Star. — London, England, 1802-05-25 00:00:00

i ~. I oroutements, iu prtrertnee to tawfplper reading zol &hating futietis:s. There latter, perhaps, it • ai the it:tel.:ion of this Bill to promote, and to ▪ ith•lrao tar lower orders front the purfuits which htcame tlim, and encourage C.ein to interfere • tt:e 'oufincfs of legiilatiin, witich form the fu pet lot education and general habits of the higher r.rars, and was properly their povince to attend to. Ile i:npt opt iety of bringing forward Inch falijeds as that More the Houle, was to him ob vioa; ; it rtecetto ily provoked touch difeuflion, not whhlla:iditig tz• unimportance, for in order to riecid e upon it, i t muft he undertlood ; and it often yolks as much pains to point out the feveral bear iog: of a little lobjea as of a gi eat one—there nozla be as much work on a piece of Teniers as na a Madona of Raphael. If this difeuillon, how ever, was to be long, the fault was with them selio introduced the sill.—The Right Hon. Gen tleman read an est raa from a fernion fent to him this morning, and which he laid he never thould lave read if it had not been fo fent to him. This eat rad Rated—. that percents who were not tender or the brute creation wmild not hefitate‘o (heath tinir daggers in the warm vitals of their fellow creatures." If fileti was the fad, what was to be thought of the rich ? they should aboldh the whole of the Came Laws to poierve themselves from the centlire of this learned Divine. Though he (Mr. W.) did not mix in the fports of the field himfell, he did not intend to decry them att.:rely on account of the cruelty which in fome ittaances might be ronneted with them—it giould be tecolleded that fighting and war, though infeparahle from ideas of death and other calamities, had fired the imaginations of fume of the &ft Poets the v.iorld had known—from the Poet and Philofopher, Xenophon to Virgil and Mil tan. The itaferenez he meant to draw from this Wets, that cruel fports did not make cruel people— that fpor:, not cruelty, was the &skid of thofe who • agaged iu them, and thatin fad the pleafure was to - ,ally independent of all idea of cruelty ;at all events, that a as as likely to be the cafe in hull-bait ing as in hunting or thoating. It was fulEcient to fly that people tlitlnti a pie - afore in them ; but they t,,teloubtedly were not as ascufable, tor the one was a cont-lt bztween animals—and he would afte, whe ther the contea of animals did not prevail in all ages :lied coo:a:nes—and was not the courage of the hail dogs as rational an objed of admiration as the fa,oayity aid feent of the fla.bound ? rally cried - Lilt:red, it certain'y was, though he did t., t profels to admire it. There was a time how ever io this country, hen it was the fafhion to admire bull-baiting--it ufed to be exhibited before the Court of Qi2ten I.!izabeth, and in that day England was as much dirtinftuilhed by noblenelsol mind and gentrofity of fentiment, as perhaps any of the defenders of this Pill could boaft ; }et sow, becaufe this amusement was by the accident of fa. fhion moved front the higher orders, and had de (4:ended among the common people, Parliament tbould, when it is on its lag legs in the country, in terfere to deprive thofe peeple of any pleafure it might afford them, and that too at a very becoming period, when it was in contemplation to extend the game laws to Ireland. If it was re ally the deter mination of the Houle to take up this fuhjed, in his opinion they ought to begin the meafure of reform %soh ilienrfelves--then they mug confiftently go on to prevent the butcher's profelllon, and feverely to' punish all kinds of drunken and profligate habits. For ail there, laws muft he provided; and the Le giflattire, of comic, will have full employment.—s- As the bleneber for York:hit c (Mr. Wilberforce) feemed fu eagerly to feek after objeds for reform, why overlook the horfe-racing in his own county ? Was there no ciuelty in that ? Was there nothing hunting orthy to excite his tender feelings? in that pursuit, of which Dr. Johnionfaid—when one day at a hunt, that he eon:: not h e lp b e i ng fotnev.hat Imtiled at the paucity of human atoufements, a. homing fotmed one of them,— Tbea e was alfo the amufernent of boxing (a &est). Ile atfured the Houle he would not difpaiage that amnfement by comparing it with both racing. athieh encouraged a fpirit of low gano.ling—he did not mean to fay among the higher chafes, who teemed fir unaccountably devoted to it, but among the defcription of people generally conceited at a lace centric. The yeafon for the original eucou eagerness( of 'pare racing, in order to improve the treed of lintrea, might have been good ; perhaps it Pr(llloted that objet dill, but that was a (mall eonfideration compared with tie evil it had done v. fociety at Newmarket add other places, where fo often were allembled a crowd of fubtle (win dier> and blacklegs ; of Oaks, who inn away to focir nrafters' money, and afterwards corn. mit forgeries to make it up ; of billiard markers and billiard players ; of gin and gingerbread ven ders. (4 /au h.) moent this antufement of boric racing, and the pertiors he defcribed as its, ylifciples, be law IV) poQbilityi.f eliciting one generous ftel iog or manly fentimesit. Let not then the Hon. Meniber for Yort,:liire leap over nine horfe-races in his own county to alight upon boll-baiting. (el laqh.) Ile decline% to kill an abufe at home, but musk go poaching in foreign manors. The I loufe conrotyr how the l earn were really circuni• (tanced as to *aline. Flom almoft the whole ralige ,it intellettual entertainment they were ex cluded by their ignorance ; and front the variety of plea;irres which the tic!' enjoyed, they were ex (Meted be their `averts —from tome by the law. Tither prefinieed to indulge thenifelvt. in a dance, he was lorry to 'andel-Ilona it mull b: beyond the reach, or without the knowledge of the Magif ti.tte ; for it appeared that the found of t h e did not more agonize the fe.lings of a Puritan, t h a n t hat o f 601, :o vu l e,' Magittrate, unler s be birofelf fhould happen to be one of the con pa nv.. The anal round of rural (Potts was not 5, 11 • gilt; eful to the t o r of any man of feeling. The thought of diem was calculated to excite the moll agreeable fentatoire—the reafant's dance upon the green was loatte.intes witneired with pleafure by the proudelt• ;Amite, hut if it Mould be called a 40. the Conflabie wein.l.l hr immediately fent for, and too often fra4i ehaerful parties had been com mitted. It was ISA, few y ear s fittedparty of th e Hilt ti; Cow& was iakken to the neighbourhood of rat kelspittuate tiallattege a ? book iu which 'large parry was ftEttially found dancing (a /met) I to the mune of a black Sailor's fiddle. It was to be regretted that many Gentlemen (hould be anxious to deprive the lower orders of their amok meats, from a teeming apprehenfion, that if they were fuffered to enjoy thofe recreations, they would not labour fufficiently, and might become, front their improvidence, a burthen to the Poor Rates, to which the rich mull contribute ; this I was a moll injudicious fyflem of thinking, and he cautioned the rich ag:tinfl offing upon it. The I efficient part of the community for labour ought to be encouraged in their exertions rather by fur ni(hing them with occafional amufements, than by dcptiving them of one, as this Bill propofed— a Bill, the fupporters of which would take them to the Tabernacle or to jacobinitin—for if to po. vetty were to be added a privation of amufe ments, he knew noticing that could operate more flumgly to goad the mind into defperation, and to i pepare the poor for that dangerous enthufiafm which is analagous to jacobinifm. He objeded I to the way in which Gentlemen would have the I Honk to look it-the coufequeuces of bull-baiting, I by citing particular accidents, and from that con-1 chiding that the pradice was crud, and that the bull in baiting was treated with cruelty ; but be believed the bull felt a fatisfadion in the conceit,' not lets fo than the hound did when he heard the found of the horn which fummoned him to the chace. True it was, that young bulls, or thofe which were never baited before, creed reludance to be tied to the flake, but chore bulls, which ac cording to the language of the . fpurt were called game bulls, who weze tiled to baiting, approach ed the flake and Rood there while preparing for the conteß with the utmork conipofure. If the I bull felt no pleafure ' and that he was cruelly dealt with, furely the dogs had alto fame claim to compaffion; but the fad was, that both homed equally arduous in the conflid, and the bull, like every other animal, while it had the bett.r fide, did not appear to feel unpleafantly—it would be • I ridiculous to fay he felt no pain—yet, when on fuch occafions he -exhibited no fign of terror, it ' I was a demonflrable Otoof that he felt fome plea fare. With regard to the petition from Stamford, againft this Bill, it was entitled to the moil ref peeful attention, for it came from a body of fo -1 b:r loyal men who attended to their feveral To. cations and never meddled with politics, faithful • to their landlord (the Marquis of Exeter), with whom, however, they could not avoid being a little difplcafed for his endeavours to deprive them of their favourite (port, by fa/sporting this Bill. Thofe petitioners Rate, that this amufement had been enjoyed by their town, for a period of 5 or Sao years, and the antiquity of the thing was de f:rving of refped—for refped for antiquity was the bell prefervation of the Church and Gate—it was by conneding the pall with the prefent, and the prefent with the future, that genuine patrio. tifm was produced and preferved. He repeated that he was (hocked and fcandalized at the man ner in which the advocates of this Bill would per fuade the Houfe to ad; to prohibit an old amufe merit becaufe it was the amufement of the poor ; ft,. the objedion was to the cruelty of the amufe meat, or the fikope of the Bill ought to be eidarg ed.—lndependent of the injuflice of encroaching upon the few (mall amufements of the poor, he would beg the Houle to confider the confequence of rendering themdifeontented or difpiritedbyleaving nothing for them but the wide wage of labours The reafon why our labourers were capable of, more work than flares, was obvious; becaufe they felt that they worked for themfelves, and accord ing as their profit, or their profped of pleafure, which was the fame thing, was increafed, jolt fo did their labour generally increafe alfo. Such a Bill as this to abridge men's pleafures, and to !Mid out a kind of dire& hint to them, that they never could labour enough, was fufficient to Jacobinize a whole country. In proof of the ;dation that, bull-beiting did not operate to brutalize men's minds, be had only to turn the attention of the Houk to Lancafhire and Staffordfbire, where that pradiee principally prevailed. Thofe counties were known to produce the belt fuldiers in the army, and the militia of Staffordfhire were known to have been ladled, from their good behaviour, to do duty about the Royal Perfon, a pretty good proof that bull-baiting did not produce fuch effects onthe morals of the people as the Puritans affected . to deplore, but rather fuch as the Jacobins in ' France and England very fincerely lamented. It wasmockery in men to talk of the Coffering: of ani ' mils from the (ports of the lower orders, while they ' themfelves were doing fomething worfe. To the ' difference between the jolly bull-baiting Peafant • and his demure gloomy Ccnfors he would apply • the words of the Poet— M dioliVrous aad toast, his let ka is $ rispdre; S. The neat $ Tradefinan.meek, and much s liar s . " Tom knits $ fcldier, open. bold and brave. " Will bleak& a ferivenei, an =ending knave' The Right Hon. Gentleman concluded with Rating, that if the Bill before the Houfe Would be adopted, he would, for the fake of confiftency and the charaCter of Parliament, conceive it his duty to move for leave to bring in a Bill to prohibit hunting, (hooting, filing, and all the (ports of the field prattifed by the higher orders. Mr. Court-EN ay felt himfelf compelled to difa gree with his Hon. Friend, who (poke lall. in one thing. He could not, like him, regard this as a fob. jet too trifling lot difeufEon. Certainly if every amiable virtue of the people, if all thole noble feel inAs which were the fupport of the church and the I te had t he; r orig inin b ull.bai ting, the Houle cutild ma be occupied - 6y the confideratton of a mot e portantqueition. The Hon. Gentleman hadclearly (hewn, that Jacobinifm and Methodifm were both le tgued to put down bull-baiting; that reform had been prevented, and the Coullitution prelerved by buil.baiting ; and that the beg fokliers were found in thole quarters where this pratise molt prevailed. With all tittle recommend:womb , the, amufement, could the Hoak helium>. a moment in throwing out the bill ? The Mkt. Gentleman Gas alfotmode it perfeCtly plain that the ball is pleated in beinp baited; hut it was to be r:gretted, that in that notion lichad not his taloa] met it of originaii; y. H e ko,t I w argil:near:out Lutist's pr uf aftociat;oa of ideas. Though the bull was at 6111 in torture, he airociates pleafurable ideas with the re colleaion of the contell, and is quite happy nn the fecond baiting. In the fame Manner bears are taaght to dance by being placed on hot iron plates, while their intim/tor beats a drum or plays upon a fiddle. When they have been fufficiently prodifed in this atimfernent, they always get up and dance upon heating the found of a drum,without any ar fi fiance from the burning plates. Who will fay that this is not jull fuck another Mance of atrociation? As little was the Honourable Gentleman original in his illudration drawn from the •beauty of the human countenance viewed by a microlcopte eye. Here he teemed to have borrowed from a w e ll- I known book, Gulliver's Travels. lie mull havehad in his eye the dory of the Maid of Honour at the Court of Brobdignag, whO ured to place Mr. Gulliver adride on her nipple. There he law ca. verns and hogs bridles on her face, and thought her a moll dig - gulling picture of deformity, though the lw.ts followed and adored by all the Beaux of the Court. 'rhefe trifling flips would not, how ever, have the effete of making any reflefling man fupport the bill. Good GOD, were this Prelimi nary Treaty of Peace figned between the Dogs and the Bulls to be fanelioned by the Houfe, the Conflitution would be totally ruined. Now that there are no wars on the Continent, no longer any bloody battlesby fee or lind,whatwould Ex iMinifters do to amufe themrelves, were it not for bull-baiting ? If this abominable Bill ihould, in fpite of all oppotition, pars, he hoped, at lead, a claufe would be introduced, kiting apart tome facred (pot in Norfolk or Buckinghamfbire fur perpetuating a praffice fo beneficial, and which young (Indents might attend as a Lyceum. Bull. baiting was anciently a Royal fport, and to was lion-baiting. James I. baited a lion with three bull-dogs in the Tower. This lion-baiting was fo • much of a royal (port, that, perhaps, no King ever difliked it, except Henry VII. He indeed seemed to confider that there was fomething like Jacobinifni in the amurement, and couldnot brook that a dirty bull-dog fhould attack the king of heads, and had aflually commanded a dog to be hinged for attacking a lion; but this fentence plainly arofe from prejudice. There was another very important circumilance which ought not to be overlooked. There bull-dogs were didinguilhed by a gruff, furly arpea, expreffive of the very charafter of John Bull himfelf. What would be come of us were the breed to be loft— " Butchers would weep who never wesp'd before." So great was the value put upon bull-Jogs by our aneeitors, that Norwich was made a corporation by Richard 111. on the condition of prefenting three of thefe animals to the King. This was probably nal in the charter. The qualities tithe bull-dog were celebrated by Elian, Oppian, and Claudian. Crotius makes an culogium on the Englifh bull-logs : • --- A t plc Ipf os ticest pettetrare *balms I 0 quanta eft maces et quantum impendie fora! Si non ad fperlan menteturelque decocts, Truelove: hse one dt mulls jafturaßritands, Ace. Chits his Hpn. Friend had more than one claffical ; authority for his admiration of the bull-dog. Now, if the Lyceum he had fuggeßed thould be efta bliflred, might not, for the fake of improving the 1 fport, a Corfican bull be procured, which, no of fence to the Full Confial, might be very properly named Bonaparte ? The enemies of the peace would then find fome very pretty amufement in baiting this bull, and in imitation of the Spanilh bull-fighter might affume titles for the occafion. Fur intlance, one might call himfelf " Don Plum hula Lumbago, the Knight of the Leaden Spear." Another might call himlelf " Knight of the Sor rowful Countenance ;" a third, the " Knight of the Gilded Helmet," and fo on. He could not with-hold his fupport from a prattice which was the chief fupport of our glorious Conftitution ; be mull therefore oppofe the Bill. Colonel Goosvewort thought the lower orders of the people entitled to their amufements as well as the higher. The higher orders had their Biffragton, and why not allow the lower orders their Bull l— (4 lamgh.) General Ga sc o to a a obferved, that itiLancallsire, in which he refided, the prat:lice of Bull baiting differed from that in Staffurdfhire, Shropibire, and liampfhire. In Shropthire be underttood that the bulls were ornamented with flowers previous to their being baited, and their horns gilt, and 4c ' corated.—He Rated that a friend of his had fre quently boalted to him of the number of men he had railed by Bull-baiting ; and that it was a prac tice which encreafed the population of the country ina ranch greater degree than the recruiting kr vice thinned it. He was of opinion that this was not a fubjelt worthy the confideration of the Houle, and he could fearce believe that either the Gentle. men who t k ad introduced, or thofe who bad fup ported him; were ferious. If there was any a b ate of the prat ice, the Legiflature might with pro priety ens& a regulation particularly applying lo at ; but the exittence of a partial abufe was no ground for deftroying the prattice altogether. He confidered it an amide:trent which the lower orders were entitled to, and it was with regret he obferved a difpofition in many of the Members to deprive the Poor of their recreations, and force them to pals their time in chaunting at cousenticles. He concluded by laying the Houle had already been occupied too much on fuch a fubjea. He hoped the mcafurc would be again rejeeted. Mr. Wrotraroaca Gard, if bull-baiting tended fo much to humanise the people, and to preferve the church and State, he wondered the Hon. Gen tleman ( Mr.% indham) had not claimed fume in dulgence fur the pratice, intleat of having argued that the quettion was too minute to merit the at tention of the Houle. He was one of *bore who thought it I mean, bale, and cruel practice, the lowea grati fi cation f or human nature to enjoy.— It had given him pain that fuch a pro/lice thould have found au apologia in the Hon. Gentleman. The only way in which he could account for it was, bylluppoling he was ignorant of the cruelties which were incidental to it. Had the Hon. Gentleman poffeded the information with which it was in his power to turuillt him, it would have been impol. tible for him to have iandioned lb barbarous a f s tota. To Rate diainaly what it wib•••tii generous and noble animal was pnrchafed by a tet tain nuns ber of people for the purpofe of being naked to the ground, fa as to prevent his employing his ra. rural means of defence—fiequently his horns w rte fawn off (stever , laid fevered lifts:kr:. I—The 1-I,a, Gentleman read extra Els from letters detailing va• rious afts of barbarity employed in the courf e of the pratlice of bull-baiting. He had never been an enemy to the manly and athletic ezer‘kr of the field, but this cowardly and cruel diva. Con, if a diverfion it could be called, was not to be ranked among them. He did not wonder the Hon. Gentleman (Mr.Wintlham) ihouid have been defcribcd by Come perfons as the friend of Ja cobinifm, confidering the manner in which he had f l dcfcrihed the fituauon of the lower orders—it was an infult and a degradation to them to have it Rated, that their fources of gratification were f o limited that they were obliged to have recourfe to I bull-baiting; that it was a pradice which accord ' ed with their feelings; and that they were, in !hurt, a (pecks of bull-dogs. He mould vote for the Bill, e.-iule he. would not confent to have the people degraded by the fuppofition that it was ne, cefary to their happinefsfuch a ?make lhould be continued. Mr. Wst. SMITH (poke agaiaß the Bill: he thought if the people of this country could find an amufement in filch a (port as Bull-baiting, they were debafed indeed. . _ ____ Mr. Newsatv fa id, t was a tletefiable practice and c uld only have the deft of brutalizing the mind of of the people. Si Tituuss Fiisiti.AuD (poke at confider ably' length againft the Bill : he admitted that the iaflidion of pain upon animals, from a prin ciple of wanton cruelty, was an Indication of the bafeft of difpofitions, and this argument he illuf trated by reference to the celebrated paintings by Hogarth, defcriptive of the progrcfs of cruelty.— He obferved, however, that animals had &Call ' ages been the preceptors of man ; the qualities ex hibited in the conteft between the lull and the D.ig, were Come of the molt %Ole in nature. He had witneffed that contell,tuor and over and over again,and he had ever fa ! there was a difpofition o r on the part of thofe w romotted it to have what was called fair play,* to give to the qualities of the contending animals their full operation. How was it poflible fur men to know what the qualities of animals were, unlefs they were called into ac tion?. Animakirom the ant to the lion bad uni formly been the preceptors of mankind. With regard to the cruelty of Bull.baiting he could not confider it moic.fo than horfe racing and hunting. In the former the animal was (trained beyond it. firensth, add frequently died in confequence of the exertions it was forced to ; the fame oblervation applied with regard to 'hunting. What did tit, Houle think of tbe chace of that molt magnificent and beautiful animal, the flag, who was pampered and fed for the purpofe of affording (port to his purfuer f Was it to be fuppofed that fine animal was nut, when he found his lirength-fail him, and the dogs at his haunches, equally fufceptible of pain with the bull who was baited? Was it no mark of azonr, when the big round drops weer running down nit' innocent note ? Was it not • - nicely e' more cruel than bull-balting, to fee the hunted to death, and torn piecemeal by the s hd i Why Qsonld there be fuch fympathy fur the bull and the dog that baited, and none for other a* malt'? &eau& the dug had teeth, and bit the bull, it was—O poor bull! Becaufe the bull hid horns, and gored the dog, it was-r 0 pour dog 1 Upon the whole, he thought the predict of bull baiting exhibited no greater degree of cruelty than the fports of horfe. racing, hunting, and (hooting ; and that the interference of the LegiQature in to par tial a way would be unjuft and impolitic. Mr. Sasetoaa, _after a few words in anfwer to the Hon. Gentleman who had kilt fat down, oh ferved that he heard with the greateft admiration, the fpeech of the Right Ron. Gentleman near the Bar (Mr. Wiadham). It was # fpeech much more calculated to mike the imagination at fiat than to produce permanent convidion. Trifling as the Right Hon. Gentleman had reprefented the fub jai, he Teemed to have bellowed confiderable pains upon it. His fpeech, though ingenious, certainly finelt of the lamp. It abounded in tropes and figures: it contained many quotations from Xeno phon, Milton, and many other authors, both an cient and modern; it was laboured and methodical. Had he taken as mach pains upon the Definitive Treaty, probably he and his minority would not have cut lb miserable a figure a few nights ago. However, confiderable allowances were to be made for the irritation of his mind upon the return of Peace. Now that there was a ceffation of Ito& lities among the nations of Europe, it was nut to be wondered at if the Right Hon. Centleman ax. crud himfelf to the utmoll, by way of ortapitfativo. to kindle the flames of war between dogs and bulls. His zeal might probably be accounted for by his fuppofing that the reftoration of the. . Bourbons might be effected by means of bull baiting, though Mr. Sheridan declared be did not hiinfelf exadly fee how the two fuhjeds were connected. But the Right Hon. Gentleman had dikovered that this attempt to abolilli bull-baiting was a combined Ja cobin and Methodift plot. He thought there was now an end of plots; and that as the Treafon and S:dition Bills hated expired, we would henceforth h.: allowed to fleep fecurely in our beds. It turned out, however, that we were as bad as ever, and if Ministers did their duty they would immediately come down to the Houle with a felled green b. g, and call fur the Sufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus Ad. The joyous, (tidal, elegant habits of bull baiting were about to be overturned, and Church and State were in danger ! He reminded the Right Hon. Gentleman that, at a time when he had the honour to be in habits of intimacy with him, they were both Membets of a Society inititut ed for the revival of old Englifh Sports, at the head of which was General Burgoyne, and that it wall , exp..cfsly (tipulated that all cruel unmanly fpom, filch as bullbaiting, should be excluded. The re , creations of hunung, filhing, and (hooting could ; not be compared to this for a moment; and, although they were equally bad, that was u, reafon why one evil thould tang jc retneilied.-7- ; An HoraSitilahle Gentlemen bad laid t..a: "aa. tare