Ir is among the most encouraging circumstances of the age, that the news of the peaceful settlement of the Oregon question has been received by the three leading nations of Christendom with undisguised gratification. There is no need here of inquiring whether the claims in dispute were in themselves of sufficient value to have bred the danger of such a conflict. It is enough when an accomplished and proud nation, and powerful enough to defend its pride, sincerely believes that any affair in question touches a vital point of its honor. Its interest may be foregone; a point, even, of national security may be yielded; but its dignity and self-respect will be jealously defended. These are a nation's best inheritance; wealth and power without them are but poor possessions ;- but no people can long maintain themselves in their own regard, or in that of others, who do not defend their rights. That England was sincere in asserting that she had rights to be maintained in the Oregon region that she believed a large portion of the territory was justly hers cannot admit of a doubt in the minds of those who have noted her language and conduct. It must be equally beyond doubt among candid men everywhere, that the counter-claim, so far as urged by the more intelligent and sober-minded of the American people, was in like manner sincerely alleged, and with a full belief in its validity Thus, however small

may have been the value of the territory in dispute-and to England, at least, it was comparatively of little consequence

there was, within certain limits on each side, a line of honor not to be transgressed by the opposing power, giving to the question a grave character in the eyes of other nations. Unfortunately, according to the feelings of large portions of the respective communities, these lines crossed each other in many points, thus allowing room for many positions to be looked upon by one side as aggres sions, when to the other they were but the natural and necessary occupation of grounds of right. It was, therefore, no causeless or insignificant cloud of war through which the star of peace so heavily struggled, and it required distinct concessions on each side, even from those in the State holding to the most moderate of the claims put forth, before the heavens that cover the ocean between us could be made clear again. These concessions were made. The affairs of the English Government, by a good Providence, were in the hands of an administration given to moderate counsels; and the great bulwark of our national interests, the Senate, exercised its ancient prerogative of educing wise results from popular tumult, factious cabals, and that most fatal of all things in a government, an executive at once imbecile and ambitious. But, happily, this was not all. It might, indeed, have been sufficient for present

tranquillity, that the controlling power in the State was on each side so wisely actuated; but, fortunately for the encouragement of those who hope for the coming of an age which shall know how to regulate the world without war, the great body of the people in both countries were plainly impatient of any disturbance of the peace of Christendom. This is evident from the congratulations so widely exchanged in both countries congratulations arising not altogether from calculations of interest, but as well from a feeling every day more generally diffused, that a war which should have been avoided is crime. And this satisfaction is not entirely confined to the two nations more immediately concerned in the controversy. France also, volatile, ambitious, fond of glory and excite ment-qualities of temper which render her the most dangerous of all the communities of Europe-has given unequivocal proofs of her gratification that the civilized world is not again to be convulsed with general hostilities. A few Parisian journals, which from opposition to a ministry disposed to maintain friendly relations toward the English Government, are accustomed to denounce all the movements of Great Britain, feel it of course their duty to be dissatisfied; but the French people, it is evident, are mainly in favor of peace among civilized nations. This community of sentiment is an important fact;-evidently, by a single reflection. There are four great nations, that virtually rule the affairs, not only of Christendom, but of the world. They are England, France, the United States and Russia. Unquestionably, any one of these great powers-of itself, unaided by any other-would dare to break up the present peace of nations, and would be able to carry on the war for a period, in the face of any combination. But it is nearly as certain that no other State, without the countenance of one of these, would dare to enter into a struggle of any moment. Austria would not: she has no vessels, nor even sea-board, to enable her to acquire power upon the ocean, and her position midway between France and Russia would "give her pause" before she would undertake a war without the assistance, or at least the guarantied forbearance, of either. Prussia would not having no ships, she is but the worse at present for her sea-coast; and, though a military state by education, she stands too much in awe of her powerful

neighbors from without, and, from within, of the more dangerous free opinions so rapidly growing up in the minds of the people. Sweden and Norway have neither fleets nor armies, nor a treasury by which they could be created; Italy and Spain, impoverished, oppressed, dispirited, are only able to lament and bleed; Turkey, broken in her pride and without resources, will hereafter see the crescent of Islam gleam only on the minarets of her mosques, no longer over the front of battle; Mexico and the South American States, are plainly unequal to any prolonged efforts of hostilities on a grand scale; and the nations of Asia, inert and inefficient, as they have been for 2,000 years, can never greatly disturb, with demonstrations of war, the affairs of more civilized powers. Thus the vast interests of general peace lie practically in the keeping of only four governments. Hostilities may be carried on by half barbarous nations among themselves; or some one of the great powers spoken of may wage a desultory war on the outskirts of civilized life; but, as power is now divided, no great struggle, breaking the repose of Christendom, and checking the progress of civilization, can be entered into, if France, Russia, England and America, should stand against it. We may go farther; for if the other three, especially France and England, should manifest strong and united opposition, Russia, without such an accession to her naval and military skill as cannot be looked for, will hardly feel disposed to disturb the peace of Europe. That those two governments, therefore, which can, together, practically hold the balance of power in the eastern hemisphere, should share with this republic, growing every day more powerful and important, so manifest a gratification that a warlike question has been peacefully settled, is a thing worthy of consideration among the signs of the times.

means

It is true, that this expression is not to be relied on as implying any determination, in the minds of these governments, to have no more to do with Christian warfare. They have by no reached such a point. They are as yet content with desiring it, in a manner, without coming at all to any clear purpose, or even to any definite perception of what is attainable. They have hardly begun fairly to lay aside old animosities, and the remembrances of ancient battles; much less have they brought themselves

to contemplate the possibility of three or four leading powers actually resolving that there shall be no more great wars in Christendom, and keeping their resolution. It is, indeed, wonderful, how rapidly an enlightened people, in this age even, come to accustom themselves to the idea of war. Possible," "probable," "inevitable," is the development of appellatives in their minds. First, they indulge themselves in talking largely, and with no great clearness, of certain injuries received from a foreign nation, insulted claims, or some offensive position assumed by them: it is declared not unlikely, if things go on so, that hostilities may grow out of it. Next, the speechmaking leaders opportunely delegated to be rulers, patriotic men in power, and the unpurchasable press, take pains to show the country aggrieved, talk strongly as a government, and contrive by a bold front and skillful diplomacy to convert a previous measurably good understanding into uneasiness and rancor. Their warlike tone being naturally reechoed, the sober part of the community begin then to denounce the blundering government which has brought things to such a pass-they acknowledge the nation partly in the wrong, but what of right there is in the case must be defended! Diplomatic issues, oblique as usual, shoot past each other-negotiation confuses itself-friendly argument is thrust aside as not sufficiently independent military preparations begin to be made and both nations, settling down into the feeling that there is "no help for it," philosophically" prepare their hearts for war." At length, after a long suspense, and a general checking of all prosperous business, the dominant parties in the respective States discover that no political capital can be manufactured by a war fever; a few mutual concessions are then made, a treaty summarily follows, and both countries congratulate themselves, each other and the world, that they did not invoke the aid of arms, when they ought only to be ashamed that WAR was ever dreamed of between them. This, it will not be denied, has been too much the history of the public mind in this country; and in England, the body of the people were gradually and coolly adopting the opinion that as the Americans "would have war," war it must be:-it seems never to have entered their minds that their own government might not have offered altogether so liberal, or just,

a concession as could have been conceived of. It offered to arbitrate-which was fair; but in the way of negotiation it had always been unreasonable.

Such was the matter-of-fact acquiescence of Christian communities in the alternative of blood! It shows their congratulations of peace to be based, as yet, somewhat less on principle than could be wished. A feeling, however, is evidently present, on which a received principle may finally be established as a line of conduct for Christendom. And in this point of view, the fact that another controversy between nations has been settled by honorable concession, is of large importance. For its inherent nature, the moral effect of such an occurrence is great, and tends to produce in the minds of men that state of sentiment which shall be the perennial well-spring of the peace of humanity. With nations, moreover, as with individuals, custom, habit, rules, everything;-each new example of a question so settled, will render it more easy and natural for another to follow, by one step more, towards that condition of the world when the loudness of the trumpet and the shock of armies" shall be forgotten. And in this conviction we cannot but advert to the tone in which the first men of both countries have expressed themselves on this occasion. The language used by Mr. Webster, Mr. Mangum, Mr. Crittenden, and other eminent members of the American Senate, was unequivocal and exalted :—It deprecated

and for higher reasons than the burning of cities and the ruin of commercethat useless intervention of arms, which, at the end of a long struggle, would but leave both nations impoverished and demoralized, and the question still to be settled-by treaty! Similar terms had been uttered by the leaders of the British Parliament. Especially noble is the language used by Sir Robert Peel-a man of generous and enlarged views, whom the world is very justly coming to consider one of the most enlightened statesmen of the age. In that noble and elevated speech, in which he has just taken leave of official power, he bestows a lofty encomium upon Lord Aberdeen for "the exertions which he had made in the maintenance of peace." "He has dared to avow," says the British Minister, "that he thinks in a Christian country there is a moral obligation upon a Christian minister to exhaust every effort before incurring the risk of war." And afterwards, having