1875.] Amimal Depravity. 417 
conclusive evidence? A Society for the Emancipation of 
Vegetables should be formed at once and begin soliciting 
subscriptions. Such a movement would not be more un- 
reasonable than certain other phases of modern British 
humanitarianism. 
It is a great mistake to suppose that herbivorous animals 
are necessarily milder than the carnivora. The contrary is 
often the case. The flesh-eater attacks and kills for food. 
The grass-eater, ¢.g the Cape Buffalo, and even the domestic 
bull indulges in wanton outrages and “unprovoked assaults.” 
His tendency to these peculiarly English offences is, per- 
haps, the reason why he has been, under the name of John 
Bull, chosen as the type of the nation. 
The true question is, Does a brute, like man, ever violate 
“the laws of its own nature?” If it is found incapable 
of departing, whether to the right hand or the left, from one 
fixed line, we must then pronounce it, according to the com- 
monly received notion, alike incapable of vice and of virtue, 
void indeed of moral life, in as far as this is deemed to be 
dependent upon choice.* But if it can deviate more or less 
from the norm of its existence, and especially if by such 
transgression it entails suffering upon itself and others, we 
are then, we submit, warranted in regarding its actions as 
morally good or evil,—good in as far as it conforms to the 
laws of its being; evil when it goes astray. 
We may then judge it, just as man judges his own actions 
and those of his fellows; the full likeness of the cases justi- 
fying us in drawing like conclusions. It will be admitted 
that “brutes” have wills of their own which vary in 
intensity among individuals of any given species in the same 
manner as in man, if not to the same extent. Among 
domestic animals there are some, which, in spite of kicks 
and cuffs and general maltreatment, persevere in their own 
way. Such creatures, man taking, as usual, himself for the 
law of the universe, pronounces ‘‘vicious.” There are 
others, again, which, under all circumstances, unhesitatingly 
submit their will to his, and these he praises. 
The same method of judging, by the way, is applied to 
dependents and children. A child deficient in vital power 
implicitly obeys his parents and “ betters”? from want of 
energy to dispute their commands. He is, accordingly, 
held up to general admiration ; his early death is pronounced 
a “mysterious dispensation of Providence,” and his virtues 
* If there were no evil, would there be also no good? If all matter were 
absolutely transparent and incapable of throwing a shadow, would light cease 
to exist ? 
