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and bruised, that very little hopes are entertained of their re covery."

Facts such as these would come home, one should think, to the bosoms of those who participate in this practice. Should the mischief recoil upon themselves, there might be some prospect of an amendment. From reason, and from philosophy, 1 expect but little. Men of reason and philosophy (at least pretenders to both) can argue in defence of bull-baiting, as the well known speech of a late senator, when the subject of its abolition was before parliament, may evince. He spoke before a christian senate, and his speech appeared to outweigh christianity.

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"There is no law to prevent bull-baiting," say the advo cates for that pernicious practice. Human law there may be none: nor is there any for its encouragement. "Yes," say the bull-baiters, "there is a law, which enacts, that no buil shall be slaughtered that hath not been baited; implying, at least, a necessity for bull-baiting. I have heard of such a law, but I know not where to find it. If it exists at all, it is a dead letter upon the statute-book. Laws have been enacted to prohibit the use of tobacco, and of hops in the brewing of beer. With regard to a bad law, the best thing that can happen is, that it should be repealed; the next best, that it should fall into oblivion.

There are laws of eternal obligation, which forbid all wanton cruelty. "Thou shalt not take the dam with the young :" "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk :" "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when be treadeth out the corn:" "If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, thou shalt surely help him :" These are all laws which the great Creator enacted, and they proceed from that tender regard which He feeleth towards, what we proudly call, the inferior animals. "The merciful man is merciful to his beast :" Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy :" and, "Not a sparrow is forgotten before God," were the observations of him who was the pattern of meekness and mercy.

Perhaps some will say, "Bulls cannot feel as we do: we must not look upon them as christians." How do we know what a bull, or any other of the brute creation, can feel? Our great poet hath said,

"E'en the poor beetle that we tread upon

In corporal suffering feels a pang as great
As when a giant dies."

SHAKESPEAR.

I heard lately that a bull which was baited at Cheadle ma

nifested more feeling, whether of pain or of tenderness, than the whole herd of christian brutes, his tormentors. A bull❤ dog was let loose at the generous animal, who, in the first emotions of his indignation, tossed the dog and killed him. No sooner did the bull behold the dog dead, than he moaned pitifully, and licked the dead body with his tongue. Another dog was let loose upon him; but the bull remained perfectly passive, and no incentive could urge him to molest another dog.

That a familiarity with the sufferings of the brute creation tends to harden the heart, and to blunt every finer feeling, is a truth confirmed by the experience of every day, and recognised by the English law, which has provided that no butcher shall serve upon a jury. So convinced am I that a familiarity with the sufferings of the brute, and the pleasure which is procured to man by the wanton infliction of pain upon animals, petrify the heart, and prepare it for every act of cruelty, that not all the zeal, I believe, of the Popes, seconded as it was by the industry and eloquence of the Do minicans, would have induced the Spaniards or the Portuguese to tolerate the Inquisition, if they had not been previously habituated to bull-fights; nor would the Romans have so cruelly persecuted the primitive Christians, if they had not been accustomed to sports of blood in their amphitheatres.

Yet did heathen legislators forbid cruelty. The Phrygians decreed, that an ox which had trodden out the grain should be exempt from slaughter. The Athenian judges banished a child who had plucked out the eyes of a living owl, and punished rigorously a man for flaying a bull alive*.

Cruelty produces its own punishment. No filial reverence, no parental affection, no conjugal endearment, none of those tender feelings which constitute the ineffable felicity of house and home, exist for the cruel. They are banished as surely from the palace of a prince, if he delights in horse-racing, cock-fighting, and the savage deeds of embruted pugilists, as they are from the cabin of a bull-baiting collier. To the parents, the wives, the brothers and the sisters, the sons and the daughters of such, the son, the husband, the brother, and the father, are a blank in the creation; possibly worse, objects of hatred and detestation.

He who is cruel to insects, cruel to birds, and cruel to beasts, will conclude the climax of infamous obduracy by his cruelty towards mankind. The Neros, the Domitians, and the Ca

Sermons de Saurin, tom. viii. Ser. 10. Sur le Jour de Repos.

ligulas of antiquity rose by degrees to their maturity of cruelty. The child had taken delight in impaling flies, and in spinning beetles; the boy, in tormenting dogs, cats, and domestic animals, before the measure of cruelty became complete in the man. We are the creatures of habit; and a habit of tenderness is, I trust, more congenial to man than one of cruelty.

B.

The above letter has taken up a subject of real importance, and with that sort of feeling, which we could wish were far more general among our countrymen. The cruelty, however, which extends much further than that of the sports which our correspondent has so properly described, is the cruelty exercised upon the labouring animals in the very acts of their utility; a cruelty affecting so many more of these our fellowtenants of the globe, and affecting them every day and almost every hour of their lives.-It may be affirmed, that the general behaviour of the English boor to the beasts under his direction is not only not humane, but is savage and brutal to a degree that can hardly be surpassed, and we believe is in every other nation very seldom equalled. This is a subject which we intend to take up in all its bearings, at some future period.

Early Attempts of the Moravians to civilize the North Ame

rican Indians,

[Continued from page 214, Vol. I.]

In this year, 1742, Count Zinzendorf, who made the conversion of the Heathen an object of his particular attention, undertook three different journeys to visit the Indians. About the middle of August he met with a numerous embassy of Sachems or heads of the Six Nations returning from Philadelphia. They were extremely wild, and had on the same day shot one of their own people. Yet he had the courage to preach the Gospel to them (or to address them); and though they appeared at first to reject what he had to say, yet a seemingly trifling incident did more for them than much argument might have done. The wife of one of the ambassadors having brought a child into the hut, it immediately ran to the count, and began to play with him; which the father observing, he

saluted one of the missionaries whom he had seen before; which made so good an impression on the rest that they immediately held a council. After about half an hour's consultation, the ambassadors of the Onondago and Cajuge nations came to the count and addressed him as follows: "Brother, you have made a long voyage over the seas to preach to the white people and to the Indians. You did not know that we were here, and we know nothing of you. This proceeds from above. Come therefore to us, both you and your brethren, we bid you welcome; and take this fathom of wampon in confirmation of the truth of our words." Thus a kind of covenant was made with the Six Nations; and as their influence was very great, it was of material importance, as they might have considerably obstructed the progress of the Brethren. About this time the first settlement of Indian converts was established at Shekomeko; and articles for their church government were drawn up. It was resolved that the four firstlings of the Indian Nations should be appointed assistants to the missionaries, they being evidently endowed with peculiar qualifications for the important work among their own nation; and six others were received into full community. "Their sincerity, faith, and love afforded inexpressible joy to the Brethren; and it was remarkable with what esteem they were treated by the wildest savages. By the end of this year the increase of Indians at Shekomeko was considerable; many being received into full community, and many others remaining as a sort of probationers. "Their meetings were held with great solidity, and many wise admonitions were given. They were particularly exhorted to be diligent at their work, that they might pay their debts and eat their own bread." It became necessary to use much caution and circumspection in this beginning of their labours; many of the Indian tribes bearing much hatred towards the Europeans, and being much dreaded by them. Suspicions also might easily have arisen in the minds of the christian magistrates, that the Brethren were in secret league with the hostile Indians, their conduct differing so much from that of other Europeans.

In 1743, the inhabitants of Wechquatnach and Pachgatgoch were very desirous that the missionaries should come and instruct them; to which they paid attention; and some of them went and resided among them most of the year. The enmity of the white people was very great against the missionaries, and rewards were offered at Frechold to some of the Indians to kill them. But though they met with great

opposition and very hard trials, they remained quict, blessing them that cursed them, and earning their own bread chiefly by working for the Indians, though the latter were not able to pay much for their labour. The kindness and affection of the believing Indians were very great, and every day proved their religious sincerity and continued industry. The Indian congregation at Shekomeko this year continued to increase in numbers and in goodness, and were often visited by large parties of Indians, who paid great attention and respect to the believing Indians. Some of the missionaries, besides visiting the above places, were engaged in the same service in the country about Albany, Shockary, an Canatshockary or the North River; and at Freehold a missionary was invited "to come and reside with them, and instruct them in the knowledge of Gol; for they had long wished to become like the people in Shekomeko." But the white people made so much opposition to it, that after trying it for a time it was given up, though not till a number of the Indians became believers.

The labours of the Brethren among the Heathen met with no material opposition till about March 1744: by their own account, "the church (comparatively) had rest, and was edified." But suddenly a most violent persecution arose, principally from the white people, who did every thing in their power to seduce the Indians from their connexion with the Brethren, by endeavouring to promote drunkenness and other crimes amongst them; and succeeded in raising a clamour against the missionaries, as though they were concerned with the French against the English government. They were harassed on all si les by their enemies, and suffered much on account of their refusal to take an oath. After appearing at several courts, though they had many friends who were kindly disposed towards them, they were obliged to attend the governor of New York, to whom they were represented disturbers of the public peace, deserving either imprisonment, whipping, or banishment:" and indeed they found that the whole town was raised against them. After being several times separately examined, on August 11, one of the missionaries addressed the governor to this effect: "We are subject to God and the magistrates, and would rather patiently suffer, than oppose them. But our cause is the cause of God, to whom the souls of all men belong. For his sake we live among the savages, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ unto them. We neither desire to gain money, nor covet their land; pror shall we ever have these views. The Lord our Saviour has

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