1825) 
his’ péersecutors,° but the door being 
closed against ‘him, the mob collected 
round;” and’ bringing water from the 
pump; dashed it over the railing. By a 
desperate effort, the poor deluged animal 
cleared ‘the wall,:and rushing through 
the crowd; orice more sought refuge in 
the area‘of a house in the Polygon, inha- 
bited by' the Rev) Mri Webster. This 
gentleman andhis family, however, being 
from'home, the crowd met with no mo- 
lestation in consummating their brutal 
work, which they accomplished by lite- 
rally stoning the animal to death. 
T endeavoured ‘to intercede with one 
of the most active among them, but was 
answered by a torrent of low slang, in- 
dicative of a kind of savage exultation 
in ‘the work of cruelty going forward ; 
and which convinced me that female 
interference was wholly unavailing. 
I add with regret, that a gentleman, 
apparently an officer in the British ser- 
vice, who inhabits an adjoining house in 
the Polygon; viewed the scene from his 
window with the most complete sang 
froid. 
‘IT am no pretender to over-refined or 
sickly sentiment, yet I confess the groans 
of the poor animal rung in my ears long 
after I retreated from the scene of bru- 
tality. 
The ery of Hydrophobia seems to me 
a watch-word to sanction the most cruel 
and indiscriminate persecution. of the 
canine race: for canine madness is ac- 
knowledged, by competent judges, to be 
a disease of much more rare occurrence 
than is generally imagined ; but should 
even popular terror demand a sacrifice 
of a ‘suspicious or stray animal, surely 
humanity requires that they should be 
shot by some persons authorized for 
that purpose, and! not that an indiscri- 
minate license be allowed to the idle 
and disorderly, to raise the hue and cry 
against every dog they meet. 
The’ hope that the above detail may 
meet the eye of some one able and com- 
petent to discountenance similar acts of 
cruelty, has induced me to solicit a place 
for itin your widely disseminated journal. 
\ T remain, Sir, 
A Farenp to tar Becre Creation. 
Lindon, 1th Sept. 1824. 
, Ww anim 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
hognas 
] HAVE heard and read, that a com- 
LR be aay: . 
tent knowledge of our glorious 
and excéllent constitution may be form- 
ed, by ‘Consulting: Magtia’ Charta, the 
Bill of Rights, and what is ‘called ‘the 
Magna Charia and the Bill of Rights. 
501 
Act of Settlement. This I have done, 
but; I must. confess, not with all the 
satisfaction that I had anticipated. The 
first of those documents appears better 
calculated to shew the darkness, injus- 
tice, and slavery of the age in which it 
was written, than to enlighten the pre- 
sent. The two latter contain some in- 
teresting matter, but worded in so vague 
and undefined a manner, that they may 
be looked upon rather as an outline, or 
parts of a foundation, on which a con- 
stitution, might be built, than a constitu- 
tion in themselves. Some of the best 
things contained in those far-famed do- 
cuments seem either to be repealed, or, 
at least, not to be acted upon in the pre- 
sent day. I shall at present only men- 
tion one instance. The Bill of Rights 
says expressly, that excessive fines ought 
not to be imposed, nor excessive bail 
required, nor cruel and unusual punish- 
ments inflicted, But, how are we to 
explain the word excessive, so as to. put 
the provision out of the reach and mis- 
application of caprice or party-spirit ? 
And will any one pretend that excessive 
fines have not been, and are not imposed, 
contrary to the intent and meaning of 
the bill? If the word means any thing, 
it must mean, that no person shall, in 
any case, be fined beyond his means;’or 
rather, that the fine shall, at least, be 
less than all that he is worth. Would 
it not, then, have been better to have 
expressed the meaning in some such 
definite terms? Vague and general terms 
in laws are snares, not. protections, for 
the people: because, while they will 
naturally interpret them favourably, and 
according to common sense; judges, if 
corrupt, time-serving, or prejudiced, may 
and will interpret them according to the 
views and passions of the party who 
hold the powers of government. Magna 
Charta says distinctly, that “every free- 
man shall be fined according to his 
fault; that no fine shall be levied on 
him to his utter ruin; even a villain or 
rustic shall not by any fine be bereaved 
of his carts, ploughs, and instruments of 
husbandry.”’* If this boasted charter 
be still:in, force, how are we to account 
for the vindictive, excessive, and abso- 
lutely crushing fines, to several of which 
it would not be difficult to. refer: fines 
which it was notorious the parties never 
could 
* Surely this sentence alone, if it con- 
tained nothing else, ought to have secured 
to this famous instrument somewhat more 
respect than our correspondent seems dis- 
posed to treat it with.—Ep. ‘ 
