A Peace Society was formed in New York in August, 1815; and in November of the same year the Ohio Peace Society. The Massachusetts Peace Association (Boston) started in January, 1816, and a similar society was begun in Rhode and Maine in 1817. These, with that of South Carolina, united in 1828, and formed the AMERICAN PEACE SOCIETY, an association which is still in active operation. Also in Philadelphia an association was formed, which was succeeded in 1868 by the UNIVERSAL PEACE UNION. In 1814 a zealous philanthropist, Mr. William Allen, a member of the Society of Friends, invited a number of persons to his house in _London_ to form a peace association. They did not at once agree upon the best method, and the proposal was deferred for a time. But after the conclusion of peace was signed in 1816, Mr. Allen, with the assistance of his friend Mr. Joseph Tregelles Price, also a member of the Society of Friends, called his friends together again, and succeeded in bringing into existence the English peace association, under the name of the PEACE SOCIETY. The source from which the association sprang is to be found in the Society of Friends (Quakers), that sect which has always been a faithful proclaimer of the peace principles of Christianity. But the founders were not all of this society. Some were members of the Church of England and of other religious persuasions. As the foundation of its effort, the association advanced the great principle that war is contrary to the spirit of Christianity and to the true interests of mankind. It has always been open to persons of all persuasions. One of its first stipulations was, that "the society shall consist of all ranks of society who will unite in forwarding peace on earth and goodwill amongst men." The association has always been international. From its commencement it proclaimed its desire to bring other nations as far as possible within the reach of its operations. Some of the first acts of the founders were to translate its most important writings into French, German, Spanish and Italian.