38 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Although we have had to record instances of cruelty to 
animals, we incline to the opinion that they now occur less 
frequently than they did, and are also less atrocious. The 
strong arm of the law has suppressed them,through the instru¬ 
mentality of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Animals, and the watchfulness of its agents. If it be true 
that a merciful man is merciful to his beast,the opposite 
of this likewise obtains, since a cruel man degrades himself 
below the beast. Who, possessing the slightest degree of. 
humanity, can witness unmoved the writhings of a dumb 
animal ? And who can inflict unnecessary torture on it ? 
Cruelty has been designated blasphemy in action—the 
hand of man raised, as it were, to strike the Father of 
mercies. A cruel man is more and more contemptible in 
proportion to the height of the nature from which he is 
regarded; most contemptible, and most abhorrent, therefore, 
is he in the sight of the Highest. Well may we grudge 
the title of brave to the cruel. Are they not rather 
cowards ? Is it not a conviction that they are free from 
all retaliation and revenge that makes such characters 
brutish; this being associated with a consciousness that 
they are exempt from all danger ? And this surely is not 
bravery. 
Of late our pages have been less encumbered with contro¬ 
versial matters, of which we are glad. We hold the right 
every man has to express his opinions, and when assailed to 
resist even with boldness; but then truth itself should be 
maintained only with judgment and in love. No petty 
jealousies should be allowed to obtain the mastery, nor any 
assumption of fancied greatness or superiority; both being 
alike proofs of littleness of mind. It should be remem¬ 
bered also that infallibility does not belong to man. Above 
all, personalities should be abstained from. Again and 
again has it been stated that they never strengthen a bad 
cause, while they always injure a good one. 
In a former Annual Address we urged the advantages 
arising from combination, showing how this exists in litera¬ 
ture, science, and agriculture; the votaries of which, being 
associated together, may be said to more than double their 
strength; as on the field of battle, even a small band of 
brave men, acting in serried rank, shoulder to shoulder, often 
