William Toone
On Cruelty to Animals
「1802-Jul」William Toone , “On Cruelty to Animals,” Monthly Mirror「Google Books」14 (1802-Jul): 16-18.
A little reflection will convince any man, that to regulate the morals and restrain the vicious manners of the people, is the first duty of a legislator, and cannot but reflect honour on the greatest legislative assembly that ever existed.
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On Cruelty to Animals
The wisdom and bounty of the Almighty creator is in nothing more highly conspicuous than in rendering the amazing strength and docility of domestic animals subservient to the wants and pleasure of mankind. The generous horse, the patient ass, and the faithful dog, contribute most essentially to the well-being of society, and other animals, of inferior consideration, are not without their usefulness. That these animals were went for our care and protection as well as our use, cannot e doubted, and indeed there is a reciprocal duty between man and the beast he employs. Children seem to have a natural propensity to torture such animals as are within their power, this disposition would be checked as soon as it is observed, as that which perhaps began through thoughtlessness, or ignorance, may by negligence grow into a vicious habit. I have observed that those persons who behave with cruelty to animals, have, generally speaking, narrow and confined ideas, and act equally tyrannical towards their fellow creatures whenever it is in their power; this is the vice of the man and not of his education. It is a great misfortune that so many of our countrymen are nursed an brought up in the very bosom of cruelty; asses are employed in various occupations, and being chiefly attended by boys, who, having before their eyes daily examples of unfeeling barbarity, it cannot be wondered that they become callous to the feelings of pity; the same observation may be applied to the boys employed by drovers, whose wanton barbarity calls for the severest punishment.
The legislature has enjoined that no butcher shall be summoned upon a jury, wisely conceiving that the daily recurrence of scenes of slaughter superinduces and indifference to scenes of horror, and though it is not to be presumed that this trade exclusively and necessarily requires a cruel disposition, yet the law, acting generally, is a good one.
There is a species of cruelty, peculiar to the present times, which calls loudly for legislative interference; I mean the barbarous practice of riding horses far beyond their strength or ability. Several instances have lately occurred where the poor animals have died on the road, or shortly after reaching their destined journey; such men who, for a trifling wager, can so far divest themselves of humanity, deserve not to live in society, but to be hunted like beasts of prey into the desert. A wretch superlatively cruel, because his beast did not perform a more than ordinary long journey within a few seconds of a given time, cut the animal’s throat with a clasp knife! This was an undesigned act of humanity, for who will not allow that any sate, even death itself, were a happy release from the power of such a monster? These practices excel in cruelty the celebrated bull fights of Spain, which, to the honour of the humanity of that nation, are now nearly discontinued. The disgraceful and inhuman practice of bull-baiting is still prevalent in this country, and notwithstanding the late exertions of a worthy advocate in the cause of humanity, the legislature has refused by any formal act to abolish it. It has been alleged that it would be depriving the lower orders of the people of one of their principal amusements; so the people are to consider the torture of an innocent and defenceless beast, one who labours all his life in the service of mankind, as simply an amusement, and a riotous herd of savages, collected together for the express purpose of enjoying the groans and misery of a tortured animal, an innocent assembly. It is not deemed a subject of sufficient importance to justify legislative interference, but a little reflection will convince any man, that to regulate the morals and restrain the vicious manners of the people, is the first duty of a legislator, and cannot but reflect honour on the greatest legislative assembly that ever existed. I am as little inclined as any of the humane and enlightened advocates for bull-baiting, to abridge the enjoyments, or circumscribe the pleasures of the poor, or to deprive them of any amusement consistent with their welfare and the welfare of the state; but when cruelty is considered as an amusement, and tacitly legalized by government, we may expect to see the evil increase, and bull-baiting becomes as fashionable as boxing. What wonder, if instead of the peaceable, sober, quiet, and industrious inhabitants of an humble village, we shall, in the progress of time, see a total degeneracy of manners, an habitual thirst for blood and slaughter, a retrograde movement in arts and civilization, induced by the encouragement held out to continue a cruel sport, at which only the brutal, the idle, and profligate assemble, perhaps the future Robespierres, Dantons, and Legendres of their country.
As a cruel disposition presupposes a depraved understanding and a malignant heart, to check the propensity to cruel sports would e one step towards reforming the manners of the people; for it is an axiom in morals, as well as in politics, that a cruel man cannot be a good subject, nor can a man of humanity be altogether a bad one.
Beaumaris. Wm. Toone.
