9 
conferred on the feeders have been injudiciously bestowed. 
But, as the writer justly observes, the object in view is not 
the promotion of such a system of feeding as shall bring 
cattle generally to that condition; it is to ascertain what 
breed will soonest and with the most inexpensive food 
become fit for the shambles. This view was brought out 
forcibly by the President at the dinner of the Club on their 
28th anniversary, when he combatted the idea that it was 
throwing money away to bring animals to such a degree of 
fatness as they had then attained. In the letter of the 
Scotch Breeder, in 1810, already alluded to, the writer is 
shrewd enough to see that because animals are brought to 
the Show in such a state of fatness, that ‘‘is no reason why 
they should never be killed untilin that condition; and such 
a breed as will get so excessively fat, will certainly become 
moderately so, sooner than another breed that can never be 
overfed to such a pitch with any degree of attention that 
can possibly be bestowed upon it.” 
In 1845 the Earl Spencer died, having been President 
20 years. As wecannot tell what the Smithfield Club would 
have been, or whether it would not have fallen to pieces 
without his efforts, so we cannot estimate the exact debt the 
Club owes to him. He was a born agriculturist, with 
views far ahead of those generally held in his day, and a 
manner and power over men which gave him the greatest 
possible influence in such matters. Many stories are told of 
his love for all things agricultural, and there was no surer 
way of gaining his attention, or securing an audience, than 
a hint that the business was relating to the subject which 
lay so near his heart. His opinion of the Club and its 
mission was very great, and his zeal in carrying out its 
objects indefatigable. He took charge of it when its fortunes 
were at the lowest ebb, and with infinite care and judgment, 
steered it into the safe harbour of prosperity. Whatever 
position the Club now holds, was assured to it by his efforts, 
and the members’ appreciation of his genial manners, his 
whole-hearted services, and the change of fortune these 
things brought them, was none too strongly expressed in the 
resolution unanimously passed at the meeting after his 
death— 
“That we desire to record our lasting gratitude to the late Earl 
Spencer, for his long exertions in the service of the Smithfield 
Club, which were neither interrupted by the discharge of more 
arduous duties, nor damped by retirement from public life, or by 
the advance of years; and also to express our affectionate 
veneration for his manly and noble character.” 
