AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 361 



my new friend here into a public discussion. He has 

 given us his opinion of the horse, — a novel opinion to 

 me ; although I think I can now see that he has 

 expressed fears and dislikes and misunderstandings 

 which have been felt and entertained by many whom 

 I have known, and who were not honest enough to 

 utter them. Be that as it may, I think a great deal 

 better of a horse than Mr. Jones does ; and I will give 

 him and you the reasons. To my mind, then, Mr. 

 Chairman, the relations which exist between man and 

 the horse are of such an intimate and significant char- 

 acter, that they cannot be destroyed or violated without 

 producing an effect deeper than that produced by the 

 simple loss of property. Somehow the horse has man- 

 aged to connect himself with so much that is interest- 

 ing and valuable in life, that we cannot abuse or insult 

 him without wounding our self-respect ; we cannot 

 destroy him without serious loss. He occupies a 

 strange and important place in our history. In great 

 military expeditions he has always performed an im- 

 portant part. Old warriors used him. Old scholars 

 wrote about him. Although my friend finds more 

 ecclesiastical authority for respecting the ox and the 

 ass, I would remind him that Jacob commenced early 

 trading corn for horses with the Egyptians, and that 

 a long array of chariots and horses followed this 

 patriarch in funeral-procession. He was an Egyptian 

 animal at a time when Egyptian civilization outshone 

 all others ; and I am of opinion, with all due defer- 



