THE RIGHTS OF AN ANIMAL.

THE

RIGHTS OF AN ANIMAL:

A NEW ESSAY IN ETHICS.

BY

EDWARD BYRON NICHOLSON, M.A.,

LATE SCHOLAR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD;

PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN AND SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LONDON INSTITUTION;
Author of" The Christ-Child, and other Poems,'

WITH A REPRINT OF

PART OF JOHN LAWRENCE'S CHAPTERS

'ON THE RIGHTS OF BEASTS,'

'ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPORTS,' AND
'THE ANIMAL-QUESTION,'

LONDON:

C. KEGAN PAUL & CO., 1, PATERNOSTER SQUARE.

1879.

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"By a recurrence to principles it will appear that life, intelligence, and feeling necessarily imply rights. Justice, in which are included mercy or compassion, obviously refer[s] to sense and feeling. Now is the essence of justice divisible? Can there be one kind of justice for men, and another for brutes? Or is feeling in them a different thing to what it is in ourselves? Is not a beast produced by the same rule and in the same order of generation with ourselves? Is not his body nourished by the same food, hurt by the same injuries; his mind actuated by the same passions and affections which animate the human breast; and does not he also at last mingle his dust with ours and in like manner surrender up the vital spark to the aggregate or fountain of intelligence? Is this spark, or soul, to perish because it chanced to belong to a beast? Is it to become annihilate? Tell me, learned philosophers, how that may possibly happen."-JOHN LAWRENCE.

"Milverton.

I distinctly hold that every living creature has its rights, and that justice, in the highest form, may be applied to it.

Ellesmere.

Every animal has its rights, according to Milverton. Why stop there? Every reptile then: every insect? Do you admit that, you Brahminical personage?

Milverton. Certainly. You may make me ridiculous, or, at least, try to do so; but you shall not make me inconsistent. Look there you see, at this moment, in front of the open window, a number of flying creatures whirling about in a mazy dance, and, as far as we can judge, enjoying themselves very much, and doing us no harm. They are not even touching any of that 'property' which the lawyers love so well. If you were to kill any of them at this moment, I think it would not merely be cruelty, but an invasion of right--an illegal transaction.

Sir Arthur. I think Milverton is justified in this assertion. You have no right to attack those creatures.”—SIR ARthur Helps.

OF THE MANY MEN, DEAD AND LIVING,

WHO HAVE PLEADED THE CAUSE OF THE HELPLESS AND DUMB,

I THINK THERE IS NONE TO WHOM I OUGHT RATHER

TO DEDICATE THIS LITTLE BOOK THAN TO

JOHN LAWRENCE

AND

SIR ARTHUR HELPS.

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