The National Register.
London, England, 1809-06-18 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

ea'e, nor AN hen evistiog matured by violence. ac oblip,atiott
ith respect to the morality they imperceptabl s inculcated was
no doubt steno,;. The obliga:ion eertaiLlv existed ; but then i:
was tnat sort of obligation which, among writers upon that sub-
feet, %%as thmontioated imperfect obligatioits. They were
strung, but their action %vas in themselves, and independent of
tsxtetnal application to call it forth. How would they set
about enforciog t..fanny ? tht'v pass a law for th:: better
enforcing bone vole.oce, meekness, muttni good will, and tenders
at-ss ? If a man, f,r io,tance, had thousands mouldering in his
coffers, and that he p rtnifted his fellow-creature in the next
street to die for is ant whea he might have saved his life by the
timely contritor ion of a few shillings, who would not he ready
to • not against such iau act of immoral % and crud tv, and wet
hoss wo,:ht that :louse provide against it? Or if they would
take upon them to legislate upon feeli;;w., where, he would ask,
would they find out the test by which the la %%fa! might be dis-
tinguished from the prohibited ? What he had offered so far
inn-t at least go to she w that prima facie the nature of the Bill
awns inb;ect to objections. Btu they were told, by way, per-
haps, of recoociling them to th..se preliminary difficulties, that
this oas a N ENV a% in our legislative annals ; but wa3 the no
velty of toe inea-u re ;o una!:e loran less citations in adopting. it
or might they not take the argu bent in another wav ? The
Noble author of that Bill was out destitute of laudable ambi-
tion, athl how could they say hail/ far that Noble Lord might he
tempted to wish to tin do WI) to posterity as the founder of that
1.; 12 A' ./ER ?--( teing:o.—T tisai a consideration %dile!:
could not :IA to the authority of that Noble Lord, upon every
other case SO deseriedly conclosive. But the objection that
could nut be got ovor was, that the object of the Bill could not
he defhaol, and, if that were so, what mould possibly rendet
mien's condition more insecuie than by requiring them to act ne-
cordin to a rule which could not be explained ?—( Hear ).
IV hat is as ham :linty ? Ili is was the standard, and unles3 nega-
tive enactments were to be made, how were persons to he con-
victed of inlawnanity and punished for it, unless that they have
been proved to have violated humanity ; and what ivas this
question of humanity, but a question of degree, and, if a q (ICS-
[IOU of degree, was Parliameut to be employed in conjecturing
its lines of distinction anti shit: es of inherence ? It was diffe-
rent in different wet); it was more than this—it was different in
the same man at ilt.ferent periods, and is hat was still more, a
man in genertil sets up a very different standard for hintsel:' and
for other person; ; and o.'rt he saw in this one consideration
such dreadful soorces of arbitrary exaction-, as %rook( eventually
lie productive of consermences infinitively more injurious t han the
evil they were intended to correct. It was one grand objection to
the Bill, that it would not answer the end pr ,posed ; but he
thought toe dreadful inequality o j
f its operation a greater ottec-
tion. They were told that no reward for di:,covery information
was admitted. lie thougitt the desire of the tli'.play of huma-
nity a great reward. :len were nu disinclined apa -ade a vir-
tue at the expence of toe .r ; but i was nil. only Of'
parade of humanity but paride ••f power—to say
uothing of that feenug in wiiicb so anti wowed th v g 0,4.1 na-
tured propensity of torr.viting O!'' ::outlier. !mke lof tate to
such a pi tvh hat it been ;!!.t ; flesh and blo at could scarce-
Iv stand it. There was a book said to be toe prodoetkm of the
sister of the author of " 'root dont app..arcd under the •
nameof " Tiiis work, which evinced grel;
of ob.crvation, amid as, iffight into huotan nature, was call-
ed " The Art of ingenit,•fziv Tornientim.;;" tioil indeed
the passion . was now as general as 1: oung's Universal
Passion. The ingenious fatly who wrote the Essay upon
Tormenting aftcr chewing how the husband might ingeniously
torment the is ire, and how (what was not noire difficult) ha is
the wiet might itereniously torment the husband, give:. a coo-
eluding chapter wliiclt bite heads with the title of " General
Directions for Teazing all your Areoinintance;" (a laugh) aud
extensive a.: the subject artiht. be thought, she contrives to be
very stort iu fier directions, fir tkey amount to nothing more
than the art of Tot menting. Under the mane of the public gout'
it was scarcely credible how roach men torinenteil their fellows
under this one pretence, and this was to be traced not so much
to the desire of big pain as to the pleasure of e itertieg power.
Another objectiott was, the great generality of the wording.
Indeed toe objections were so numerous that he eonq only im-
pute its not having met more opposition to that fear of typro•
lirinal moo I...io.ired under vi hich deterred them from followin[
the dictates of their co mlllOll sense, lest they should be branded
as lovers of the cruel persecution of animals. Ile feared he him-
self mighl ne taumed as a lover of tormenting animals. But
notiw it its taudiag that apprehensive be would !peals; his seutimeno.

391

Pe must here recur to th:- sympathy, if it was to be urged as the
uie that was to ,nit's them in e:n% ecing the provisions Of the
Bill ; Doctur.Sw ft who was a stir- wd man in his time, said,
that lee never koew a mu w Ito entice not bear the misfile tunes of
another like a Chrrstean (a /aeqh ). Suppose a poor labouring
arin, who working w jib his horse Kar eight or ten hours in
toe day, is detected by
,iving way tosome women.
tary feeling of peevish asperity', which he vents upon hia horse
for want of a better subject; well ! this poor man becomes •
subject to the penalties of tois Bill, mid may be sew to the
house of correction or elsewhere, but all the time that the vir.
tuow, indignation of the other is breaking forth, lie may have.
forgotten that the day before when he wa- eaktog a ride to get
an appetite for dinner, a tredden start of he, horse proyohDd him
to an infliction of the w hip and spur, w hich wa as wanton,
because as excessive as the abuse of which the poor man had.
been guilty. People were seldom so liberal of ail hoe c hristian
virtues. as when, they dealt them out at the expooce of
others. He had heard Ladies, with that frelies; that so much
became their sex, descant upon the baroa: its of the sort of
Waist: of animals ; but if, in tae mielst of theii iirtignation„hey
were reminded of softie excesses of their own coachmen to their
horses, they were getwrallv ready wit a some reply of----" Yes!
but then John is se (lever in a crowd ( Laughter)—ir w.:s but the
other night, in comiog front my Lady such a one's. he mauu,.4%-d die
horses so well, and drove so sk hat he left all behind him."
(a laugh). But post boys, it seemed, were very cruel. There were
three parties in that ; the Post Boy ; the Innkeeper;
and (though last not lea,t) the Traveller. Suppose th,• c.ear of
a "traveller on a Journey (oft.oi causeless and usele-s). lie
drives up to the door of an inn ;old requii es horses to continue
hint On his journey—Well ! what diAlogue ma v he supposed
to tike place between them ? The horses brouOit foe to, the
traveller complains of them--saps they w ill not be able to for-
ward him on his journey. The innkeeper replies by bilking of
same neighbourinz races, or the great inns upou the road, or any
other cause, why he has not horses able to carry hem, and cen-
eludes with assuming that those are aide. Is the inn-keeper
not to say this? Is he to turn away his trade—lli; costom?
Ile is not to blame, still less is the pm.t.bsv ; and, indeed, many
a sagacir us oliserv:•r has been heard venting curses against a
post-boy while he way ply lug his woip for a shilling extra, to-
tally overlooking the briber to his cruelty, while he lay stair,
at his ease within the coach. Of those who were tile loudest
upon this subject, he %%mild be glad to hear how many had
stopped at any ion on their jouraey, rattier than force a set of
lame, worn-:,ut, spavined horses to ender, vour, at the instiga-
tion of the whip, to draw the n. lie then adverted to the ;fame
Laws, and ar;;tio:l a,;ainst the I)irtiality as to the penal intlaence
amd operation of a Bill of that sort compared wait the:;attic
Laws—to call upon that House, as a hour of hunters and
shooters, who had enacted a la.W't h..tltailli; the privilege of
killing animals for their own amusement !! ! But taase were
" feral na turas," and ought to be destroyed, that they might out
n' Vrrilii the earth. Well, but there were other animals who
,alel not well nyerrila the earth. Ile meant the fishes.
(taughler) Vi by should cruelty he extended to them I—or
was it pretended that luxury was a sudivient justification. An..
oteer reason was that the rear naturm were liable to die--this
Argument would go a good way ; fee at we were all liable to die,
sve might, em that rea-aki, set about killing one another. (a laugh)
A more whim-cical re::-,o still was urged, that Gentlemen kill
their game through clemency, in the same way as a lover of
:Loin:ids might tell his butcher—Sir, spare my feelings, I beg of
you, and let the kill my own mutton. (4 laugh.) Tae It7ght
lion. Gentleman concluded with adverting to the 20th number
)1' the I:dinburgh Review, which he recoinmeded to the perusal.
(ieetlemen on this subject. 'What he had said was all au
arg,..sinentum huniinetn. The Bitt would be partial, mute-
ce,sary, and lay grounds for imputing to them a
sanctinionious ii--pocrisy that was odious; there wasn't standard
guide to conviction 01 pequitial, and upon such a law and
such a subject how %wnd t set of young lawyers speak, and
What ithirtal w iiuld soy what effect that w ould have upon a
Jury• lie might lay ac:.l sty move its committal for that day
three months. tic now stoppesl, not because the subject stop Ced
but Fecause he had more than sufficiently occupied the time of
the Home. .

Mr. WI LIiERVORCE stated, that nothing gave him greater
pain titan to see el,!vatett ran:. an extensive talents empioed---,
not iiitlitit•ing happiness, but in borharising the feelmo.sof tha
lower orders 4)1 society: Woat innovation did tile pr. sem hill
propose, other titan to prevent malicious' and %%Anton cruelty,
and to give a lee:slativearanctiau• to tau declaration, that the aid

f

nal breed had rig:its as well as man, which it was unjustifiable
wantonly to violate. His !tight Hon. Friend (Windham) had
compared the cruelty practiced against animals by a reference to
field sports. Could he be really serious ? Could he conceive
that the vulgar carman, in the habit of kicking his unfortimate
horses in the belly, was justified by the co, l:let of men who
were attached to such pursuits? Why, would the Right Hon.
Gentleman sit down at table with the same feelings with the
one as wick the other? It was ridiculous to suppose that he
would.

The House divided—For the Bill 40—Against it 27—Ma-
`jori ty IS.

TVerrnesday, June 11.

• 'The Speaker proceeded t 4 count the House, hut there appear-
*a hut twenty-eight ,Members present, it was of course ad-
jimurued:

Thursday, June IS.

The CrTANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER gave notice he intend-
ed to propose that the period for bringing in private petitions in
the next Sessien should be limited to fourteen days. He also
intended submitting to them, in consequence of seine of their late
resolutions, the propriety of ordering that all private Bills
should pass through the hands of one of the Clerks of the House
(before they came before them), who should then be responsible
for their accuracy.