among nations, Christianity has contributed to reduce the number of wars in modern times.

It is a subject of profound concern to the friends of the Gospel of peace that Christian Europe presents to-day the spectacle of a great military camp. All the nations of the continent are armed to the teeth in mutual distrust, devoured by an insatiable lust for dominion and territory, or by a dread of invasion. When heavy clouds, surcharged with the electricity of war are hanging over these nations, the thunder-clap may come at any moment. Armed nations, like armed individuals, are a constant menace to one another, and are easily provoked to fight. And these military forces are unhappily increasing; for as soon as one nation augments its armament, its neighbor seems impelled to do likewise. According to a report compiled in 1887 from official documents, the army list of Europe on a war footing comprises nearly fourteen millions of men, and the annual cost of maintaining the military establishments in time of peace, exceeds six hundred millions of dollars.1

When we consider the immense number of men torn in the bloom of life from the bosom of their families, withdrawn from active and industrial pursuits, condemned to a monotonous existence and exposed to the temptations incident to such a career, we can form some estimate of the material, moral and social evils resulting from this system. In contem

1 Amer. Almanac for 1887, edited by Spofford, Librarian of Congress.

plating these standing armies, the calm observer might have the conviction forced upon him that European governments were primarily established to instruct men in the tactics of military rather than in the duties of civil life, and to teach them to destroy life rather than to develop the resources of the country.

This fearful condition of things is in a great measure attributable to the revival of Paganism, which, after the conquest of Constantinople, in 1445, invaded the arts, literature and philosophy of Western Europe under the name of Renaissance, and poisoned the intellectual and moral life of many sovereign houses, and of a large proportion of the aristocracy both of birth and of wealth. Thus it happened that the governments of Christian nations, one after another, have betrayed a spirit and pursued a policy indifferent if not unfriendly to Christianity. The European nations as such, are indeed Christian to-day just as well as the people of the United States; but they do not enjoy the political advantages which Providence has granted to us. Our government has always been conducted on Christian principles, because its vigorous youth is periodically renewed by the suffrages of the people who have ever proved faithful to the maxims and sentiments of Christianity.

Even with this dark picture confronting us, it would be unjust to infer that Christianity has failed in her mission of peace to the nations. It should be borne in mind that the Christian religion enforces

her humane precepts not by the sword, but by moral and religious sanctions; and that in contending for peace, she has to struggle against the most formidable of earthly forces, and the most imperious of human passions.

While deploring the fierce conflicts which have agitated Christendom for centuries, it must be admitted that even the most martial nation of Europe does not exhibit a war record so sanguinary and protracted as that of heathen Rome, or of the petty States of Greece, or of the ancient monarchies of the East.

A comparison between the war history of the Roman Empire and that of the United States will result vastly in favor of our country, and will forcibly illustrate the pacific tendencies of our Christian civilization. During the six centuries and a half which elapsed from the death of Numa to the reign of Augustus, as already observed, with the exception of six years, Rome was engaged in continuous warfare. The United States has existed as an independent government for over a century. Since our independence we have been involved in only three wars, with England from 1812 to 1815; with Mexico from 1845 to 1848; and in our civil war from 1861 to 1865. Thus while Rome enjoyed but six years of peace during six hundred and fifty years, the United States has had but a little over ten years of war in upwards of a century.

It is also a gratifying fact that, with a population of over sixty millions, the army of the United States

does not exceed twenty-five thousand men, who are scattered for the most part along the frontiers of the country. This force while sufficiently strong to preserve our domestic peace, is too insignificant to excite the fear or provoke the jealousy of our neighbors. Our best security lies in the supremacy of the law, in the loyalty of our citizens, in their strong attachment to our free institutions, and in abstention from entangling alliances.1

That the cause of international peace is gaining ground, is evident from the fact, that war is no longer precipitated among Christian nations, as in former times, at the whim of the sovereign; but the

1 There is one chapter in our early history which, I deeply regret to say, does not reflect credit upon us when viewed by the light of the Gospel. I refer to the treatment of the Indian tribes by the North American colonists. The Indians were too frequently regarded as enemies to be exterminated or slain, rather than as brethren to be conciliated.

It may be alleged as an extenuating circumstance that this aggressive warfare was carried on by individuals without the sanction of the government, which had not the ability to protect the aboriginal tribes extending over so vast a territory. At all events the responsibility rests somewhere.

The Spanish and Portuguese settlers of South America, whatever may have been their faults, have pursued toward the Indians a more humane policy. They have not only preserved the race, but they have endeavored, also, to civilize and christianize them.

It is pleasing to record that, in recent times, our government is atoning for the sins and shortcomings of past generations by its efforts not only to rescue from extinction the remnant of those once flourishing tribes, but by instructing them in the principles of the Christian religion, and in the industries of civilized life.

voice of the people is heard through their representatives and the press, at least, in constitutional governments. Commercial interests and fraternal and social relations between the nations of the earth, are now becoming so intertwined, that one country can hardly inflict an injury on another without having the blow recoil upon itself.

Christianity has created and is daily developing international law throughout the civilized world. Courts of arbitration are growing in favor among Christian nations. Alexander VI. was chosen by Spain and Portugal to arbitrate regarding their respective claims to the newly-discovered territory in the western world. The decision of the Pontiff was very probably the means of averting a sanguinary and protracted conflict between these two rival nations. Instances of arbitration are multiplying in our own day. The dispute between Germany and Spain in reference to the Caroline Islands, was adjusted by Pope Leo XIII. in 1886. The Samoan difficulty between the United States and Germany in 1889, was referred to a friendly conference held in Berlin. At the close of President Cleveland's administration, an arbitration treaty between Mexico and the United States was signed in Washington. By an act of Congress passed in 1888, the President is authorized to invite Representatives of the governments of South America, Central America, Mexico and Hayti to an international Conference in Washington. The very first proposition to be discussed has reference to the adoption of "measures that shall tend to