5, 1803: Hansard, XXXVI. 1679.

[128] Letters to the Right Honorable Lord Hawkesbury and to the Right Honorable Henry Addington, on the Peace with BuonapartÉ; to which is added an Appendix. London, 1802.

[129] Life of Thomas Paine: Political Censor, No. V., Sept., 1796: Porcupine's Works, Vol. IV. pp. 112, 113.

[130] Life, p. 38.

[131] Advice to Young Men, pp. 35, 36.

[132] Life, p. 137.

[133] Advice to Young Men, p. 34.

[134] Advice to Young Men, pp. 142, 194.

[135]

Co. Litt. 64.

[136] Roscoe, Lives of Eminent British Lawyers: Notes, pp. 413, 414.

[137] Advice to Young Men, p. 33.

[138] Apology for Smectymnuus: Prose Works, Vol. I. p. 220.

[139] Diary: Lockhart's Life of Scott, Chap. VII. Vol. VI. p. 227.

[140] Dr. Martin Luther's Divine Discourses at his Table, etc., translated out of the High Germane into the English Tongue by Capt. Henrie Bell, London, 1652: Chap. XXXVII., Of Tribulation and Temptation, p. 397.

[141] At the date of this Lecture the Abolitionist was constantly taunted, especially by business men, as "the man of one idea."

[142] The reporter, Octavius Pickering, was so named from his being the eighth child.

[143] Pro Archia, c. 6.

[144] Williamson, History of Maine, Vol. II. p. 663.

[145] "Observations upon the Greek Accent" is the title of an essay in the Royal Irish Transactions, Vol. VII., by Dr. Browne, suggested, like Mr. Pickering's, by conversation with some modern Greeks, and touching upon similar topics. Dr. Browne is the author of the learned and somewhat antediluvian book on the Civil and Admiralty Law.