The Sun. — London, England, 1802-05-25 00:00:00

• . att in /hat town. s trt belleVed . Bu'llbaitieg hia re_ otained, in a great measure, as a mark - of hostility be the Puritans ; if so, they evotild of course ,e eager rs, get rid of it. If they meant humanity, le t them begin ss ith themselves,; he thought it as impossible they could abolish Bullbaiting, and eave hunting, shooting, and other amusements un teuched ; let him who was innocent throw the first;, 4l 'ne• Suppose the praCtice of Bullbaiting had • il pre va .1 3 ed arming the hi g h er c l asses ; su p p o se it . had een fa s hi ona b le, and had been' frequented by fine ; "'us e as we ll 'a s a ny other amusement, ivould the . 1 "'use consent to abolish it ? He should be shocked and scandalized if a •distieCtiOn was drawn in this ca se betwe en the amusements of the higher and the owerchesses. TheY tnight imagine some Corpor a wife say i ng to h er hus b and, "my dear,• just after you went out with the hounds, I went to the e nd Of the town apd there was a 13ullbaiti ng , It frightened me terribly. I wish you wo u ld 'Peak to our Member. to - bring it forward 'in t he House ;" perhaps this might be the • origin s ome measures that were proposed in that House. e trusted the House, Would not consent to Plunge the people in a wide waste of gloom, by ta king away their amusements.; to cut off their '"ase ments was enough to Jecobinize a w h o l e neighbourhood. He repeated, that these sports did ` ) t make cruel men ; it was not Country Gentle_ ,I4en Partaking of the sports of the Field, who w e r e e agtr to embark in the cruelties of the French Re. vo lution, but pl au Sibl e s p ec i ous men , w h o h a d no e neern in t h ose 'sports ;. ra zors set i n o il. H e il Yed if t hi s me a s u re was to pass, that they would"v c nsistently f o ll ow i t up b y a B i ll for the abolition (/' the amusements of the remaining classes of. the P e aPle. 211 r. COURTEN iIY , in his usual manner, entered tv 4 !° an ironic a l d e f ence o f Bullbaiting. He began conjuring the House 'not to deprive the People ; a n amusemen t w hi c h n o t on l y y i el d ed t hem infi- I te ple asure,. b ut also contr i buted so essentially 'to e s Ze welfar e of the State. The Right Hon. Gentlema b,° spoke before him, had proved that Bullbaiting ad not only b een t h e great means of keeping down cub jnism,, Methodism, and dangerous plans of , t brmatio n but had even been th e b u l war k c l out "'e ull stituti on , and h a d ena bl ed us to recruit those " t i ' r ftlies w hi ch h ad preserved our liberties and ex tbstel'e)? as a N at i on . Who then would dare to say, b ai t . - ought to be aboli s h e d ? • But Bull. ring was'not only produCtive cf infinite use and f",usement to the SpeCtators ;--,his Right Hon. end had proved, from Locke, .that the Bull, to c ' e u gh• smarting under it at first, in time also came ta.ue extremely delighted with the pradice. This we h t be proved from the analogy of Bears, who e r e to be trained to dance. • At first they, no h e °ll hts felt rather uncomfortable on the hot iron, bY degrees, they came to relish the sound of the ' L it:, and to find dancinga very agreeable amuse t til ts He said, that after these considerations, he e , (ll , u ld by no means consent to pass the present Bill, d itch hael been praVed to be little better than the o ta th-Warrant of our Constitution, and the ruin bf tuli and Dog amuse ment . B ut b es id es the plea. tie s of these classes of the brute creation, he t j tlc e,*.lit there was a e l ass o f luaiis.an beings who l e t also to be considered. It was to be fecal.. 1 1 , t- t that the Ex. Ministers had now no battles, t ui no scope fur the activity of thei I )4 i t ' t `. l .si • except the solitary armiseiteent of Bull. f n gs Was it fair to deprive them of this Nee. thou If the pre sent Bill was to , b e p asse d , l ie 11 1 got it at•least fair that some particular Distria o te 7isee`'. De exempted from .its . restrictions, that t o ttt e P l ace the • Ex-Ministers and their friends mi g h t i ne ite s and stilt, by the noble practice of Bullbait '44 alive ' the ancient spirit of our country:. Bullb a i t i ng was , a R oya l sport ; our Kings is ( a P.Proved of it : H enry VII. a l one h a d t h ought be e !, Jiteobinicat diversion, and had aCtually corn btit eel a dog to be hanged for attacking a li on ; se as Ch 's sentence' plainly arose from prejudice. It wr ongOn g to accuse the lovers of this sport of be. 11.,1 g iv en to Creeity ; for his Honourable Friend li lt Il .ewo the Bull was not always killed outright, Pee ° ' t en , reserved to future baitings ; and was not te e :, l ,l4lg his life for this purpose an act truly tic tl e l it u, l Tiflis Country, he said, ought to be par. d e , ar iY careful to prevent the extinction of Bull te'ti, as the se an i ma l s b ore a part i cular ' resemblance if this surly Count enance o f J o h n B u ll hi mse lf ; and done- picture of the national charaCter were once Of 0 a way, he h a d- no d ou b t t h at a tota l d erel i Ction nation a l c h ata tt er wou ld speed i ly tne s only e accounts li e ' s h ou ld t h ere f ore vote, not Iv e , :i rr the preservation of Bullbaiting, hut he th e also b eg l eave to propose an amendment for le ee u d enefie o f i ts no b le defenders. As the Corsican fo r ~!) f ‘ Bulls was reckoned parti cu l ar ly a d apt ed' t h o " d be as sport, he, w ou ld propose that some of them oe l lu got ov er ; an d o f t h ese, the most fe 'to ti [ night be called Bonaparte, and appropriated Ek distria he fo rmer ly, a ll u d e d to, w h ere the ti4; 4 " r 'istees m i g ht h ave an opportunity of baiting trustwith dogs o f t h e t rue E ngl iS h breed. He is,• ol ,,, d is theref ore , t h at as . B u l l b a i t i ng had been 4141' 60'conducive to the happiness of both the hue Are and ' bru te creat i on, and so essential to the !e4 er v ation of our const i tut i on, our national cha fe morality, the House would never consent 4, 1 7 1 01 so inv a l ua b le a practice.l,ets C#O,SPENOR thought that t h e l ower or .ere as w e ll ent i tled to amuse themselves at tel ee a lting, as the lei her rank s to amuse there.ll.4 e;: i( 1 : 1 -Lh . Horse.racing, and other fashionable ( •e's 4 tk ut . e rai 9.ISCO YNE thought, that too much i laie r I " -,had. bee n b estowe d on a subjea of this e ' It had b een found impossible even for its e cit el lders treat it in such a manner as not to ,laughter. 'ad e" •I•1-ERFORCE allowed th at t h e s u bject t ho u teen treated- with too much levity ; but he t he t g o nt . i t merifed more attentive consideration. if 1 /%P ti e!'e a° re ° 3 (l i t eire!ts .which had been attributed to it eav produced by Bullbaiting, why not move I Vas e t it rendered more general i But the truth 1 3 t 4 4. 'very . 1) ice 11.. argument employed to defend the se b h ad neon merely palliative.. Mere opinions f bee n 't o tatecl- to Jove that it was nowise hurt.. It fo 41°ra litY • b st ered _ et for his own part, he thought Nat e every bad and barbarous principle of our „sand .he . :meas.aorry that Any one so respeaabie' hisllight liOn. Friend, had been found to defend it. He was certain if that Hon. Gentleman or any other Member of the House had inquired into the subjeCt as minutely as himself,he Would no longer de fend a prat - lice which - Could be proved to degrade-hu man nature to a levelwith the most ferocioug brutes. He said his evidence was derived from respeCtable Magistrates, and other evidence, into the validity of which he had minutely inquired, and found unex ceptionable. From such evidence he liadderived variety of facts, which were too4ong and almost too ,horrid to detail to the House. A Bull, that honest, .harmless, useful animal, was forcibly tied to a stake, and a number of • Bull-dogs' set upon him. .11 his natural 'want of ferocity prevented him from being sufficiently' roused by the pain of their attacks, the most barbarous expedients were fallen upon .to "awake in him that fury which was necessary to the amusement of the inhuman spe&atots. One instance of the latter kind he could state from the best autho rity : a Bull had been bought for the sole purpose of being baited ; but upon being fixed,:ro the stake, he was found Of so mild a nature, that, all *the attacks of the Dogs were insufficient to excite him to the re, quisite degree of fury ; upon which those who had bought him, reftised to pay the price to the original owner, unless he could be made to serve this purpose. The owner, after numberless expedients, at lastssawed off his horns, and poured into them a poignant Fort • of liquid, that quickly excited the animal to the wished-for degree of•furl`r. This was not the most savage expedient that had often been pratlised.— When Bulls were bought merely for the .purpose of being baited, the people Who bought their, wished ro have as much diversion (if diversion a such cruelty could be called) as possible, for their money. The consequence was, that every art, even fire had been employed to rouse the. exhausted animal to fresh exertions, till there were instances where he had expired in protraCied agonies amidst the flames. It had been said,' that it would be wrong to deprive the lower orders of their amusements, of the illy cordial drop of-life which supports them under their complicated burdens. " Wretched in., deed,',' said Mr. WILBE4IFORCE, " must be the conciition of the common people )f England,- if we suppose that their whole happiness consists in the praffice of such barbarity. Such supposition is a satire, not only on the name of Englishmen, but on the Creator who formed reasobabie creatures with such barbarous propeOsities. Of all the arguments even invented by jacobinitln to prove the wretched state of the lower orders, his surely is the strong est, if the only enjoyment of the cotnmon people of England is derived from the praCtice of Bullbaiting. It has been said that this praftice contributes to keep alive the martial ardour of the nation. But has it not been proved, by experience, that the greatest, the noblest, the most renowned charac ters have always been the most humane ? When we consider that the vielina of this inhuman amuse_ Rent is'not left to the free exertion of his natural pOlvers, but bound to a stake; and baited with ani- • mals instinctively his foes, and urged by acclama tion to attack him ; are we net forced to conclude that the praaiee is inconsistent with every manly principle, cruel in its designs, and cowardly in its execution ? No man is more unwilling than lam to encroach upon the amusements of the lower or ders.; on the contrary, I wish to rescue them from the ignominious reproach cast upon them, that they are so ignorant and so debased as to be fit only to enjoy the base and cowardly amusement of torment ingan harmlessand fettered animal todeath. It would rather be my objell to call my Countrymen to amuk- ments more worthy of their nature, more worthy of the generous charatier of Englishmen. But it has been sated that the present Bill ought not to be passed without also preventing Shooting, Hunting, -and every other attack on the inferior animals. Sup pose these diversions to he equally inhuman, would not the admission of this argument infer, that ritl vice is to be abolished because all of the same species cannot at once be'done away ? But it is by no means proper to place the diversions of Shooting and Horse-racing on a footing with Bullbaiting.-, Shooting affords exercise to the body, and the birds who fall by it are subjected to' no pain beyond mediate deprivation of life., In Horse-racing, two generous animals, without almost any compulsion, exert their speed againt each other, and return froM the course with small abatement of spirits or vigour. But Builbaiting not only excites the natural passions of the animal for the amusement of the spedators, but also subjetts it to the most inhuman cruelties, till it sinks under the pressure of its complicated-iniseries." Mr. WILIttRFORCE then proceeded to consider the arguments of Mr. WIN,DEAM. He said it was easy to dress up a meoPhysical picture in one's. closet, till the author Was led" to admire the image of his own creation. But if instead of such re, finementS, we attend to the voice of common sense, we should be convinced that no happiness could re sult from a praCtice so cruel, base, and unjust ; that no pleasure could be derived from wantonly tortur ing the .brutes which were given us, not for such baibarous purposes, but for our use and pleasure. Without such an amusement, the common people of England had surely a sufficient number of innocent • amusements, in their festivals, their gambols, their athletic exercises. His Right Hon. Friend, while picturing the happineiS derived from Bullbaiting, had forgot that it was confined to an individual, while his wretched family, excluded from any participa tion of the siedacle, were condemned to feel the want of that money which he squandered away on such occasions. After all these considerations, he concluded that we must look upon. the praftice of Bußbaiting as destructive to the true happiness and morality of individuals, and consequently the ge... neral good of society. Mr. WILLIAM SMITH said,. he never heard arguments of a wilder or inure eccentric nature than those which had been urged ii i ,favour of the prac tice of Bullbaiting. Would thoF who defended the Slave Trade venture to assert tliesame principles with regard to the Planters that were now asserted with regard to the Governatent ? Would they say, that the Masters had no right to re,irain their Slaves from spending the night in any debaucheries that might unfit them for the labour of the next day.-? lie therefore thought it absurd to 3ay that Government were not entitled to interfere with any amusement of the people, provided it wasit,ot found to he of pernitiouseauseluences. 11 the common yeti. pie or this Country were capable. of relishing no amusement but Bullbaiting, they were arrived at, a state of debasement beyond what'he could have con ceived. But he was convinced_ this svi9 not thecase, ea' se, but that it:e'abolition of so imilirmaian a prac tice'would be every Where approved all ranks of people. Mr. NEWBOLTspolceishOrtly in ravour of the Bill : he denied that any of those instances deed by the Hon. Member who opposed the Bill, bore any comparison with the pradice in question. He did not consider the prohibition as drawing in Principle,' any. line of distindion between the rich acid the poor; and he would support the Bill, principally because the pradice it went to suppress, tended to disgrace the national charades. Mr. F R ANKL AND spoke at considerable length against the Bill, He expressed his opinion that all thOse Gentlemen who had argued in support of ,the measure, had entirely mistaken the principle upon which the amusement in question proceeded, as. well as the motives and objets of those who en gaged in it, and he deprecated what be seemed to consider the too frequent and - unjustifiable appeals which were made to the passions of the House on the occasion. He 'contended, that if the amusement involved, in anydegree, the praCtiCe'Of cruelty, it was not induced, by those who participated in the sport, for the sake of cruelty. In some points of view,' the amusement of Horse racing may alSo be termed cruel ; there was not a year in which num hers and•nuMbers were not killed in that sport; but as Horses were a lively and spirited animal, he was inclined to think the amusement in no sense a cruel ope.—So might it be said of that most magnificent of all the Sports of the Field, Stag-hunting—the animal, in that case, was fed and pampered previoos to the chace o not with a reference to its future torture, but that it might yield the greater sport-- the animal oftls.n, necessarily, loSt h:s life in the chace—its heart was what was called broken: did this Gentleman think much a process could take place without producing great agony ?—the Hounds often fastened on his' chest, and tore him to pieces :—and yet such a pradice entirely escaped the humanity of the Legislature. This was not all, the practice was even regulattd by -Legistlative orovisions, by ie operations of someparts,of the .Game Laws.— The principle on which this Bill seemed to proceed would go to libel, and.iirthe most, calumnious man ner, t!se most exalted eharat ters in the Country : would 113 t even stop at Royalty itself, as the manly sport of hunting was - indulged in by the Sovereign, and for which a regular establishment was laudably kept. With a degree of warmth and occasionally exhibiting a vein of sportive hpmour which excited much risibility,. the Honourable Gentleman delivered his sentiments againt the Bill ; and speaking of the praftice of Bollbaiting, on which he necessarily dwelt at most length, he' stated that he'over and over and over and over again had opportunities of witnessing that none of the cruel ties imputed to the pradiee, at least in that degree alledged, and certainly not from the motives im puted, had taken place. With resped to the various Petitions which had been presented, many of those he had 'seen were verbatim the same, and there appeared to him a great similarity. With respect to the signatures, there were however a profusion of Mollys amid Jennies among them. How these, whom an Hon. Baronet calledthe,an„ael part of the species, but which he called the most delicate, came so to interest themselves, and come forward oh such an occasion, he could not tell, but he hoped no per son had so unmannedo s or so unsexed themselves as to assume those chratters. It was impossible the Bill could pass' in its present shape : the assumption that the pradice of Bullbaiting had : increased, was false. He seemed to think with the Right Honourable Gentleman who Opposed the measure, that the National Charades was implicated in it. It was the encouragement ,given to such manly sports, and invigorating exercises, that made us what we were. He expatiated on the virtues of the 4nglish Bull-d0g... 7 41)e People, and the Animals of this Country, were -of a peculiar cast, and cha rades, both original and excellent in their kind ; and animals,. as we learn from antient writers, as well as we possibly might observe from personal experience, were often the best and surest precep tors of men. On the same principle, proceeded the maxim, "that Wise .Men learned more from Fools, than Fools from Wise Men.'.' With respectto the penalties held forth by the Bill, he seemed to think them rather rigorous. All that could favourably be said of them was,that the punishment was not capital; indefinite fine and imprisonment, however,were pro vided; the other clauses of the Bill he equally disap proved of. The first tithe the Legislature ever inter. fered with the sports of the Conn r ry "was' in time time of Henry VIII. in consequence of which the people ad'_ diced themselves to sedentary and unmanly pursuits, which in after-tinies the Legislature thought it pro per to decry. So would it be in the present in stance, the liberal and national spurts chuckfarthing and turnpenny would be .adopted, and to these the people would be advised to give their days and nights. Pursuing this line of argument and opposi tion to the Bill, he concluded with expressing his hostility to its' further progress. Mr. SHERIDAN observed, that he should most probably have given a silent Voce, were it not in; some points in the speech of the Hon. Gentleman who had just sat down. He had previously attend ed to the speech of the Right Hon. Gentleman who was so decided an opponent of th e me a sure, an d h e could not help admiring the ingenuity, talents, and address which he had displayed in a speech which he thought well calculated to produce an effed on the imagination ; but perhaps of-all the speeches he ever heard, it was the least : calculated to produce solid conviction. With. resped to the support he receiv ed from the Hon. Gentleman who spoke last, he was at first rather dubiouS'of ir, and were it not fur the animation of his manlier, he really should have thought that he intended to liVlow the ironical line adopted by an Hon. Friend of his (Mr. C.) untie! the Gallery—a great deal of what had been said, might be reduced to a short question, which, for the sake of illustration, be would put in the•tne_. taphorical language of an Hon. Gentleman untitr the Gallery, who said, as the higher orders of the people had their Ili z.r.t NGTO N, the lower orders should have their Bulibaiting. Another Member dsclared as an arguineht agaihst the Bill, that T%j ►y, through iTie means of Bullbaiting, he raised more men fair t i lis MaiTsty •.letocashire, and also m or e iObjen s the weyo os increasing the populetion; than by any other means he knew. This might be an adinitable arguinent to influence a Recruiting- Serjeane, but that any one should think', that it could have an elle& Ofl a grave and deliberating As. iembly of Legislators, more especially, when it produced effects which involved considerations of vice and profligacy on the part of women, was to him a little extraordinary. In some Counties the dis graceful praaice in question did not prevail, but that the measure could operate with feSpea to the County to which that Hon. Gentletrian referred, either in relation to the excellent breed of nulls, or the lattices of itiereased population alluded to, was a little questionable. A few of the topics in the Right Hon. Gen t le man ' s s p eec h, ho wever , he should 'have occasion to allude to ; and first, with resped to, the idea, that such subjeas Were unworthy the attention of the Legislature. After warmly ani madverting on what be had said respeding the esti mation and progress of Private Bills in that House, Mr. SHP:alb/UV' proceeded to expr e ss his -surprise, that if the Right Hon. Gentleman thought the subject so low, so trifling, as to he utterly unworthy of the interference of the Legislature, he should. have deemed it necessary t o opp ose t h e Bill in a very long and elaborate speech, a speech which, in his mind, had rather been prepared tor the occasion ; in more points !hen one of it, the lamp wacto be Smelt'; it possessed a -climax of rotation, from modern as well as ancient Authors. Xenophon, Virgil, Milton, and other writers were copiously referred to. All this matter too, •was well arranged._ if the Right Hon. Gentleman• deemed the subjea trifling, and unworthy of attention, why take all that trouble about it ? Or if the Right Ron. Gentleman h e ed displayed so much ability and address, or made so great it figure in eloquence, whiledeceying the Defi nitive Treaty,, he should not, most probably, have been in so small a minority. What, it was exclaim ed, would Europe say, if at such a jundnre; we oc cupied ourselves in such discussions ? With respea to the Right Hon. Gentleman's mode of considering as svell as treating this question, he felt for him— he felt for the state of his mind, and for that irrita tion of which it must be susceptible in contempla. ting the return of Peace, and he must allo‘V for his feeling on the cessation pf hostilities. in , every part of .Etirope ; in which some it would appe a r, . as if he wished to ma k e some compensation to himself, in fomenting a War between the Bulls and the Dogs. It was rather extraordinary that though the Right Hon. Gentleman denied the subjed to be of imput_ ranee, yet he considered the measure to proc o from the combined effects of JacobiniSin and Method, ism, to overturn the Constitution of the Country; and another Gentleman seemed to be of opinion, that if the lower orders of the People were not in dulged in the joyous and jovial praaiee of Bull_ baiting, the Constitution must eventually be over turned. Another point respeled the amusements of the loWer orders of the People.—With respea to these nothing could give him greater pleasure, than that they could be efFeaually revised and reduced to a salutary system, founded on just and rational principles. He would bring to the Right Hoti. Gentleman's recolleaion a circumstance relative to this point, namely, .a Society which was some time ago established, in • which- •an - Hon. General since dead (Bueooy NE) was a leading member; and in' which they both were concerned ; tie objea ci which was to revive the praaice of the genuine old English sports and amusements : in this plan, however, it was expressly set forth, that the barbaroUs pranice of Bullbaithig was not to be included. In regard to the argument held out that if this custom was suppressed, we should know not Where to stop, and that the amusements of hunting, shooting, and fishing, would become the next objeas of suppression. To this idea he could shortly answer, that these amusements have no more analogy to the barbarous pradice in question than any things the most _opposite in their natures could have : and he must observe, with regard to the Hon. Gentleman who had beheld those 'scenes, over and- over and over again, that no man could ad-. vance such arguments or defend the praftice, who itad not been inured to it ; but that Gentle man said, the .objeet was, not to torture the ani mal, that cruelty was not inflicted for the sake of cruelty : where was the difference in the effea, or in the tortures of the wretched animal, when the cruelty proceeded only from sport ? He could conceive different sources of passion from which cruelty could arise, as wrath, malice, fear, cowardice, and worse than these was it when proceeding from beastly appetite, from the effea of gluttony, but certainly worse than any, or than all pet' together, was the oature of infliaing cruelty merely for sport. If the House suffered the Bill to go to a Committee, they could produce fans which must excite feeling of horror and indig cation. What the Hon. Gentleman said of our ate. riving useful instrudions from an i ma l s , was_ in a great degree well founded ; but then it must be from animals in a fre state of nature ; in circum. Aances wherein, as the Poet happily expresses it, you may " Learn froth the little Nautilus to sail ;" but not front animals in a state of coercion or torture.—He expatiated with great feeling, anima. tion, 'and eff:eet, on the barbarous custom of Bull. bait:ing, as not only produding the most inconceive.. ;Ole tortures to the wretched animal, and often to the instruments of his torment, but tending to deaden the feelings of humanity in, and to brutalize the minds of the beholder, and at such sights, women and children were often present : of this he stated some facts in illustration, among these, that of a brutal Bullbaiter, who, possessing on old Bull. bitch, that lately had a large litter of puppies, was willing to chew the staunchness of her biooti the extent of her prowess : he set the bitch at a bull, she pinned, and fastened on him, and in that situation he literally cut her to piece, the animal still keeping her ho'd. lie then sold puppies for five guinea:, a-piece ; after this he out his knife, and in a climax of brutality, bitch's throat. These facts shewe,t cai knd malignant spirit with which s7;,:s. s• were condUtted, and encouraging those, 'making a people manly 'anti ge'ne;nt:s, inuring them to aas of cruelty, l'!7)t.',Cl' VIC;11