all classes of the community. The case of infants, who cannot plead for themselves, is peculiarly touching, and calls for the deepest and most general sympathy, in their behalf; and so should the incapacity of the dumb and defenceless creation to plead their own cause, excite us to become their warm and zealous advocates, and gain them the attention of all, whose office it is to watch over the public interests, and ward off the approach of danger threatening any of its dependents. Let us adopt a consistent course of Rational Humanity. Let Parents train up their little children, in a detestation of cruel treatment of insects, and other living creatures; and instil into their infant minds a love of giving pleasure and doing good to all, even their rational, creatures. Let Youth be restrained from barbarous sports; and directed to a nobler aim, than finding amusement in causing pain and distress. Let Servants be prohibited from abusing the useful animals committed to their care. Let Masters require no more from them, than they are well capable of performing. Let the Higher Classes abandon entirely those cruel amusements, and savage sports, which disgrace this enlightened age; and turn their attention to the subject of compensating the poor injured animals, for the unjust treatment they have hitherto received. Lastly, let the Legislature and Government of the country direct their wise and diligent efforts, to the great and important object of limiting the effects of inordinate Competition, and so of preventing, rather than punishing, the practices of cruelty, under which the creation groans. Thus shall we have the hap piness of seeing the rising generation grow up, under the Divine blessing, more humane and virtuous, than any preceding ages have witnessed. The shocking enormities, and flagrant inconsistencies, which deform our national character, and blot our fair escutcheon, will be removed; and we shall, moreover, enjoy the high satisfaction, and holy delight, of imitating the example of our Great Benefactor, who is full of compassion to the meanest of his creatures; and shall learn to "be merciful, even as our Father which is in heaven is merciful." (Luke vi. 36.) NOTES TO SECTION II. Note A. Page 76. On this subject, the Author cannot help availing himself of the forcible language of one, with whose opinions he regrets that he cannot usually coincide. This writer expresses himself thus: "From external slavery, encouraged by our manufactures, we might turn our eyes to the internal evils of the manufacturing system; to the dense population accumulated in great towns, and occupied in works most incongruous to the human frame; to the sensual habits notoriously engendered amongst the operatives in times of prosperity; to their penury, discontent, and reckless violence in times of adversity. To me, a great manufacturing town, even in its sunshine days, is a most lamentable spectacle. I see, indeed, there, myriads of animals well fed, with abundance to eat and drink; but where are the shepherds for this deserted flock? Where is their religion? What process is going on, in their minds, to draw them from the gross present to the past or the future? Where are the means, the twentieth part sufficient, for their education or instruction ? and what are they but multitudes of rational machines, used merely for the acquisition of wealth, and then left to perish as the beasts? Consider the amusements and relaxations of these poor people; study their habits and inclinations; inquire into the culture of the infant mind, in these thronging hives of Mammon; look at them, in their general demeanour; and then candidly say, whether a Christian ought to wish for the continuance of this modern magic for producing gold-the manufactures of England ?" The following is subjoined, in a Note to the above passage: "I know of a great manufacturer, who, in forty years' close attention to his business, has amassed an enormous fortune; his workmen, in one establishment alone, are about fourteen hundred in number; they receive the usual wages, which are more than sufficient for all animal wants, but no sort of attention is paid to the moral or religious condition of this army of operatives; there is no school for children; no mental help of any description for the adults. They do their work, and receive their wages; for the rest, they are utterly neglected and left to themselves. There is no law of the land violated here; but is not the law of the Ꭱ human family violated, and is not the Father of all, the Judge of all, also? Money hardens the heart; how many hearts are not hardened by our gigantic manufactures ?"—" Letters on the Church of Christ," by R. M. BEVERLEY, Note B. Page 80. The following is from a Provincial Paper, respecting the London and Birmingham Railway, then opened for a part of the line only: "The Wonder, Shrewsbury Coach, seems determined not to be outdone by its flying adversary,without a struggle; it left London on Monday morning at the same moment that the trains left Euston Square, and reached Birmingham just 20 minutes before them." Note C. Page 81. The following extract from "The Weekly Entertainer," though of a very ancient date, may serve as a specimen of the oppressions alluded to: "Two horses started, April 16, 1793, at Whitechapel Church, to proceed 100 miles in 12 hours. On their return, one of them died within 32 miles of town, having performed 68 miles of the journey; the other crawled through Chelmsford, with a boy on his back, to the 27th mile-stone, and died-wanting 23 miles to win the bet." We are happy to find added, what we fear would not now be the case, in this more refined and cultivated age, "Execration, on the whole road, attended the brutal owners of the two fine animals, that were thus cruelly sacrificed." Note D. Page 81. The following extract from a letter in "The Voice of Humanity," No. 6, forcibly depicts the barbarity of the practice of racing Coaches: "Two Coaches have been racing from Plymouth to London and back, (to the great danger of all whom they may pass on the road) for some time. The journey is about 220 miles; and a number of poor horses have been whipped that distance, (according to the boast of their brutal owners,) in 19 hours; viz. 5 hours less than the mail is allowed, or upwards of 14 miles per hour. But if you have not seen these poor, tortured animals, arrive at the end of their stages, tottering, trembling in every limb, joint, and nerve, nearly blind with exertion, foaming with sweat, and gasping for breath, you can form no idea of their sufferings, nor can I find language to express the horror and indignation which I felt, at witnessing this hellish scene of torment, while at Chudleigh, on my way to this place." (Honiton, Sept. 1st, 1831.) Note E. Page 84. The poor ass seems to have been the victim of cruelty, even in Homeric times, as appears from the following simile: Ως δ ̓ ὁτ ̓ ὄνος παρ' ἄρουραν ἰὼν ἐβιήσατο παῖδας HOMER, Iliad xi. 557. Note F. Page 96. The bad effects upon the moral character and feelings of Butchers, arising from their constant engagement in scenes of blood and slaughter, are greatly and unnecessarily aggravated by the many shocking cruelties practised in their trade, for the purpose of pleasing the pampered appetite of their customers. We allude particularly to the manner of bleeding and killing calves; but, indeed, the whole system of slaughterhouses, as practised in this country, is savage in the extreme. The demoralizing effect of cruelty to living things, may be seen in the Billingsgate fish-women, who must be continually witnesses to the writhing tortures of suffering animals. The cruelty of crimping codfish has often been mentioned, but, alas! is not discountenanced by a Christian Public. Note G. Page 96. The following passage occurs in a Note to a Sermon by Dr. Rudge, on "The Abuse of Animals :" "At an early period of my ministry, peculiar circumstances brought me into frequent contact with prisoners in the cells of Newgate: and in the free, unreserved, and apparently faithful communications made to me, previous to their execution, I have had abundant evidence to satisfy my mind, that the history of the youthful hero of the Four Stages of Cruelty, is the history of almost every malefactor who has been brought to an ignominious end." |