The Sun.
London, England, 1809-05-16 00:00:00

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

On the Order of the Day being read for the second
reading of the Bill for preventing malicious and wan-
ton cruelty to animals,
Lord ERSKINE stated his reasons for presenting
this Bill to the House, and very eloquently orged
the necessity of passing some law for the'preve,ntion
of that brutal creelty.towards animals, the.instances
of which were unfortunately too frequent. It could
not be too forcibly inspresSed upon the minds of all
men, and'he was particularly desirous of inculcating
the principle in tht preamble to this Bill, that the
use of animals was a moral trust committed. to us,
which it was incumbent upon us to execute with
feeling and humanity.. The whole lower world was
given to our care for, our use, not for our abuse, for •
bur rational pleasure and satisfaaion, not for the ex-
ercise of cruelty and inhumanity. He would not
enter into a disgusting detail of cruelties committed
upon animals, the instances were almost innumera-
tee, and particularly amongst the basest and most
worthless of mankind, whom only the fear of pu-
nishment could deter from the commission of such
atrocity. As the law now stood, a man could only
be punished for cruelty towards an animal Where
there was malice against the owner; his objea in
this Bill was to protect the animals themselves front
inhumanity on the part of their owners, as wall as
Other persons. Since he had. given notice of this
measure, he had received a great number of commu-
nications, many of them from highly respeaable
Magistrates in different parts of the country, relative
to a variety of ads of cruelty committed towards
animals, which still further proved the necessity of
some Bill of this description. His Lordship referred
,particularly to the praOice of several dealers in horse-
flesh, who bought horses past their labour, and kept
them without lood for several days, until they were '
wanted to be cut up, and in several instances had
•adually let them starve to death, whilst the'poor
creatures, impelled by hunger, had actually gnawed
each others flesh. Another great abuse was the
keeping of cattle impounded without food for several
days. pi lwr instances of inhumanity towards horses
Were to he found in these extravagant wagers for
races against time, which had been of late very fre-
quent. He did not allude to the noble sport of horse-
racing, vehich the animals liked as much as their
Owners, but to the inhuman pt'attice of urging a horse
on beyond its powers, for the mettsobjeta of doing so;
for the (Neel. of the wagers in these races against
time, was to make horse perform what it wad beyond
the ordinary 'power of a horse to do. It was to
prevent !brae and a variety of other acts of inhu-
manity ek ieced in the overloading and overdriving,
and torturing of aniniak that he had brought in this
Bill. It would not prevent the proper use of ani-
mals, 'or their necessaray deoruttion for the food of
man ; it would not prevent the rendering them sub-
servient to the satisiaetion arising from the use of
them, or the 'gratification of curiosity for which
they might he kept, bUt ,it would tend to check
wanton inhumanity and barbarity. There was no-
thing in this Bill that could tend to raise any new
of law, or give any dangerous discretion
to Magistrates ; and it would be as easy under this
Bill to, 4scertaip whether any malicious or wanton
cruelty had been committed, as it was at present
with respect to cruelty, towards apprentices, or hot
supplying Item with suffiCient food, or with respea
to the nature of assaults or nuisances, or other ques-
tions that daily came before Courts, and were con-
stantly decided on by Juries. He trusted th,erefOre
that their Lordships would agree with him in the
necr:4'sity of adopiing the principle of this Bill, and
whatever' alterations might he necessary, would be
for the core;ideration of the COMIII:Me. •
• "'Vile Lotter CHANcEEviIt had no obiE6UOll to the
principle. part of the Biti, but thonght. that some
parts ufit wonid require consideration In the Com-
mittee, and hepterbisato pay every attention to it.
The I3ifl was read a second time, and committed
for the second day after the recess...Adjourued till
to-morrow (thiS day).

110US4 OF CWIIMONS.

• MONDAY, MAY 15.
On the motion of the LORD ADVOCATE: of. SCOT-
iStio; the 'Scotch •Militia Vamilies' • Prevision Bill
went through -a Committee. 'The Report was re,
eeived, and.ordered to be taken; into further con•
sidoration on Thursday. • • • . •
•The. Custbms Jurisdiftipp Bill went through a
es'ornroittee.•--The Report to be received to-Moe-roWr.
' Uti the •tnotion *f Mr, FosTart, the Irish Glebe
flOrize, Aeta were ordered to be referred' to a Gout
Mittee of the -Whole Hottie'to-morrow.
A. dismission of some length loOlt place, on the
ormltion 'of Mr. P. MoottE; for the recommittal of
tht Pighsate..4.rehtvay Bill, upon which. the House
and- there rippeared, • - • • •
• • /For its cthrtmittal .
ping it - 211

Majority

744sgage from the TAirclo announcg4 their
'..TAT:th-,111761 assent to several. public and many. privilt4
-}l,itti,---(eick Keport 94. the House ofLords).
_ • .
.1 Mr. ',ll ut-rriav,A,p, comequimee of ins -tprrper

notice, rose to make a motion on a subjett of no
great importance in one point of yiew, but of some
weight in another; be alluded to the appointment of
Stotekeeper to the Royal Military Depot in Hyde
Park, This Gentle Man, though very respeCtable,
was a foreigner, and Wad never been in the army, and
he thought the post, which was worth 1201. 11-year,
might be better tilled by some old invalid Officer.
Though he approved of a return being made by per-
sons of high rank to their faithful followers for their
services, yet he could not think it proper to give
them public appointments as a reward, as had been
done in this case by the Master-General of the Ord-
nance. He concluded by moving for a return of the
appointment of Christian Frederick Waitron to the
office of Storekeeper, eie. account of his salary, .ser-
vices, &c.-
Mr. W. POLE took upon himself the whole blame
of this appointment, if any attached to it. Upon
Lord Chatham's applying to him , to recommend a
person for. this office When the Depot was formed,
Ore had named this person, who was a Hanoverian,
had been 37 years in this country, and known to
him twenty years. The responsibility was there-
fore solely his, and he never thought the office of a
description which would have been acceptable to any
officer. He had no objection to the produelion of
the papers. ,
After a few
,words 'in explanation from Mr.
WOITEREAD, the motion was agreed to.
Mr. FOSTER brought in a 13111 to appoint Commis-
sioners to examine into the state of the Bogs in Ire-
land, which was read a first time.

On the motion for the second reading, Mr. Frrz-
GERALD and Sir J. NEWPORT opposed the Bill 24 a
job. Mr. FOSTER and the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CHEQUER made a few remarks in support of it, and
the Bill was ordered to be read a second time on
Thursday.
The CHANCELLOR of the Excnniatna moved,
that the House should resolve into a Committee
to consider of the better Regulation of the Excise-
Office in point of hours of attendance, and the su•
perannuation of officers on the same plan as in the
Custom-House.

After a question from Mr. PONSONBY respeaing
the nature of the superannuation, and an explana-
tion from Mr. Hu-sxtssom, the Speaker put the
question for going into the said Committee imme-
diately, which was agteed to.
Mr. WHITBREAD asked when the Stamp-Office
Returns were to be laid before the House. Td
which Mr. HUSKISSON replied, " as soon as they
could be received from Edinburgh."
Mr. WaAarroN having reported the Resolutions
of the Committee, leave was giVen to bring in a Bill
pursuant thereto.
Mr, ROSE obtained leave to bring in Bills for
amending several Ads, and introducing better re-
gulations in the payment of Seamens' Wages and
`prize-money, and Improvement of the Royal Hos-
pital at Greenwich.
On the motion of Mr. H. THORNTON, the Order
of the Day •.for the House going into a Committee
on the Third Report of the Committee of Public
Offices was postponed till Friday. The reason as-
signed was the indisposition of Mr. Martin.'
Mr. WHARTON brought up the Reports of the
Committees of Supply and Ways and Means.
After a few observations from Mr. TIERNEY,
which were replied to by Mr. Huskisson and the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Resolutions were
put and agreed to.