Mr, Lawrence on Cruelly to Anhtials 



108 



Ihence to relinquish Uic pursuit, and 

 give up entirely our property in wild 

 animals? or, if wc arc not 1o go that 

 length, by what nioro lenient methods 

 are wc to oblaiii possession of tlieiii? 

 1 know <if none. Nature has led us 

 into t!)is dilemma by her injiniction to 

 subline and possess the be;ists of the 

 field, the fowls <>f the air, and the fish 

 of Ihe waters; and, for all unavoida- 

 ble cruelties in tlreir cnpture, s!ic her- 

 self is amenable, that is to say, lo 

 that reason with which, also, she has 

 endowed us ; and I most ardently de- 

 sire the opportunity lor an additional 

 exercise of that gratitude, ou which 

 Humanitas so elofpiently expatiates, 

 in the revelation of some new and 

 practicable mrans of mercy. 



But surely, in the overflowings of 

 liis heart, and the excess of his zeal, 

 this moralist has made a most unfortu- 

 nate choice of those cruelties which he 

 lias been promjitcd to stigmatize. 

 Perhaps of all the victims of our pur- 

 suit, or our cruelty, those which he 

 brings forward as the objects of public 

 conunisenition, in actual fact suiter 

 the least. He should not forget that 

 this life is a life of sullVring, and that 

 every living being, from man, down- 

 ward to the lowest and most minute 

 exiguity, not forgetting Shakspeare's 

 'poor beetle,' (he who, by-the-b^e, 

 according to tlie philosophy oi' both 

 ancient and modern humanity, could 

 commiserate beetles, and yet have no 

 pity for bulls, bears, and cats,) must 

 lake his assigned share in the common 

 lot. Dirds, bearing the denomination 

 of game, are shot outrij;ht. They 

 could by no means receive a more 

 easy or more favourable (/idetns. The 

 share of this jiart of the living crea- 

 tion in the universal suflering is, that 

 a minority of them an; wounded and 

 left to languish in that state. If the 

 wounds be mortal, the birds speedily 

 die, and are relieved fron their ago- 

 nies; if otherwise, they either become 

 a prey to ravenous birds or bctists, and 

 niiike a speedy exit in tli;it mode, 

 besides their too common fate ; or the 

 pure and natural state of body which 

 they enjoy, and tlie salubrity of the 

 open air of t!ic fields, assures them a 

 speedj' recovery. They fee no doctors 

 to retard their cure; nature herself 

 volunteers as their physiciai:, apofhe- 

 caiy, and bone-setter, and soon sets 

 them joyously upon the wing again. 

 A poor ox, calf, or sheep, on their way 

 tu market and the slaughter, eudure a 



[March. I, 



thousand niartyrdouis, compared with 

 the flunerlugs of the objects of the 

 gun, than which, more inapplicable 

 exaujiiies could not have been 

 adduced. Animals canglit in traps, 

 and those that are hunted, certainly 

 suller more than those which are pur- 

 sued with Ihe gun ; but nature herself, 

 the very goddess of cruelty, has de- 

 nied us all possibility of remedy. 



Without disputing the cruelty which 

 necessarily attaches to the exercise of 

 the gun, my optics are not powerful 

 enough to discover, in prospectu, that 

 milleniuui on which Humanitas so 

 fondly doats ; and which, I apprehend, 

 eaii never possibly happen, previously 

 to a universal rcvolulion in this our 

 planet, and a rc-commenccmcnt under 

 an entirely new constitution of things. 

 The intellectual powers of Bacon were 

 turned to the rational and the prac- 

 ticable, whence all the presumed ana- 

 logy fails. A kind-hearied man, more 

 especially before his feelings shall have 

 become palsied or obliterated by cus- 

 tom, may perceive in liiinself some 

 'comijunctious visitings' at the pains 

 he is about to inflict, out of mere 

 sjjort, on other beings endowed with 

 feelings similar to his own ; but such 

 feeble opposition of the heart is vain 

 and pointless against llie stimulation 

 of other senses ami inclinalii)ns, appa- 

 rently indigenous to huuian nature, 

 and countenanced by both reason and 

 necessity. The entiiusiasm for field- 

 sports seems to have been planted by 

 iiaturein the human breast, as in those 

 of the lyger, the leopard, and the dog. 

 Moreover, what is to become of the 

 use of the gun, without objects on 

 which to disjjlay the skill of our adepts 

 in the art ? It is true, I have never 

 been a good shot, and lukewarmly 

 attached to the sjiort; but, were my 

 attachment ever so ardent, my consent 

 should yet never be wanted to give up 

 the sport in toto, on the single condi- 

 tion that the cold lead niij;ht be thence- 

 forth reserved for the use of tyrants, 

 of Holy Alliances, and of the destroy- 

 ers of human liberty. Angling and 

 taking fishes generally, by whatever 

 mode in use, partake of both kinds of 

 cruelt\, that of necessity, and that of 

 the cold-blooded customary stupidifv. 

 He who desires the conviction, that 

 neither talents nor saiutship inaj' se- 

 cure a man against the latter, need 

 but read old Walton. The treatment 

 of the eel is horrible, by the unreileet- 

 iug or hardened wretches who" skin 



Ihcm 



