The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-06 00:00:00

REPEAL OF THE GAME-LAWS.
(From the Times.)
AYLESBURY, MONDAY NlGHT.—Apublic meeting of
the inhabitants of Aylesbury and its vicinity was held in
the County-hall in this town this evening, for the pur-
pose of adopting a petition to Parliament in favour of
a repeal of the game-laws. The meeting was both
numerously and respectably attended.
Dr. LEE (of Hartwell-house) presided, and opened the
business of the evening by stating that the present meet-
ing had been called in consequerce of some gentlemen,
farmers, and others in the neighbourhood, having long
been of opinion that that the game-laws had been most
injurious to-the general interests of society ; that while
they afforded amusement and luxury to a few privileged
individuals, they were ruinous to the well-being of the
nation at large.—(Hear, hear.) The subject had been
growing in public interest year after year, and now many
influential gentlemen were determined to press it upon
the attention of the Legislature. In the course of last
summer Sir H. Verney, one of the magistrates, proposed
a resolution that application should be made to her Ma-
jesty's Government, with a view to induce them to bring
forward some measure to modify and improve the game-
laws ; and upon that occasion Sir H. Verney men-
tioned that nearly one-third of the persons in gaol
had been committed for infractions of the game-
laws. That resolution was seconded by himself, and
supported by two clergymen and another gentleman ;
but he was sorry to say that they were but five, and a
majority of 18 or 20 against them. The result, how-
ever, had not damped the ardour of the minority:4--
(Cheers.) After reading the notice of motion given by
anodfa plsroiso thens,
Mr. Bright for a Select Committee of the House of
Commons to inquire into the- operation of the game-
la ws,
statements of
of
byM sor.ne Williams,chapl chaplains in-
spectorof gaols as to the demoralising influence of those laws, the
Chairman adverted to a return obtained by Mr. Main-
waring of the number of gamekeepers murdered during
the ten years ending 1843, from which it appeared that
no fewer than 41 gamekeepers had lost their lives during
that period in protecting the game of lords of manors.
He was sorry to say that the first on the list was Charles
Coles, the gamekeeper of a clergyman of the Church of
England, one of those gentlemen who professed to be
the descendants of the Apostles, though Holy Writ did ,
not inform them that the • Apostles took out game
licenses, or went fox-hunting.—(Cries of " Hear,
hear.") The next was a gamekeeper to a relative
of Lord De Grey, in Bedfordshire ; the next case
was in Berkshire ; and then came, he regretted to
see, or.e in Buckinghamshire. In Cheshire there bad
been three such murders, in Derbyshire two, in
Gloucestersbire:one. To the disgrace of Buckingham he
was compelled to admit that another gamekeeper had
been killed in that county. In Northamptonshire two
had been murdered. From a return of the number of
persons convicted of offences against the game- laws in
1843, obtained by Mr. Bright, he found that there were
119 such persons who bad been convicted either at the
quarter or the petty sessions in Buckingham.—(Hear.)
Those details showed that the present meeting was
called for no light purpose, but one involving the com
fort, happiness, and lives of their fellow-creatures.—
(Hear.) However right it might be thought that Dukes.
Marquises, and Baronets should have their amusements
and pleasures, those amusements and pleasures were not
to be promoted at the expense of the imprisonment, ba-
nishment, and death of large numbers of their fellow-
subjects. Sir H. Verney stated last July, that out of
539 prisoners in Buckingham, apprehended during the
preceding year, 169 were offenders under the game-laws.
—(Hear.) The recent instance of the murder of the
Earl of Lichfield's gamekeeper bad created a most pain-
ful sensation in the publie mind ; and so impressed were
the Coroner's jury who sat on the inquest with the fact
that the game-laws were a fruitful source of crime, that
they made a unanimous representation in writing to that
effect, which had been forwarded by the Coroner to the
Secretary of State for the Home Department, and be
trusted that it would meet with due attention.—(Hear.)
lie bad hoped that Aylesbury would be the first in this
movement, but it had been anticipated by the parish of
Ruislip, in Middlesex; still the men of Buckingham had
the honour of being second in the field.—(Cheers.) He
was glad to see also that the Earl of Euston had issued
an address to the magistracy of Sussex upon the subject
—(Hear, hear.) To the old style of shooting he did not
object. _Formerly gentlemen considered shooting a pur-
suit which united exerciv and sport; they would go out
with their dogs, and iflln gilled two or three heads of
game, they were satisfied. • Latterly noblemen and lords
of manors had got into the practice of preserving game
to the amount of thousands upon thousands, and recently
they had adopted a foieign custom, to which they durst
not give an English name—the battue.—(Hear, hear, and
a laugh.) He regretted to find that persons of whom he
wished to speak respectfully, such as the Marquis of
Exeter, the Duke of Rutland, and others, had fallen into
the new fashion, which was, getting men to surround
and drive the game together, so that, instead of sporting,
it was downwright murder and massacre.—(Hear, hear.)
He was sorry to add, that in that very county there
had lately been a most heartless and brutal battue.—
(Hear, hear.) But it was attended with some not very
consistent formalities, for it appeared that the parties
first went to chapel to say prayer at nine o'clock, and
at ten they were ready for the battue. The massacre
was then perpetrated by eight or ten men styled
noble ; and to wind up all, the newspapers stated
that when it was over the band played " See the Con
quering Hero comes" as they returned.—(Laughter.)
While he readily acknowledged that the Duke of Buck-
ingham possessed many good qualities, he must say, that
his Grace was not likely to keep up his dignity, or to
win the esteem of his fellow-subects, by such proceed-
ings as that.—(Cheers.) It might look very well, while
he was surrounded by hussars, and yeomanry, and te-
nantry, having half-a-crown for their day's work, but
no true soldier, or sailor, or sportsman could approve of
such wholesale slaughter. Such doings were not con-
fined to the laity ; the clergy patronised them, and he
had heard of one clergyman who made the school-boys
of his parish beat up game for his battue.—(Shame !)
A petition to Parliament was about to be submitted to
the meeting, and he thought it would be well if copies of
it were sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
Bishop of the diocese, so that in their next milk and
water charges they might remonstrate, with their clergy
upon the subject.—(Hear, hear, and a laugh.) In the
neighbourhood of Salisbury, there had recently been
three betimes, which caused the destruction of 1,100
heads of game. His opinion was, that the game-laws
should be abolished, and that the law of trespass would be
quite sufficient to insure a gentleman sufficient game and
sport. His neighbours would protect his land, and his
tenants would get rid of a great source of disaffection.—
(Hear.) Any gentleman who would have the moral
courage to call upon Parliament to repeal the game- laws
would prove himself to be the farmer's friend. The game
preserver was not the farmer's friend, but his enemy, and
the persecutor of the labourer, loading the villages in
his neighbourhood with taxation to maintain the wives
and children of those he caused to be sent to gaol. The
game preserver was indeed the tyrant of his county,
filling the prison with inmates sent from his own do-
mains, and doing mischief to almost every other class of
his fellow-subjects.—(Cheers.)
Mr. GRACE re-echoed the sentiments of the Chairman
with regard to the game-laws increasing local taxation,
and proposed the first resolution :
" That this meeting have long beheld with regret the
moral, pecuniary, and social evils arising from the
operation of the game-laws, by which the labourer is
degraded, the farmer impoverished, society often dis
organised, and the amount of local taxation seriously in.
creased."

It was seconded by the Rev. W. MORLAND, and unani-
mously adopted.
Mr. SCRIVENER (a farmer) said he believed the game-
laws to be so bad, that it was impossible to amend them,
and therefore they should be got rid of altogether.—
(Hear, hear.) He believed them to be a crying evil. He
did not wish to curtail the sports of the gentry, but to
see them pay the expenses of their sports, and not lay
them upon other people.—(Cheers.) Had there been no
game-laws, he thought they might have been spared the
expense of a new prison, which would cost something
like 40,000L—(A voice, " Aye, and the workhouse too.")
He moved the second resolution:—

"That a petition to Parliament, praying for the total
and immediate repeal of the game-laws, be adopted and
signed by this meeting, and as many of the inhabitants
of Aylesbury and its neighbourhood as think proper to
affix their signatures."
Mr. J. MOORES (another farmer) having seconded the
proposition, it was agreed to nem, con.
Mr. GIRRS, sen., said that he was glad to see so
numerous an attendance, and to observe the presence of
some lads, for there was not a youth of fifteen years and
fße the
r-
upwards who was not interested in the object
oobjnectfr. o
meeting ; and after making a few remarks
lkoel%lie)n,g's
ppeatmitpiohnle:_t, he proposed the adoption of the fol-
OF GAnsEsEANT
n BLnEinT.A.is AND
" To THEIR lEILOANN. THED IN Co M3N PARLIAMENT
.
"The humble petition of the inhabitants of the town
of Aylesbury, in the county of Buckingham, and
ee
t 1 flfor some time viewed
with regret the moral, pecuniary, and social evils result-
your neighbourhood,
petitioners
ingfrohmiattsthe operation of the game-laws ; the protection
thereby afforded to game causes so great an abusdance
that it becomes a temptation to indigent and unemployed
labourers to transgress the laws, to the great injury of
their moral character and the loss of all respect for the
constituted authorities; that the game-laws consequently
entail on us, your petitioners, a large parochial expense,
as well as serious loss to the cultivators of the soil in the
destruction of their crops. That your petitioners have a
decided objection to partial laws, which secure sport and
amusement for the few to the great detriment of the ma-
jority of the nation, which laws have been the principal
cause of a large outlay in this county in the erection of
a new prison, and which laws have often occasioned the
sacrifice human lives and liberty in this and adjoining
counties. Your petitioners respectfully call the attention
of your Honourable House to the circumstances which
produced the lamentable murder of the gamekeepers at
Croom, in Warwickshire, and at Ode], in Bedfordshire,

and beg to express their full con, ea. 1.‘:: 17 IV
;.
tion 'Bade by the Coroner's jury in the
Deeply lamenting the continuance of thetta •
laws, so immoral in their tendency, so frill
destructive to human life and property,,,. • r'st
tent with the precepts of Christianitysitga.
most earnestly but respectfully entree
House to pass such measures as will c: :e • 'an ".
and immediate repeal. And your petitiortrilkom
Pray"
Mr. PERRIN (a farmer) observed, that he witnessed so
much mischief arising from the game-laws, that he could
not refuse to second the petition, which was thereupon
adopted with loud acclamation.
On the motion of Mr. ADCOCK, seconded by Mr., GUNK,
Mr. Bright was requested to present the same to tho
House of Commons, and support the prayer thereof.
Mr. BRIGHT, M.P., then came forward and was loudly
cheered. He expressed his gratification at the compli-
ment paid to him, in his being invited to undertake the
duty just imposed upon him. He had no connexion
with that town or county beyond that which every man
living under the same Government had with every part
of the country. He believed he had been incited because
of the interest he took in the subject. He conceived that
this meeting was a perfectly spotaneous movement. He
had intended to come to ft rather as a learner and a
listener than as a speaker, for although he might
know something of the game-laws theoretically, by
means of what he had heard and read, he came from
a densely-populated district, where the people bad
something better to do than to preserve game. What
he had now heard from the farmers who had spoken
confirmed his impression, and corroborated the state•
ments made at the meeting at Ruislip. The game-
laws were especially unsuited to the present condi-
tion of things in this country and the evils of
which they were the parent were beginning to engage
the attention of the country to such an extent that
the :slily was rapidly approaching when they must be
either greatly modified, or entirely abolished.—(Cheers.)
They were injurious to the farmer, by promoting' the
rearing and the maintaining of what was called a large
head of game. They were also very injurious to the
labourer by causing bad farming, and putting an irre-
sistible temptation before him to break the law. But
there was a general charge he would bring against the
game-laws. The landowners of this country had under-
taken to feed the people. It was common for them to
express their desire that this country should be inde-
pendent of foreigners for the supply. of food, saying
that the land of this country was sufficient to supply the
whole population with food. He was not going into
other questions. But the landowners having under-
' taken to feed the 27,000,000 of people in England and
Ireland, if there was reason to believe that these people
were not sufficiently fed, then it was the height of in-
justice and immorality on the part of the landholders to
keep up a very large quantity of game—a kind of ver-
min—to devour a large portion of particular food which
multitudes of the starving population would be glad to
obtain.—(Hear.) Every eater, as well as every grower of
agricultural produce, had reason to complain of the game-
laws. To the farmer, whether having a lease or not, they
were an injury and nuisance. The landowners of Eng-
land were in the habit of calling themselves the farmer's
friends, and of speaking in Parliament in favour of
protection for the farmer • yet they supported the game
laws, which formed one Of the greatest barriers to their
success. The farmersi n that neighbourhood were less
spirited ; they found it difficult to pay their rents. Some
were looking to Parliament for help, and some knew not
where to look, but were quite in despair. But the farmer
should consider who they were that maintained this
system, and whether it was not for their own pleasure
or profit. Then would come the question how far the
farmer's interests were identified with those of the land-
owner, and the consideration whether it was not worth
while for the farmers to take their own business into
their own hands.—(Hear, hear.) But farmers were ge-
nerally quiet men, and afraid to speak their minds, and
act up to their convictions. But he trusted that the
time would come when they would show greater inde •
pendence of spirit, and not mind so much what their
landlords and their agents and stewards told them. They
should unite together to obtain deliverance from those
evils which were forced upon them in consequence of
their own neglect of their own interests. The motion
of which he had given notice had reference not only to
the injury done to the farmer, but the demoralising
influence of the game-laws upon the labouring popula-
tion. He would put it to any minister or teacher of re-
ligion, whether he did not find all his efforts counteracted
verymuch in particular districts by the propensityto poach-
ing on the part of the labourers? In 1843 no fewer than
4,500 men were convicted of poaching in England and
Wales. A large number of them were sent to prison because
they could not pay the fines. It was equally certain
that many of them came out not simply poachers as they
went in, but hardened and deeply injured persons, by
contamination with men of bad character, felons of every
class.—(Hear, hear.) In 26 cases out of the 41 game-
keepers killed, as mentioned by the chairman, the co-
roner's jury had returned a verdict of " Wilful murder."
Was not that an appalling state of things ? And all for
the sake of providing a miserable gratification to a very
small portion of the public. In 10 years, then, 26
murders had been committed under the game-laws ; and
there was every reason to believe that some of the other
cases were cases of murder also. Not only had 26 men
lost their lives, but 26 murderers had been made. The
gamekeeper had been hurried into eternity in the midst
of a savage conflict with the poacher, who had been
tried, convicted, and hanged in the face of thousands ;
while the family of each was left without protection,
and that of the latter with the stain of having a parent
dying an ignominious death.—(Hear.) All this was
caused because a certain small portion of the community
was resolved to gratify a barbarous appetite for a bar-
barous pleasure, and to make laws severer in respect to
this species of property than those affecting other pro-
perty, the same being carried into effect with a rigour
that disgraced those who sat on the bench of justice.
—(Hear.) Game was styled property ; but not all the
laws in the Statute-book could mak it so to the
mind of the labourer. There was abundant proof of thas
to be found in the reports of the Parliamentary Commit-
tees which sat on the subject in 1823 and 1828 ; largo
game preservers who gave their evidence acknowledged
that they did not consider game property in the same
sense that they would a sheep or an ox. It was impossi-
ble to identify game, or to keep it within fences. Atter
some allusion to the murder of Lord Derby's game-
keeper, the lion. Gentleman observed that the Govern-
ment might not agree to his motion ; be believed they
would consent to the appointment of a Committee, as it
was impossible to make any great changes in the game-
laws without first obtaining more information on the
subject. He was quite sure that there was a large body
of the people anxious to have this question put on a pro-
per and satisfactory footing. When he got down at the
station at Cheddington. the first thing which struck his
attention was a field full of ant-hills, and next the multi-
tudinous chimneys of the union workhouse. These were
the features of Buckingham which first met his eye.
But if their county were cultivated as other counties in
England and Scotland were, their labourers would be 50
per cent. better off, the farmers would be in a condition
of greater comfort, and the landowners, instead of being
gods looked up to with fear rather than love, would by
their just conduct live in the hearts and affections of all
around them.—(Hear, hear.) He did not set himself up
as the farmer's friend. The time was coming when
the farmers would find out their friends.—(Hear, hear.)
But he would deliver the farmer from the tyranny
of the watchfulness of the gamekeeper.—(Hear, hear.)
The farmer durst not on his own land set foot on a nest
of game, nor pick up a half-dead hare. The farmer
should look about him, and search into the cause of this
degradation.—(Hear, hear.) Ile trusted that this
second meeting would lead to others, and that by union
and perseverance the attention of the Legislature might
be drawn to the subject. lie was not without hopes, nor
would he have his auditors to be hopeless; for, of late,
he had reason to think that the men who composed
the Legislature were much improved in tone, and that a
greater regard to public opinion than heretofore was paid
by both Houses of Parliament.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. Glues, jun., proposed a vote of thanks to Mr.
Bright, to the Duke of Grafton, and to Sir H. Verney.
Mr. POOLE seconded the motion, which was passed
unanimously.
Upon the motion of Mr. CAPE, seconded by Mr.
DicKiNs, a vote of thanks was presented to the High
Sheriff for the use .of the County-hall, and to the
Chairman for his services upon the present occasion.
The CHAIRMAN acknowledged the compliment, and
said he believed that two-thirds of the gentlemen who
sat on the magistrates' bench had been guilty of poaching
when young, and therefore ho was surprised at the se-
verity with which they treated poachers. He hoped they
would learn to be more lenient, particularly the clerical
magistrates.—(Laughter and cheers.) Having read a
nassage from a leading article on the subject of the game-
laws from a journal of that day, the Chairman declared
the meeting dissolved.

SIR EDWARD KNATcnnum..--There is no truth
.n the statements of some of our contemporaries that the
Paymaster of the Forces is about to retire from the Ca-
binet. It is true that the Right lion. Baronet has not
of late regularly attended the Cabinet Councils, but the
cause has been the illness of his daughter, and some
slight personal indisposition, and not a misunderstanding
between him and his colleagues.—Morning Paper.
FUNERAL OF TIIE MARQUIS OF SLIGO.--The re-
mains of the late Marquis of Sligo were interred on
j3ifeonnsdaai
riene
nt.h e catacombs The
mournfulo of e
et
rheem
oGeneralceremony
was Cemetery,
in a very private manner, in accordance
ex-
pressed wish of the deceasedwith conducted
the
and _ Peer, the funeral was
attended by only a small circle of the lamented noble-
man's family connexions.
MARRIAGE EXTRAORDINARY.—On Monday last,
at the parish church of Rochdale, James Crossley, aged
twenty-five, was married to Martha Wood, aged fifty-
five, both paupers. The bridegroom is double jointed,
and has two thumbs on each hand. The bride has been
confined to her bed, of rheumatism, for the last seven
years ; she had to be carried into the church by seven
men, colliers.—Ltrerpool Chronicle.
John Gladstone, Esq., of Fasque, has become the
proprietor of the estate of Phesdo and Pitnamoon, at the
price of 32,0001. This beautiful property libei nearly adjacent
to Fasque, and will constitute Mr. dladstone one of the
principal heritors of the parish of Fourdoun.—AberdPen
Herald.
[ADVERTISEMENT.]—A POOR MAN'S LIFE SAVED
BY HOLLOWAY'S PlLLS—Jeremiah Laughlin, a porter
about the quays of Dublin, was afflicted for years with
shortness of breath, spitting of phlegm, night perspira-
tions, and general weakness of body, a want of appetite,
sick head-aches, besides suffering much from the liver.
This roan was in the second stage of' consumption, and
not expected to live three months, when lie commenced
the use of Holloway's wonderful Pills, and, by their
means alone, he is now as strong, as hale, and as well as
ever he was in his life.—Sold (also Holloway s Oint-
ment) at the Establishment of Professor Holloway,
244, Strand (where advice may be had gratis), and by
almost all respectable vendors of medicine throughout
the civilised world,