Excerpt from An Address Delivered Before the American Peace Society: At Its Annual Meeting, May 26, 1845 Whatever may be the Vices and sufferings of the age in which we live, I know of no page in modem or ancient history, which the philanthropist and the Christian can con template with more complacency than that which contains the records of the present time. Various causes have contributed to the existing pacific state of the world. The extension of commerce, and the consequent distribution of private property in foreign lands; the rapidity and facility of intercourse between distant coun tries through the agency of steam; the growing intelligence and influence of the popular masses, together with the power of the press in modelling and directing public opinion, have all united in checking a belligerent spirit. But beyond all question, the labors of peace societies in Great Britain and the United States, in spreading before the public facts and arguments illustrating the cost, folly and sinfulness of war, have exerted a most salutary influence. The mere statistics so extensively circulated by these societies, and the appeals which they have made to the several sovereigns of Europe, have excited unwonted attention, and have tended to produce the conviction, now so generally entertained, that war is a great evil; and this conviction has been followed by the inquiry, whether it be indeed a necessary evil. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.