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    listen to our petition , that the mouths of the poor may be filled with bread , and that their hearts may sing for joy . c < Gentlemen , there is another point of view in "which the effects of war are not often considered , either by * princes or people * , I mean its moral , or rather

    its immoral consequences—its tendency to vitiate the feelings and character of a nation . Habits of war harden the heart , afid blunt the finest and purest feelings of humanity ; make us cold and cruel calculators , where the misery of millions of our fellow creatures is involved .

    Besides which , the pressure © f ihose burdens which war creates , unavoidably tends to subvert the honour , and even the honesty , of the nation : it taxes , if I may so speak , the national integrity . In order to satisfy the imperative demands of the govermnenr , we are obliged to press hard upon each other ; and , I am afraid I might add , in too many instances persons are inducted to defraud

    and overreach their neighbours : the landlord presses upon , the tenant and the farmer ; they again upon the buyer and consumer ; and thus upon all classes and individuals in society : and the free and independent spirit of genuine commerce , which enriched our forefathers , and has so much exalfcd this nation , is exchanged for the arts of fraud s and often the baseness of falsehood and perjury f I need not add

    THAT THIS LOSS OF CHARACTER , IS THE GREATEST LOSS THAT A NATION CAN SUSTAIN . ** Gentlemen , I cannot omit here to remind you again of the truth of the resolution which I have nsen to support , * that it is the especial duty of a uation , professing Christianity , to employ every effort in its power to prevent the

    multiplied horrors and calamities 01 war . " We certainly have not made these efforts so sincerely , so earnestly as we ought to have done . We have been distinguished by a love of win—we have excited and supported much of the warfare with which Europe has been desolated these last twenty years . While

    we have been favoured , in an eminent degree , vvith the advantages of religious truth , this does not seem to have produced in us that moderate and peaceful spirit , which is the peculiar ornament and the , solemn injunction of the religion we profess : I say , therefore , that it peculiarly becomes us to use every effort to put a period to these calamities ; ar » ci , mall probability , / should speak the truth , if

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    I said , thai the cause of Christianity hag been more iiyurcd by the crimes and ths toats of European nations , than it has been benefited by any of their benevolent labours and institutio 7 is /—the voice of tritth AND THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY ARE NOT LISTENED TO ANO NOT CO N Sin ERE D , AMI 13 THE DIX AN 3 I RAVAGES OF TTAR .

    " Gentlemen , before I conclude I shall take the liberty briefly to notice , ar . d to reply to , some objections which I have heard alleged against the present meeting , in conversation or otherwise . In the first pia ^ e , it has been said , that our petition will be uselcas , " because the ministry are sincerely

    desirous o £ peace , and will omit no opportunity of obtaining it * I most sincerely hope this is the case ; but I must be allowed to t ^ ay , that i think differently —from their political connections and habits , I imagine they are not so earnestly desirous of peace as they ought to be , and as the state of the country requires that they should be . They

    entered upon their ofHces by the direct and formal exclusion of those political characters who are known , through the country , to lie most friendly to liberal and pacific measures ; they were some of them in the late ^ . dministraiion , and , I suppose I may say , they were all of them its friends and su ^ porters : and the former ministry undoubtedly conducted the affairs of the nation wkh the

    same views of pulicy , and upon the same general principles which have influenced our national op rations these last twenty years y and whether these have been principles of peace or not , let the European hi ^ ory of this period derermine . But , Geniiemen , e ^ en supposing us to be mifiraVcn , ' which I hope is the case , this * ' oes not render our

    present conduct inexpedient . No ministers of the crown in this country , can conduct the affairs of government , unless they are supported by a powerful bod y of friends , boui 271 pa * . > ia ; aent an- ^ out < i \ it . There are mul ' . « iudes o p f uif . in this kingdotu who are fVie ^ cijy warwho support it : by thejr w ? airh * md influt-iice ; there arc not a , ' * , 'v to whom

    it is a source 01 honour . u emolument . I say , t : « ese , ir the ministry are ^ ., < -. '/ converted to he thr friend ? j tliere is reason to fcur , that r ••• - ¦ . . leac to whom 1 b ^ ve referrc c v ^ f m > . Now let us suf > . ort the ; " uusiry heir pacihe ipienuon * , — -lex . us sustain them

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    Tcace . — Proceedings at Leicester . 6 Q

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1813, page 69, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2424/page/69/