Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 02 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 02 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
In Worcester we behold the single-minded country clergyman, little
gifted as preacher, with narrow means,--and his example teaches what
such a character may accomplish,--in humble retirement, pained by
the reports of War, and at last, as the protracted drama of battles
was about to close at Waterloo, publishing that appeal, entitled "A
Solemn Review of the _Custom_ of War," which has been so extensively
circulated at home and abroad, and has done so much to correct the
inveterate prejudices which surround the cause. He was the founder, and
for some time the indefatigable agent, of the earliest Peace Society in
the country.
The eloquence of Channing was often, both with tongue and pen, directed
against War. He was heart-struck by the awful degradation it caused,
rudely blotting out in men the image of God their Father; and his words
of flame have lighted in many souls those exterminating fires that can
never die, until this evil is swept from the earth.
William Ladd, after completing his education at Harvard University,
engaged in commercial pursuits. Early, through his own exertions,
blessed with competency, he could not be idle. He was childless; and
his affections embraced all the children of the human family. Like
Worcester and Channing, his attention was arrested by the portentous
crime of War, and he was moved to dedicate the remainder of his days
to earnest, untiring effort for its abolition,--going about from place
to place inculcating the lesson of Peace, with simple, cheerful manner
winning the hearts of good men, and dropping in many youthful souls
precious seeds to ripen in more precious fruit. He was the founder of
the American Peace Society, in which was finally merged the earlier
association established by Worcester. By a long series of practical
labors, and especially by developing, maturing, and publishing the plan
of an International Congress, has William Ladd enrolled himself among
the benefactors of mankind.
Such are some of the names which hereafter, when the warrior no longer
usurps the blessings promised to the peacemaker, will be inscribed on
immortal tablets.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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