The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-18

mate object, the improvement Of the breed Of
horses, it would be no loss to society were the
system to terminate with the season. II now,
Indeed, approximates that OF the ring, and the
conduct of the members Of the noted British
Boxers Benefcent Association Is quite as re-
spectacle as that Of most Of the patrons Of the
modern turf. The very pretext about the
breed of horses is now secuted as a delusion,
and the whole system has become one Of swind-
ling, cheating, fraud, and chicanery.
1t is impossible to exaggerate the evil
effects which English horse-racing now has
upon the community. For weeks before
great race, such as that Of the Derby or st.
Leger, comes off, sweeps or pools are esta-
blished at every tavern and pot-house in Lon
don, varying in amount from El to G1000.
Servants are thus encouraged to plunder their
masters, and apprentices to rob their en-
ployers' tills. Even the most degraded mem
bers of the community, including both sexes,
contribute on these occasions; and the whole
either goes into the pocket of the publican or
his friends, into whose hands it is so arranged
that the prizes shall fall, or that worthy
refuses to pay on the ground that he cannot be
forced by law, or fnally-as happened in a
noted case-that it is illegal, aud his con-
science Will not permit him to part with the
money.
But even if all goes well, and the best horse
is brought to the post, it is almost the reverse
of certain that he will win. "Tips" may be
paid to any amount for previous inform .Hon;
hnf fIa oh fha yhn1..
of affairs in a moment, either by "scratching'
his horse, or privately instruotiug his iookey
to lose. The Marquis of Hastings openly did
the former of these acts with one of his horses
on the recent Derby, and he is strongly sus-
pected of having been guilty of the other;
though he himself accounts for the failure of
"Lady Elizabeth" the first favorite, by aleg-
ing that she was drugged through the agency
of one Chaplin, the son of wealthy railway
carrier, whom he had Tilted of a wife. This
may have been true, but it only shows what
sort Of gentry these men are, and what crimes,
in pursuit of their object, they will not hesi
tate to commit.
Again, if they lose, there is no certainty
that their bets will be paid. The days when
he could not meet his engagements on the
turf are now gone, and little discredit seems
to attach to the name of 'Levanter." For
merly this was an epithet which was con-
sidered to convey every species of opsrobrium.
But all this sensitiveness has now Disappeared
especially from the upper ranks, and the
Marquis of Hastings lately made his
ha IN ho Lo,
notoriously for two years been insolvent or
paid up only ten per cent. of his recent
losses, while 'Weeshsr," or Greek in hum
bier life, received a proper beating or 'bon-
netting" in the shape of being dreadfully
mauled and having the clothes torn from his
person, with the view of proving that, if
honor had forsaken the breasts of the higher
circles, it still found shelter in the inferior
ranks of men. The Duke of Hamilton and
the Earl of Jersey have been equally ruined
by horse-racing, though they have discharged
their debts more honorably than the Marquis
of Hastings. The former, young man,
lately came into possession of a fortune of
f20O, 900 year, and he signalized his ac-
cession by Immediately offering the odds of
GlSO,OO to 10000 against some particular
horse. The liabilities of the latter are un-
known, as he lost all the accumulated possess
sions of his ancestors in an hour, and both of
them now find themselves paupers for life
when they have little more than attained
adolescence. 1t is against the introduction
of such system here, under the august
auspices of Mr.. Belmont, that we desire
to protest. American racing was all very we'll
when it was confined chiefly to trotting, as it
thus raised useful breed of animals.