FOR PEACE AND WAR. 65 



to its operations, is produced entirely from a sense of public 

 duty, and an affectionate and conscientious belief, that in 

 using the knife it is only in the earnest hope that the 

 operation may tend to lead to a wholesome cure. 



A nebulistic assertion in a recent letter of Admiral Rous, 

 where danger, from no given cause, to the prospects of the 

 turf is announced, is an admission of internal decay, or 

 general deteriorating action, very painfully suggestive to 

 all well-wishers to " the national pastime." 



We may, from authentic records and traditionary asser- 

 tion assume that, though at no time in turf history 

 were there such fine specimens of good and grand thorough- 

 breds; neither used there to be, some years back, anything 

 like the vast numbers of unsound racehorses — wretched 

 abortions, and spindle-shanked deformities — as may be now 

 seen in the training stables of the country. 



Can we, if we are rational beings, for one moment fail to 

 deduce from given and patent facts, the perfect solution to 

 this state of things. Let us regard the past asj)ect of 

 affairs, and the introduction of a new era, that made its 

 advent with that deplorable system of handicapping, from 

 which, and short-cut racing, we may be enabled to show 

 the present lamentable want of soundness and stoutness 

 may be traced. 



Nearly everybody knows that the traditions of the turf, 

 and the annals of Weatherby convey to us the assurance of 

 more bone, power, and stamina in thoroughbreds during the 

 regime of the ancient system of severe contests, and weight 

 for age, penalties and allowances, over severe course^, than 

 we can now, in a general way, find. It is obvious that 

 under such conditions it would be quite useless to maintain 

 in training anything not able to compete on comparatively 

 equal terms with its opponents under heavy weights, and 

 cruelly severe ordeals of long distance heats. The obvious 



