"The Association for promoting Rational Humanity towards the Animal
Creation" exists--though, in one sense, as a blot upon the character
of the age. They publish the above Journal quarterly, assembling acts
of atrocity which make the blood curdle in our veins, and remind us
that "all are not men that wear the human form." The funds of
the society are not in a prosperous condition; the sand of their
philanthropy is well nigh run out, and fresh appeals are to be made.
Let us glance at the contents of, the _Voice_ before us. The subject
"Abattoirs contrasted with Slaughter-houses and Smithfield-market,"
is continued--a plan which we illustrated in _The Mirror_ about five
years since. True enough the Society write, but the people do not
consider; they are so wedded to old prejudices and habits, and the
mammon of money, that pestilential slaughter-houses are tolerated in
the midst of a "city of the plague," notwithstanding a law exists for
its prevention. Four hospitals are building in the metropolis--and
markets are increasing for the sale of the necessaries and luxuries of
life; the _Haymarket_ has been removed from a fashionable quarter to
the suburbs, that loaded carts may not obstruct carriages in their
road to St. James's, the Houses of Parliament, and the Opera--yet, not
a single, _Abattoir_--for the health of the people--exists near the
metropolis. The King and the Court patronize and plan horse-racing,
throwing the lasso, and, if recent report be true, hawking; the
Parliament legislate, a bill is "ordered to be printed"--yet, the
inconsistency and tardiness of these proceedings compel us to
ask, where is the truth of the motto--_Salus populi suprema lex_.
Convictions before magistrates for acts of cruelty are not uncommon;
yet, it is in this, as in many other laws, the poor are caught, while
the rich break through the meshes of the net. In the work before us
are recorded Mr. Osbaldeston's matches, including "the cold-blooded
cruelty towards the generous and heart-broken _Rattler_, in riding him
thirty-four miles in the space of 2 hours, 18 min., and 56 sec." Next
are four police cases of cruelties towards horses, bullocks, and cats,
the persons convicted being "of low estate." Yet there follows the
fact of _a respectable woman_ boiling a cat to death! and next is this
quotation from the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for April, 1789:--
"Died, April 4, at Tottenham, John Ardesoif, Esq.; a young man of
large fortune, and in the splendour of his carriages and horses
rivalled by few country gentlemen. His table was that of hospitality,
where it may be said he sacrificed too much to conviviality. Mr.
Ardesoif was fond of cock-fighting, and he had a favourite cock upon
which he had won many profitable matches. The last bet he made upon
this cock he lost; which so enraged him, that he had the bird tied
to a spit, and roasted alive before a large fire. The screams of
the miserable animal were so affecting, that some gentlemen who were
present attempted to interfere, which so exasperated Mr. Ardesoif,
that he seized the poker; and, with the most furious vehemence,
declared that he would kill the first man who interfered; but, in the
midst of his passionate assertions, he fell down dead upon the spot!"
If we be asked whether it be proper to regard _all_ such dispensations
as judicial inflictions, we reply in the words of Cowper above:
"'Tis not for us, with rash surmise,
To point the judgments of the skies,
But judgments _plain as this_,
That, sent for man's instruction, bring
A written label on their wing,
'Tis hard to read amiss."
[A contribution full of touching simplicity follows:]