The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-05-19 00:00:00

as Jacob wrought for Leah have the working men
of Great Britain waited for the fUlfilment of this
promise, and now they are told to wait, perhaps,
another seven years or` more. This is not a
moment for the remission of taxation ; our whole
financial system must be thoroughly revised next
year, and it \sill be. -a_happy thing for the then
Chancellor of the Exchequer if he can fall back
upon the paper duties as a reserve fund."

CIVILISATION ought, by right, to be not only the
very antithesis of barbarism, but the repudiation
of everything that is barbarous ; since a state of
civilisation is one of Opposition .to barbarism, as.
well as of- reclamation from it. To civilise a:
people is to, reclaim them from savageness and
brutality ;* and a ci'vilised people, therefore, ought
to be free, from all that is savage and brutal.
Brutality and savageness of manners areS the'
qualities of barbarism ; benevolence and tender-
neSs=" the' of of kind humanity"—:those of
civilisation. And certainly civilisation, and the
moral and religious influences which have attended
upon its progress, have done much in England to
keep down cruelty—though it has still, it must
be confessed, much more- to do. We are not, as
a people, so cruel as we used to be,-even in our '
sports. Bull-baiting and cock-fighting are no
longer popular
,pastimes. We say nothing now
of inhumanity in any of its strictly human appli-'
cations, but confine our remarks at present to
those dpvelopmepts,which illustrate it as cruelty
and savageness to the lower animals. Aa. in
this respect, we say, there is undoubtedly an
improvement, among all classes, of the people—
even among the humblest ; although- they may
not have the same civilising restraints operating,
or the same humanising spirit 'pervading their
community, as those ahove them have.
It is not there civilisation, however, that zcill
always exclude cruelty—even cruelty %o the
lower' animals.' Paradoxical though h may teem,
yet it has frequently been proired, that such
cruelty has prevailed under a high. Condition of
social refinement,—and does so event at this day ;
as witness the bull . fights in Spain. A higher
influence ifrequisite to suppress it than-civilisa-
tion alone can always supply.,--4tn influence
arising from such moral teaching as that which
shows us nur •accountabilityi as well for our
dominion over the lower rank of beings as for
the exercise of inhumanity over our own species;
and which' tellg us that, to quote the words of an
eminent moral writer, "the more entirely the
inferior creation is' subjected to 'our power, the
more answerable we should seem for our abuse
of it ; and the rather, as the very condition
of nature renders them creatures incapable of
receiving any recompense in the-next world for
their ill-treatment in this." .

Among the more prominent means and appli-
ances in this country, which a spirit of benevolence
has originated and sustained in this particular
department of the cause of humanity, the
Society for the PreventiOn of Cruelty to Annuals,
whose anniversary has this week been celebrated
in the metropolis. It is an institution in which
all elastics. of the people may well take a lively
concern; and in proportion as they did so, we are
persuaded, would they find their own social
interests promoted. For, as was truly remarked
at this anniversary meeting, " Benevolence was
one of the best qualities of our nature ; it not only
did-good to others, but to the man who cultivated
it, and those -me' Were the happier in proportion
as they did good to others." But, then, to .fully
appreciate the application of this principle; as
was most appropriately added,—" They must
luviL the not only
_as applied to the
brute creation, but to themselves, as cruelty to
animals led .to et-potty to man. If a boy at
school tormented a fly with a pin, did not that
boy groW up "a cruel man? Sc, by their interest
in that Sooiety they were not only doing good to
the poor dumb animals, but also teaching lessons
of a quality which was twice ..blessed,"—the
quality; namely, of mercy to mankind, and to
every ereattrre

In this country; it is found, that scarcely any
animal is exposed to such syetematic cruelties, as
that noble one, the horse,—a creature nigclo; above
all others, for the service of man, and having on this
account the highest claim on our kindness and
our care; Of the large number of five hundred
and thirtyz.thi6 dozi-71ctiOns obtained during the
paSt•year, which show the nec'eS4ity of such an
organisation as this Society presents, the vast
majority, we believe, were cases of cruelty to
horses. It was to be expected, therefore, that
such a Society should take an interest in what a
man like Mr. RAREY is doing towards promoting
an improved training and treatment of horses ;
and it is most satisfactory to find, that it has pre-
sented him with its gold medal, as a mark of
approVai of the humane method he has so success-
fully introduced of dealit4,4, With that noble but
much abused animal.

Yes.—we are not so cruel towards the lower
animals, he it hi England, as we used to be ; and
it is well that we are net, as being, from our pre_
eminence ffnd on't infetienee, so powerful an
example to the rest trf file civflised iviorld: The
chairman of, the anniversary meeting we have
referred to, related how that he remembered
When a boy at Eton, he once saw a bull-bait on
the banks of the Thames, and an event then
Occurred. which ho should never forget. A
butcher had a dog which, for some reason, would
not run at the bull, and at length the butcher
took tip fhb' dog; deliberately cut its throat, and
threw it into the river. Well may we be thank-
ful that such scenes are no hitt& introduced
among us; They would be very much out of
character, it is true, with the spirit of the present
age. But still there may be cruelty in other and
less incongruous, yet quite as palpable forms;
and society at large its interested in its suppression
—every effort for Whielf,. indeed, is of itself an
exercise of that very quality of which it has been
declared,— •
" It is the attribute of God himself.

THAMES AND MERSEY MARINE
INSURANCE COMPANY.

The London subscription list was closed on Thursday
at twelve o'clock,
,and amounted to 240,000 shares. The
aggregate number to be allowed in London, Man-
chester, and Liverpool, is 100,000.