THE SPORTING WORLD. 217 



strike me as strangely defective, for be it 

 recollected what may be termed a merciful law 

 as regards tlie culprit, is diametrically the re- 

 verse as relates to society who are open to his 

 malpractices. This defect consists in making a 

 fixed and known penalty the consequence of a 

 given offence. "We will suppose the punish- 

 ment of any public offence is imprisonment, it 

 is true that imprisonment may be curtailed or 

 extended to any degree between fixed periods, 

 say one month or six ; a man has only to 

 make up his mind whether the gratification or 

 profits of committing the offence weigh more or 

 less than the punishment, he knows he can 

 but get the six months let the worst come to 

 the worst, he chooses the alternative ; this I 

 cannot but think should not be. 



I am very far from meaning that I consider 

 the award of punishment should be left to any 

 judge whose peculiarity of feeling, or ideas, 

 mi2;ht make him at times unjust; his sentence 



