should grudge to see perhaps half a dozen men sacrificed in a twelvemonth, to attain such invaluable blessings, especially a nation that is so ready to expose, and willing to lose, many thousands in a few hours, without the least certainty that any future benefit shall accrue to her from such a loss?' Thus our ancestors thought duelling, and the constant wearing of a sword, quite as necessary as many now consider war and military defences; but when people become really Christian, duelling and war will be equally regarded as barbarous and unchristian, and will be equally avoided. The generations who shall witness this blessed conformity to the precepts of Christ, will be astonished at the antiquated speeches and writings of those who undertook to be public instructors, such as the following: "Peace is the time to prepare for war." "I am the watch-dog, Tear 'm. Be you prepared; get your guns, get your ships ready, for depend upon it, the Emperor knows that Cherbourg is a standing menace.' "A state without military defences, is but the utopia of an immature benevolence. The sword of the avenger, ere it is sheathed, will drink deep of the rebel blood. Let England be prepared to say, Amen. to the sentence which her armies are prepared to execute." The Christians of that day will scarcely believe, that a society existed in England which issued in one year nearly a million and a half copies of the New Testament, when they shall find that even teachers of the Christian religion said, "It is by the bravery of the noble soldier, that the minister of religion can prosecute his holy duties, that the arts and sciences can flourish, that commerce and education can extend their benefits "-"Remember that we fight for truth, and righteousness, and peace; that the wars of Christian nations are a final and awful appeal to the justice of the God of battles."§-W., in London Herald. THE FEARFUL WASTE OF WAR. In the short space of sixteen years-between 1797 and 1813-the French army absorbed 4,556,000. Napoleon obtained by the conscription 2,476,000 men. Those who set out were never freed from service! This is acknowledged by M. Daru in his report to the legislative body on the conscription. Spain was the tomb of most of the old soldiers; of those who remained, the greater part perished in the snows of Russia. The army of 1813, was composed of recruits from eighteen to twenty years of ness, fatigue, and misery decimated them. Of 1,260,000 men raised in 1813,-what a multitude for a single year!-there remained in 1814, to defend the soil of France, only 100,000 men above the ground! ege. Ill But the sacrifice of human life was not all. To four millions and a half of men, cut down by cannon balls and bullets, must be added 700 millions of francs, indemnity of war, paid by France to the Allied Powers, and 400 millions for the support of the foreign garrison, besides a multitude of various indemnities, the whole amounting to nearly two milliards. What a commentary this upon the policy of great standing armaments, and upon the terribly suicidal recoil of the war-system upon nations! *See Speech of J. A. Roebuck, M. P., at Sheffield. t Christian Times Newspaper. Bishop Wilson. § Archdeacon Wilberforce. THE CHINESE WAR-SYSTEM: A REVIEW BY TORCH-LIGHT. THE Chinese army may be estimated at 1,000,000 men and more, including what may be called the reserve. The purely Chinese element may be counted among them for 600,000 or 700,000 men. The Mantchous, who are all compelled to serve in the army, are divided into nine bodies. The Mongols do not supply more than 300,000 men. Just before the late war, there was a review of troops by torch-light on the plains of Yan-chen-ra, at the gates of Pekin. The lights were attached to the horns of oxen. There were twenty-one divisions of the army, extending from east to west. Enormous lanterns were suspended in front of each division, which indicated the name by means of letters of rosecolored paper. The soldiers passed backwards and forwards in confusion, each endeavoring to find his place. An immense tent, painted blue, was placed on a hill, which commanded a view of the entire plain, and indicated the places allocated to the officers. The artillery, consisting of brass cannon, three feet in length, were placed in front of the tent. Each gun was mounted on a carriage with four wheels, by means of knotted ropes. Some of the guns were loaded, and some not, in consequence perhaps of their imperfect condition, indicated by the iron hoops with which they were held together. The morning dawned before the troops were formed in line. The lanterns were removed from the horns of the oxen, and shortly afterwards appeared the individuals commissioned by the Emperor to review the arnıy. These singular personages descended from their palanquins, and entered the large blue tent. A few minutes afterwards all the trumpets sounded, and the cannon, fit for service, were fired. The manner in which the Chinese charge their guns is worthy of remark. They first load with a large quantity of "day" (powder composed of charcoal, mixed with small portions of nitre and sulphur,) they then fill the touch-hole with a fine powder, and finally they set fire to it with a match of twisted paper. The cannon advances and recedes, and some seconds elapse before the explosion takes place. One may judge by that of the precision of the fire, and of the effect produced by the cannon balls -when they are balls, and not stones,-which are projected from such machines. The firing of the infantry succeeded that of the artillery. The soldiers fired twenty at a time, commencing with the centre, and ending with the flanks; those who fired, advanced a few steps in the midst of a confused noise of drums beating. This species of manoeuvre was repeated six times, and immediately afterwards the fire ceased along the entire line, the soldiers firing the last shots in the air, fearing no doubt to wound their comrades. It is necessary to observe that their muskets are far from being supplied with the ingenious mechanism of ours. What they call a gun is nothing more than a large iron cylinder, about ten inches long, fixed to a stock without either lock or ram-rod. A small iron rod, to the end of which is applied a match steeped in saltpetre, serves as a lock, and sets fire to the powder placed in a cavity of the barrel, and which is uncovered. After the infantry exercise came that of the cavalry, which was grouped around the large blue tent, and was charged with the guard of the principal colors. When the signal was given by bugles, the cavalry marched forward in the greatest disorder, and advanced as fast as their horses were able. The race, for it deserved no other name, concluded the review. The inspectors returned to their palanquins, the generals and officers quitted the ground, and the soldiers did the same, without order or object.-Monit. de la Flotte. RUNNING THE GAUNTLET. WHEN he was stripped of his coat and shirt, and placed at the entry of the terrible street through which he had to pass, the soldier became pale again. Two soldiers went ahead of him; they marched backward, with their bayonets presented to his breast, so as to force him to keep measure to a drum which brought up the rear. The drum was muffled; its slow and dismal beats sounded like the music of a funeral procession. When he received the first stroke, his features assumed an expression of pain, and his firm-set lips quivered slightly. This was, however, the only sign of sensation. Crossing his arms over his breast, and pressing his teeth close together, his proud face remained henceforth immovable. His merciless enemies enjoyed but an incomplete triumph after all; they might slash his body in pieces, but his proud and indomitable spirit they could not break. The blows descended with a fearful violence upon him. After the first dozen, blood came; but never did he utter one single exclamation of pain; never, not even with a look, did he implore for mercy. An expression of scorn and disdain was deeply set on his face as pale as death. When he had reached at last the left wing of the company, his lacerated back presented a frightful appearance. Even his most exasperated enemies might well have been satisfied now; if it had but been possible, the commanding officer himself would have interceded in his behalf. But this was not even to be thought of; the law must have its course. They faced him right about; he had to make the same way back again. There was one formality connected with this punishment. which was a cruel, barbarous and shameful mockery; the delinquent had to thank his executors for his tortures? When the victim had arrived at the file-leader of the right wing of his company, and the dreadful execution was over at last, he threw one last long look full of contempt at his tormentors. Then he was seen staggering like a drunken man towards the commanding officer. His eyes, swollen with blood, beamed with an unnatural brightness; his respiration was short and painful; touching his head with his right hand, in token of the military salute, he said in a voice that came out of his throat with a rattling sound, but that was nevertheless distinctly audible all over the place, "I have to-thank your honor for this exquisite punishment," and fell down dead. — Dickens's Household Words. CHRISTIAN NATIONS. From William Howitt's "Civilization and Christianity.” CHRISTIANITY has now been in the world upwards of one thousand eight hundred years. For more than a thousand years the European nations have arrogated to themselves the title of Christian; some of their monarchs, those of Most Sacred and Most Christian Kings! We have long laid to our souls the flattering unction that we are a civilized and a Christian people. We talk of all other nations in all other quarters of the world, as savages, barbarians, uncivilized. We talk of the ravages of the Huns, the irruptions of the Goths; of the terrible desolations of Timour, or Genghis Khan. We talk of Alaric and Attila, the sweeping carnage of Mahomet, or the cool cruelties of more modern Tippoos and Alies. We shudder at the war-cries of naked Indians, and the ghastly feasts of cannibals, and bless our souls that we are redeemed from all these things, and made models of beneficence, and lights of God in the earth! It is high time that we looked a little more rigidly into our pretences. It is high time that we examined, on the evidence of facts, whether we are quite so refined, quite so civilized, quite so Christian as we have assumed to be. It is high time that we look boldly into the real state of the question, and learn actually whether the mighty distance between our goodness and the moral depravity of other people really exists. Whether, in fact, we are Christian at all! Have bloodshed and cruelty then ceased in Europe? After a thousand years of acquaintance with the most merciful and the most heavenly of religions, do the national characters of Europeans reflect the beauty and holiness of that religion? Are we distinguished by our peace, as the followers of the Prince of Peace? Are we renowned for our eagerness to seek and save, as the followers of the universal Saviour? Are our annals redolent of the delightful love and friendship which one would naturally think must, after a thousand years, distinguish those who pride themselves on being the peculiar and adopted children of Him who said “by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another?" These are very natural, but nevertheless very awkward questions. If ever there was a quarter of the globe distinguished by its quarrels, its jealousies, its everlasting wars and bloodshed, it is Europe. Since these soi-disant Christian nations have risen into any degree of strength, what single evidence of Christianity have they, as nations, exhibited? Eternal warfare!—is that Christianity? The most subtile or absurd pretences to seize upon each other's possessions, the contempt of faith in treaties, the basest policy, the most scandalous profligacy of public morals, the most abominable international laws! - are they Christianity? And yet they are the history of Europe. Nations of men selling themselves to do murder, that ruthless kings might ravish each other's crowns-nations of men, standing with jealous eyes on the perpetual watch or each, other wit arms in their hands, oaths in their mouths, and curses in their hearts are those Christians? Yet there is not a man acquainted with the history of Europe that will even attempt to deny that that is the history of Europe. For what are all international boundaries, our lines of demarcation, our frontier fortresses and sentinels, our martello towers and guard ships; our walled and gated cities, our bastions and batteries, and our jealous passports? These are all barefaced and glaring testimonies, that our pretence of Christianity is a mere assumption; that after upwards of a thousand years of the boasted possession of Christianity, Europe has not yet learned to govern itself by its plainest precepts; and that her children have no claim to, or reliance on, that spirit of "love which casteth out all fear." It is very well to vaunt the title of Christian one to another-every nation knows in its own soul it is a hollow pretence. While it boasts of the Christian name, it dare not for a moment throw itself upon a Christian faith in its neighbor. No; centuries of the most unremitted hatred, blood poured over every plain of Europe, and sprinkled on its very mountaintops, cry out too dreadfully, that it is a dismal cheat. Wars the most savage and unprovoked; oppressions the most desparate; tyrannies the most ruthless; massacres the most horrible; death-fires and tortures the most exquisite, perpetrated one on another for the faith and in the very name of God; dungeons and inquisitions; the blood of the Vaudois, and the flaming homes of the Covenanters, are all in their memories, and give the lie to their professions. No; Poland rent in sunder; the iron heel of Austria on the prostrate neck of Italy; the invasions and aggressions without end, make Christian nations laugh with a hollow mockery in their hearts, in the very midst of their solemn professions of the Christian virtue and faith. But I may be told that this character applies rather to past Europe than to the present. What! are all these things at an end? For what then are all these standing armies? What all these marching armies? What these men-of-war on the ocean? What these atrocities going on from year to year in Spain? Has any age or nation seen such battles waged as we have witnessed in our time? How many Waterloos can the annals of the earth reckon? What Timour or Genghis Khan can be compared to the Napoleon of modern Europe? The greatest scourge of nations that ever arose on this planet; the most tremendous meteor that ever burnt along its surfa e! Have the multitudes of those who deem themselves the philosophical and refined, as well as the Christians of Europe, ceased to admire this modern Moloch, and to forget, in his individual and retributary sufferings at St. Helena, the countless agonies and the measureless ruin that he inflicted on innocent and even distant nations? While we retain a blind admiration of martial genius, wilfully shutting our senses and our minds to the crimes and the pangs that constitute its shadow, it is laughable to say that we have progressed beyond our fathers in Christian knowledge. At this moment all Europe stands armed to the teeth. The peace of every individual nation is preserved, not by the moral probity and the mutual faith which are the natural growth of Christian knowledge, but by the jealous watch of armed bands, and the coarse and undisguised force of brute strength. To this moment not the slightest advance is made towards a r gular system of settling national disputes by the head instead of the hand. To this moment the stupid practice of settling individual disputes between those who pride themselves on their superior education and knowledge, by putting bullets, instead of sound reason, into each other's heads, is as common as ever. If we really are philosophical, why do we not show it? It is a poor compliment to our learning, our moral and political philosophy, and, above all, to our religion, that at this time of day, if a dispute arise between us as nations or as men, we fall to blows, instead of rational inquiry and adjustment. Is Christianity then so abstruse? No; "He that runneth may read, and the wayfaring man, though a fool, cannot err therein." Then why, in the name of common sense, have we not learned it, seeing that it so closely concerns our peace, our security, and our happiness? Surely a thousand years is time enough to teach that which is so plain and of such immense importance! We call ourselves civilized; yet we are daily perpetrating the grossest outrages. We boast of our knowledge; yet we do not know how to live one with another half so peaceably as wolves. We term ourselves Christians; yet the plainest injunction of Christ, "to love our neighbor as ourselves," we have yet, one thousand and eight hundred years after his death, to adopt! But most monstrous of all has been the moral blindness or the savage recklessness of ourselves as Englishmen. Secure from actual warfare, we have loved To swell the war-whoop, passionate for war! Its ghastlier workings (famine or blue plague, |