CONCLUSION 365 



long while those yearling races which it now forbids al- 

 together, and which nearly everybody agrees to condemn. 

 It cannot be altogether exonerated from the charge of 

 allowing two-year-old racing (which in moderation is 

 good, perhaps, rather than bad) to be carried to ex- 

 cess, and of contributing to the multiplication of 

 short-distance races (which, no doubt, became more 

 numerous as yearling courses and two-year-old courses 

 grew more and more common, and of which it now 

 seems at last to have repented). It sanctions the 

 pernicious ' declaration to win ' (which can be turned 

 to villainous account) ; it has shut its eyes to all sorts 

 of scandals, until one of its own members has felt 

 called upon to protest ; and it has used its power of 

 ' warning off ' too often against petty offenders, and 

 too seldom against notorious scoundrels. It has 

 done absolutely nothing to diminish the evil of gamb- 

 ling, but, indeed, has rather encouraged it collectively 

 and individually (with a few bright exceptions). It 

 has certainly declined to settle disputes between bet- 

 tors, but that was obviously rather to escape trouble, 

 and the necessity perhaps of having a disagreeable 

 duty to perform towards some of its own members, 

 than to express disapprobation of the practice, and 

 to throw obstacles in the way of it. And until it 

 takes for its motto ' Delenda est Corona ' (to para- 

 phrase Cato's famous saying), and ceases to 'give facili- 

 ties to the King for plying its questionable trade, it is 

 ridiculous to suppose that a Legislature whose chief 



