CRUELTY TO HOUSES. 4G1 
side,” and not to be punished with something approaching to 
insult and abuse. We should say, 
“ You are a little, 
By your good favour, too sharp; men so noble, 
However faulty, yet should find respect.” 
We are, however, perfectly convinced that our contemporary would 
never be the “ advocate for” unnecessary “ severity.” 
On the other hand, the feeling of having been attacked in a 
manner, when the real circumstances of the case were known, 
“ uncalled for and unprovoked,” will perhaps be deemed a per¬ 
fectly satisfactory apology for great warmth of language on the 
part of our correspondent. 
But, putting all this out of the question, we somewhat eagerly 
avail ourselves of the opportunity to discuss a subject on which 
neither veterinary practitioners nor the public seem to have formed 
definite ideas, or concerning which they appeal’ to have agreed on 
principles by which their conduct should be guided; we mean the 
treatment of our domestic quadrupeds, and of animals generally. 
Have brutes any rights ? Have they any claim upon us for good 
usage; or were they created for our convenience, and abandoned 
to our caprice ? 
Let power be conceded to be the origin of right. Let them be 
identical terms, as perhaps they originally were. Let it be con¬ 
ceded that superiority of intellect has enabled us to make the 
brute creation our slaves; and that, having enslaved them, we have 
a right to the full exaction of their services. Still, in the isolated 
man, the mode in which those services could be most advantao*e- 
ously exacted would be the guide of his conduct to them; and 
when we have linked ourselves in society, the mode in which their 
services may be rendered most valuable to the community, as well 
as to individuals, would be the guide of action: and then comes 
the question, Will mild or cruel treatment, moderate or murderous 
exactions of service, care or neglect, regulated conduct or wild 
and unfeeling caprice, best conduce to our obtaining all we can 
enjoy from the subjugation of the inferior creation? 
We appeal not to the passions; we wish not to mislead by 
declamation ; but we place the subject in apparently the most self- 
VOL. III. 3 Q 
