The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-14 00:00:00

THE BADGER HUNT.

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(From the Veterinary Gazette)
I have had a great many dogs in my time, dogs of every
breed and description—greyhounds and bulldogs, pointers,
pugs, terriers and Newfoundlanders—but I have never had
so clever, so sensible, so really good an animal as a cur I
called " Old Jack." His breed it would be rather difficult
for me to describe; his head showed a deal of the bull-
dog, and in his other points and appearance he showed
something of the wiry-haired Scotch terrier qualification.
Ho was the best-tempered old fellow in the world, but his
looks were of the most blackguardly ; his jaw was und-r-
-hung, and his white teeth put one in mind of an animated
rat-trap on a largo scale. I will tell you how I became his
master.

There were some steeplechases in our neighbourhood ;
after the due celebration of which "Old Jack" was seen
hangibg about the streets of a not far distant town, exer-
cising his canine intelligence in cadging about for some-
thing to eat. At this point in Old Jack's life there can be
no doubt that his motto was "grub." In the course of his
peregrinations, and in the exercise of his instinct, Old Jack
attached himself to a coalheaver's boy, and as this boy
spent the greater part of his life in a coal waggon trading
to the neighbouring villages, Old Jack, the coal waggon,
and the • smutty-faced boy became identified with each
other.

The master of the coal waggon, however, took a dislike
to Old Jack, and left him behind one day in a public-house
stable, with instructions to the ostler to kill him. I then,
fortunately for the poor dog, saved his life by offering to
become his owner, in settlement of . which transaction I
gave the ostler a shilling.
I soon found I had a valuable bargain—oranges at the
bottom of a bucket of water, rats in a barn, rabbits or
badger; Old Jack would grab at.; and, talking of badgers,
I'll give you an account of a badger bunt. This interest-
ing Sport is always pursued in the night, as Mr. Badger
does not venture out during the dtiy ; bo is a kind of quad-
rupedal owl, and leaves his hole about ten o'clock in the
evening, returning again ore the rising of the sun. Mid-
night, then, is the time to begin operations; and while the
badger is roaming about in search of wherewithal to satisfy
his hunger, the bold hunter takes a sack, round the mouth
of which he has placed a hoop,, to keep it open, and inserts
it into the badger's hole. Dirt is then to be thrown around
the entrance to the hole, and on the bottom of the sack, for
the purpose, if possible, of making the badger believe, when
he conies up, that he is proceeding in the way ho should
go; then there is a cord tied in a slip- knot, put round the
sack posteriorly to the hoop, and the bold hunter aforesaid
takes the other end of the said cord, and ensconces him-
self behind a 'tree, some short distance of, or in any
other position favourable to secrecy—l ought to have men-
tioned that, as a preliminary step. to this, all the other
holes should have been well stopped a night or two before,
so that there is only one, or at least two holes, with the
bags and the bold hunters, left for the badgers to enter—
all these arrangements being completed, the beaters and
the dogs wander round the coppice and about the hedges
in the neighbourhood, to drive the badgers back. Old
Jack was the boy for them ; if there was a badger within
half a mile, that blackguardly-looking cur would.scont him
out, and make lam go home a great deal quicker than he
intended to. It is not a very pleasant thing in the mean-
time for the sneaking Nimrod ; it is• absolutely necessary
that this enthusiastic sportsman should remain as quiet as
a mouse when the cat is near—a pipe is a thing not to bo
thought of, even a pinch of snuff would impregnate the
air with its perfume, and be fatal to the capture of the
keen-nosed badger. There ho must wait "lying to hole,"
shivering, listening, and waiting patiently for his game.
In the midst of a largo dark coppice, with the wind sighing
and moaning, and the trees croaking, a man of nervous
temperament is apt to imagine all sorts of dreadful things ;
sometimes hesees a ghost; anon, he hears unearthly sounds,
his senses become acutely perceptible to every little noise,
and he welcomes the badger, not as the victim, not as the
object for which he has come, but as a friend, to relieve
his solitude, and to make him really certain that there
is another living, warm-blooded animal in the world be-
sides himself. Hark ! here's one coming ; I can hear his
short, gruff grunt. Old Jack is after him ; the badger tries
a hole, I suppose, and finds it stopped—then I can hear a
regular scrimmage—that's Old Jack and the badger having
a shako up —now he's coming to the trap, as fast as he can
shuffle along—he's close now ! Old Jack gives him no
time to think, or to see the change in the entrance to his
abode—a grunt—a rush—in he has popped. I pull tightly
on the cord, which has the effect of closing the mouth of
he sack, and the badger is the prize of the • bty
hunter.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

HOUSE OF COMMONS. —LAST EVENING.
The SPEAKER took the chair at twelve o'clock.
FINSBURY ESTATE BILL.
Mr. AYRTON said that he introduced this bill in last
session of Parliament, and on the suggestion of the Go-.
vernment he postponed proceeding with it until the pre-
' sent period. He had hoped that he should haveb
allowed to proceed with the bill with the sanction of the
Government, but he now found that the bill was oppos not, it was true, by the Government, but by the Eccles
astical Commissioners. Tho hon. gentleman then
pro-
ceeded to detail the. acts of spoliation committed in forsitimes of property belonging to the Church, which, ho sa:er,
if directed into the proper chimed, would have been sufa-
clout to provide for the spiritual consolation and education
of all its members. Instead of that being done-the pm..
pert), had been given to Court favourite; and had become
the foundation of large fortunes. The Barford
estate, the Sntithampton estate, and others that he
could mention, had originally belonged to the Church, and
at the end of the present year another large, estate, for-
manly called the Manor of Finsbury, which lad been sold
to the Church by a very fortunate circumstance, would
pass into the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
The corporation of the city of London at the present time.
were in the receipt of the revenue accruing from this estate
under a lease which expired this year, when the property
would fall into the possession of the body he had men-
tioned. Tha Ecclesiastical Commissioner; he contended,
had failed to carry out the object for which they were ap-
pointed, and had been condemned by both Houses of Prir-
'lament, and instead bf attending to the spiritual wants of
the poor they gave all their attention and increased emolu-
ments to the rich. For this reason he introduced the present
measure, which asked for that a certain fund be set aside
to meet the necessitous cases of spiritual destitution out of
the funds arising, from the. Finsbury Prebendary. The
Ecclesiastical Commission had expended in certain au%s
mentations and other matters a sum of £209,000, but the
expenses in doing so amounted to no less than X 71,000.
The object of his bill was to set aside about a third of the
sum
thus squandered away in expenses• for the benefit of
those who stood in need of spiritual help in the metropolis.
Mr. HOWES opposed the second reading of the bill, on,
-the ground that the common fund of the Ecclesiastical
,Commission will be deprived of a large sum of money
amounting to £30,000 a year at the instance of a private
member of Parliament. He denied that the Ecclesiastical
Commission had disregarded tlie,Spiritual wants of the
metropolis, and if it was as a body so Inadequate to Perforek
its functions, as the hon. member stated, he thought that
Parliament would at once interfere. He looked upon the
present proceedings as a scramble to see who could get the
largest share of the common fund of the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners. The metropolis had its fair share of bane-
at of the common fund, which was created for augmenting
small livings and increasing spiritual help over the desti-
tute portion of the entire country. He moved that the bill
be read a second timo that day six months.
Mr. LEEMAN supported the amendment. He thought
the Ecclesiastical Commissioners had well distributed the
revenues of their common fund. He objected that one
particular portion of the metropolis should receive a large
grant from a particular property because it happened to be
situated within the city of London. Durham had contri-
buted largely to the augmentation of the common fund,
and yet they asked for no special favour.
Mr. B. HOPE thought it but fair that half the revenue
arising from the Finsbury Prebendary should be devoted
to London, which, as it had extended in size, had ieoreased
in its wants of spiritual assistance.
Mr. POWELL opposed the, bill, as -he thought the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners well administered the large
accumulated sum of money called the common fund. He
wished hon. members to recollect that crime, ignorance,
and poverty were not confined to the metropolis alone, but
existed in all the large towns in the country.
Mr. LOCKE thought the course pursued by the com-
missioners was a vicious one, because ecclesiastical aid
was only given to those who could help themselves. They
wanted to put into their wallet £60,000 a year without
giving the least idea of what they intended to do
with it. To such a course he objected, and therefore he
should give his vote for the second reading of the bill.
Mr. Goldney, Mr. Lusk, Mr. C. Hendrick, and Mr. Craw-
ford supported the bill.
Mr. BRUCE, while admitting the spiritual destitution
of the metropolis, considered that the money ought to go
to the common fund, and be applied to the general wants of
the country, instead of being devot cid to a particular district.
The Ecclesiastical Commissioners had power to make
special payments to curates in the mining districts, and he
thought that system might advantageously bo extended to
the metropolis. He thought it would be well if the hon.
member for the present suspended the progress of his bill
in order that some arrangement of that kind might be made
for the metropolis.'
Mr. HENLEY considered that the bill, if passed, would
be fatal to the general and just distribution of the common
fund of the ecclesiastical commission. It had not been
once stated that the metropolis had been treated fairly by
the commissioners, and if -the bill went to a division he
she uld vote against its second reading.
Mr. MOWBRAY urged on the hon. gentleman who in-
troduced the bill (Mr. Ayrton) to adopt the suggestion of
the hen. member 'for Merthyr Tydvil (Mr. Bruce). Ha
considered the bill would, if passed, form a bad precedent,
and therefore, if pressed, he should give his vote against
its second reading.
Mr. AYRTON declined to accede to the postponing of
the bill, and the house then divided, when there ap-
peered:l- _

- For the second reading 53
Against it B7
Majority against the second reading —34
JOINT STOCK COMPANIES (VOTING PAPERS)
BILL.

This bill was read a second time, and ordered to be
committed on the 3d of April.
ARMY ESTIMATES,
Mr. HUNT laid on the table the army estimates.
METROPOLITAN POLICE.
Captain GROSVENOR moved for returns of the total
number of the metropolitan police force employed in each
division, in each year from 1855, specifying the average
number on day and on night duty ; of the number of men
resigned and dismissed from each division in each year since
1855, and of the number of men of the force charged at the
police-courts with offences,specifying the offences charged,
the dates, and the decisions thereon, since 1855 to the
close of 1866.
The return was ordered.
METROPOLITAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
The following members wore appointed the Select Com-
mittee on Metropolitan Local Government :—Mr. Ayrton,
Mr. Tite, Mr. Bazley, Mr. Locke, Mr. Alderman Lawrence,
Mr. Knatchbull-Ilugeisen, Mr. Mill, Mr. Hanbury, Lord
John Manners, Mr. Beecroft, Mr. Turner, Sir William
Gallwey, Mr. Bentinck, Mr. Sandford, and Mr. Kekewich.
The house then adjourned.

The Springfield Republican says :—The United
States Grand Jury at New Orleans has failed to find
indictments against the July rioters and assassins.
The fact alone is worse than anything that the
Congressional Committee will be able to report,
even if they seek to make out the blackest case

possible, for it proves that public sentiment in that

Community is radically wrong. There is no dispute
as to the crimes committed; the guilty parties can
be identified, and the evidence is abundant ; and yet
a Grand Jury, selected from the most intelligent
and respectable citizens, fails to find indictments
against the assassins. Several Union men of that
city, men who have suffered great persecution and
loss for their loyalty, testified before the Committee
that the riot was a free fight between negroes and
Irish, such as might have occurred in any city, and
that the people generally were not implicated in it.
They may think so, but how do they explain the

fact that the local authorities have not proceeded
at all against the rioters, and that the first effort
made for their punishment by a United States
Court fails because the Grand Jury will not indict
as criminals ?

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holds that no rule is safer than to distrust men who
confidently announce their determination to achieve
impossibilities—most especially when the accumu-
lation of money is among their collateral objects,
and when its amount is certain to be proportioned
to the general credulity. 'lt acknowledges that no
doubt there are some among the leading members
of the Fenian Brotherhood who are upright and
conscientious persons, who have earnestly at heart
the ostensible objects of their society. But they
must now perceive how impossible it is either to
prevent or to punish deception iu connection with
affairs whose conductors are amenable to
no responsible tribunal. It
sup-
posed. that Stephens
under false pre-
tences, eg ht
prosecuted b e
for fraud in obtaining money
tones, but as no such action has been hintod
could
the presumption is 'that it could not be successfully
eaceful means ; and it
will probably set
is just because all such
Fenians are most likely
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faith contemplated by the
in all
that the
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and opposes them,
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doeshie Round rciel
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survey
t with unmingled regret either
the contemptible attitude of the late " Head
Centre" or the ridiculous position of his victims,