Mr. Coote on the present State of AMerka.. 4&7 



the practice of kecpiug animals in a 

 stale of iniiiatural solitude ami itiiprisoii- 

 lueiit ; a sentiment which I buuibly 

 recoininond to the consideration of those, 

 who inflict the horrors of everlastinj, 

 jm|irisonment upon singing birds, fur 

 tticir own amusement. 

 Somen-Town. J. Laurencb. 



1817.] 

 •ompassion and solicitude for the hap- 

 piness of every living thing, being a 

 vital part of the religion of me and 

 mine, who, sooth to sa)', arc not over- 

 burdened with the common-place iuid 

 artificial kind, induced me to request a 

 strict inquiry into the treatment of ani- 

 mals in France. I had been accustomed 

 ■to see much kindness in the French 

 •migrants towards beasts ; but a French 

 Writer on Egypt, whose name hangs at 

 my pen's point, I recollected, gave a 

 distressing account of the unfeeling and 

 barbarous usage of cats in his country : 

 and Miss Williams has denounced the 

 torture of calves in France, inflicted by 

 two-legged beasts, who, unfortunately, 

 bave never themselves experienced what 

 it is to be dragged for hours together in a 

 eart, over a stoney and jolting road, with 

 tbeirheads hanging down. I regret to say, 

 that the enquiry has not proved alto- 

 'gether favorable to the character of my 

 wld favorites, the French people ; I yet 

 •onsole myself, that the following cim- 

 not be a general specimen of the vulgar 

 .mind in France. My friend liad a 

 mare beating herself to pieces, under 

 the tortures of the disease, vulgarly 

 called the mad-staggers. Unable to 

 •ndure the sight of such an extremity 

 «f animal misery, he sent for a proper 

 person to put a period to the poor crea- 

 ture's sufferings, by cutting its tliroat. 

 It was nearly night, and the man used 

 a thousand plausible arguments for de- 

 ferring the business until the next 

 morning; but what were the astonisii- 

 ment and indignation of my friend to 

 find, that the motive for delay of this 

 insensible hell-hound, was, t!ie expecta- 

 tion that the mare would live until the 

 morning, and that her skin would be 

 taken off with less labour while she was 

 yet hot ! Thus the Spanish hunters in 

 South America, according to the writer 

 of Anion's Voyage, sulicr the cattle 

 which they have noosed to perish in 

 agonies, wiiich bursts the Jieshy librcs 

 and loosens the hide. 



A correspcmdoiit. some time ago, en- 

 «|uireil why 1 stjied my tortoise lasita- 

 nica, and whether, by that term, it was 

 intended to designate any particular 

 specicsof the tortoise. 1 merely called 

 it so as coming I'roni Portugal, having 

 .no skill either in tortoises or natural 

 history. It dird in about six montiis, 

 to my satisfaction, it being a source of 

 <linquiet to have about me an animal, to 

 which Nature has denied the power of 

 expressing tii us its wants, its pleasnres, 

 or its widciics. Ecside, I aboiniijate 



Tu the Editor of the Monthly Magazine^ 



SIR, 



TJrIE questions of your correspon- 

 dent Air. ^^'illian^ Goodman, re- 

 lative to America, in the first number of 

 the present volume, remaining so lonj 

 unnoticed by any of your numerous in- 

 ttlligent friends, shews the great deartli 

 of information, and the contracted stat» 

 of knowledge, existing in this country, 

 of the iiiteruul state and political eco- 

 nomy of that land of liberty. For this 

 accumulated' and dense fog which sur- 

 rounds us, we are particularly indebted 

 to the system, which would not only rub 

 oU' every germ from the tree of liberty, 

 but would apply the axe of political ex- 

 pediency to the very root. There are, 

 liowever, some beautiful varied and vivi4 

 rays which, through a private medium, 

 occasionally penetrate the gloom. Your 

 correspondent, in tlie effusions of his ad- 

 miration of the character of that memo- 

 rable friend of liberty and man, William 

 Penn, calling him " tijc wisest of all 

 lawgivers," doubtless forgot that the- 

 lawgiver of the Jcv.'s, at the establish- 

 ment of their theocracy, was empha- 

 tically called Wisdom, On the ques* 

 tions of your concspondents I briellj 

 submit the following observations, whicli 

 iiavc one merit — their scrupulous adhe- 

 rence to TRUTH. 



It has never been knovrn, I believe, 

 that any president or member of the ex- 

 ecutive lias been found guilty of a neg- 

 lect of duty or breach of trust; there, 

 have been instances of suspicion, as of 

 the conduct of the late secretary of war, 

 in which case the people being so per- 

 fectly represented, the public voice was. 

 heard, a resignation immediately fol- 

 lowed, and he sunk into obii\ion. As 

 little of political corruption and undno 

 iufiuenee exists as is possible in the i)re- 

 scnt imperfect state of man; the wisdom 

 of the wisest human legislators has been 

 united to guard against it, in the noble 

 and beautiful simplicity of the constitu- 

 tion, which any man may possess for 

 about two shillirigs; that, wherever it 

 ina'Kcs ils appearance, which rarely l)aj>- 

 peiis, it is ca-iily- detected and as easily 

 coirtcted. Evejy direct tax-payer. 



