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the earth, is one of the most extraordinary instances of the delusion by which the god of this world blinds the eyes of men, that is recorded in the history of the race."

Throughout the year 1864, the course of the American War was happily not interrupted by any serious complication with England, and Mr. Richard, unwilling to stir up amongst his countrymen the slumbering embers of hostility,―hostility more sentimental than real,—against the one side or the other, maintained a dignified reserve; for he felt, as he expressed it, "a vain hope to make the still small voice of reason and religion heard amid the hurricane war of passion that deafened all other ears on the other side of the Atlantic ;' nevertheless he frequently exercised his great power as a writer, wherewith to keep before the public eye the manifold evils inseparable from the continuance of the murderous strife and the imminent dangers, lest the people and Government of the United States, hitherto so free from the military traditions and its inevitable intoxication for military glory, should seek with its vast armies and navies to arrogate to itself the position of a great military power, and become a menace to the peace of the world.

At the beginning of the year 1865, there were evidences of the approaching termination of this terrible fratricidal struggle, and Mr. Richard was able, in the Annual Report of the Peace Society, to say with what

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Inexpressible satisfaction we see the dreadful and disastrous civil war which has so long desolated America coming to a close. No imagination can conceive, no language can adequately express, the amount of evil which it has inflicted on that country, and the world. Probably not fewer than 1,000,000 of young men have perished prematurely, and in every conceivable form of horror and agony, by sword, and famine, and pestilence, and misery. As to its cost in money, we shall certainly be within the mark if we say that on both sides not less than 1,000,000,000 have been withdrawn from the service of civilisation to be squandered in mutual butcherings and blood. Heaven in its mercy grant that the evil effects may not extend beyond the line of actual conflict. * * * One bright spot, however, remains amid the wide waste of material and moral desolation, one result of the war to offer some consolation for its manifold

* * *

and incalculable evils. No result, indeed, can justify or atone for the use of unlawful means. Still it may be permitted even to those who most strongly disapproved of the war, to rejoice over the fact, or what they hope will become a fact, that as one consequence flowing from it, the great abomination of slavery bids fair to perish out of the land for ever. But it would have been far better to have seen the garland of victory for this great deliverance placed on the brow of the Prince of Peace, instead of being transferred to the head of

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'Moloch-horrid king! besmeared with blood,'

to enhance his glory and perpetuate his brute dominion over the minds and hearts of men."

WAR IN JAPAN.

In 1863 Mr. Richard aroused the energies of the friends of peace into action in consequence of the alarming intelligence from Japan, which in the month of July foreshadowed a renewal of one of those unjustifiable wars in the East, such as the recent China Wars to which reference has been made.

Well might Mr. Richard say, "It is not possible for Englishmen to go anywhere without marking their steps with fire and blood," and this remark, if true, has a certain application in the causes of the war with Japan in 1863.

Our intercourse with Japan shows that, first of all, we thrust ourselves upon them in the teeth of all their strong prejudices, and then compelled them at the mouth of the cannon to enter into a Treaty of Commerce with us, but, further, we affront their feelings, and violate their customs; and having by these means provoked them, we exact from them demands, and in default we scatter havoc and ruin amongst them.

The war against Japan in 1863 may be traced to these causes, and the incident which provoked this war was as contemptible as it was disgraceful. It appears three English gentlemen and a lady, whose names deserve notoriety, Mr.

Richardson, Mr. Clarke, Mr. Marshall, and Mrs. Borrodaile, were riding in the high road leading from Yokohama to Yeddo.

At a distance of several miles from Yokohama they met a procession of Princes, and it is customary for all people who meet such processions to retire at their approach or to kneel while it passes, neither of which they would do though they had been warned repeatedly of it; and the result was they were attacked and one of the party killed.

Immediately on Lord Russell receiving information of the incident, he wrote to Lieut.-Colonel Neale, the representative of England, to make a demand for reparation. (1) An ample apology for the offence.

(2) The payment of £100,000 as a penalty on Japan. (3) The trial and capital execution of the guilty parties, in the presence of the Naval Officers of the British Squadron, and in the event of refusal the Admiral of the Fleet on the station to declare War, and to take what measures he thought necessary for the vindication of the honour of England

This ultimatum was sent in April by Colonel Neale, the British Chargé d'affairs to the Tycoon or Prime Minister of the Emperor, and twenty days only were allowed for compliance therewith; and during this interval great alarm naturally prevailed at Nagasaki, and other towns, where foreign merchants and their families were residing.

The difficulty of the situation was intensified by two insurmountable obstacles-first, the immense distance to the scene of disturbance, and the absence of direct and rapid communication with the authorities there; and secondly, the absolute authority exercised by the representatives of the Government of the Queen, the Consuls and Generals and Admirals in Eastern waters and stations, whenever and wherever they considered the personal and private interests of Englishmen and the public or imperial interests of England demanded reparation.

Mr. Richard, heavily handicapped by these obstacles, was not dismayed, and lost no time in vigorously protesting against this threatened barbarous war; in the first place by a slashing article from his pen immediately the news reached England, which he followed up by a Memorial which was signed by Mr. Joseph Pease and himself on behalf of the Peace Society, for presentation to Earl Russell, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, which reminded the Government that the Treaty of Commerce with Japan, upon which armed intervention was based, was obtained under coercion, and in opposition to the prejudices and traditions of the people; and further, that the Treaty stipulations had been violated by lawless Englishmen, whose action the authorities could not restrain, and that this coercive policy against Japan, and unscrupulous conduct of foreigners, could not fail to lead to grave complication, and to a succession of ignoble and costly wars, and the memorialists advised a withdrawal of Englishmen and the armed forces of the Crown from Japan.

The Government of Japan conceded two of these demands, the apology and the payment of £100,000; but this not being sufficient, and without attempting any further negotiation, Vice-Admiral Kuper was ordered to enforce the demand.

The British squadron, consisting of the Euryalus, Pearl, Perseus, Argus, Coquette, Racehorse, and Havoc, appeared on the 11th August before Kagosima, and demanded full compliance with the ultimatum, and on the 12th and 13th carried on a series of mock and abortive negotiations; and on the 14th the British Admiral commenced operations by bombarding Kagosima, with its population of 180,000 souls utterly innocent of complicity in the alleged insult, and soon the whole town was in flames, and laid in ruins.

The bombardment continued two days. At the end of the first day's operations the ships in the harbour and one half of the town were in flames, and the following day the bombardment was continued, and the palace of the Prince shelled, and, says the Admiral, "the entire town of Kagosima

is now a mass of ruins." Well might Mr. Cobden, in writing on this barbaric act of the British Admiral, denounce this cruel proceeding.

"Picture," said Mr. Cobden, "this great commercial centre reduced in forty-eight hours to a heap of ashes, try to realise the fate of its population, and then ask what great crime they had committed to bring on themselves this havoc and destruction."

To our shame and confusion the answer must be that this is the way in which Englishmen, under the command of Admirals Kuper and Neale, administer justice for the murder of an individual 10,000 miles away, of which crime the inhabitants of Kagosima were guiltless of all knowledge and complicity, and afterwards the chief actors in this outrage on humanity cooly laid claim to the approbation of the British nation.

When the details of these diabolical proceedings of the British Squadron on the coast of Japan reached London, Mr. Richard indited a memorial to Her Majesty the Queen, which was signed by Samuel Gurney, and Joseph Pease, and himself, acting on behalf of the Peace Society, expressive of their deep sorrow and shame, in which he declared that this "tremendous act of vengeance inflicted by British arms cannot be justified on any ground," and in effect declared that acts like these create an insurmountable barrier to the progress of civilization and Christianity in the East, and that on these and other grounds the Memorial entreated Her Majesty "to withold her Royal sanction from this great outrage" perpetrated in her name on the unoffending people of Kagosima.

"It is an ill wind, verily, that blows no good;" and this deplorable bombardment, and armed intervention by the British Admiral, forced on the attention of Her Majesty's Government the peril to England of entrusting to irresponsible men, far removed from control, the declaration of war, and led to a great and urgent reform. Hitherto, in our

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