304 THE QUORN HUNT 



who had been master before Lord Hastings, courted the 

 suffrages of the voters of North Leicestershire as their 

 member, whereupon his opponent, Mr. C. H. Frewen, 

 wrote a letter to the Duke of Rutland to the effect that it 

 was always best to be straightforward in all matters, and 

 he added : — 



I do not think that Mr. Clowes's prospects of success in North 

 Leicestershire are very encouraging, but there is a decided feeling 

 with many that if he should be dragged in to represent the fox- 

 hunting interest, why, then the sooner fox-hunting is put an end 

 to the better ; and if it should so happen that he gets in, some of 

 us intend to do our best to clear the country of foxes, which can 

 very easily be done. When poor men have been turned out of 

 their land because they dared to vote for me in 1865, we shall be 

 quite justified in taking this course. A gentleman of large landed 

 property in the county said to me only on Saturday "that it was 

 monstrous bringing forward a man who had no property in the 

 county, and who had only been here a few years as a fox-hunter, 

 and who was shortly going to leave the county." 



I have written in the same tone to Mr. Tailby and Colonel 

 Lowther, in order that they may know what our intentions are ; 

 and if such a state of things should be brought about, the fox- 

 hunters will then have nothing to complain of, as they will have 

 been informed beforehand what our intentions were. 



(Signed) C. H. FREWEN. 



If there was any great difference in our political opinions, or if 

 Mr. Clowes was an owner of property in the county, things would 

 be very different. The Conservatives in this county have lost 

 two seats through their own foolish conduct — the Borough of 

 Leicester and South Leicestershire — both of which they had pre- 

 vious to the election in 1865, and if they lose any more seats they 

 will onlv have to thank themselves for it. 



To this the duke returned an answer that he failed 

 to see what possible bearing the return of either Mr. 

 Frewen or Mr. Clowes would have on the subject of 

 hunting, while he further challenged Mr. Frewen's state- 

 ment that poor men had been turned out of their homes 



