SPORTING INCIDENTS AT HOME AND ABROAD (FROM THE MS. LIFE OF THE HON. PERCY HAMILTON).-COMMUNICATED TO AND EDITED BY LORD WILLIAM LENNOX . 213 - M. W. Full Moon, 2 day, at 18 min. past 5 afternoon. OCCURRENCES. 1S Partridge Shooting Begins. 2 Thirteenth Sunday af,Trinity, s 6 43 F. 3 M Weymouth Regatta. 4T WARWICK RACES. 5 W Dover Regatta. r5 1414 RISES 1 91 30 afternoon 1 50 2 8 r 5 17 16 7 13 2 27 2 45 6 T Ct.-M.C.C. v. Norfolk, at Swaffs 6 3419 8 34 4 11 4 29 7 F 8S [ham. r 5 2420 9 5 4 47 5 6 9 Fourteenth Sunday af. Trinityr 5 272210 26 6 r 5 3024 13 T Ct.- England v. Kent, at Graves-r 5 33 26 14 F 15 S [ends 6 1627 2 38. afternoon 16 Fifteenth Sunday af, Trinity. s 6 12 NETS 22 S 23 1 34 1 57 Sixteenth Sunday af. Trinity. r 5 49 24 MCt.-England v. Scotland, at Perth s 5 53 25 T NEWMARKET FIRST OCT. MEET. r 5 53 26 W WALSALL RACES. 27 T CHESTER AUTUMN MEETING. 28 F 29 S Michaelmas Day. 30 Morn ing. s 5 4810 0 15 Sebenteenth Suuday af, Trin. s 5 3914 3 31 0 38 1 0 THE RACING IN AUGUST. BY CRAVEN. Ever the right comes uppermost. England has not hitherto been the land of arm-chair amusements. The turf and the chase, the rod and the gun, have numbered among their votaries the mass of those whose means allowed them anything beyond the vicissitudes of labour and rest. And those active sports still keep their ground, but with a difference-the sportsman of Queen Victoria's epoch has his evening as well as his morning to employ-conviviality is chastened, and music or conversation claims the hours formerly resigned to the bottle." Thus writes a Quarterly Reviewer of our day, a graceful and grateful commentary on the social progress which has attended our national pastimes as well as our graver pursuits. The great popular sports of England are now not only manly, they are gentlemanly also; and this without the mixture of one grain of coxcombry or foreign ornament. Hunting and yachting are quite robust enough for chivalry, and modern cricket might content any "gentle knight." Horse-racing is the pageantry of British sporting, as it relates to the million, and in its true spirit and intent is every way becoming those whose means render them independent of "the vicissitudes of labour and rest." It is said to serve certain rural interests-a question not necessary to canvass here. In the character of a great popular recreation it is proper and politic to promote it. As with an individual, so with a people, idleness is an inclined plane leading to mischief. requires to be amused; labour will take care of itself. France, after a series of the most daring experiments in social philosophy that ever astonished the world, has arrived at the conclusion that the true antidote for national disorder is the endowment of a national theatre. Jack Frenchman galvanized by a pas de Zephyr furnishes, no doubt, a forcible illustration of the human animal under the influence of a strong national enjoyment; but could all the ballets that were ever danced affect all the parterres that ever looked on as a Derby affects John Bull? Leisure It is the especial office of those who profess sporting literature to deal with, and coute qui coute discourage and discomfit, all causes of offence which either prejudice or principle may justly object against popular sports and pastimes. Gambling is a just cause of objection-brutality is a just cause of offence. Professional betting is gambling-fighting for hire is brutality. It must be conceded that prodigies of " pluck" have been enacted within the ropes of the P.P.; but as betting became the end and purpose of pugilism, the prize-fighter's "dreadful trade" was shorn of the fascination which its brute bravery was wont to exereise upon hardy natures. As horses for a race, men were handicapped for a mill." Then followed the ordinary machinery of the odds, and the ring became a bye word for scorn. And how has it fared with the turf since horse racing was made the profession of the sharper, and of him whose hand is against every man's? Dawson was hanged because 66 he was a vulgar rogue and dealt in arsenic: the modern "nobbler" is au fait at homœopathy, and anoints his victims with Croton oil. The turf has been and is assailed by rascality in every conceivable and inconceivable form. Legs in legions beset it; the locusts of the sweeps and lotteries are eager for another flight should opportunity offer; there are hands ready to "pull" or hammer," and heads rife with every species of ruffianism. Newspaper advertisements are not bulletins remarkable for bona fides in any case, but those which now from day to day introduce some new "Racing Bank" or "Club" to public patronage are enough to make the printers' devils weep. Knavery driven from many of its older sporting resources-routed from the roulette and "rowly-powly" of the race-course-forestalled in pugilistic and pedes trian "plants" by the performers-curtailed of its darling Derby Sweep-denied the forlorn hope of the Qui Tam-has betaken itself bodily to the betting-ring In these circumstances surely it is not convenient that any facilities should be afforded to those who make mankind their game. That so it is, as regards both the morale and physique of the course, is past peradventure. Therefore I have watched its policy and management with -it may be, an over-anxious care. Much of the machinery of the turf is out of gear. The rules are, many of them impotent-many of them mischievous. The system of handicapping is power given to the few for the grievous grinding of the many. Its pretence is the promotion of sport-its effect is the encouragement of chicane and the reward of sharp practice. If, I repeat, it be the office of the journalist to watch the policy of social life, and point out that which is good and that which is evil in it, especially is it the duty of the sporting writer to be awake to the events that are passing around him, and to bestow upon his readers the benefit of his note and comment; for no subject of interest to civilization is so lamely and impotently cared for as that within the province of his observation. When, a week or two ago, the House of Commons condescended to turn its wisdom upon the practice of steeplechasing, one honourable member thus spoke concerning that amusement "He" (Mr. Pryse)" said he had ridden a great many steeple-chases himself, and he denied that this was a sport more peculiarly liable to accidents, or more cruel than either racing or hunting." Now, without offence-Is that the fact? or could Mr. Pryse have meant the assertion literally? What proportion do the race-horses killed and maimed in a year bear to the steeple-chasers that break their backs, and necks, and limbs, during their season? This is what sporting has a right to complain of it takes injustice at the hands both of friends and foes. In the same debate the Attorney-General indeed spoke to the purpose. The conversation turned upon a clause sought to be introduced into the "Cruelty to Animals' Bill," whereby a penalty of £100 should attach to the practice of steeple-chasing. "His (the Attorney-General's) objection to the clause was that it did not make steeple-chasing illegal. His opinion was that this sport ought to be put an end to altogether, and that a separate bill ought to be brought in for that purpose. Horse racing was a manly sport, promoted for the improvement of the breed of horses; but the steeple-chase was far otherwise, and a most improper and objectionable practice. The infliction of a penalty, even of £100, would not prevent or put a stop to it, because those who betted would contribute the amount of the penalty amongst them." That's it! Betting-as a business—does it all: the bullock to the butcher's, the steeple-chaser to the knacker's-for a consideration......If Lottery alive on four whole legs be worth £1,200, and Lottery dead with four broken ditto be worth £12,000, in which state would Lottery be of the most value?...... Steeple-chasing, handicapping, all abuses which appeal directly to men's sympathies or their pecuniary sufferings, work out their own reform with a speed proportionate to the character of the evil. But though the "still small voice" warns against the "facilis discensus” of the gambler's career, it is with a whisper too gentle for those than whom, says the proverb, there are none so deaf-such as will not hear. With these there is but one plan of treatment to which even the hope of success attaches. Keep the danger ever present to some of their senses- -if they have any left. Parade it perpetually before their eyes. Roar it as Richard did the name of Richmond, or the Times its warning against railway ruin-with a Stentor's lungs incessantly into their ears. Let it arise what time, hour, and haply reflection's angelic visit offer a fitting scene, like the ghost of Banquo, and "push them from their stools.' It is Charity's crusade-never fail or falter by the way. To" wise saws" join " modern instances." Point to the examples plenty as blackberries-which mark the moral you would inculcate. It needs no extreme experience of the turf to call to mind those whom men loved to honour, that passed from the betting ring to ruin, to despair, and to death. Therefore is it not lawful and right to denounce the custom which makes professional gambling part and parcel of the sport of horse-racing-to expose its system and devices, and declare their influence and result? It is evil, that practice of the ring, and for that cause it must work the effects which come out of wrong-doing: soon or late truth must prevail-" ever the right comes uppermost.' Goodwood races, with the exception of the first day, fell this season in August. Goodwood is the Elis of the modern turf. Its accessaries are all essentially appropriate to a passage of " noble horsemanship.' Art never reared such a hippodrome as the hand of nature has spread upon its velvet downs. For a festival al fresco there is not in the kingdom a site more grateful or more glorious. How goodly an accompaniment of pleasure is the evidence it offers to every sense of peace and plenty the assurance it affords of a community in which men dwell together in harmony-the glimpse it gives the sons of this working-day world of a golden age! The Duke of Richmond is an English gentleman; his domain is after the fashion of the stately homes of persons of his condition in this land. He is an advocate and patron of the manly sports of the country, and one who pursues and embellishes its rural life. He is the type of its natural aristocracy-of their tastes, their object, and their office. Is there in the spirit of red republican policy a substitute for this order? Will the advocates of change-the popular philosophers-point out a social system in existence that brings forth better fruit?.....The character of the great meeting in Goodwood Park was formed, by the late Lord George Bentinck, after the severest racing |