[ London Times ]
This newspaper, most correctly known simply as The Times, began publication in 1785 and continues to this day.
The August 31, 1867 edition of The Times published a length letter to the editor regarding the state of dog-control laws in England and the problem of dangerous dogs loose in the streets of London. Of particularl concern to this letter-writer, who signed his letter only "Common Sense," was the danger from dog bites, "one of the most dangerous injuries," which can lead not only to rabies but to lingering wounds that cause subsequent health problems.
Responding to an account in The Times, published just a few days prior, of an attack by a Newfoundland on an innocent passer-by, the letter writer argues at length that current English laws regarding dangerous dogs are insufficient, as they require that a dog being proven vicious by first having bitten someone else before a dog-bite victim can bring charges against the dog's owner. He then takes particular aim at Newfoundlands, arguing that they are, like other dangerous livestock such as bulls, an inherent danger:
And yet who so ignorant as not to know that all bulls are ferocious — not during every moment of their waking existence, perhaps; but they are proverbial for their treacherously savage nature — quiet one minute, and goring you to death the next? The same may be said of dogs, especially that species so numerous in our streets — the large, powerful Newfoundland retriever. The larger a dog is the more dangerous, because you are less able to beat it off or to escape from it. A small dog, though equally dangerous in respect of hydrophobia, if it fix its teeth, is not so difficult to defend yourself against as a big one. An ordinary Newfoundland retriever, for example, could reach your throat and face with an easy jump, and other vital parts without jumping at all.
The letter-writer concludes with a lengthy plea for new laws making it easier to punish the owners of ferocious dogs allowed to roam freely and unmuzzled.