FOR PEACE AND WAR. 12.') 



titution to his pomps and vices of a glorious animal given 

 for different pm'j^oses — that has been his greatest physical 

 auxiliary in the march from barbarism to civilization — this 

 return, at even the eleventh hour, to the exercise of wise 

 natural laws in our equine economy will be, unquestionably, 

 attended with most satisfactory benefits, for — 



"If Nature be driven out with proud disdain, 

 The powerful goddess will return again ; 

 Return in triumph to deride 

 The vain attempts of luxury and pride ! " 



If we acknowledge the national misfortune forced upon 

 our appreciation by existing facts, and grant that we have 

 the remedy to a frightful evil in our own hands, what are 

 we going to do ? How harmoniously the nervous and 

 caustic suggestion of my gallant and able brother-in-arms, 

 " Picador," in Bell's Life, and " Vieille Moustache," in The 

 Field, harks in here ; he writes on this subject in March, 

 1871: — "'If you want a thing well done,' said his Iron 

 Grace, the late Duke of Wellington, ' do it yourself If the 

 state desires a good supply of horses in time to come, it 

 must 'set its shoulders to the wheel ;' and while pessimists 

 are lamenting the extinction of their favourite class of 

 horse, and optimists building castles in the air and enuncia- 

 ting visionary schemes, which can never be realized, the 

 state must work while others are writing or thinking. 

 Then, and not till then, will it be in a fair way to render 

 itself independent of foreign supply, or private enterprise 

 at home." 



Words of wisdom these. It is a state question, and is 

 only susceptible of treatment through national legislation 

 and aid. For, although in a wealthy country like this 

 private enterprise may, nay ! will answer to the demand for 

 supply through advanced market quotations, I am, from out 

 my practical experience, fully persuaded that though the 

 number of our general horses wiU surely increase under the 



