HISTORY or HEREFORD CATTLE 



132 



that I perceive by a communication in your 

 March number that Mr. Sotham has lost some 

 of that comity ot feeling with which he pro- 

 fessed to enter into, the discussion of the rela- 

 tive merits of the Shorthorns and the Here- 

 fords, more especially that he has, without 

 pausing to consider the pain and injury it 

 would inflict, spoken m terms falling little 

 short of utter disrespect of the breeding skill, 

 and even the knowledge of what constitutes the 

 valuable points of cattle, possessed by Mr. You- 

 ATT^ Hon. Henry Clay, Mr. Hepburn, and late- 

 ly, my humble self. No man, 1 will venture to 

 say, intimately acquainted with Mr. Sotham, 

 values him more highly than I do, and I have 

 ever believed that he was by no means properly 

 apfireciated by a large portion of our breeders. 

 "I well recollect with what profound pleas- 

 ure I hailed Mr. Sotham's communication from 

 England (published in your October number), 

 that he was on his way to this country, 'with the 

 best lot of stock ever seen together,' and his 

 modest challenge to the owners of the best cat- 

 tle in America, to meet him at the cattle show 

 at Niblo's in October. It is an affair of more 

 magnitude than every one may suppose for one 

 man to buy up 'the best lot of stock ever seen,' 

 even in the small Island of England, and I 



could not help fancying the deep mortification, 

 the unavailing regrets of such men as Earl 

 Spencer, Mr. Bates, and other English breed- 

 ers, when they ascertained the fact and found 

 that the broad Atlantic rolled between the 

 aforesaid 'lot' and England. What deep and 

 lasting gratitude then should every American 

 have felt towards so great a public benefactor. 

 But alas ! all know that the 'ingratitude of re- 

 publics' has passed into an adage. The fair 

 day arrived at Niblo's, and witti it arrived ilr. 

 Sotham, with the Hereford cow (with the 

 aliases) that 'won the first prize at Oxford, 

 1839, against all England;' the cart mare and 

 cart colt, 'allowed by the best judges to be as 

 good as England could produce;' the twenty- 

 four rams that 'could not be beaten even in 

 England ;' and lastly, 'the pigs of various de- 

 scriptions, the best that could be procured in 

 England.' Mark the astounding sequel. The 

 cow that 'beat England' was beaten by an Amer- 

 ican-bred Durham, though rumor says that Mr. 

 Sotham actually condescended to wait person- 

 ally on the committee, after they had retired to 

 their room for consultation, for the generous 

 purpose of imparting his superior knowledge of 

 what constituted the true excellencies of cattle, 

 and to inform them in what low estimation the 



WOOTON CHURCH, OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND. (The cross marks location ot the Sotham tomb.) 



