subject of war, and in cultivating the principles and spirit of Peace."

3. Each subscriber of fifty cents annually shall be a member. 4. Each subscriber of twelve dollars shall be a member for life.

5. The concerns of this Society shall be confided to the direction and management of a Board of Officers, consisting of a President, three Vice-Presidents, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and six Directors; any five of whom shall constitute a quorum to transact business.

6. There shall be a meeting of the Society annually on the last Thursday in the year; at which time the Officers of the Society shall be elected, and report made to the Society of the transactions of the preceding year.

7. At each annual meeting of the Society, there shall be an Address delivered by some member of the Society, who shall be designated for that purpose by the Board of Officers.

8. Special meetings of the Society may be called by the President, or by the Board of Officers.

9. These articles of Association may be altered or amended by two thirds of the members present at any annual meeting of the Society: provided, that such alterations or amendments shall not contravene, or be incompatible with the general object of this Society-the promotion of "PEACE on earth, and good will to men."

MASSACHUSETTS PEACE SOCIETY.

IT was the intention of the editor to give in this No. a com⚫ plete list of the names of all the members of the M. P. S. But he has not been able to obtain a correct list in season. Besides, on reflection, he found that the whole catalogue would occupy six or seven pages in fine type. He therefore resolved to give no more in this No. than the names of the officers for the present year, with those of the nine Branches or Auxiliaries; and to given the whole in a separate tract accompanied by the Constitution, as amended at the last Annual Meeting.

OFFICERS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS PEACE SOCIETY FOR 1819.

His Hon. William Phillips, President.
Hon. Thomas Dawes, Vice-President.
Elisha Ticknor, Esq. Treasurer.

Rev. T. M. Harris, D. D. Recording Secretary.
Rev. Noah Worcester, D. D. Cor. Secr'y.
Rev. John Foster, D. D. 2nd. Cor. Secr'y.

Trustees.

Rev. John Foster, D. D.
Rev. Abiel Holmes, D. D.
Professor Levi Hedge,

Rev. Daniel Sharp.
John Kenrick, Esq.
William Wells, Esq.

Counsellors of the Corresponding Secretary. Rev. John Foster, D. D.

Rev. W. E. Channing,
Rev. F. Parkman..

Rev. Jonathan Homer.
Rev. Henry Ware, D.D.

Executive Committee.

Rev. N.Worcester, D. D. Hon. Samuel Haven,

Rev. J. Foster, D. D.

Rev. E. Ripley, D. D.

John Tappan Esq.
Rev. S. Worcester, D. D.

Rev. Elijah Parish, D. D. Mr. Thomas Vose.

Rev. John Pierce.

The Branch Societies or Auxiliaries will be arranged according to their respective dates.

JAFFREY, N. H. March 30th, 1818.

Benjamin Prescott, Esq. President.
Adonijah Howe, Esq. Cor. Secretary.
Lieut. J. Joslin, Treasurer.

13 Members.

SOUTH READING, June 5, 1818.

Rev. Reuben Emerson, President.
Rev. G. F. Davis, Secretary.
Mr. B. Wiley, Treasurer.

BILLERICA, July 4th, 1818.

Rev. Henry Cumings, President.
Rev. N. Whitman, Treasurer.

13 Members.

17 Members.

HOLLIS, N. H. August 4th, 1818.
Daniel Emerson, Esq. President,
Ambrose Gould, Esq. Secretary.
Dr. Noah Hardy, Treasurer.

12 Members.

ROYALSTON, Nov. 4th, 1818.

Capt. Isaac Metcalf, President.
Thomas J. Lee, Esq. Secretary.
Rufus Bullock, Treasurer.

13 Members.

PORTSMOUTH, N. H. Nov. 19th, 1818.

Joseph Haven, Esq. President.

John W. Foster, Sec'y & Treas'r. 18 Members.

EAST HADDAM, Conn. Dec. 15th, 1818.
Rev. Elijah Parsons, President.

Rev. Solomon Blakslee,

Rev. Will. Lyman, D. D. Vice-Presidents.
Chevers Brainerd, Esq.

N. L. Foster, Esq. Secr'y and Treas'r.

Josiah Griffin, Esq.
Isaac Chapman, Esq.
Col. Jonah Gates.

Directors.

Joshua Cone.

Capt. R. Hungerford, Jun. 36 Members.

SHELBURNE, Dec. 29th, 1818.
Rev. Theophilus Packard, President.
Mr. Amos Allen, Vice-President.
Mr. Giles Lyman, Treasurer.
Dea. Israel Childs, Secretary.

28 Members.

PLAINFIELD, Jan. 29th, 1819.

Rev. Moses Hallock, President.
Dr. Jacob Porter, Secretary.
Dr. Barney Torrey, Treasurer.

12 Members.

The whole number of names in the M. P. S. which have been reported to the Editor, including the Branch Societies, is 640. It is supposed that a considerable number remains to be reported.

THE CONCESSIONS OF GENERAL RIPLEY.

JUDGE TOULMAN having written to Gen. RIPLEY, on the conduct of a military officer in a case of "supposed resistance of the civil authority," the General replied in a letter dated, "Bay of St. Louis, July 1, 1818." The following paragraph of the letter contains important concessions :

"The young officers, possessed of zeal, gallantry, and aspiring ambition, too often commit indiscretions similar to that complained of in the present instance. Accustomed, themselves, to see principles of military law operating upon those within their immediate sphere of action, they make an easy and improper transition in their application to the person or property of the citizen. They do not reflect that rules of conduct necessary to impart to any army its impulse, its discipline, and its subordination, become acts of tyranny when applied to those who are not within the defined limits of military authority. Indeed they do not seem to be aware, so fully as they ought, that a vital principle of our free institutions is, to place the civil superior to the military authority; and that were this principle to be exploded, our social institutions, which they as well as all good citi zens hail with so much veneration, would degenerate into a military despotism, enforcing its edicts at the point of the bayonet."

While these concessions are honorable to the character of General RIPLEY, they are adapted to remind the freemen of our country of the dangers to which they expose themselves and their posterity by encouraging the spirit of war, and military and naval establishments. The General implicitly admits the facts which in a former Number we attempted to illustrate; namely, that soldiers are deprived of the rights of freemen, and reduced to the condition of slaves, and that our military system is perfectly inconsistent with republican principles, and is, in fact, a "military despotism" in respect to our army and navy, our soldiers and seamen.

If the laws or "rules of conduct necessary to impart to any army its impulse, its discipline and its subordination, become acts of tyranny when applied to those who are not within the defined limits of military authority;" it follows of course, that those who are within these "limits," are deprived of their natural rights, and are the subjects of " tyranny."

May it not then be truly said of our rulers and of our citizens in general, that "they do not reflect" on the injustice of subjecting one portion of our countrymen to a state of degrading servility and "military despotism," under the pretext of supporting republican principles, liberty, and equal rights? Have a free people the right of enslaving one another? If they have, why may not the enslaved retaliate the wrong, and in their turn enslave those who enslaved them? Should any occurrence place it in the power of our army and navy to effect such a revolution, as that of overturning our institutions, resuming their own rights, and subjecting the present freemen to slavery; on what principle could they be blamed for so doing, which will not condemn the policy

that has deprived them of the rights of men? Excepting the greater number which might be enslaved, the right or the wrong of enslaving would be the same. But if it be just for a million of men to enslave a thousand, it may be just for a thousand to enslave a million, whenever it shall be within their power.

As the principles of military law” are in fact the principles of "military despotism," and as the officers of our army and navy are "accustomed" to the exercise of despotic power, we can hardly wonder at the improper conduct complained of in the young officers," or even in General Jackson. We should rather wonder at the indiscretion and inconsistency of a free people in establishing such a system of “ military despotism," as a defence of republican institutions. As a nation we boast of our army and navy, in which many thousands of our countrymen are as completely deprived of the rights of man, as the slaves of an Asiatic or European despot; and the officers in these establishments are " accustomed" to the exercise of a tyrannical power. By increasing

our army and navy, we multiply the numbers both of tyrants and of slaves. We also multiply the probabilities of frequent wars, and the dangers of a total subversion of our republican institutions. We may then ask, whether such an overthrow of our liberties would not be a righteous recompense for the injustice of the nation towards those who have been deprived of their natural rights; and a just retribution for cultivating the principles of war, instead of the benign and pacific princi. ples of the religion we profess?

As a free people we have sown the seeds of " military despotism" in a republican soil; and, as might have been reasonably expected, these seeds vegetate, grow up, and multiply like thistles. These noxious weeds already threaten to overspread the whole land, and to extirpate the goodly plants of liberty and equal rights. Their rapid and luxuriant growth however, may be easily accounted for :-They have been cultivated at the enormous expense of fifteen or twenty millions of dollars annually, and they have been manured with the blood of myriads of our brethren!