The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-20 00:00:00

_Az=
eo.
vii„ les. • 0\
1 tousle There may come a time Vies X;4
4 • 'ir?,
will cease to hold its present tingt,Oilatiig‘/,e27
curious inquirer into the meanino2!? -
phrases may have to search a glossaryijor t e-17
-
planation of the word "turf." But that time, we.
believe and hope, is still far distant. Regarded irre-
spective of those adjuncts which unfortunately have
now become inseparable from it, the practice of
breeding and training horses with the view of de-
veloping those
qualities with which nature has en-
dowed them, and subsequently testing by actual
ewxhpiecrhi mh
ae vneb
t the
been
resultsn s e
employed,the
ladn ds e theem o
time
one which ought to be long-lived. It seems
per-
fectly intelligible why the savage amusements in
which the people of past ages delighted
have gone
to
out of fashion. The gladiatorial shows
ancient
Rome have no parallel at the present
day. o . n
Bear-
baiting has disappeared from this couli.ry, and
bull-fighting, there is reason to hope and believe,
will shortly cease to be the chief national amuse-
ment of the Spanish people. But whilst we pride
ourselves upon the excellence of the motive which
has made horse-racing what it is in this country,
and the harmlessness of the amusement itself, we
would do well to consider whether horse-racing,
considered in its entirety with those adjuncts to
which we have already alluded, does not contain
‘sithin itself the seeds of its own destruction. Eliza-
beth honoured boar-baitings with her presence ; the
present Sovereign, until prevented by affliction,
annually visited in state a neighbouring heath, and
sanctioned what she considered to be a becoming
national amusement. The time may come, however,
when the reigning Sovereign,with his or her Court,
would sooner attend a horse race than her present
' Majesty would think of going to see an unfortunate
bear confined in a pit and worried to death by dogs.
That the " turf" is no longer what it was is a
fact which does not admit of dispute. It has sunk
below its former level. It is not composed of the
same men ; we doubt very much if it has the same
code ; and it certainly furnishes scandals more fre-
quently than of old. The objects of the turf have
also become singularly changed. Formerly the end
of horse-training was, as it ostensibly is now,
the improvement of the breed of horses. Then bets
were made on the trials of skill to which horses were
subjected; but the practice of making them was, so
to speak, ancillary to that of testing the merits of
the horses who ran. It is now, however, different.
Betting is the all in all of the racing man. Even the
cups and the other prizes awarded to the owners of
successful horses have ceased to possess that sub-
stantial attraction which they once possessed. To
come in first past the winning post according to the
present system, by which the making of " good
books" is the great end and aim of the horse breeder,
although it may make the owner possessor of a
valuable prize, will inflict upon him a pecuniary
loss by diminishing the odds given against hishorse
for future races. Hence the interest a man may pos-
sess in losing a race, an interest which in the infancy
of horse-racing was happily unknown. It would be
idle to multiply examples, or to show that horse-
racing, unless conducted on principles of honour
which many " respectable" men on the turf would
consider Quixotic, is little else than a mockery, a
delusion, and a snare. It is impossible to divest
horse-racing of its concomitant evil, the practice of
betting; and when this evil has attained itspresent
gigantic proportions, we may well tremble for the
security of the . difice which it has already begun
to undermine. The race-courses of England unfortu-
nately hold out the same temptations as the gam-
bling establishments in Germany, the licensing of
which we so pharisaically deprecate, and many a
man will know to his cost to-day that he can lose
his money with the same facility on the green sod
at Epsom as on the green cloth at Hambourg or
Baden-Baden. It is indeed to be regretted that an
innocent and really meritorious amusement should
be inseparably wedded to one of the most degrading
vices with which humanity is cursed.

COURT OF ALDERMEN.

A Court of Aldermen was held yesterday at
Guildhall. The Lord Mayor presided, and there
was a full court. Among the aldermen present
were Messrs. Copeland, M.P., Wilson, Humphery,
Sir J. Duke, M.P., Sir R. W. Carden, Finnis, Sir
F. G. Moon, Abbiss, Mechi, Phillips,Gabriel, Chal-
lis, Carter, Allen, W. Lawrence, Besley, Gibbons,
Waterlow, and Alderman and Sheriff J. C. Law-
rence. Mr. Under-Sheriff Farrar was also in atten-
dance in his official capacity. Mr. Under-Sheriff
Mackrell was prevented from being present by in-
disposition.