THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



the law, to visit, with the utmost severity of that law, those 

 who dare to desert that mode of defence which nature has 

 given, and which time has almost sanctified in their own 

 country, and who have chosen to adopt that foreign practice of 

 employing instruments of this description against an opponent. 

 Gentlemen, the practice of boxing has often been a sul)ject of 

 discussion in this country ; I must say, that it seems to me a 

 practice that may be very advantageously encouraged to a 

 limited extent. It is, in some sort, a law of peace, for it dis- 

 courages the use of unfair means of attack : it prevents 

 malicious retaliation ; it only enables men to employ, fairl}^, 

 advantages they may naturally possess, and from the abuse of 

 which they are restrained by the point of honour ; and while 

 it encourages a proper English spirit, it prevents courage from 

 degenerating into brutality, and secures men from the treachery 

 and malignity of those whom they have offended." This 

 language,' said the Captain, ' is corroborated by the well- 

 known fact that, in Lancashire, where fair boxing is very 

 little resorted to in quarrels, there are forty cases of man- 

 slaughter for one that takes place in any other county in 

 England. Then, as to the charge of cruelty on the part of the 

 promoters of boxing, it cannot be sustained in the face of evid- 

 ence to the contrary. Where is there a more humane man 

 than Jackson, the present captain of the ring; or Thomas 

 Belcher, the champion of all England ? Within four miles of 

 where we are now sitting, are two promoters of the ring — the 

 worthy master of the hounds, and Mr. Henson — than whom 

 the world cannot produce two kinder-hearted men. Who will 

 accuse me of cruelty towards man or beast ? ' added the 

 Captain emphatically ; ' such was never my disposition ; and 

 I can honestly assert that, so far from having witnessed in the 

 ring anything having a tendency to make me so, I have wit- 

 nessed the display of feeling and conduct productive of the 

 most opposite effects. Only let public pugilistic contests go on 

 as they are now conducted — with honour and credit to the 

 parties concerned — and, my word for it, they will be the source 

 of infinitely more good than harm to society.' 



' The sentiments you have given utterance to,' observed 

 Raby, 'are precisely those which I myself entertain, and 

 which I have oftentimes availed myself of when arguing the 

 subject with my uncle. I remember reading to him a passage 



233 



