as well as kindred, and seeks, and finds its gratification in promoting the happiness of the whole human family, is heightened and improved when associated with that enlightened humanity, which loves being as being, and rejoices that its benevolence is not confined to a species, but that it can range through the universe. A principle of benevolence where there is not the natural kindliness of cherished humanity, may tinge the character with the hue of philanthropy, and may induce a habit of relieving distress, and of doing good as opportunity is forced upon us, but it will never form a Howard, who traversed Europe and the East," Not," as the eloquence of Burke has recorded on the page of immortality, "to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of temples, not to make accurate measurements of the remains of ancient grandeur, nor to form a scale of the curiosities of modern art,-not to collect medals, or to collate manuscripts; but to dive into the depth of dungeons, to plunge into the infections of hospitals, to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain, to take the guage and dimensions of misery, oppression, and contempt, to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the

forsaken, and to compare and collate the distresses of all men, in all countries." Nor will the religious spirit pressing upon the soul, the mighty obligation of propagating the faith, and making all men know what is the hope of their calling in Christ Jesus, send into the missionary field a Swartz, a Brainerd, or a Henry Martyn, where the natural disposition of the individual is morose, repulsive, and unkind. He that does not take a lively interest in the sufferings and pleasures of the lower animals when they appeal to his sympathy, can never rise to the higher range of duties required of the missionary and the martyr; at least he will be deficient in that generous enthusiasm without which, nothing out of the ordinary course of duty will be attempted or achieved.

The morally great and good are not to be found among hearts hardened to insensibility by witnessing unmoved the cruelties of sport, of science, of luxury, or brutal savageness; nor among the better class, who, though they are right in the principles of duty as they regard some sections of moral obligation, are totally deficient in others. If a man cannot love God, who hates his brother, neither can he love his God or his brother, or

properly discharge his duties to either, who is regardless of the wants, and claims, and rights of the creatures placed under his sovereignty, that he may extend to them the care of a humane and beneficent providence.

CONCLUSION.

Ir is impossible for the most careless eye to have glanced over these pages without perceiving that the various forms of cruelty in this civilised country, and the immense aggregate of suffering which it hourly accumulates upon every description of animals, especially upon the most useful and the most dependent upon man, far exceed any thing that imagination could have conceived. And we fear that there is no nation under heaven where such atrocities are so systematically committed. It is observed in a popular work, that "in this country, which boasts of its humanity and its police, there is more cruelty exercised towards the brute creation, than was ever exhibited or tolerated in the ages of acknowledged

barbarism." We gladly acknowledge that an auspicious change is beginning to exhibit its beneficial effects, and giving an indication that the age is improving in liberality; but, as regards this subject, it is liberality putting forth its strenuous efforts to move through a mass of prejudice, and labouring to breathe its aspirations in the thick and pestilential atmosphere of cruelty and oppression.

Since the passing of Mr. Martin's Act, and the public recognition of Lord Erskine's great principle, much has been done. Mr. Mackinnon and Mr. Pease have followed Mr. Martin, and with no mean success. The earnest efforts of all these distinguished friends of humanity, notwithstanding the cold sarcasms, the sly invective, the lively ridicule, or the dull imperturbable obstinacy which repelled them, have considerably advanced their object. And if the public mind can be further enlightened and impressed, and its sympathy excited in behalf of the still innumerable victims that daily agonize to gratify the basest passions and appetites of human selfishness, a new era will commence, and this foul reproach on our national character be wiped away.