POLITICAL QUARREL BETWEEN THE WOLF AND DOG. 257 
vasion of tlie slieep lias let loose on tliera. Is it not enough to 
make a man of common sense laugh till tears come, or grow in- 
dignant to fury, at the follies of this stupid society, which has 
found the means of rendering the race of sheep more destructive 
to man than the race of wolves ? 
Having now considered this subject in its relations to social pol- 
icy, let us now treat the animal as an object of the chase. 
The wolf is the most subtle and audacious of all the enemies of 
man. Living in his neighborhood, he has learned his tactics ; he 
has studied his manoeuvres and accomplished himself at his 
school, in the great art of war. The lion and the tiger, trusting to 
the power of their claws and teeth, proudly await the provoca- 
tion of man, or spring upon him when hunger gripes them. The 
wolf wnll not sell his life so cheap. Prudence and circumspection 
preside over his every act, whether he attacks or defends himself. 
He would not pardon himself for omitting tire least element of suc- 
cess in the desperate struggle he sustains against man. 
The wolf is superior to the dog in the delicacy of his ear, his 
nose, and his eye ; by the strength of his muscles, the power of 
his jaw, by his memory of places, his talent of observation, and 
his genius for strategic combinations. 
The dog has never pretended to contest this superiority with 
him, for he is with difficulty prevailed on to attack the wolf, and 
the most terrible wolf dog quickly renounces this unpleasant chase 
on receiving a bite. (Accept this of the European wolf. — Tr.) 
The wolf and the dog, who belong to the same family, feel that 
they are made to esteem and understand eacli. other, and that the 
political differences which divide them are not eternal. The wolf 
only hates in the dog the inseparable companion of the civilizee, 
and the vigilant sentinel of isolated propertj^; he has made no 
quarrel with the fox, which mutually respects him and takes care 
not to hunt on his grounds ; if he decides on carrying off a dog for 
his private consumption, it is because times are hard ; and then he 
lias so many legitimate motives of rancor against the dog ! 
I have sometimes seen three or four large w^olves call to each 
other, and unite to kill a shepherd’s dog ; a guard dog who troub- 
led them by his inconvenient watchfulness, and after having torn 
