The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-04 00:00:00

The Fenian Pic-nic.

A Fenian pic-nic ! is a charming idea. Ten
thousand armed filibusters going through military
evolutions with their eyes fixed on a peaceful terri-
tory over the border of the land in which they find
shelter is a " truly rural" spectacle. What Canada
has to do with English misgovernment in Ireland
is a problem we have vainly attempted to solve.
Why should our unfortunate colony be kept in a
scare—why put to enormous expense—young men
taken from their honest employments—old women
terrified out of their wits—people's lives and pro-
perty endangered? What have the Canandians
done to deserve this treatment at the hands of the
Fenians ? If this be the only way in which the
Fenians can wreak their vengeance on England,
they had better drop their agitation, instead of
wading through such crime and misery to inflict a
blow which under no possible circumstances can be
felt injuriously in this island. If the Fenians suc-
ceeded in overrunning the province, in covering the
land with bloodshed and ruin, there would be little
injury inflicted on England, and Ireland would
benefit in no possible way that we can see. Two
infantry regiments are under orders to proceed im-
mediately to Canada, and the 13th Hussars will
land and be horsed in the colony. A sharp spur
has been given to the military organisation
of the Province, and no doubt a deep sense
will be long entertained throughout the land
of the wanton and unjustifiable attacks to
which they have been threatened and subjected.
Democratic principles are exposed to their most
violent assaults by the intemperance of those who
endeavour to carry out selfish and infamous schemes
under their shelter. If Canada were Ireland there
would be a colour of excuse for these threats and
invasions. Because the principles advocated by the
Fenians would find in that island the suppoirt of a
large, if an ignorant party. But in Canada nothing
could be more hateful to the inhabitants than to be
subjected for an hour to the rule of detestable fili-
busters, saturated with vice and bad whisky. What
a desecration of liberty is involved in the proceed-
ings of these plunderers. The danger of permitting
these armsd demonstrations of reckless and ruthless
men will be felt more strongly hereafter, and will
react injuriously on the United States. If Canada,
by a free vote of its inhabitants, chose to enter the
Union, she would go with the best wishes of the
English people. That such a union would be for
the benefit of both parties we are not prepared to
dispute ; but it should be voluntary, and not the
result of such an intolerable pressure. If such an
union be aimed at, nothing could be more ill-
advised than these detestable demonstrations against
the peace of the Colony, which can only excite
strong feelings of indignation and annoyance. The
Fenians are acting as firebrands, and can be pro-
ductive of no more good, and, perhaps, may be
productive of more than all the harm, of a general
conflagration.—Anglo-American Times.

My Dog and Gun.

(From the Sporting Magazine for September.)

It is always with considerable pleasure that sportsmen
welcome the return of the shooting season, though, it is
true, they are all one year older, for time admits of no
stand-still during the happiest hours of our existence.
And whilst we spend days and weeks of enjoyment and
delight, Old Time is all the while creeping upon us, and
bearing us onward so much nearer to that which may be
our last day's sport ; and he is always busiest and most
fleeting when our pleasures are at the highest pitch.
Grouse shooting has fairly commenced, and ere this
number of our magazine reaches the hands of our readers,
the season for partridge shooting will have arrived. There
are many circumstances which are calculated to inspire a
greater love for grouse shooting in the breast of a sports-
man than either partridge or pheasant shooting. In the
first place it is the earliest sport of the season with dog
and gun, and there is the greater pleasure in looking
forward to it all through the sultary weather of July, as
an approaching release from the toils of political and pro-
fessional life, and an opportunity of enjoying the cooling
breezes of the Highland and the moor. Nothing is more
refreshing and enjoyable after a hot July than a months
grouse shooting on a well stocked moor, but although these
among many others are reasons why grouse shooting
stands so high in the estimation of some sportsmen, there
are many who if they do not prefer partridge shooting to
any other, are at all events so passionately fond of the
sport that they look forward to it every year with an
eager desire and anxious delight. The present season
promises well for partridges ; it is generally spoken of as
a good season, the covers are large and the birds strong ;
and if not as good as last year, it may still be a very
favourable season. Last year was unusually good, but
then we had the advantage of a very warm spring and
early summer, which we certainly have not had this year.
But although the spring was cold it was not wet, and
therefore the young partridges would struggle through it
with far less danger than in a wet season.
Very great alarm was created in some parts of the High-
land this year as to the grouse, but it has proved generally
a groundlessalarm, for with a few exceptions it has turned
out a very fair grousing season, not an overabundant one,
but far better than was expected after the reports raised
by alarmists. The truest test, both as regards grouse and
partridges, is the state of the weather during the sitting
and hatching time. If dry and warm the birds are sure
to be abundant, if wet and cold, very scarce ; if dry though
cold, they are tolerably abundant. In fact, the little
fledglings can stand any weather but wet, they draggle
themselves to death in a few hours during a heavy rain,
the mud sticks like birdlime to their tiny feet and downe
bodies, and so completely gets the mastery of their feebly
little frames, that they lie down and die on the cold wet
ground. Those only escape which happen to find a dry
sandy shelter in some hedge or thicket, to which they are
led by their anxious mothers. A season may be too dry,
and if so, it has an injurious effect upon the young birds,
' which must have moisture frequently, and for this purpose
the heavy morning dews are of the greatest assistance to
them during a dry season.
We have the best of reasons for believing that in most
parts of the country whore game is preserved, sportsmen
will take the field this year with every prospect of sport,
and that there will be no need to complain of the scarcity
of birds. Sportsmen have, therefore, to be careful to pro-
vide themselves with good dogs, and go steadily to their
sport; and we strongly recommend all young sportsmen
during the early part of the season to read over very care-
fully some approved treatise on shooting, and as to which
we believe there is no better book ever published on the
subject than " The Dead Shot "—a little book that is well
known to be the work of a highly successful sportsman,
and the lessons contained in it on shooting and dog-break-
ing are clear, concise, and instructive ; and if well-digested
and remembered in the field, considerable improvement is
almost certain to follow.
A good dog is a great acquisition to a sportsman, but
such an animal is very easily spoilt by an inexperienced or
bad shot, and when such a man has ruined his dog, he
wonders wdy he can never fill his game-bag. We have
heard it said that it is impossible to spoil a thoroughly
well-broken dog if well bred. It is, however, by no ;mans
impossible. On the contrary, the best dog may be spoilt
by any man who is not, in the true sense of the word, a
" sportsman." And so it is that high prices are sometimes
paid for really valuable dogs which afterwards turn out
almost worthless. The whole art of shooting requires as
careful an apprenticeship as a business—that is to say, to,
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