23 



OPINIONS ON CRUELTY. 



" Cruel or not cruel ? that's the question." 



That there can be a shadow of doubt as to what is or 

 is not cruel may at first appear as a perfectly absurd 

 idea. It is laconically remarked in the play of John 

 Bull^ " Justice is justice, Mr. Thornbury." This is 

 self-evident, and that cruelty is cruelty is equally cer- 

 tain. Still, what is cruelty to a particular object is 

 not quite so easily defined as it may be supposed to 

 be. An atrocious act of barbarity can admit of but 

 one construction, and can excite but one feeling in any 

 commonly well-regulated mind, and tliat feeling must 

 be one of unmitigated abhorrence and disgust. That 

 there are stages of cruelty we learn so long ago as the 

 time of Hogarth, and that those stages are still ex- 

 hibited and practised even in these days of refinement, 

 our every day's experience and observation are quite 

 sufficient evidence. Many things are, however, daily 

 done, and others left undone, by which acts of cruelty 

 are inflicted both bv commission and omission where 

 none were really intended; and at the same time 

 many things are done that bear the appearance of 

 cruelty that really cannot admit of such a construction 

 when properly investigated. 



I regret to say, I consider that in this country the 

 horse is more subject to cruelty and ill-usage than any 

 other indigenous animal we possess. I do not except 

 even that ill-used animal the ass — for Jack is rather 

 a difficult gentleman to understand and appreciate. 

 I am a devoted friend to all animals, and to Jack 



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