The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-28 00:00:00

who looked to those things far better deserved the character
of English gentlemen, than those who merely dwelt
amongst their tenants for the purpose oF enjoying the
pleasures of the chase.—(Cheers. ) Ore mode of enjoying
sport was called the battue system. He had never seen it
himself, but he heard it descrited, and he believed it consisted
in the sportsmen standing in a line on both sides of a wood,
and firing upon the game, which were driven within the range
of the ninnies of the guns which were driven out by persons
employed for that purpose. It was pretty evident that none of
the game csuld escape. He would say nothing ridiculous of
this system, because it. was not worth it.--( Hear, hear.) It
was too absurd for ridicule.—( Hear, hear.) A person might
-as well go to Leadenhall-market and put the muzzle of his gun
upon the game in the baskets, and havieg killed them all, c use
home with a quantity of game and enjoy the reputation of a
good sportsman.—( Hear, hear.) If there was anything more
unsuited than another to the character of England it was this
system.—( Hear, hear.) The maintenance of this system of
gains-laws would counteract all their efforts for the improve-
ment of the poor, and now more than at any former period
they showed their sympathy for the poor. All their legislation
lately was in some -say or other connected with the poor.—
( Cries of " Hear, hear,") The Noble Lord the
Alernber for Dorset (Lord Ashley) to whom he gave every
credit for the honesty of his motives, boil half-a-d}}zen plans
every session, cud the lion. Member for Hereford introduced
a Bill connected with the allotment system, and not only in
that Hou,e, but in the country, amongst the higher and middle
classes, there was a sincere and anxious desire to promote the
happiness and comforts of the poorest classes.—(Cheers. ) lie
had d.-awn no exaggerated picture of the operation of the game-
Ews, and he thought he had stated sufficient to induce the
House to grant the Committee which he asked for.--(Hear,
hear.) But he did not want a sham Committee.—( Hear, near.)
He did not want a Committee composed of persons who took
extreme views on either side.—( Hear, hear.) All he wanted.
was a fair, honest, and impartial Committee—(Hear, hear)—
which would go through the question, beginning, middle, and
end.—(Hear, hear.) He did not object to the fair sports of
the rich, but the interests and rights of the poor were not to
be sacrificed to them.—( Hear, hear.) He had endeavoured
to state his case without uttering a harsh expression against any
class er person. He could state with the utmost sincerity
that he did not harbour in his breast an unkind feeling towards
any individual in connexion with this subject.—( Hear, hear. )
But he had seen the sufferings of thousands of the poor and
the defenseless, to whom the law should be a protection, and
for whose especial good parliaments and constitutions were in-
stituted.--( Elear, hear.) He had seen some sacrificed under
this system—he had seen others led out to receive the dreadful
sentence of the law, while the public sympathy was in their
favour; and seeing and knowing those things, he called on the
Government and the Legislature not to assent to a principle, or
to give the aid of their influence or encouragement to a system
productive of such grave evils, not to one, but to every class—
not to one district, but to the entire kingdom. 'I he Hon.
Gentleman concluded (amidst loud cheering) by moving for a
Committee to inquire into the operation of the game-laws.
Dr. BO WRING seconded the motion.

Sir JAMES GRAHAM said, that though the Hon. Gen-
tleman had occupied a considerable time in the delivery of his
speech, he had no fault to find with its tone or temper—( Hear,
hear)—more particularly as regarded his elosing remarks, in
which he (Sir J. Graham) cordially concurred. The Hon.
Gentleman, on this question, had done justice to the gentle-
men of England, and he thought the Hon. Gentleman esti-
mated rightly the feelings of the House when he said he
hoped there would be a general disposition, in the present cir-
cumstances of the case, to sanction a full, fair, and dispas-
sionate inquiry. He heard the Hon. Gentleman with satisfac-
tion when he said that there was no higher sphere of actioa
than that of a country gentleman who inspected the state of
his labourers and tenants, watched over the wants of the poor,
ministered to their necessities, and afforded them the means of
education ; and he must say that he felt a pride and honour
(however imperfectly he performed those duties individually)
in being one of that class. He was confident, if
the fact had not been notorious before, that the
result of the Committee would show that the
gentry of England had fulfilled their duties.—( Hear, hear. )
And, as a sportsman, he would say that the enjoyment of field
sports was not inconsistent with those duties.-- (Hear, hear.)
He thought the lion. Member had laid sufficient grounds for
inquiry, for in the course of the last two or three years most
lamentable circumstances connected with the preservation of
game had forced themselves upon the notice and attention of the
public, and they had not escaped the consideration of the Go-
vernment.--( Hear, hear.) lie would state the reasons why he
thought an inquiry—a fair and impartial inquiry—such as the
Hon. Memberdesired, would be politic. Since 1823 there was
no inquiry instituted by the House of Commons into the opera-
tion of the game-las s. An inquiry took place before a Com-
mittee of the other House in 1828, and that Committee recom-
mended that game should be made property, and should be pro-
tected as property. In 1831, Lord Ali horp, as the representative
of Earl Grey's Government in the House of Commons, pro-
posed alterations in the then existing game-laws. The feudal
distinction of the possession of property as a necessary antece-
dent to the liberty of killing game was taken away, and a large
class of persons was thereby enabled to kill game, who were
previously prevented by law from doing so. The effect of that
law was, that where a person was both owner and occupier the
game that would be kept was kept at his own cost, and even when
a person was only occupier there was nothing to prevent his
killing all the game on his farm, if he took out a three guinea
licence, unless there was a specific stipulation to the contrary.
—( Hear, hear.) But he admitted that the law which made
game property was an extensive change. The first effect of it
was, as he before stated, to open the right of sporting to a
large class of individuals before disentitled to do so.—( Hear,
hear.) A consequence of this was, that the large cities
were better supplied with those luxuries which were
to be found at the tables of the rich. For a long time that law
appeared to have operated favourably ; but, of late, there was
unhappily an increase of crime connected with the game-law.
That being the case, and fourteen years having elapsed since
any inquiry was instituted into the matter, he thought the time
was arrived when the operation of the law should be inquired
into.— (Hear, hear.) He admitted that there were many
grave errors committed in the way game was sometimes pre-
served—( Hear, hear)—and whatever might be the result of
the Committee, he was sure that the present debate would
have, at all events, a goo.l moral effect.—( Hear, hear.) But
the cases which the Hon. Gentleman adduced, he might men-
tion, were almost entirely confined to hares and rabbits. If
that species of game multiplied very much, he iselieved the far-
mer had good ground for complaint. The Hon. Gentleman,
much to his credit, had avoided to mix any feeling of hostility
with the question, and he (Sir J. Graha.n) would follow the
example. But he must say, that he could not help thinking
that there was gross exaggeration in some of the statements—
( Hear, hear)—and be believed that the inquiry would
have a salutary effect in showing that exaggeration. If even it
effected nothing else, he should like to see the statements in-
vestigated.—( Hear, hear.) He should like t o see the witness
whose 78 acres of land suffered damege to the amount of 1041.
in one year from the ravages of hares and rabbits. ( Hear,
hear, and a laugh.) He should like to see the farmer who
had lost by the game 501. worth of his crop open 100 acres
in a year.—(Hear, and laughter.) He should like to see the
farmer who could prove that he had seen 83 hares at a
time in one corn-field, and that these e 3 hares consemed as
much as 23 sheep.—(Laughter.) Above all, he should like to
see that trustworthy, upright Yorkshireman, who walked nine
times to Wakefield gaol with his committal in his pocket.
Mr. BRIGHT—I told you he was dead.—( Renewed
laughter. )
Sir J. GRAHAM was sure that, so far, the investigation
would be somewhat amusing. Another propositiou put for-
wnrd by the Hon. Member for Durham was, that the preser-
vation of game was incompatible with the cultivation of the
soil. But the lion. Gentleman admitted that he was not a
sportsman or a farmer, and lie did not make the assertion upon
his own experience.—( Hear.) Nosv, he (Sir J. Graham)saw
an lion. Friend of his near him who was a preserver of game,
and with whom he had had the pleasure of shooting in Norfolk,
and who he thought could bring abundant proof that the Hon.
Member for Durham was mistaken, and that the preservation
of game was not incompatible with the highest cultivation.—
( Hear, hear.) As he (Sir J. Graham) did not intend to op-
pose the motion, he would not detain the House much longer
than to make one observation, which was necessary, in conse-
quence of the reference made by the Hon. Gentleman to a case
of irregular committal. That was a case to which his (Sir J.
Graham's) attention had been especially turned, and which
led to a regulation in his office, and he would state to the
House what that was. He had thought it his duty
to direct that, from day to day, copies of all
commitments under the game-laws should be sent up and
should be regularly examined. Frequently errors were found
in the commitments, and these were communicated to the ma-
gistrates, who in every single case concurred with him, and
the l enalty was by his advice remitted ; or in cases where the
penalty had been inflicted, and it seemed to him to be too se-
vere, he had been met by the magistrates in the same spirit.—
( Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Bright) was mis-
taken as to the law, and he had stated the practice somewhat
to the disadvantage of the magistrates. He (Mr. Bright)
said the game preservers were in the habit of deciding in game
cases, whereas the owner of a mill would not be allowed to de-
cide in a case under the Factories Act. The Right Hon.
Baronet read the Factories Act to show that millowners, being
magistrates, were not precluded by that Act from sitting on the
bench to hear cases under that Act, but that the owner of the
mill in which the offence was alleged and his immediate
relatives were prohibited from taking part in the de-
cisions.—( Hear, hear.) If in a case under the game•laws
persons standing in a similar relation to the case were to sit on
the bench and adjudicate, he (Sir J. Graham) would have no
hesitation in recommending the Chancellor of the Exchequer
to remove those persons front the commission of the peace.—
(Cheers.) In making these answers to the Hon. Gentleman.
he must also say that he had great satisfaction in support-
ing the motion —( Hear hear)—with a desire that there should
be a full, impartial, and honest inquiry.—(Hear, hear.) He
hoped the Hon. Gentleman would have the goodness to post-
postpone the nomination of the Committee, upon the under-
standing that by a private examination out of the House they
might agree upon an unobjectionable and competent Com-
mittee. He was sure that whether the inquiry resulted in a
change of the law or not, it would have a great moral effect,
and assured the House, on the part of the Government, that
that would be, in their estimation, a most happy result, and
they would, therefore, give every facility to the investigation.
Mr. V. SMITH regretted the course which was pursued
by the Right Hon. Baronet after what he himself ( Sir J.
Graham) had acknowledged. He thought the Government
ought to have dune as Earl Grey's Government had done
upon this subject. Having seen the evils which were com•
plained of all over the country, they ought to have brought in
a Bill upon their own responsibility. What was to be the
result of the Committee? Neither the Hon. Member nor the
Right Hon. Baronet had said to what the inquiry of the Com-
mittee was to be directed. The Hon. Gentleman (Mr.
Bright) had stated the evils of the case with great ability, and
the Right Hon. Baronet did not deny their existence; and
yet they both allowed them to continue over another season.
What was the object of the Committee? Was it only to ex-
pose the alleged exaggerations of the Hon. Gentleman, on
which the Right Hon. Gentleman had facetiouly commented?
A Noble Friend of his had written a pamphlet, with a view to
point out the means by which game might be assessed, but
he had since given up the idea as impracticable.—( Hear.)
The Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Bright) brought forward the
que.tion as one of grievance between the farmer and the land-
lord, which would lead to an interminable inquiry. He thought
the inquiry ought to be limited to this point :—What
were the remedies to be applied to the acknow-
ledged evil?—(Hear, hear)—for he believed there were not
halt-a-dozen Gentlemen in the House who denied the
existence or the extent of the evils. In 1931 the Duke of
Richmond made a speech in the House of Lords, in which he
exposed and reprobated the game-laws as they then were, say-
ing that they widened the distance between the higher and the
middle classes, and condemned to the prison of a felin the
unfortunate labourer, who trio often could not resist the tempta-
tion thrown in his way.—( Hear, hear.) In 1831, before the
change took place in the law, the committals under the game-
laws, in England and Wales, were 2,150; in the last year,
1.44, they were 4,500, the comrniitals being more than
doubled under the change of the law.—( Hear, hear.) He
thought it would be impossible to compel men to give up pre-
serving, or to say that they should preserve only a certain
amount.—( Hear, hear.) But he thought it right to take
away from Cairn any encouragement, more than was given to
other species of property.--( Hear, hear.) He might be an-
swered that there was little difference between the penalties of
trespass in pursuit of game, and other kinds of trespass. He
contended there was too great a difference.--( Hear, hear.) In
other kinds of trespass you paid for the amount of damage ac-
tually done, but under the game-laws the fines were accumu-
lative ; and for a single ace, even of inadvertence, a man
might be fined 271., when it would be only a few shillings for