FROM HOWL FOR 'RECIPROCITY' TO PRESENT DAY 231 



really wish to liave English horses admitted to run in France 

 with the same readiness with which ours are welcomed in 

 England ? 



There is reason to doubt it. And wc have the more cause 

 to be surprised at such a pretence, seeing that to this very day 

 English horses have shown far less alacrity in coming to run on 

 our racecourses than we have shown in admitting them. 



The conditions of all the great prizes, outside of the statutes 

 of the Societe d'Encouragement, were drawn up with a view of 

 attracting them. 



If, the Grand Prix de Paris notwithstanding, there was a 

 fear that we might not offer sufficient attractions, we made a 

 point of admitting them to the race for the Grand Prix de 

 Deauville. At Dieppe too we tried to tempt them by condi- 

 tions specially devised in their favour. In steeple-chases also 

 we showed no less alacrity, of which the Grand International 

 de Paris is proof. Nevertheless our pains were thrown away. 

 ... In the hope of obtaining a readier response to our in- 

 vitations we sacrificed our customs, in order that the races to 

 which we invited English horses should be run on a week day ; 

 but the invitations were nearly always declined. 



Lord Falmouth is well aware that the Societe d'Encouragfe- 

 ment is precluded from acceding at once to his demand for 

 reciprocity between the two countries ; and that, perhaps, is 

 why he makes a point of it as a ground for excluding us from 

 English racecourses. . . . 



Lord Ailesbury is not less an authority — quite the contrary 

 — than Lord Falmoath ; and the former refutes so cleverly and 

 logically the proposition advanced by the latter that it seems to 

 me useless to add a single word to his arguments. . . . 



I cannot refrain, however, from telling Lord Falmouth that, 

 if his proposal be carried, he will have done his country's horse- 

 breeding a very ill turn. England will have great difficulty in 

 maintaining her supremacy upon the Turf if she ceases to 

 assert it by fresh successes against foreign produce. As for us, 

 our position is excellent, should our neighbours warn us off 

 their racecourses ; for it will remain on record that we alarmed 

 them so greatly by our victories as to make them desirous of 

 retirinar from the contest. 



