78 



when not only our national sports, but many other British institu- 

 tions, may be supplanted, or possibly be uprooted altogether, through 

 fanatical ideas of " humanitarian morality " and advanced opinions 

 culminating in socialism and communistic disposal of all men's pro- 

 perty. 



Those days may be far off, and as we cannot " pierce the veil of 

 the future " we should be ever vigilant and take preventive measures. 

 This book treats solely with sport, so to those alone who, from 

 mistaken notions of humanity, or other more or less righteous 

 motives, strive to interfere with our national sports, I would say 

 that without hunting the whole breed of foxes would, within a few 

 years, be ruthlessly swept off the face of the three kingdoms by 

 poison or other means, and none of the money shortly to be alluded 

 to would be spent in this country, for men would then go abroad for 

 amusement. While, as it is, foxes are well cared for during the whole 

 course of their lives, except during the very short time they are 

 being hunted ; and when they are killed, the means are infinitely 

 more merciful than those of trap or poison. Shooting and fishing, 

 too, afford an easier death to birds and fishes than that dealt them by 

 their natural enemies or the net. 



If the ultra-righteous people to whom I address these remarks 

 were to wage war against those who practise the diabolical cruelty 

 of cock and dog fighting, badger-baiting, rabbit-coursing and trap- 

 pigeon shooting, etc., or engage in the pernicious habits of gambling 

 or tippling, they would undertake a better work. But let them 

 leave the national sports of our country to sportsmen. 



It is all very well for these good people to say that the money 

 which is spent upon sport should be devoted to the relief of those 

 people in the country who have none of the luxuries and few of the 

 necessaries of life. Very righteous remark. But does not every 

 shilling spent on sport go into the pockets of people, many hundreds 

 of whom would be without the necessaries of life if sport was given 

 up in Britain ? 



I now leave this phase of my subject with the hope that what I 

 have written may be of some utility, and that no one, not even the 

 young men who come from a distance to hunt, will take offence at my 

 remarks. In the next chapter I shall endeavour to show how 

 important hunting, as an institution, is to the nation from a monetary 

 point of view, as distinguishable from its sporting aspect. 



