[Footnote I: Like William of Deloraine, "_good at need_."]
[Footnote J: Prince Ernest, brother to Prince Albert.]
+On Military Horse-Power.+
As the momentum or force of a shot is said to be its weight multiplied
by its velocity, so the strength of an army may not unjustly be
estimated by multiplying its physical powers by the rate at which
(if necessary) it can be made to travel: in short, activity is to an
army what velocity is to a shot, or what the rigging of a vessel is
to its hull. But, although we refuse to increase the weight of a shot
unless we can proportionately preserve our power to propel it, yet, in
European warfare, this principle, as regards the "matériel" of an army,
has not always been kept in mind. Inventions have very easily been
admitted, which afterwards have not been so easy to carry. It is true,
they have added to the powers of the army, but they have so diminished
its speed, that, encumbered by its implements and accoutrements, a
European, like an East Indian army, has often felt that it requires
less science to fight than to march; and thus, when Bonaparte, in his
retreat from Moscow, was surrounded by Cossacks, which his troops were
unable to crush only because they could not get at them, his well-known
confession proves that when the field is vast, and its resources
feeble, the distance between regular and irregular warfare "is but a
step,"--the reason being, that the superior strength of the former is
worn out by the superior activity of the latter, or, as Marshal Saxe
expressed it, "its arms are of less value than its legs."
Now, it is undeniable that this want of activity proceeds partly from
the weight of the "matériel," but principally from the following very
remarkable imperfection in the military equipment of Europe.
It is well known that not only every soldier, but every human being
following an army, is subject to military discipline, and that his
labour may, at any time, and for any purpose, be required of him; but,
although the rational being is thus called upon to work with cheerful
obedience for the grand objects of the army, the physical powers of
the brute beast have never yet been developed; and accordingly for the
various, sudden, and momentary emergencies for which horse-power has
often and urgently in vain been required, horse-power (the cavalry) to
an enormous extent has existed upon the spot, a military element which
it has hitherto been considered so impracticable to control, that the
guns, ammunition, treasure, &c., which European cavalry have oftentimes
bravely won, their horses have been supposed totally incapable to carry
away; and the laurel which was positively in their hands they have thus
been obliged to abandon. Again, for sieges in countries which have
been drained by the artillery and cavalry, not only of horses, but of
sustenance to maintain them, it has often been absolutely necessary to
bring forward, by bullocks and other inefficient means, the battering
train, ammunition, entrenching tools, materials, &c., amounting in
weight, even for the attack of a second-rate fortress, to several
thousand tons. In moments of such distress the infantry working in the
trenches have often severely suffered from the delay occasioned by
the want of horse-power, while their comrades, the cavalry, have been
deemed incapable of sharing the honour and fatigue of the day, from
the anomalous conclusion that, although it is easy to extract from men
manual labour, it is impossible to extract from horses horse-power;
and yet there exists no reason why, in moments of emergency, cavalry
horses should not be required to work (most particularly at drag-ropes)
as well as infantry soldiers; for although the patient endurance of
hardships and privations is one of the noblest features in military
life, yet absolutely to suffer from the want of what one positively
possesses is, even in common life, a discreditable misfortune,
indicating not bodily weakness, but mental imbecility.
Even in that noble department, the Horse Artillery itself, there
existed throughout the Peninsular War a striking example of latent
power which had never been exerted. To each gun there were attached
twelve horses trained to draught. Of these, only eight possessed the
means of drawing: the gun might therefore, in mechanical calculation,
be said to be propelled by an engine of eight horse-power; and if a
morass, or any other obstacle, over-balanced this power, the gun was
either deserted, or (as was customary) the infantry were harnessed to
it, by drag-ropes, in the immediate presence of four draught-horses,
whose powers (besides officers' horses) it was conceived that we were
unable to command.[K]
Now, to awaken, _at no expense_, the important, natural, yet dormant
powers, not only of cavalry but of all other horses, and, consequently,
to afford the means of accelerating (when required) the movements,
grand or small, of an army, would surely be more beneficial than even
to suggest an improvement in its arms; for it may justly be said
that our present weapons are destructive enough--that even if we
could succeed in making them more so, still our enemies would retort
them upon us--that the advantage, or rather the disadvantage, would
then be mutual--and that, eventually, war would only be made still
more destructive; but by giving activity and mobility to European
armies, the science of war is promoted; and even if the benefit to
the civilized nations of Europe should be equal (but this, from the
superior size and strength of English horses, would evidently be in our
favour), yet it would at least shield the profession from the disgrace
of being again persecuted, in any country, by an uncivilized army;
and if the navy of England, laden with its immense weight of metal,
is endeavouring, by science and reflection, to accelerate its rate of
sailing, so that it can not only stand against the largest fleet, but
can chase and run down the smallest pirate, surely the British army,
already distinguished by its heart and its arm, should never rest
satisfied until it can sufficiently develop its locomotive powers to be
able to overtake and punish the insults of irregular troops.
Having now endeavoured to prove, 1st, That in European warfare there
positively does exist a serious imperfection; and 2ndly, That it is
for the interest, and due to the character, of the profession, that
this imperfection should be corrected, we will proceed to explain
the reasons which have lately induced the Duke of Cambridge by the
following order to direct the attention of the British cavalry to the
practice of lasso draught, (which for more than two years, by order of
the Inspector-General of Fortifications, General Sir John Burgoyne, has
been most successfully and scientifically adopted, by Captain Siborne,
R.E., commanding the Royal Engineer Train, under the intelligent
superintendence of Colonel Henry Sandham, Director of the Royal
Engineers' Establishment at Chatham.)
_Extract from the Queen's Regulations, page 126._
"In order that the cavalry may, upon emergencies, be available for the
purposes of draught, such as assisting artillery, &c., through deep
roads, and in surmounting other impediments and obstacles which the
carriages of the army have frequently to encounter in the course of
active service, ten men per troop are to be equipped with the tackle of
the lasso."
In Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and a considerable portion
of South America, for every purpose of drawing, a horse is confined
between two traces; and accordingly, whenever for the first time in his
life he is placed in this predicament, so soon as one of them touches
or tickles him on one side, he flies from it to the other trace,
which suddenly arrests him, and, usually blind-folded by blinkers,
being ignorant of, as well as alarmed at, the unknown objects that
are restraining him, he occasionally endeavours to disperse them by
kicking; and even if he submits, it requires some little experience
to tranquillize his fears. For these reasons, throughout the regions
enumerated, a horse that has never been in harness, however valuable he
may be, is _totally_ useless in a moment of emergency for the purposes
of draught.
Now throughout that region of South America which extends in 35°
south latitude from Buenos Ayres on the Atlantic, to Santiago and to
Valparaiso on the Pacific Ocean, harness is composed of nothing but a
surcingle and a single trace, by which the horse draws as a man would
drag a garden-roller, by one hand instead of by two.
By this simple mode all the merchandise, and all the travellers that
have ever traversed on wheels those immense plains that separate the
two great oceans of the world, have been transported.
For military purposes its efficiency has been thus substantiated by
General Miller in his history of 'The War for Independence':--
"Our corps consisted of ten six-pounders and one howitzer. Each gun was
drawn by four horses, and each horse ridden by a gunner, there being
no corps of drivers in the service. A non-commissioned officer and
seven drivers were, besides the four already mentioned, attached to
each piece of artillery. Buckles, collars, cruppers, and breast-plates
were not in use; the horses simply drew from the saddle, and with this
equipment our guns have travelled nearly 100 miles in a day."
But besides its efficiency for all the requirements of either peace
or war, the singular advantage of this simple harness is that any
description of horse, tame or wild, uses it without noticing it; for
if the single trace which passes immediately beneath his hip bone
happens (which it ought not) to press against his side, by shrinking
from it only an inch it instantly ceases to touch him; and as there
then remains nothing to confine, tickle, or alarm him, he refrains
from kicking, simply because there is nothing to kick at, and from
quarrelling because he can see nothing in the world to quarrel with.
With this equipment, if a party of native riders, hunting ostriches in
South America, are requested to help the horses of a carriage across a
river, and up a steep bank, similar, for instance, to that of the Alma,
in a moment they affix their lassos, conquer the difficulty, attain the
summit, and then, with tobacco smoke steaming from their mouths, gallop
away to follow their sport.
The Royal Engineer Train have demonstrated by public experiments in
this country, that with this simple equipment, which would injure
neither the efficiency nor the appearance of the cavalry, any number of
horses, whether accustomed to draught or not, are capable of being at
once harnessed to any description of carriage, not only (_see sketch_)
in front to draw it forward, but in rear to hold it back, or even
sideways to prevent its oversetting--in short, that it is a power which
can be made to radiate in any direction; and as its character stands
upon a much firmer foundation--as it is _bonâ fide_ the common mode of
draught in South America--in constant use for all military and civil
purposes--a practical invention which, under all circumstances, has
been always found to answer, it is evident to demonstration,--1st. That
if it can transport artillery, &c., across the lofty, vast, and rugged
features of uncultivated America, it would surely be serviceable on
the roads and bridges of civilized countries. 2ndly, That if it can be
adapted to unbroken horses, it cannot be inapplicable to the trained
horses of our cavalry. And, 3rdly, That as both the surcingle and trace
are made, in America, of nothing but the skins of bullocks, we should,
on active service, be able in all countries at least to obtain this
material, and generally many others.
It must, moreover, be observed, that as a mounted horse (_i. e._ a
horse and man) are heavier than an unmounted horse, the former with
a lasso can drag a heavier weight than the latter with a collar and
traces.[L]
Now, supposing for a moment that not only our cavalry were to be
furnished with, but that every saddle-horse receiving rations in a
European army was to be ordered to wear the South American surcingle
(_which costs less than English girths and surcingle_, and which
experience has proved to be, merely as a girth, superior to a common
one), and to carry a halter of the usual regulation length, but long
enough for a single trace, without detailing the various important
as well as trifling services which might be performed, is it not
evident that the general activity of the army would most materially be
increased? that, in fact, this equipment would form an era in military
warfare? that it would be an enormous, and, in Europe, an unheard-of
engine of say twenty or thirty thousand horses' power, which, at a
moment's warning, could either be called forward or dismissed, and,
after all, maintained at no expense whatever? for it must ever be kept
in mind, +that we possess, and always have possessed, the power+; all
that, for five and thirty years, we have until lately in vain proposed,
is--to rouse it into action.
If the propriety and future utility of this project should be admitted,
there is one most important observation to be made. The characteristic
feature of this simple harness is, that having been invented for
unbroken horses, it possesses the singular military advantage of being
at once applicable to any sort or description of horse. But it is well
known to every reflecting mind, that there is no useful art which does
not, somewhere or other, require attention; and to this general rule
the American harness is certainly no exception; for though any horse
will draw in it, yet it does require, on the part of _the rider_,
considerable experience and attention. The single trace must be managed
in a particular manner, or, in turning, it gets under the horse's tail:
unless it is properly held in the hand at starting, the horse may break
it by the jerk. There are several other little precautions necessary,
most particularly in the mode of adjusting the surcingle, which
requires considerable practice and attention.
The many curious and indeed scientific applications and combinations
of power of which this simple harness is capable, form a beautiful
example of what even uncivilised man can contrive when his attention
has been long and steadily directed to a solitary object. And surely
the ingenuity and practical experience of one nation are worthy the
patient attention of another. But the apparent simplicity of many a
useful invention has often been its ruin; and this observation is most
particularly applicable to lasso harness, which is, in appearance, so
very simple, that it seems to require only to be seen to be perfectly
understood: yet, efficient as it is in America, and efficient as it
will be to any nation in Europe that will give to its merits sufficient
time and a fair trial,--yet, on some little experience and reflection,
it is most confidently stated that, as a theory, it certainly is _of
no use at all_; and the truth of this observation will at once be
proved by the complete failure and confusion which will inevitably
take place if our cavalry try the harness without first not only
patiently but cordially and zealously learning how to use it. Yet this
ought not, in common justice, to condemn the principle; for, could
cavalry, without some little instruction, succeed in driving even with
our own harness?--Could French coachmen, without practice, drive our
mails?--Could our English postilions drive the five horses of a French
diligence? And if driving is thus a science of many departments, it
would not be reasonable to expect that our cavalry should be able to
_drive_, merely because they have learnt to _ride_.
[Footnote K: To the 12-pounder Armstrong gun (which sighted to 8° gives
a range of 3000 yards) are now attached eight horses in harness, and
eight more on which the non-commissioned officers and men, including
horse holders, are mounted. Of these, four are supplied with web
breast harness and traces: to a proportion of the remainder lassos are
supplied.]
[Footnote L: On active service, when a gun sticks in very heavy ground,
it has been usual to place a gunner upon every unmounted horse, and, if
necessary, behind every driver on the mounted ones. By this additional
weight or power a gun has repeatedly been extricated and brought into
action.]
+How to Hobble and Anchor Horses.+
"_Hard pummelling_," said the Duke of Wellington to the Guards at
Waterloo, "_Hard pummelling, Gentlemen! Well, we must just see who'll
pummel the +hardest+._"
During the reign of Brown Bess the great battles of Europe were decided
very much in the manner above described.
Two armies met on a battle-field, or two fleets on "the wide, rude
sea," as in England two prize-fighters have entered a small space
encircled by ropes, to "see who'll pummel the hardest." In all three
cases, endurance, indomitable courage, and physical strength sooner or
later conquered.
As, however, in mechanics, a timid, puny boy, with the assistance of a
pulley, could drag towards him Mars or Hercules, so must the new arms
of precision lately invented, give victory, not to the bravest or the
strongest, but to whichever of two combatant armies shall exercise
their deadly weapons with the greatest amount of science.
And, as fortification has justly been defined "the art of enabling a
small body of men to resist for a considerable time the attack of a
greater number," so will, in future, the science of war consist in the
art of concealing by every possible artifice the general commanding,
his staff, his artillery, cavalry, and infantry, from the fire of
rifled cannon and Minié muskets, of which, when properly directed, it
may be said that almost "every bullet will have its billet."
On this principle, if England were to be invaded, it would be the
endeavour and the duty of the general on whose intellectual powers the
destiny of the empire would hang, to direct his army to take against
their enemy (after, in spite of his utmost efforts, they had effected a
landing), not, as in by-gone days, "_the field_," but rather possession
of the banks, hedges, and ditches thereof; to make every great mansion,
building, or village, by loop-holing their walls, a Hougoumont; every
railway embankment a covert-way and parapet; every hollow road a
protector or ambuscade for cavalry or infantry; the scarped summit of
every hill a battery; in short, by avoiding exposure, and by every
means that ingenuity can devise, to make the invaders, during every
step of their advance, smart under a lash, and fall from blows,
administered by a nimble, intellectual army which they feel, which they
are literally dying to see, but which is skilfully continuing, out of
their reach, to decimate their ranks, in order that when the great
battle is given, the invading army--though infinitely superior when it
disembarked--shall be reduced to a force inferior in number to that of
the stern, steady, stalwart defenders of their native soil.
It is evident, however, that to carry on war on the above principle, it
will be necessary that cavalry, in their equipment as well as drill,
should undergo a complete revolution, with a view to enable them in
future, in addition to the use of their sabres, to help artillery with
their lassos,--act as _mounted infantry_,--in short, make themselves
generally useful; for, at present, they form on a field of battle so
large a target, that under existing circumstances they would have,
either out of harm's way to sit on their horses all day long waiting
for an opportunity not likely to occur, or be destroyed by rifled guns
and muskets before their services could be required: in fact, as it
would be impossible for them to charge men in squares, or even in
position armed with muskets of unerring aim, they could be of little
use until after the battle was _won_, by following up the enemy in
their retreat.
Now, instead of being the dearest and the most useless, they would
become the cheapest and most efficient branch of the army, if, besides
occasionally using their lassos to help our Armstrong guns, &c., they
had power to skim along hollow roads, &c., to the vicinity of the
summit of a hill or any other position, from which, half or wholly
hidden, they could, with short Minié rifles, direct a deadly fire upon
an overwhelming amount of advancing troops, from whom they could gallop
away--only to re-attack them--the instant it became prudent to do so.
But to enable cavalry or volunteer mounted yeomanry to act in this
manner, how, it will be asked, could they manage to leave their horses?
To this important question we will reply, not by any theoretical
project, but by a statement of facts, which, though generally unknown
in England, have for many generations been in constant practice in
other parts of the world.
1. Throughout Russia, the Cossacks,--whenever for any reason, small or
large, they have wished to leave one horse, or a regiment of horses,
to stand alone, to ruminate either in the snow or on a verdant
plain--have, for ages, been in the habit of, as it were, riveting them
to the ground, by tying together their two fore fetlocks by a pair
of hobbles, to the centre of which is affixed a narrow strap that
buckles over the hock of one hind leg. By this triangular apparatus
(weighing less than one pound), which out of four legs leaves only one
at liberty, the animal physically and morally is completely paralysed;
indeed he is not only unable to move away, but after his first fall is
afraid again to try to do so.
2. In South Africa, farmers and sportsmen of all descriptions have long
been in the habit of what they term "anchoring" their horses by a lump
of lead, from three to five pounds in weight, carried in a small pocket
buckled to the outside of their near or left holster.
To this "anchor" is attached a piece of cord about ten feet long,
which, passing and running freely through both rings of the curb bit,
and hanging from them like a loose rein, is fastened to a =D= or ring
on the off-side of the saddle.
No time need be lost in displacing the lead from its pocket when
necessary, as it can be jerked out on the ground in the act of
dismounting.
When a horse has been thus anchored, if he attempts to move on, his
nose is brought down to his breast by the cord, which, tightening
equally on both sides, acts exactly like a bridle in the hand of a
rider; and as the pressure of the curb-chain ceases so soon as he
stops, he soon finds out that the best thing he can do is to stand
still and graze.
As the cord is not _fastened_ to either ring of the bit, but merely
runs through both, the pressure it exerts when the horse tries to move
is equal on both sides; and therefore, on the pulley principle, a lead
of four pounds weight makes it necessary for the horse to overcome
with his mouth a steady and continuous pressure of eight pounds on the
extremity of the bit lever before he can move forward. On mounting
hurriedly the cord is grasped with the reins, the anchor is raised, and
while galloping away is adjusted in its pocket.
Although this invention has proved to be admirably adapted for farmers,
for hunting and shooting, or for staff or engineer officers while
reconnoitring or surveying (for which purpose General Sir John Michel,
now commanding a brigade in China, has used it with great success), it
could not safely be applied to cavalry; for as the horse has power, if
he chooses to endure the pain inflicted by his bit, to "pull" or drag
the anchor, were he to run away with it, its oscillations would be very
dangerous in a camp.
To carry the additional weight of the anchor would also be considered
as an objection; but this could be entirely got rid of by any
intelligent staff officer affixing to a rope,--whenever he wished for
reconnoitring to tether his horse,--a stone, a piece of wood, or any
other heavy substance, which he would unlash and leave behind him so
soon as his object on foot had been accomplished.
3. In Mendoza, San Luis, Santiago, Buenos Ayres, and all other cities
in the provinces of Rio de la Plata, in Chili, and in Peru, whenever
a young dandy, calling upon his innamorata, is informed that she is
"en casa," that is at home, he dismounts, extracts from his waistcoat
pocket a beautiful pair of slight hobbles (weighing only two ounces),
which by two silver buttons he affixes to the fetlocks of his high-bred
horse, who, swishing with his long tail the innumerable flies that
assail him, and looking at every animal that canters by him, stands
stock still, until within the house all the compliments of the season
have been paid, and all the songs to the guitar exhausted.
In those countries every cavalry soldier carries a pair of such hobbles
for his horse, not in his pocket, but as an ornament dangling from the
throat-lash of the bridle.
By this invention a horse is not so thoroughly secured as by that used
by the Cossacks; and accordingly, if he be overfed, very fresh, and
greatly alarmed, he has power in a very awkward gait to move away.
On active service, however, where horses have more work than food,
it would prove efficient for a single horse, and would completely
arrest a troop when connected together by their collar chains, by which
arrangement a movement, however slight, by any one horse would be
restrained by the vis inertiæ of all the rest.
On the above suggestion being submitted by us about six months ago
to General Sir John Burgoyne, with the vivacity and energy that
distinguish him, he instantly directed it to be properly tested by the
mounted troop of the Royal Engineer Train, who, as regards both bridles
and saddles, are equipped as cavalry.
The result of the experiments, under the superintendence of Colonel
Henry Sandham, and the able assistance of Captain Duff, R.E., has
proved so eminently successful, that any one visiting Aldershott is now
enabled to see six or eight horses hobbled at intervals of about thirty
feet asunder, standing motionless, while the riders of the rest of the
troop to which they belong, with drawn sabres flashing in the sun,
are galloping through them backwards and forwards; and as of course
cavalry horses could be made to do the same, it has been substantiated
that that noble branch of our army, as also our volunteer yeomanry, by
merely carrying hobbles, which only weigh two ounces per pair, would
at once be enabled, in addition to other services, to act, whenever
requisite, as _mounted infantry_.
To an officer of the staff or engineers, sent to deliver an order to,
or to reconnoitre a locality which on horseback it would be certain
death to him to attempt to approach, a pair of hobbles would enable
him, or, in case of invasion, any possessor of a horse and a Minié
rifle, to ride as far as with safety he could advance, and then by
dismounting and securing his animal to creep, or if necessary, crawl
onwards along the bottom of a ditch, or behind any bank or hedge,
sufficient to conceal him from the fire of an army of unerring marksmen
to whom, after making all necessary observations, he could invisibly
administer deadly blows.
As, however, in future warfare it will of course constantly occur, that
appropriate cover in appropriate situations and directions will not
be available, our army, however perfect it may be made in the light
infantry rifle movements above described, should be discouraged from
_relying_ on them, lest such an idea should lead, not only to a timid
course of procedure on the part of the General commanding, but to a
conception in the minds of British soldiers, whose favourite weapon has
hitherto been their bayonets, that the odds will be much against them
unless they be hidden from the fire of their enemy.
+On Chloroforming Horses.+
In the first book of Genesis, although on the bursting out of light;
on the gathering together of the waters to let the dry land appear; on
the creation of the grass, the herb, and the fruit-tree; of the sun,
moon, and stars; of the fishes of the sea; of the fowls of the air; of
the beast of the earth, of the cattle, of every living creature, and
everything that creepeth upon the earth, we are informed by Moses that
on each of these successive formations "God saw that it was good;"
yet, the same six important words of approval were not (as in all the
previous instances they had been) especially uttered on the creation
of man, the reason possibly being that of the works of creation every
thing was fixed, and "of its kind" immutably "good," save human reason,
which, for the weal or woe of the favoured race on whom alone it was
bestowed, was gifted with an elasticity by which its character, capable
of being elevated or depressed to almost immeasurable distances above
or below the level of its original creation, might become either "good"
or evil.
And accordingly, while the heat of the sun, the light of the moon, the
brightness of the stars, the force of the hurricane, the velocity of
light, the movements of the heavenly bodies, the return of the seasons,
have neither increased nor diminished in the smallest degree; yet
human reason, since the moment of its creation, has never continued
within the same limits, simply because its cumulative powers have
enabled it to inherit, increase, and transmit knowledge which, by the
triumph of reason over immutable instinct, has, in accordance with the
Almighty decree, given to man dominion over the fish of the sea, and
over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth.
As property, however, in animals as well as in acres, "has its duties
as well as its rights," it might have been expected (at least by
_them_) that when the Lord of the creation thus obtained possession of
the superior physical strength of brute beasts, he would deem it just
to impart to them in return a small tithe or share of any discovery by
human reason that could alleviate the work which, in subjection to its
power, they were required to perform; and as in mercantile firms it is
usual for the partners to expend for their mutual benefit the amount of
the capital they respectively contribute, it might have been expected
that in the alliance which has taken place between men and horses, a
similar division of profits would have been adopted. But like "Irish
reciprocity," the advantages are all on one side; or in plainer terms,
Reason screws all it can out of Instinct, giving to the poor brute, its
owner, nothing in return.
For instance, when man found that his unshod horse could only carry him
per day a small number of miles, he invented for and presented him with
iron shoes, in return for which he required the wearer thereof to carry
him more than double that distance.
To the old fashioned lever, attached to the extremity of which a horse
revolving a mill could only draw up per day a small quantity of water,
or knead a small quantity of clay, man as he improved in mechanical
knowledge added a wheel, in return for which he required the quadruped
worker thereof to lift treble the amount of water, or to knead treble
the amount of clay.
Along the rough muddy roads that existed throughout Europe half a
century ago, a horse could with difficulty draw a single man seated
in his gig or "buggy." As soon, however, as by human science roads
were macadamised, _i.e._, levelled and improved, there arose as it
were out of them (like mushrooms in a meadow) innumerable descriptions
of four-wheeled carriages, in which the horse, simply because he was
enabled, was required to draw, in addition to his master, his wife and
three or four of their children.
When by the invention of railways the locomotive engine suddenly
superseded animal power, the horses, instead of sharing in a discovery
by human reason which seemed to promise to them emancipation from
slavery, found that by it they were merely to be transferred from good
highways to bad bye-ways.
If thousands of omnibuses, cabs, and canal-boats, which have been
plying seven days in the week, are suddenly restrained by human laws
from running on the Sabbath, the proprietors instantly diminish the
number of their horses, expressly for the purpose of continuing to give
to each the same amount of work and of rest, the latter, like "the best
of oats, beans, and chopped hay," being bestowed upon him solely to
enable him to perform the maximum amount of work.
In short, by the common rule of three, as well as by the common rule
of life, quaintly exemplified by the following extract, human reason
calculates that if 7000 horses are necessary to work for seven days per
week, only 6000 will be wanted to work for six days.
"+Sunday and Week-day Religions.+--The tides come twice a-day
in New York Harbour, but they only come once in seven days
in God's harbour of the sanctuary. They rise on Sunday, but
ebb on Monday, and are down and out all the rest of the week.
Men write over their store door, 'Business is business,' and
over the church door, 'Religion is religion;' and they say to
Religion, 'Never come in here,' and to Business, 'Never go in
there.' 'Let us have no secular things in the pulpit,' they
say; 'we get enough of them through the week in New York.
There all is stringent and biting selfishness, and knives, and
probes, and lancets, and hurry, and work, and worry. Here we
want repose, and sedatives, and healing balm. All is prose over
there; here let us have poetry. We want to sing hymns, and
to hear about heaven and Calvary; in short, we want the pure
Gospel without any worldly intermixture.' And so they desire to
spend a pious, quiet Sabbath, full of pleasant imaginings and
peaceful recollections; but when the day is gone, all is laid
aside. They will take by the throat the first debtor whom they
meet, and exclaim, 'Pay me what thou owest. It is _Monday_.'
And when the minister ventures to hint to them something about
their duty to their fellow-men, they say, 'Oh, you stick to
your preaching. You do not know how to collect your own debts,
and cannot tell what a man may have to do in his intercourse
with the world.' God's law is not allowed to go into the week.
If the merchant spies it in his store, he throws it over the
counter. If the clerk sees it in the bank, he kicks it out at
the door. If it is found in the street, the multitude pursue
it, pelting it with stones, as if it were a wolf escaped from
a menagerie, and shouting, 'Back with you! You have got out
of _Sunday_.' There is no religion in all this. It is mere
sentimentalism. Religion belongs to every day--to the place
of business as much as to the church. High in an ancient
belfry there is a clock, and once a week the old sexton winds
it up; but it has neither dial plate nor hands. The pendulum
swings, and there it goes, ticking, ticking, day in and day
out, unnoticed and useless. What the old clock is in its dark
chamber, keeping time to itself, but never showing it, that is
the mere sentimentality of religion, high above life, in the
region of airy thought; perched up in the top of Sunday, but
without dial or pointer to let the week know what o'clock it
is, of time or of eternity."--_American Paper._
It may be impracticable to prevent man from taking to himself the
_whole_ benefit of every ingenious invention by which the physical
power of the horse can be increased, yet surely, either by legislation
or by the power of public opinion, he should be required to grant or
rather transmit to the poor animal, as a gift from Heaven, the benefit
of any scientific discovery that may save him from unnecessary and
indescribable agony under operations almost all of which are prescribed
either for the self interest, pride, or fashions of his master.
But although the avowed object of the criminal laws of England is
to prevent crime by the infliction of a scale of punishments which,
fearful enough to deter the guiltiest, are all divested, so far as
science can devise, of bodily pain; although we deprecate any suffering
on the tread-mill beyond that of ordinary hard labour; and although
even for the murderer we have invented a machinery of rope, planks, and
bolts to produce a sudden and almost painless death, yet, until lately,
people of both sexes, of all ages, and of every sort and condition,
have under the surgeon's knife been subjected to tortures which it
would have been beyond the ingenuity of the most merciless tyrant that
ever existed to have invented.
The screams, however, which have resounded throughout the civilized
world--in private houses, in palaces, in cottages, on the field of
battle, between the decks of men-of-war, and through the doors and
windows of all public hospitals,--have lately, by the command and
blessing of Almighty God, been suddenly stopped by the administration
of chloroform, which now, diluted in the proportion of three parts
of vapour to ninety-seven parts of atmospheric air, causes a patient,
at no risk whatever of his life, and at a cost amounting to less than
two-pence, to be bereft, not necessarily of his senses, but merely of
sensation, while the knife, without the infliction of the slightest
pain, is performing on his living body the most appalling operations.
"And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and
he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh
instead thereof."
Now, if in return for this extraordinary alleviation, or rather
annihilation of all sufferings under surgical treatment, man should
deem it his duty to render public thanks to that Omnipotent Power from
which it has proceeded, is it possible for him practically to perform
any more acceptable act of acknowledgment than to allow the dumb
creatures in his service to participate in a blessing which, by Divine
authority, has been imparted to the possessors, not exclusively of
human reason, but without favour or exception, of animal life?
As regards his horses, the performance of this duty is especially
incumbent: for not only, like all other animals, are they liable to
the accidents and ills that flesh is heir to, but some of the cruelest
operations to which they are subjected--such, for instance, as cutting
off and cauterising their tails, burning their sinews with red hot
irons, dividing and cutting out a portion of a nerve, with other
excruciating operations on young horses, under which they are often
heard to squeal from pain--are inflicted on them, to comply with either
a useless as well as a barbarous fashion;--or to enable them "to go for
another season's hunting;"--or to make them "sound enough to sell;" or
for the attainment of conveniences of which the horse derives not the
smallest share: and as the high-bred, broken-down hunter has no voice
to ask for mercy,--as he cannot boast of possessing reason,--as he has
inherited no knowledge,--as he has no power to bequeath any,--as his
whole energies have been devoted to the service and enjoyments of man,
by whose mechanical contrivances he is now "cast" with his four feet
shackled together, lying prostrate on a heap of straw;--just before
the red-hot iron sears his over-strained sinews, or the sharp knife
is inserted into his living flesh--surely, in a civilized country
like England, some high power should be authorized to exclaim, not
"Woodman, spare that tree!" but "_Sportsman, +SAVE+ that horse!_" by
chloroform, from the agonising torture to which you have sentenced him!
You are a man of _pleasure_:--save him from unnecessary _pain_. You
are a man of business:--inscribe in that ledger in which every one
of the acts of your life is recorded, on one side how much _he_ will
gain, and on the other, per contrà, how very little _you_ will lose,
by the evaporation of a fluid that will not cost you the price of the
shoes of the poor animal whose marketable value you have determined, by
excruciating agony _to him_, to increase.
As he lies prostrate, all that is necessary to save him from suffering
the smallest amount of pain is, to desire the operator with his left
hand to close the animal's upper nostril, while beneath the lower one
he places a quarter of a pint tin pot, containing a sponge, on which is
gradually dropped, from a little vial, chloroform sufficient to deprive
him of sensation, which can readily be tested by the occasional slight
prick of a pin; and although, when thus lulled into an unconscious
state, the noble animal may, during a dreadful operation, possibly
dream that
"He sees war's lightning flashing,
Sees the claymore and bayonet clashing,
Sees through the blood the war-horse dashing"--
yet, on the restoration of sensation, which usually occurs some minutes
after the operation is over, he calmly awakens, raises his head, and
looks around, perfectly unconscious of all that has occurred to him!
In every point of view in which it can be considered, this boon,
granted by Heaven to the brute beast, should not be withheld from him
by man.
On Mr. Henry Thompson, the celebrated practising surgeon at University
College Hospital, and also at Marylebone Dispensary, being lately
asked, "What are the occasions on which you are in the habit of
administering chloroform?" he energetically replied, "_For everything
that gives +PAIN+._"
If, therefore, man to this enormous extent is benefited by chloroform,
what right has he to withhold it from his own animals, to whom, not
only in equity, but by the laws of God, it belongs as much as it
belongs to him?
Their claims are so affecting, and so obvious, the remedy that would
save them from all pain is so cheap and simple, that it is, we feel,
only necessary to appeal to the public to obtain by acclamation a
verdict in their favour.
Professor Spooner, in an address delivered by him to the students
of the Veterinary College in October last, stated that in the two
chief Veterinary Colleges in France--at Alfort and at Lyons--pupils,
twice a week for seven hours a day, are instructed in surgery by
the "_vivisection_" or cutting up of living horses, who, until they
actually expire, are subjected to a series of cruelties which, although
Mr. Spooner professionally described and deprecated, we dare not
repeat.
What a disgrace it is to France, and especially to her brave army,
that while every cavalry soldier who distinguishes himself in action,
covered with medals and "glory," may proudly end his days in the
Hôtel des Invalides,--the horse that carried him in all his brilliant
charges, &c., when _he_ is worn out and unfit for service, is liable
to be led into an arena in the heart of "The Empire," to be, before
the public, not honoured nor rewarded, but, inch by inch, and bit by
bit, to be dissected alive, until by the last sigh from his lungs, and
by the last pulsation from his heart, he ends his account with his
inconsiderate, ungenerous, and ungrateful country!
The _English_ veterinary surgeons of the present day are so far
superior to those of the last generation--they are so willing and so
proud to follow in their important vocation whatever new discoveries
may be humanely and successfully practised in our public hospitals,
that if our Sovereign, the Commander-in-Chief of our army, our
noblemen, sportsmen, and men of education, character, and wealth,
would but combine together in determining to _require_ that chloroform
shall invariably be administered to their creatures "for everything
that gives pain," the "fashion" would quickly be followed, even by
the most unreflecting portion of our community; and England, "great,
glorious, and free," would then stand distinguished in the world, not
only for the strength, stoutness, endurance, weight, and swiftness of
her animals, but by her _merciful_ protection of them under surgical
operations.
"=A righteous man regardeth his beast: but the tender mercies
of the wicked are cruel.="
+IN GRATITUDE TO+