ANIMALS' RIGHTS. 



That there is pain and evil, is no rule 

 That I should make it greater, like a fool. 



Never to blend our pleasure or our pride 

 With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels. 



— Leigh Hunt. 



Wordsworth. 



ft 



GOOD man," said Plutarch, 

 "will take care of his Horses 

 and Dogs, not only while they 

 are young, but when old and 

 past service." 



The organs of sense, and conse- 

 quently feeling itself, are the same as 

 they are in human creatures. I can't 

 imagine how a man not hardened in 

 blood and massacre is able to see a 

 violent death, and the pangs of it, 

 without concern. — Bernard de Mandc- 

 ville, 172J. 



However we may differ as to specu- 

 lative points of religion, justice is a 

 rule of universal extent and invariable 

 obligation. See that no brute of any 

 kind, whether intrusted to thy care or 

 coming in thy way, suffer through thy 

 neglect or abuse. Let no views of 

 profit, no compliance with custom, and 

 no fear of the ridicule of the world, even 

 tempt thee to the least act of cruelty 

 or injustice to any creature whatsoever. 

 But let this be your invariable rule 

 everywhere, and at all times, to do 

 unto others as, in their condition, you 

 would be done unto. — Humphry Pri- 

 fnatt, D. D., 1776. 



But a full-grown Horse or Dog is, 

 beyond comparison, a more rational, 

 as well as more conversable animal 

 than an infant of a day, a week, or even 

 a month old. But suppose the case 

 were otherwise, what would it avail? 

 The question is not, Can they reason? 

 nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? 

 — Jeremy Bentham, ij8o. 



Animals are endued with a capa- 

 bility of perceiving pleasure and pain; 

 and from the abundant provision which 

 we perceive in the world -for the grati- 



fication of their several senses, we must 

 conclude that the Creator wills the 

 happiness of these his creatures, and 

 consequently that humanity towards 

 them is agreeable to him, and cruelty 

 the contrary. This, I take it, is the 

 foundation of the rights of animals, as 

 far as they can be traced independ- 

 ently of scripture, and is, even by 

 itself, decisive on the subject, being the 

 same sort of argument as that on which 

 moralists found the Rights of Man- 

 kind, as deduced from the Lights of 

 Nature. — Thomas Yoiing, lygS. 



The claims of the lower animals to 

 humane treatment, or at least to ex- 

 emption from abuse, are as good as 

 any that man can urge upon man. 

 Although less rntelligent, and not im- 

 mortal, they are susceptible of pain; 

 but because they cannot remonstrate, 

 nor associate with their fellows in de- 

 fense of their rights, our best theolo- 

 gians and philosophers have not con- 

 descended to plead their cause, nor 

 even to make mention of them; al- 

 though, as just asserted, they have as 

 much right to protection from ill-usage 

 as the best of their masters have. W^. 

 Youatt, i8jg. 



There is a moral as well as a physical 

 character to all animal life, however 

 humble it may be enveloped in- 

 deed in obscurity, and with a mysteri- 

 ous solemnity which must ever belong 

 to the secrets of the Eternal. Let us 

 then approach with caution the un- 

 known character of the brute, as being 

 an emanation from Himself; and treat 

 with tenderness and respect the help- 

 less creatures derived from such a 

 source. Ra/ph FletcJier. 1848. 



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