FOR PEACE AND WAR. 77 



— the influence of the stallion being calculated in the 

 breeding of general horses as one hundred times greater 

 than the mare, for he may get one hundred foals, while a 

 mare, as a rule, only produces one — I think we may say 

 that the only thing we require in addition is to take care 

 that the meres for our war and general horses are left in 

 sufficient character and quantity in these kingdoms. 



I intend here to call the reader's attention to notices 

 from The Times, which I annex, and which speak trumpet- 

 tongued as to the sad state of things into which we have 

 drifted regarding the equine strength of the country, and 

 from which it is so necessary and absolutely imperative 

 that we should be released. 



The first thing to discover in its naked deformity to the 

 eye of the public and the legislature is this great festering 

 sore in the heart of the nation ; and having clearly exhi- 

 bited this objectionable and melancholy fact to exist 

 beyond hope of controversion or doubt, proceed to look for 

 the remedy, cure, and eventual abolition of the corroding 

 and debilitating evil, 



" Lord Rosebery's Commission," under royal warrant, 

 has elicited facts that, being officially vouched, give all the 

 cegis of high authority to the pen that reproduces in sup- 

 port of its labours salient points, elicited from the efforts of 

 the committee. At least, this is my individual opinion. 

 And be this my apology for the following lengthy extracts. 

 The first is from The Times, 15th August, 1873. 



THE SUPPLY OF HOESES. 

 We have before us, in a Blue-book of 350 pages, the result of 

 the Committee appointed on Lord Kosebery's motion to inquire 

 into the alleged deterioration of the breed of horses in Great 

 Britain. Thirty-nine witnesses were examined during a period 

 extending from the 10th of March to the 16th of June, and the 

 result may be best summed up in the concludiug paragraph of 



