THE VOICE OF HUMANITY. 
465 
the officers of the society were somewhat too busy ; and thus the 
association incurred a certain degree of disgrace, and the preju¬ 
dices of the common people began to be enlisted against it; and 
those who were punished, being convicted through the medium 
of hired informers, thought themselves aggrieved ; and a dispo¬ 
sition to cruelty was sometimes cherished, instead of being 
rooted out. There were only two ways of punishing the offen¬ 
der,—by fine or imprisonment; and in either case others were 
punished with him, who did not share in his crime: he had a 
wife and children dependent upon him for bread—their depriva¬ 
tions enlisted them likewise in opposition to the society; and 
although the institution did effect a great deal of good, and 
merited and continues to merit the support of every humane 
person, it was attended by this very material drawback. 
It then occurred to some intelligent and active individuals, 
that another association might be formed, with the same noble 
object in view—the suppression of cruelty; but by the extension 
of humane principles, rather than by punishment—by the power 
of persuasion and moral conviction, and not by legal coercion— 
by the influence of the press, and not the hard hand of the law. 
We will not inquire whether this might not have been better 
effected by an alteration and extension of the original society, or 
whether the existence of two associations endeavouring to accom¬ 
plish the same object, however good and sacred, by different 
means, would not necessarily lead to little bickerings and jea¬ 
lousies. If misunderstanding, ay and even alienation, took 
place among the advocates of a yet nobler cause, we may regret, 
but are not disposed too severely to censure, the want of union 
even among the ardent friends of humanity. We hasten to 
draw a veil over all this; and the only portion of this volume 
which displeased us, was that in which this veil was unneces¬ 
sarily raised. 
Two associations are, however, now at work, and working well and 
prosperously; and by both of them the lights of our quadruped 
slaves are advocated and enforced, and the tortures, wantonly or 
maliciously inflicted on them, materially diminished. We wish well 
to both; and we would beg to whisper to them, that that would 
be an honourable and a happy day when they amalgamated. 
A little pamphlet is published quarterly by the “ Association 
for promoting Rational Humanity/’ price Is., containing many 
pleasing and well-written essays, unfolding and enforcing the 
grand principles of humanity, as it regards the brute creation. 
Now and then there are anecdotes of the effect of these appeals, 
more pleasing, and we think more durable, than that which 
would follow the coercion of the law. It is an association with 
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