415 



None of the foregoing revolutions are impossible — they are probable. 

 That many of them, and others as great, will take place within the 

 next quarter century there can be no doubt. 



Do we not hear doctrines allowed by the authorities to be preached 

 in the most open manner, circulated further as they are by literature 

 purchasable at our bookstalls — doctrines which, if established, would 

 upset the extant laws and ideas of morality, doctrines which tell plainly 

 that no man has a right to anything more than has his neighbour, 

 that everything is to everybody the same as are air and water ? 



While those things, or some of them, are coming to pass, what is to 

 become of our Sports ? 



I have very strong conservative opinions, inherited as they have been 

 from ancestors similarly constituted, but I am far removed from a Tory. 

 I think, therefore, that all constitutional requirements should be 

 anticipated and should be provided before they are asked for. Pro- 

 spective adoption of necessary measures by legislature would main- 

 tain the longer the great institutions of our country. Moreover, 

 ccncessions when made voluntarily need be of lesser magnitude than 

 they necessarily must be when they have to be made under 

 compulsion. Without looking far afield we can see how these remarks 

 apply to Sport. 



From the days of Zenophon it has been the fashion of the passing 

 generation to think the rising one is not equal to their time, nor is theirs 

 equal to that of the previous generation. That is all nonsense. The 

 world is steadily improving in condition ; each succeedicg decade shows 

 plainly this to be the case. 



That the great national and social institutions of our kingdom have 

 been improved within our own memory is as self-evident as is the 

 improvement in the general condition of the humble classes brought 

 about by education and increased circulation of money. There are, of 

 course, individual items which are not improved, but on the contrary ; 

 while a spell of bad trading and agricultural depression which we are 

 now suffering from must be expected periodically. 



That many of our sciences are still in their nursery there is no 

 manner of doubt. The question is, will the further— not to speak of 

 the full — development of their resources, while it may exalt the mental, 

 won't degrade the physical capacity of our race ?— I wot not. 



Up to now our old sports have kept well in the general progress. 

 Some require assistance and iiiust get it, but others are on as good a 

 footing, if not better and firmer, than ever they were, while new and 

 highly important pastimes have been added lately to ihe list of our 

 manly games. 



The wheel of life has been revolving ever since the world began, but 

 of late years the velocity has increased to such an extent that the 

 spokes can scarcely be distinguished, so rapidly do they fly round. 



It is a pity that all classes do not alike share in the kaleidoicopic 

 whirl. There is no room for all ; one has to make room for another. Such 



