RANDOM THOUGHTS ON HUNTING. '2'Ji 



and the penalty insufficient to deter from a repeti- 

 tion of tlie offence. Besides, tlie poacher may injure 

 you scarcely the less, while he keeps himself free 

 of the legal toil. He whistles a dog into your pre- 

 serve, at night, or at early dawn, and lurks in the 

 neighborhood, until the deer, startled from their 

 fancied security, leap the inclosure and become his 

 prey. Or, should your fence be so strong and high 

 as to prevent the escape of the deer, a torch thrown 

 into the dry brush-wood, during the high winds of 

 March, envelops it in flames, and your labor and 

 expense are made unavailing by a casualty (so 

 called) which, nevertheless, you feel to have been a 

 design though you cannot legally prove it! In 

 this instance alone, the principle of the anti-rent 

 excitement is at work with us ! 



With this single exception, the rights of property 

 are as religiously respected in our community, as in 

 any other that can be cited ; and I am of opinion 

 that the unwholesome condition of public sentiment 

 in this particular instance, is mostly an affair of 

 inoculation. It is derived from the laboring emi- 

 grants" fro in England, who, mixing with the opera- 

 tive classes of our own white population, inspire 

 them with their own deep disgust at the tyranny of 

 the English game laws. "When they descant upon 

 the oppressions which have driven them from 



