It is however to be observed, that the progress of truth is slow. Within a century great changes and improvements have been made in the modes of treating other fevers. Many of the methods of practice which were popular but fifty years ago are now discarded as absurd and of a baneful tendency as better adapted to destroy than to save;-and many things which are adopted in modern practice, had they been proposed at a former period, would have been exploded as means of death. Hence we derive a hope, that great improvements will yet be made in respect to the most malignant and fatal of all fevers; and that the time is approaching, when the popular remedies and preventives will be something more rational, than the predisposing and exciting causes of this terrible and desolating scourge.

We would therefore improve on the plan suggested in the Edinburgh Review, and recommend, "that certain individuals in every town or county should erect themselves into an Association for the suppression of Fever"-the war Fever in particular;—that the Associations should comprise the magistrates, the ministers, and all the men of intelligence, of every denomination;-that these Associations, when formed, should regard it as their duty to call the attention of all their fellow citizens to the nature and effects of war-to its predisposing and exciting causes, and to the proper means for banishing it from the world.

A SERIOUS DIFFICULTY PROPOSED FOR SOLUTION.

For the Friend of Peace,

THE writer of this article was a soldier in the revolutionary war, and served a number of campaigns. For many years, subsequent to the war, he equipped himself or his sons for militia trainings, without any conscientious scruples respecting the propriety of such measures. He was then a believer in the doctrine, "That to be well prepared for war, is the surest method to preserve peace." But on mature reflection he is fully convinced, that war is not only

repugnant to the precepts of the gospel, but inconsistent with sound policy. He now has not the smallest doubt, that a trifling expense, judiciously applied to promote pacific prin- ciples, would do more to preserve peace, than millions expended in preparations for war.

Such are his present views ;-at the same time he earnestly desires to demean himself as a peaceable citizen, by duly regarding the laws of the land. Though by the lapse of time he is freed from obligations to equip himself for training, and some of his sons are of age to act and provide for themselves; yet he has still other sons who are minors. By the laws of the land he is required to equip them for military purposes, and liable to penalties, if he shall decline or refuse. Now what shall he do? After being convinced that war is both antichristian and impolitic, his attention was excited to military preparations, such as trainings and public musters or reviews; and the conclusion seemed unavoidable, that if war is unchristian, trainings and other preparations must be far worse than merely useless. The expense incurred by them is enough to astonish almost any one who has not made calculations respecting it.

But this is not all. Many lives have been lost on such occasions; many have been wounded and made cripples for the remainder of their days, and thereby distress has been brought on themselves and their relations. And alas! who that duly considers the intemperance, the profanity, the contentions, and other immoralities resulting from these trainings, will not shudder! After all, what is their use? Are they not in fact schools and nurseries of war? Should the nations of the earth renounce war and be governed by the principles of peace, would not military trainings die of course? If so, what individual, who is convinced of the evils of war, and disposed to adhere to the principles of peace, can consistently equip himself or his sons for military parades? Can any Christian consistently encourage a practice, which he verily believes has a tendency both to multiply moral evils and to produce the very calamities which it is

professedly intended to prevent? If he sincerely believes that war is murder, can he consistently do that which, in his opinion, tends to produce war? Thus the writer has attempted fairly to state his difficulty. As it is his desire to live peaceably with all men and to conform to the laws of his country, so far as he can without violating his own conscience, he earnestly invites the friends of peace to deliberate, take advice, and speak their minds.

A REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIer.

N. B. The case of our correspondent will naturally excite the compassion of benevolent and enlightened men. He however is not alone in this difficulty. Thousands of others are sufferers with him. We hope they will conduct with prudence, and bear the trial with christian meekness and magnanimity, till it shall be better understood, that "the predisposing and exciting causes" of the war fever, are not the best means for avoiding its evils.

REVIEW OF A SCALE OF GLORY,

"Let me now say a word of the services of the man whom it is proposed to disgrace.Let us compare his victory over the Creeks with other victories obtained over a similar enemy, and recorded in our history. When Sullivan advanced to avenge the massacres of Wyoming, excited by British agents and perpetrated by Indians and traitors, he commanded 5000 men, and found 800 Indians posted behind a breastwork with a river in their rear: a battle ensued; the Indians were beaten, and left eleven men dead on the field of battle. At Point Pleasant, where the Indians were defeated-where a Lewis commanded and a Lewis fell, they left eighteen of their warriors dead on the field of battle. When Wayne, after years of preparation, gained the victory over the Indians of the North West, they left twenty of their number dead on the field of battle. At Tippacanoe the Indians were defeated, and their loss so considerable that they left more than thirty warriors on the field of battle.

"Jackson marched against the Creeks; he found them in considerable force and defended by works; those works he stormed, defeated them, and killed eight hundred of their bravest warriors in a single battle. Thus he gained a victory unparalleled in Indian warfare, and acquired Vol. II. No. 6. 3

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for the United States the extensive, beautiful, and valuable country, of which you see a map suspended near you,-a small part of which country you sold the last year for ten millions of dollars."

Hon. Mr. Smyth's Speech in Congress.

On the ground of this "victory over the Creeks, and his victory at New Orleans," Mr. Smyth pronounces General Jackson an officer whose achievements are unparalleled in ancient or in modern times," as "far the foremost of our heroes ;" and he would have it understood, that "to tarnish the character" of this man," is to tarnish the glory of the nation."

What a Gothic scale of glory this gentleman has exhibited to a Christian community! If we understand his mode of calculation, and the object of his comparisons, he would have it believed that, in wars with the Indians, the General's glory is in proportion to the number of men he causes to be slaughtered. While, therefore, General Sullivan has "eleven" degrees of glory, Lewis "eighteen," Wayne "twenty,” and Harrison something" more than thirty," General Jackson ascends at once to the "unparalleled" height of " EIGHT HUNDRED," and becomes in a supereminent degree “the glory of the nation!"

But are Christians of this country to be forever the dupes of such sanguinary principles? Will they in future times estimate the glory of a man by the number of Indians he has butchered? Will their eyes be most dazzled or delighted with those laurels which have been most deeply stained with blood? "God forbid !" Forbid it, reason, humanity, and religion! Forbid it, ye friends of peace of every name!

If we were disposed to plead for the necessity and lawfulness of public war in "extreme cases," still humanity would compel us to do all in our power to reverse the scale of glory proposed by Mr. Smyth. We should say, that he who defends his country with the least sacrifice of human life, or accomplishes the object of a military enterprize with the least injury to a misguided and unfortunate enemy, is entitled to the greater share of renown. How much more glorious was the exploit of Washington in capturing 900

Hessions with little bloodshed, than if he had destroyed the whole number, as General Jackson did his 800 Indians!

If the glory of a warrior is in proportion to the number he causes to be slain, to what an astonishing height does Bellisarius rise in the temple of fame! This exterminating barbarian invaded and desolated Africa. Procopius says, "Africa was so entirely dispeopled that one might travel several days in it without meeting one man ; and it is no exaggeration to say, that in the course of the war five millions perished."

Do our countrymen wish for a Bellisarius to complete the extermination of the Indians? If they do, Mr. Smyth's scale of glory is adapted to their purpose. If they do not, let them learn to prefer a humane policy to that of cruelty and revenge.

But General Jackson" acquired for the United States the extensive, beautiful, and valuble country--a small part of which was sold the last year for ten millions of dollars.”—Was this acquisition the motive as well as the effect of the war on the Creeks? With many we fear it was. But is the acquisition of such a country, by the slaughter of 800 Indians, a matter for triumph to a Christian people! or to a government which boasts of its justice and magnanimity! Can any man of intelligence doubt, that by a judicious and pacific use of even five millions of dollars, the whole of that extensive country might have been acquired by negotiation, the war prevented, and a permanent peace secured with the Creeks? Will not then posterity blush and weep on reading the speeches in Congress, to find that there were, in this age, men of unquestionable talents, who could boast of lands, acquired by the barbarous slaughter of 800 Indians?

That General Jackson is a man of great intrepidity and energy of character we readily admit. So was William Penn. But what a contrast! Had the extraordinary energies of Gen. Jackson, like those of Governor Penn, been exerted to preserve peace and to prevent war with the Indians, he would have been the admiration of the just and humane,