SPORT: ITS RELATION TO THE STATE 339 



Certain members of the Anti-Gambling League 

 argue that because the police are employed to 

 keep order at race meetings, the State should have 

 the power to dictate to the Jockey Club the regula- 

 tions under which race meetings should be held. 

 I have seen policemen both outside and inside 

 Exeter Hall, but I have not heard of the House 

 of Commons resolving itself into committee for the 

 consideration of the rules under which the May 

 meetings should be held. The Anti- Gambling 

 League was ostensibly promoted in order to pre- 

 vent betting on sporting events, since people lost 

 money who could not afford to do so. If the 

 League had been consistent in its practice, it would 

 have agitated for an Act of Parliament to prevent 

 ladies suffering from religious mania giving donations 

 out of proportion to their incomes for the benefit 

 of unscrupulous hypocrites. The late Mr. Charles 

 Dickens, writing of the "No Popery" riots of 1780, 

 has told us " that what we falsely call a religious 

 cry is easily raised by men who have no religion, 

 and who in their daily practice set at naught the 

 commonest principles of right and wrong ; that it 

 is begotton of intolerance and persecution : that it is 

 senseless, besotted, inveterate, and unmerciful." From 

 the time of Simon de Montfort history tells us that 

 it has been the wisest policy of English governments 

 to allow the people to govern themselves in regard 

 to national sports. When the interests of sport 

 demand the interference of the Legislature, then it is 



