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THE

ADVOCATE OF PEACE.

JANUARY AND FEBRUARY.

FAVORABLE TIME TO WORK FOR PEACE.

There has seldom been so favorable a time as the present for effective labor in the Cause of Peace. The war-spirit is now hushed in general repose, and the war-demon chained and slumbering in his lair. There is in Christendom no war in progress or in prospect; and its rulers and its people, taught by a bitter but salutary experience in the Crimean struggle, seem more than ever inclined to let the sword rest in its scabbard, and to devise better means for the settlement of their future disputes. We may well regard these indications as the dawn of a new and most auspicious era in the intercourse of civilized and nominally Christian nations. In England, indeed, there is, or lately has been, an ominous ferment, deep and wide, of the war-spirit; but, with its object in a distant part of the globe, and with the prospect of India being soon brought anew under her sway, she will not long remain an exception to the general repose.

Ought not the friends of peace to heed these providential indications, and turn them at once to practical account? The old adage of "making hay while the sun shines," is very clearly applicable to this case, and ought by all means to put our friends upon far greater efforts than they have ever yet made. It is only in such a time of general repose and calm, that we can accomplish much, if anything, in the cause of peace. When war comes, or is feared, there is always such an effervescence, if not wild, fierce commotion, in the popular mind, as forbids all hope of success in our work.

On this point, however, there is a strange lack of reflection, reminding one of a story that William Ladd used to tell from his own experience. In travelling he called, of a fine summer day, at a hotel whose owner, a

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