The name of the Rev. James Buck, rector of Lavenham, deserves to stand
recorded as one of the most indefatigable magistrates who, uniting
authority with compassion, exerted himself to the last in the cause of
humanity.

The common arguments which have ever been adduced to show that we have
animals bred by nature for various sports, and that the poor man has as
great a right to his share of amusement as the rich man--that there are in
all countries animals originally formed and carefully trained to the
exercise of sports--must be admitted; but the Creator of Brutes and the
Judge of Man never can behold cruelty to animals without hearing their
cry; and although they are all evidently sent for the wise purpose of
affording food, and of contributing to the comfort and improvement of the
condition of man, they never were created to be abused, lacerated,
mangled, and whilst living, cut to pieces and baited by brutes of superior
race, depraved at heart and debased by custom.

If two men choose to stand up and fib each other about (saying nothing of
the practice), why let them do it; or if two dogs worry each other to
death for a bone, or two cocks meet and contend for the sovereignty of a
dunghill. In these last two cases the appearance of cruelty is out of the
question, and how much soever we may be inclined to pity, we are entirely
divested of the ability to blame. Dogs naturally quarrel; and any attempt
to reform and reconcile two snarling puppies, would be as inconsistent as
it would be foolish to abuse the nettle for stinging our flesh, or to
upbraid the poppy for its disagreeable and choking odour.

The true criterion of perfection to civilization is in proportion to the
kind feeling entertained, and the humanity practised, towards those
animals (in particular) which are subject to the immediate control of man.