British and Foreign Bible Society,—the parent of all the other Bible societies in the world. May a similar success attend the endeavors of the friends of Peace of the present generation.

In order to obtain this result, it is necessary that this volume, or some better treatise on the subject, should be distributed as widely as possible. It is the intention of the American Peace Society to present a copy of it to the President of the United States, the heads of departments, the Governors of every State in the Union, to every foreign ambassador in Washington, and to every crowned head in Europe, and to the executive of every republic in America. The London Peace Society are expected to assist in the general circulation of the volume, and to present a copy of it to every foreign ambassador in the principal courts in Europe. They have engaged to take two hundred and fifty copies of the work. It is desirable that all our colleges, academies and law schools, and all our public libraries should be furnished with a copy; and for this purpose those friends of Peace, who have subscribed for more than one copy, are requested to present a volume to those institutions which may be in their neighborhood.

The London Peace Society have offered a premium of one hundred guineas for the best Essay on Peace and War, and twenty guineas for the second best, in which it is

*The Hon. John Q. Adams, who has read all these Essays, thus expresses himself, in a letter, dated September 4, 1838, to the President of the American Peace Society: "The publication of the five dissertations, and the distribution of them among the princes and rulers of nations, will awaken and keep alive the attention, both of Europe and America, to the subject."

expected that a Congress of Nations will form a prominent feature; and it is expected that they will invite the friends of Peace in this country, and on the continent of Europe, to write for the prize. We hope that many Essays will go from this country; and that thus, by a mutual interchange of sentiment, and the action of mind upon mind, and of opinion upon opinion, a plan will at length be struck out, which will unite all the friends of Peace in both hemispheres in the object; and then governments must follow, of course, for OPINION rules the world; and, though we cannot expect perfection in the first attempt, we may reasonably expect that great good will be done, many wars be prevented, and their evils diminished; and that, at length, nations will submit all their disputes to the decision of reason, like rational creatures, and no longer look to brute force as the only arbiter of national disputes; and that, finally, the useless sword will be beaten to a ploughshare, and the nations learn war no more.

But these great events cannot be expected without a sacrifice, and the prominent friends of Peace have been called to make great individual sacrifices to maintain their cause. It is probable that even this book will cause great individual sacrifice, considering the numbers distributed gratuitously, the payment of the premiums to the successful writers, and the very low price at which the book is put to subscribers. Of this they do not complain; but they know that they are not able, even with these great sacrifices, sufficiently to support the cause. It requires much printing, lecturing and preaching, to bring the world to the same state of opinion and feeling on this subject which prevails in the State of Massachusetts, where the

cause is better understood than in any State in the Union; and hence the favorable results in her Legislature. When this shall have been effected, we know that the great plan of a Congress of Nations must go into operation, and millions of money saved, a small part of which would now insure success.

BOSTON, FEBRUARY, 1840.

WILLIAM LADD,

GEO. C. BECKWITH.