Star.
London, England, 1819-03-15 00:00:00

diMENDNOIr OF ME GAME LAWS.

inemer.o.
TO ills 11111 TOR. THZ STAR.
'llllll-4 iyeg leave) through the Mediuiti of your
to ex. Omit my astonishment that any person
tbrtelent &Slid, for- a moment, maintain an opinion
so 'contrary to reason as that which has been given
In opposition to Mr. BRAND'S most excellent motion
*dative to -the Amendment of the Game Laws. If.
any thing could' deter Gentlemen from being in-
duced to remain on their estates, it would be the
robberies, and, I may add, murders, that are now
so frequently committed, and decidedly the greater
part of which, *by men that are either poachers, or
have begun their career of infamy by associating
with this deteitable race of miscreants, who, step by
step, are led on from their nightly depredations to
enormities of the darkest hue.

The grand object, therefore, ir to effect a coin- '
plete supprmion of this vice, by means which will
not put the life of a fellow-creature in competition
with that of a head of game :—and how is this to be
effected? Make the crime subject to a moderate
penalty, or punishment, and' the hardened offender
among his associates will easily raise the payment
for the one, and despise the danger of the Wier.—
Make it more severe, and he will only become the
more desperate, which has been already too fre-
quently proved fry the many murders committed
since the late Act ! Bow, then, is it possible effec-
tually to complete the suppression of poaching, ex-
cept Iviendering it no longer of avail to those who
If game is made private property, and conse-
quently a legally attainable commodity, would any
sensible person deal with a contraband vender of it,
subject to a heavy penalty, when, by , sending to a
farmer, or poulterer, lie could purchase it at the
same price, and without any risk of information ?
Would a poacher find it worth his while to con-
tinue his nightly depredations, when the market was
already so will supplied, that he could not get a fair
price for his booty—and would not the mania for
same in a great measure cease, when there no lon-
ger existed a difficulty in procuring it? What then
would be the ultimate success? The poacher, in-
stead of coming to the gallows, might. probably end
his days in the workhouse, and the rising generation
would avoid, as a pest, the adopting of so unpro-
fitable a trade.

I will not insult any Englishman so mirth as to
insinuate that he values the preservation of a few
birds before the morals of the people around him ;
or the private recreation of himself and friends be-
fore the welfare of his country. Brit even admitting
that in a few instances tills might unfortunately be
the case, still he will have little difficulty, if game
is made private property, in forming arrangements
to preserve as well as evir, if not to ameliorate his'
diversions. Surely he may reserve what he pleases
in the drawing up of the lease to his tenantry : and
'as tip the leases at present in, existence, the new Act
may be so framed as not to operate upon them until
ther shall hav•terminated, and may require to be
renewed ; and then let them be subject to whatever
contracts may be made between the gentleman and
the farmer : and could net the one make it the inte-
rest of the 'other to promote his divenion by pre-
serving a good stock of game? Unquestinoably
this might be arranged as a mutual accommodation.
But, notwithstanding, people will object, and why ?
because they have an ambition, inherent in them
from their forefathers, to -value the -game on their
1
,estates as a miser would his gold; and because, un-
der the present system, there may be occasional op-
portunities of extending a despotic command over
many of their inferiors, on whose property they have
no right whatever.—l am, Sir, your obedient hum-
ble servant, AN OLD SPORTSMAN,
The Lord of Manors, and a well-wisher to my Country.