CRISES IN ITS HISTORY. 27 



Now I (luitc fail to pcrcci\c that your club propose to respect the rif:;hts of 

 the Bcaglcrs. On the contrary, if tliey intend to Innit upon our country, it is 

 to my mind a clear proof that they do not respect them. 



I am also sorry to say that I am (piite unable to perceive what the rights 

 of your club arc. 



I may, perchance, be allowed to remark that not only in the above sentence, 

 but also from the whole tenor of your letter, you appear to assume the principle 

 that the Harrier Club have an abstract right to hunt upon any country which 

 they please to do ; or, supposing, for instance, they were a pack of foxhounds, 

 would have a right to go into the upper part of the county, and hunt the country 

 now hunted by the Cheshire Foxhounds. Now I would observe, with the 

 greatest respect, that I hold a strong opinion the direct reverse of this ; 

 therefore as our opinions upon the principle at issue are so utterly irreconcilable, 

 it appears to me idle to discuss the question. 



I observe you say you have exhausted every means of conciliation. Now, 

 without wishing to say one unkind word, I am not aware of any attempt at 

 conciliation being made. For months past the members of }'our club have 

 been misrepresenting the opinions of the Beagle Hunt, and freely using my name 

 in a most unauthorised manner. If this be conciliation, then I am sorry to say 

 I have again the misfortune to differ from you in opinion. 



It appears to me that the tone of your note is something of this nature : 

 that the Harrier Club are in the right and the Beagle Hunt in the wrong. In 

 fact, I think, that anyone who had to judge of the merits of the case from your 

 letter alone would come to the conclusion that the Harrier Club had held 

 possession of the country for twenty-five years, and that the Beagle Hunt were 

 now invading it. Such is my impression, but of course I may be mistaken. 



I have answered your letter simply because I should be sorry to be thought 

 wanting in respect or in courtesy, but you will perhaps allow me to remark, 

 that I cannot sec any advantage in the continuance of the correspondence. 



I remain, dear Sir, your faithful servant, 

 John R. Court, Esq. V. A. King. 



Claughton Park, Birkenhead, 14th December, 1868, 

 Dear Sir, — I, on behalf of the subscribers to the W'irral Harriers, cannot 

 have the remotest objection to the publication of our correspondence, though 

 I cannot see that the differences between them and the Beagle subscribers 

 are fit to become historical ; and I certainly have no wish that you should 

 appear in the unamiable position of attempting to interfere with the sport 

 of others, in matters which cannot possibly detract from your own. If we 

 act in concert, as indeed all reasonable men ought, in what earthly manner 

 can we interfere with each other's sport or diminish our mutual enjoyment ? 

 The Harriers only meet twice a week, and may, on an average, kill a brace 

 of hares. Can it be even pretended that so vast a destruction, in a district 

 comprising some 140 square miles, could deprive you of even a single run 

 in a quarter of a century ? If anyone ought to complain it really should be 

 the shooting gentlemen ; but they, with the generous impulses of sportsmen, 

 have chosen rather to subject themselves to this inconvenience, than to deprive 

 their fellow sportsmen of the pleasure of hunting the district. 



You really treat the Wirral Hundred as if it only contained a few acres 

 of cabbage garden, in which beagles and harriers could not possibly meet 

 without running their heads against each other. But, surely, the Wirral 

 Hundred is large enough for both of us. This extraordinary pretension of 

 the Beagle Club, to engross nl] flip capabilities of a large tract of country, 

 E 2 



