Page:Henry Stephens Salt - A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays.pdf/99

Rh ways of striking a death-blow ! One can imagine how indignantly these young warriors would have repelled the notion that they were common murderers, and have shown (by an argument exactly similar to that of our modern sportsmen) that they slaughtered their victims not for the sake of killing them, but for the pleasure of graceful swordsmanship.

The excuses offered by sportsmen, in justification or palliation of their pursuit, are indeed so remarkable, and occasionally so ingenious, as to deserve special attention. We are often reminded by the writers in Land and Water, and other sporting journals, that ﬁeld-sports are “national,” and hence it is concluded that they are praiseworthy ; it being conveniently ignored or forgotten that there are such things as national errors, as well as national virtues, and that the error of a nation is even more calamitous than the error of an individual. Another amusing justification of sport is that the animal has “a chance of escape,” and therefore there is no cruelty; as if an agonising uncertainty were better than a speedy and merciful death ! Again, it is often asserted that shooting, ﬁshing, etc,, must have a beneficial G