1. Joseph B. Varnum presented this memorial to the Senate on 31 Jan. 1817 (Annals of Congress description begins Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States […] (42 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1834–56). description ends , 14th Cong., 2d sess., 90, 93).

2. The memorial (4 pp.; printed ibid., 93–96), addressed to Congress, urged the nation’s rulers to cooperate with “philanthropists of every country, in promoting the cause of Peace & Charity, in stripping War of its false glory, & in uniting different communities in the bonds of amity & mutual good will.” Two recent occurrences had prompted the memorial: one was the declaration of the powers of Europe to govern their conduct according to “the precepts of Christianity, the precepts of Justice, of Charity, and of Peace”; the other was the sentiments expressed by JM in his final annual message to Congress. The Massachusetts Peace Society resolved that the United States government should “unite with the governments of Europe, in a distinct and religious acknowledgment of those principles of Peace & Charity, on which the prosperity of States, & the happiness of families & individuals, are alike suspended.” The society also resolved that Congress should “institute a deliberate enquiry, for the purpose of ascertaining the methods, by which this government may exert on human affairs that happy influence, which is anticipated by the President of the United States.”