ax Remarks on Pratt’s Poem of the * Lower World.” (Keb. 1, 
of extending her own upon its ruins,over, becomes a bad cause, even as to its ge* | 
the whole habitable face of the globe, by 
the.empire of the seas. The speeches of 
Lord Sheffield, Aukland, &c. and the 
annual budget ‘speeches, proclaim tri- 
uimphantly ihe encreasing and flourishing 
state of our trade, no doubt, as a vind. 
€ation of the war, and as a reason for its 
coutinuance. Sheffield asserted in a 
speech, about five yearsago, that the car- 
rying trade had encreased from two mil- 
fions at the commencement of the war, 
to five millions, in a period of less than 
five years. 
Thus has commerce not only subsidized 
Agriculture to her purposes, but likewise 
the denion War, to the former of which 
she was once tributary, and to the latter 
she was reckoned a deadly foe, whose 
extinction she threatened by enlightened 
ideas, the- mutual interchange of good 
offices, and general philanthropy. 
Thus are the ostensible objects of the 
war unmasked, and the real one appears 
to be to extend and force the commerce 
of England by the point of the bayonet, 
end the thunder of her wooden walls, over 
a continent deluged with blood, and an 
ocean stained with crimes! 
It is almost superfluous to enlarge 
wpon the bad effects of a system repro- 
bated alike by sound policy, justice, hu- 
manity, and religion. Even in the most 
just, necessary, and merely defensive, 
wars, which may have been undertaken 
for the achievement and preservation of 
our liberties, and the security of our com- 
merce, the cruelties and horrors which 
~have been mutually inflicted and occasi- 
oned by armies, and the miseries endured 
by families and individuals, are indescri- 
bable. If then so much evil is the result 
of even just and necessary wars, what 
’ must be expected from a war entered 
into from the base and filthy motive of 
lucre, and from the sanguinary ambition 
of a shameful cupidity to extend our 
commerce over the face of the habitable 
globe? If, according to religion, philo- 
sophy, and sound policy, the means be 
not sanctified and justified by the end; if 
war be condemned asa sin by the divine, 
as immoral by the philosopher, and as 
the worst mode of settling the disputes of 
nations, by the politician, it would of, 
course be the height of absurdity to snp- 
pose that the means can sanctify and 
justify the end. If a good cause be dis- 
graced by improper means used in its. 
defence, how much more is it disgraced 
and injured by employing these means 
in premoting it, to the manifest injury of 
surrouading nations, Thea indged it 
neral results, because the many become 
sufferers for the benetit.of the few. os 
- are. ae ‘ E 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
"srr, 
M ANY of your pages have tended to 
promote the amelioration of the con- 
dition and sufferings of the Animal World, 
thereby inculcating the sacred duties of- 
justice and mercy. On this subject you 
have been Jaudably ready to give fair 
and full scope to whatever illustrated or 
enforced it. To maintain the cause of 
humanity, ts highly pleasing to every good 
man ; and more honour is derived {rom it, 
than from inquiries which tend only 
to amuse the mind, or gratify curiosity. 
The anecdote communicated by your 
correspondent, ‘ Zoophilus,” in thé 
Monthly Magazine for September, on 
the effects of gratitude in a wild bull, 
deeply impressed and interested me, 
Gratitude can be the result only of kind- 
ness, either intended orreceived. And 
although [ recollect too many instances 
where the result of kiud@gess has been 
ingratitude amongst human beings, it 
very rarely follows any marks of mercy, - 
or even of due consideration, shewn to= 
ward animals, 
“ Zoophilus” has adduced of the wild 
bull, is certainly a very powerful illus. 
tration of this fact; but. it would not be 
dificult to extract from the authentic 
stories of Natural History, various other 
instances of gratitude arising from sense 
of oblig 
returning generosity for generosity, and. 
compassion for compassion. In regard . 
to other animals of the fiercest nature, 
as the lion, the elephant, the tyger, &c. 
I lately met with some curious .parti- — 
culars in the notes to an elegant pocm 
lately published by Mr. Pratt, to which ~ 
Tam anxious to refer your readers ; and, 
by the bye, I cannot resist stating the. 
pleasure which J have derived from read 
ing that production. It is entitled, 
The Lower World, not, referring ‘to 
the infernal regions, but” lower, in a 
moral and rational sense, and consists of 
4 strong appeal to mankind in favour of 
the brute creation. The life of the 
benevolent author has been devoted to 
constant labour, on this and other kin- — 
dred subjects; and if he had not written. 
his Sympathy, and Humanity, this pro- 
duction alone would entitle him to a 
place amoug the poets of Britain. In 
short, Sheridan, Pratt, Wolcot, meg ; 
3 an 
The example whigh 
ation, and even in the way of | 
j 
