8 
Half-bred  Horses  for  Field  or  Road  : 
and  in  the  most  friendly  and  neighbourly  manner,  met  my 
request,  and  favoured  me  with  a characteristic  letter,  together 
with  a large  parcel  of  papers — printed  and  MS. — from  which, 
with  his  correction  and  approval,  I have  prepared  the  following 
Paper : — 
“ Highthorxe,  May  30, 1882. 
“ Dear  Lord  Cathcart, 
“ I enclose  you  my  evidence,*  and  that  of  many  of  the 
most  experienced  men  both  of  the  old  and  present  time.  You  will 
see  that  all  who,  like  myself,  have  had  experience  in  knowing 
what  the  stallions,  mares,  hunters,  hacks,  harness-horses,  soldiers’ 
horses,  and  racehorses  of  forty,  fifty,  and  sixty  years  ago  were, 
before  railways  and  foreigners — the  one  taking  away  the  best  and 
soundest  mares  and  stallions,  the  other  making  people  think 
there  would  be  no  demand  for  inferior  horses — prevented  people 
breeding,  and  those  who  continued,  after  selling  their  best  mares, 
found  it  an  unprofitable  business,  are  all  of  one  opinion,  that 
horses  are  neither  so  good  in  quality,  nor  so  good  to  find  as  for- 
merly. Young  people  who  never  saw  the  old  class  of  horse,  say 
they  are  superior,  and  much  improved.  I have  no  hesitation  in 
saying  there  were  formerly  better  horses  travelling  the  country 
and  that  would  serve  half-bred  mares  than  you  can  now  find  at 
the  fashionable  studs.  See  the  comparison  of  those  named  in 
my  letters.  My  memory  has  become  treacherous,  and  you  will 
get  more  information  from  the  evidence  before  the  Lords’  Com- 
mittee and  the  different  letters  enclosed  in  the  parcel  | I send 
your  Lordship  than  anything  I can  write  now,  even  if  I had 
time.  When  Phillips,  J the  most  experienced  man  I know,  was- 
going  to  be  examined  before  the  Lords’  Committee,  he  wrote  to 
ask  me  to  give  him  my  opinion,  and  it  was  in  consequence  of 
his  showing  my  letter  to  Lord  Rosebery  that  I was  much  sur- 
prised by  being  suddenly  called  upon  to  give  evidence : I was 
the  only  man  who  recommended  the  dealer’s  licence  to  be  taken 
off,  and  the  tax  to  be  taken  off  farmers’  young  horses ; people 
were  annoyed  at  being  called  upon  for  12/.  10s.  by  the  tax- 
* Report,  Lord’s  Committee  on  Horses,  Session  1873,  known  as  Lord  Rosebery's 
Committee. 
t “ The  old  Sportsman  ” of  * Sporting  Gazette,’  March  2-1,  1877  [pencil — “ I 
don't  think  I could  ever  write  your  Lordship  so  good  a letter  as  this”].  Other 
letters  and  papers  in  print  and  MS.  Correspondence,  local  Yorkshire  papers, 
private  letters.  Letter  to  Phillips,  1873.  4 Sporting  Gazette,’  March  22,  prefaced, 
“ the  letter  of  an  eminent  authority.” 
t Mr.  Henry  Richard  Phillips,  of  Wildsden  Paddocks,  formerly  a dealer  in 
horses  and  army  contractor,  a man  of  great  experience  both  in  the  home  and 
export  trade;  experienced,  as  he  told  the  Lords’  Committee  in  1873,  in  every 
capacity  connected  with  horses  of  every  class,  from  troopers  to  hunters.  It  is 
said  that  the  greater  part  of  the  unrivalled  English  stud  of  Napoleon  III.  was 
selected  by  Mr.  Phillips. 
