does? Where is the godly minister of any sect, or where is the man renowned for talents and virtue, who has attended to the subject, that feels any disposition to oppose the efforts for the abolition of war? Truly we have not heard of so many as three respectable opponents, among all who have read what has been written on the subject. Was there ever a subject brought forward in our country, so novel and half so interesting, which met with so little opposition? May we not then humbly hope in God, that in less than 50 years from this time, our country will be as free from war advocates, as it now is from advocates for the African commerce in slaves?

With what abhorrence would the people of these states now regard a proposition to revive the abolished slave trade! What odium would a man bring on himself who should propose and urge such a project! In a light not less odious will a proposition for a revival of the traffic in blood soon be regarded, if Christians should not be deficient in their exertions. Say not "there is a lion in the way;"-the cause is the Lord's, and his grace and his arm are all-sufficient.

This article may be closed by an extract from the conclusion of the late pamphlet from London, by Mr. Scargill :"Would it not then be desirable to form associations in every part of the kingdom, whose object should be to raise a little. fund for the necessary expenses attending such unions, and that these associations should use their best endeavours to impress upon the minds of the people at large, the desirableness and practicability of abolishing the system of War altogether. Could the ministers of religion make a better use of their pulpits than to inculcate from them the doctrine of Jesus Christthe doctrine of peace?

"Nor let us imagine that associations for this benevolent purpose will be confined to this country; the friends of humanity and religion in every part of Europe, in every quarter of the globe, would cheerfully contribute their assistance to an ob ject so powerful in its tendency to ameliorate the human race and increase the comforts of mankind."

Let Christians in the United States awake, take courage, and "go and do likewise."

THE author of The Friend of Peace has received several respectful letters, from which it appears that his causing the copy right of the first Number to be secured, has proved an obstruction to the wishes of his friends, in respect to giving it an immediate and extensive circulation. This has been to him a source of much regret and anxiety. But he thinks that those who know him and his circumstances, will not impute his conduct to any worse motive than a desire for a moderate compensation, which might enable him to do justly and to provide for his own family, while he was endeavoring to save his countrymen from the expenses, the sins, and the calamities of future wars. But he has now the pleasure of announcing to the public, that by the benevolence of a number of Gentlemen of the society of Friends, he is enabled to relinquish the said copy right; which he accordingly does with far greater satisfaction than he caused it to be secured. And that there may be no impediment to the free circulation of this Number, he has not secured the copy right. Should any of the friends of peace in any of the United States wish to republish it, the author will confide in their justice and generosity. Whatever they can afford and shall freely bestow, he will gratefully accept.

If this second Number shall be approved, the third will probably appear by the first of December next. The author requests the friends of peace in different parts of the country to furnish him, free of expense, with articles of intelligence and interesting facts, which may be subservient to his general design. PHILO PACIFICUS.

Boston, August 12, 1815.

The publishers of "The Friend of Peace" secured the copy right of the first Number not for themselves but the Author; and at his request they hereby relinquish the said copy right, that the work may have a free and unembarrassed circulation. CUMMINGS & HILLIARD.

THE FRIEND OF PEACE.

No. III.

THE HORRORS OF NAPOLEON'S CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA.

INTRODUCTION.

THE object of this work is the peace and salvation of mankind. Whether we display the blessings of peace or the evils of war, the ultimate purpose will be the same. As men are influenced by motives, of good to be enjoyed, and of evils to be avoided or endured, such motives will be exhibited, to excite a love of peace, and an aversion to war.

It is natural to suppose, that circulating correct histories of the evils of war, would have the effect to excite a general abhorrence of the custom. But in the usual way of writing such histories, the horrors and distresses of the sanguinary scenes are in such a manner accompanied with encomiums on the bravery of fighting men and the glories of victory, that the mind of the reader is diverted from the tremendous havoc and distress. He is perhaps told that a wonderful victory was obtained at great expense, that the number of killed and wounded on the part of the victors could not be less than 15 or 20,000; and that the loss on the side of the vanquished was much greater. But he is not permitted to dwell on the miseries of such a scene. His attention is soon called to the display of skill and valor on the part of the officers and soldiers. If the prepossessions of the historian are in favor of the victors, he will perhaps admit that much praise is due to the enemy, that they fought with astonishing intrepidity, and displayed heroism worthy of a better cause. But nothing could resist the valor of the victorious army. In respect to the loss on the side of the victors, the

writer consoles himself and his reader, with such considerations as these :-The honorable manner in which the dead and the wounded exposed their lives for the good of their country-the honor of the victory-the great advantages obtained, and the fact that the loss was much greater on the part of the enemy. By the time the reader has attended to all the displays of heroism, the praises bestowed on the living and the dead, and the glories of victory, he has in a great measure lost sight of the horrors of the scene-a scene in which acres of ground were crimsoned with human blood, and covered with the bodies of the dead and the dying, and the mangled limbs of wounded men.

An account of such a battle in a News Paper, headed "A GLORIOUS VICTORY," or "GLORIOUS NEWS," would probably leave a fainter impression on the mind, of the horrors of the scene, than another article in the same paper headed-"HORRID MURDER," containing particulars of the distress of a single family, occasioned by the murder of one man or woman. Yet both the guilt and distress accompanying the "Glorious Victory" may have been ten thousand times greater, than that which accompanied the "Horrid Murder." Indeed the narratives of bloody battles are often so embellished with feats of valor, heroism and glory, that they leave on the minds of the gay and inconsiderate little more impression of guilt or distress, than a brilliant account of a horse race.

Two histories of Napoleon's campaign in Russia have arrived in this country. One by Sir Robert Ker Porter, entitled "A Narrative of the Campaign in Russia, during the year 1812" The other by Eugene Labaume, Captain of the Royal Geographical Engineers, &c. &c. entitled "A circumstantial Narrative of the Campaign in Russia." Porter was on the side of the Russians, and Labaume on the side of the French. These two historians sometimes differ in their accounts of battles, but they agree in pronouncing the war "unjust" on the part of Napoleon.

From the two Narratives which have been mentioned, the following accounts will be given, and generally in the language

of one or other of the historians. A concise view of that expedition is all that can be expected. As the object will be to excite a just aversion to war, no pains will be taken to veil its horrors by expatiating on the valor by which they were produced, or the delusive glories by which they were accompanied. Neither will any false coloring be employed to represent the scenes as more dreadful than they really were. The object will be to exhibit the horrors of the campaign in a naked form, for the contemplation of the reader.

Napoleon left Paris in May; found himself at the head of his grand army in Poland, June 16; and commenced hostilities on the 23d of the same month. The events from this time prior to the battle at Smolensko will be passed over in silence.

In the following Narrative the paragraphs under P. will be taken from Porter; those under L. from Labaume. The reader may therefore continually know whose account he is reading.

As all the nations concerned in that war were professed Christians, some motto will be prefixed to each article, which the reader is requested to keep in view while reading what follows.

BATTLE OF SMOLENSKO.*

"This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another!" Messiah.

P. "ON the morning of August 17th there was an awful pause. The armies of two vast empires stood gazing at each other as if studying where to strike the mortal blow. At length the silence of meditated death was broken. From the extreme point of the Russian right to that of the left, fire from a hundred cannon poured destruction amid the enemy's ranks. Rapid discharges of musketry, which ran along the front, seconded the guns with a horrible carnage.

* Or Smolenzk,