“The social and friendly Dog, if by barking, in defence of his master’s person and property, he happens unknowingly to disturb his rest—the generous Horse, who has carried his ungrateful master for many years, with ease and safety, worn out with age and infirmities contracted in his service, is by him condemned to end his miserable days in a dust-cart, where the more he exerts his little remains of spirit, the more he is whipped to save his stupid driver the trouble of whipping some other less obedient to the lash. Sometimes, having been taught the practice of many unnatural and useless feats in a Riding-House, he is, at last, turned out and consigned to the dominion of a hackney-coachman, by whom he is every day corrected for performing those tricks which he has learned under so long and severe a discipline. [Add the final horrors of the Knackers’ Yard, to which sort of hell the worn-out Horse is usually consigned.]
“The Sluggish Bear, in contradiction to his nature, is taught to dance, for the diversion of an ignorant mob, by placing red-hot irons under his feet. The majestic Bull is tortured by every mode that malice can invent, for no offence but that he is unwilling to assail his diabolical tormentors.[308] These and innumerable other acts of Cruelty, Injustice, and Ingratitude are every day committed—not only with impunity, but without censure, and even without observation....
“The law of self-defence, undoubtedly, justifies us in destroying those animals that would destroy us, that injure our properties, or annoy our persons; but not even these, whenever their situation incapacitates them from hurting us....
“If there are any [there are vast numbers even now], whose tastes are so vitiated, and whose hearts are so hardened, as to delight in such inhuman sacrifices [the tortures of the Slaughter-House and of the Kitchen], and to partake of them without remorse, they should be looked upon as demons in human shape, and expect a retaliation of those tortures which they have inflicted on the Innocent for the gratification of their own depraved and unnatural appetites.
“So violent are the passions of anger and revenge in the human breast, that it is not wonderful that men should persecute their real or imaginary enemies with cruelty and malevolence. But that there should exist in Nature a being who can receive pleasure from giving pain would be totally incredible, if we were not convinced by melancholy experience that there are not only many—but that this unaccountable disposition is in some manner inherent in the nature of men.[309] For as he cannot be taught by example, nor led to it by temptation, nor prompted to it by interest, it must be derived from his native constitution.[310]
“We see children laughing at the miseries which they inflict on every unfortunate animal who comes within their power. All Savages are ingenious in contriving and executing the most exquisite tortures, and [not alone] the common people of all countries are delighted with nothing so much as with Bull-Baitings, Prize-Fightings, ‘Executions,’ and all spectacles of cruelty and horror.... They arm Cocks with artificial weapons which Nature had kindly denied to their malevolence, and with shouts of applause and triumph see them plunge them into each other’s hearts. They view with delight the trembling Deer and defenceless Hare flying for hours in the utmost agonies of terror and despair, and, at last, sinking under fatigue, devoured by their merciless pursuers. They see with joy the beautiful Pheasant and harmless Partridge drop from their flight, weltering in their blood, or, perhaps, perishing with wounds and hunger under the cover of some friendly thicket, to which they have in vain retreated for safety.... And to add to all this, they spare neither labour nor expense to preserve and propagate these innocent animals for no other end than to multiply the objects of their persecution.
“What name should we bestow upon a Supreme Being whose whole endeavours were employed, and whose whole pleasure consisted, in terrifying, ensnaring, tormenting, and destroying mankind; whose superior faculties were exerted in fomenting animosities amongst them, in contriving engines of destruction, inciting them to use them in maiming and murdering each other; whose power over them was employed in assisting the rapacious, deceiving the simple, and oppressing the innocent? Who, without provocation or advantage, should continue, from day to day, void of all pity and remorse, thus to torment mankind for diversion; and, at the same time, endeavouring, with the utmost care, to preserve their lives and propagate their species, in order to increase the number of victims devoted to his malevolence? I say, what name detestable enough could we find for such a being. Yet if we impartially consider the case, and our intermediate situation, with respect to inferior animals, just such a being is a ‘Sportsman,’ [and let us add, by way of corollary, à fortiori one who consciously sanctions the daily and hourly cruelties of the Slaughter-House and the Butcher.”]—Disquisition II. “On Cruelty to Animals,” by Soame Jenyns.
XIII.
PRESSAVIN. 1750.
AN eminent Surgeon of Lyon, in the Medical and Surgical College of which city he held a professorship, and where he collected an extensive Anatomical Museum. At the Revolution of 1789 he embraced its principles with ardour, and filled the posts of Municipal Officer and of Procureur de la Commune. On the day of the Lyon executions, under the direction of the revolutionary tribunals, Sept. 9, 1792, Pressavin intervened, and attempted to save several of the condemned. In the Convention Nationale, to which he had been elected deputy, he voted for the execution of the King; in other respects he was opposed to the extreme measures of the violent revolutionists, and in Sept., 1793, he was expelled from the Society of the Jacobins. In 1798 he was named Member of the Council of Five Hundred, for two years, by the department of the Rhone. The date of his death seems to be uncertain.