No doubt the aversion of the Friends from bloodshed had
some influence, and we find representatives of that noble-minded Society
active in more than one of the early reform-movements. But, as far as I
can discover, it was Robert Owen who first definitely advanced the idea
of substituting arbitration for war, and it was repeatedly discussed
among the "Rational Religion" Societies--which were not at all
religious--that he founded or inspired in various parts of the country.
The immense influence which he obtained in the thirties and forties
enabled him to direct public attention to the reform.
This early history is, however, as yet vague and unstudied, nor do we
need to enter into any ungenerous struggle about priority. It is enough
that the idealist scheme was well known in England long before the
middle of the nineteenth century. Did the Christian Churches adopt and
enforce it? Here, at least, no minute research is needed. The Christian
bodies failed lamentably and totally (apart from the heterodox Friends)
even to recognise the moral and humane greatness of the idea when it was
definitely presented to them. It is only in the last few years that a
Peace Sunday has--at the suggestion of lay associations--been adopted in
the churches and chapels of England.
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