CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—The recent debate in the House of Lords on the Pigeon- shooting Bill is instructive in respect of the arguments adduced both against and for the measure. One noble lord said the shooting of pigeons for sport was no more cruel than the shooting of pheasants at the end of a covert ; another, that it was less cruel than the driving of grouse. The Duke of Argyll said in reply he could only defend these customs as the means of killing animals for food which could not be otherwise obtained. Would he say the same of fox-hunting, or of the chase of the deer ?
• The latter animal is an article of food, but is there no other way of securing it than by the torture of a stag-hunt, or even by the less objectionable method of stalking ? It is as well to confess the truth at once,—that the charm in these things is simply the sport, and to meet honestly the question which is sure sooner or later, as genuine civilisation advances, to find a wide and eager discussion. Do such pursuits savour of humanity and refine- ment, or of cruelty and barbarism ? Nor am I the first to draw attention to this. You, Sir, have anticipated me, in the high probability that much of the brutality prevalent among the lower classes is due to the sporting practices of their superiors.—I am,
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