THE NATIONAL ANTI-BETTING LEAGUE.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 8991, 2 January 1895, Page 2

THE NATIONAL ANTI-BETTING LEAGUE.

HOSTILE UNDERTAKING AGAINST NEWMARKET HEATH.

The doings of this meddlesome body, of which a Mr John Hawke is the secretary, have from time to time been fally referred to id previous issues of this journal. Header* will bs aware that tho special mbsion of Mr Hawke's League is to Institute prosecutions against betting men, proprietors of racecourse?, &c, with the object of suppressing betting and, if possible, racing. The crusade against England's Premier and his horae Ladas was led by Mr Hawke and hi3coadjutors. Their latest action has been directed against Newmarket Heath, and the stewards of the English Jockey Club have been served with notice to discontinue betting operations •within their enclosures. Working in conjunction is seems with Mr Hawke is another body* of which a Mrs Orraiatoa Chant is the figure head, whose mission it would appear ia to close up the London Music. Halls. All this meddlesome interference hae naturally roused the ire of England's leading sportsmen, who have' formed "The Sporting League." Over 400 leading representatives of various sports and games have been appointed members of the Council, and they include the Earl of Durham, Lord Hawke, the Earl of March, Lord Rendlesham, Sir John Tbursby, Sir Augustus Harris, Dr. W. G. Grace, the Marquis of Cholmondeley, Earl of Lonsdale, Earl Howe, Right Hon. James Lowther, M.P., Lord Marcus Bereeford, Col. J. T. North, Mr Guy Nickalls and others representing all branches of sport. The League has been formed to resist the encroachments of the various bodies who occupy themselves In interfering with the sports and recreations of the people. In this view its main endeavours will be:— "1. To influence public opinion, without regard to party politics, in the interests of sport, so as to enable the people to amuse themselves in. future ■' without molestation. 2. To promote any alterations of law that may be necessary for the better protection of sports and pastimes. 3. To take up and defend any actions that the Council may consider important as test cases. 4, To discourage all malpractices in connection with eport, and to raise its tone wherever necessary. 5. Generally to do whatever may from tfme to time seem advisable for counteracting the pernicious influence of "Faddists." ,

Iα connection with the movement, that well-known journalUt, "Bapier," writes as follows in a recent number of his paper, The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News:-—

Mr John Tawke—that is to aajHawke— who i» aboac {If he can) to dissolve the Jockey Club and have Newmarket Heath ploughed up, is understood to be -gettinjr together the histories of men who* might have made profitable careers for themselves if they had not been beguiled by the fascinations of the racecourse. Some of these stories ar« extremely sad, almost heartrending, indeed, and I wonder if he has included the following? There was a young Irish lawyer who came to London some years ago. He was a man of marked ability, and had studied his 'profession diligently; he had great natural gifts, wonderfully quiess perception, a keenly logical mind, eloquence sufficient to make his speeches impressive, and he soon made a name and was sought by solicitors. Bat he was devoted to the Turf, he frequently went racing, he became an habitue. of Newmarket, his face wa* well-known on other courses, he betted constantly ; and what was the melancholy result? It ia almost too sad a subject to dwell on, but no good can come of hiding the truth I In time' he wan offered the post of Solicitor-General. He accepted; but etill his love of the turf rather increased than diminished. What followed? In due course he wan made AttorneyGeneral; the duties of the office were filled in & manner which won the admiration of friends and opponents alike; his , enormous private business was carried on to the supreme satisfaction of his clients; and when the Lord Chief Justiceship of England became vacant he was selected for che honour, and universally admitted to be the beat man that could possibly have been chosen. Hi* lordship is now amply fulfilling the hopes and justifying the beliefs of those who expected most from him; and he went to Sandown on Friday to see the race for the Selection Stakes.

Doesn't that make Mr Tawke's heart bleed ? Iβ not this a sufficiently dreadful example of what must happen to all who go racing? If not there is another case— another young barrister who started in lite with the most brilliant prospects, because he showed himself to be an admirable lawyer as well »i a great advocate. Bat he too yreut racing; for him the turf exercised aa irreiiatible fascination. He was made .Q.C., but still he would not—could not—abandon hie love of the sport; he could make a handicap as well as an address to the jury; he had an extraordinary knowledge of caves and precedents, and an equal knowledge of the Racing Calendar; us perceived the weak paints of a prosecution and a horse with the same rapidity of vision. Iα ti<ae he

became a judge, none on ehebench i<; more respected and honoured, and at the oecona October Meeting the other day, when I •was in grave doubt as co how the homes in an appruaching.race were really going, he authoritatively declared, wbtleyetiho deld was a long way that a certain hor*e waa going bestf, and ife won after a sharp finish. Of lam talking of Sir Henry Hawkins. Nor will Mr Hawke a horrid examples all be drawn from the law. A few years ago a youthful undergraduate, heir to a peerage and to much wealth, gr«*tly distinguished himself at Oxford! Not oaly did he take j high honours,bat he showed strength and depth of intellect, shrewd knowledge of men and affairs; but he, too, was ntnitten by this awful mania for the turf. Hβ devoted himself to the Stud Book as well as to the classics, even when at Oxford he owned racehorses, and he betted heavily. What followed in his case? Presently he was made Foreign Secretary, and in that nip-a office won the high esteem of the Opposition as well as of his colleagues; and finally he was made Prime Minister of England. Melancholy ending, is it net? Then again there was another young nobleman who i went racing, and goes mciug, and is the leader of the Unionist Party, and a statesman whoso sagacity aud profound judgment are so highly rated that he has probably more effect on the opinion ot hia countrymen than any other living man — the Duke of Devonshire. I will not discuss at length other famous racing Premiers, Lords Derby and Palmerston, nor will I cite more cases; but when one looks round the Stand at Newmarket and sees great statesmen, lawyers, professional men eminent in their callings, magistrates, directors of enormous commercial enterprises, administrators of great estates, chairmen of railways and other companies of world-wide renown, when, I say, one sees these and then reads Mr Hawke s diatribe about the iniquity and contamination of the racecourse, one really cannot help recognising—to put it quite plainly--what an abjectly ridiculous sort of creature Mr Hawke must be.

1 am here, of course, paying Mr Hawke the possibly-undeserved compliment; of assuming that he really thinks what ha says and is not entirely actuated (as I confess I am inclined to suspect) by vanity, and a fixed determination to get hia name up and be talked about at any cost. What we should all very much like to know is, from whom Mr Hawke and Mrs Ormiston Chant, and tne rest of the notorious busybodies, whose main delight it is to stick their noses into other people's affairs, imagine that they have their mission ? On what grounds do they feel called upon to interfere with the proceedings and amusements of their fellow creature*? If England were an eniirely savage community with no recognised leaders, one strong man, or a body of strong men, would come to the front, as always has happened, and some sort of government would be formed. But we have the best; o£ all possible constitutions; the House of Commons which makes laws, supervised by an hereditary House of Lords, the great value of which lies ia the fact, that its members are not influenced by a continual fear of losing their seats, and are nob likely to be swayed by every Budden and violent current of hastily formed and illjudged popular opinion. Over fchese Is the Crown, another most H&lutary check. To enforce the will of-Crown, Lord*, and Commons, is the Executive, consisting of judges and .magistrates who administer the law. and of soldiers, sailors, and police, prison officials and so torth, who sea it carried out. What we want to know, I repeat, is where Mr John Hawke and Mra Ormiston Chant come into the scheme of Constitution? On whose authority do they act ? Who asked them to interfere ?

They do no good (personally I do not believe they wish to do any, but this is by the way), the harm they do l« Infinite. Mr Hawke, foolish as he may be, cannot be so foolish as nob to know that if he aud his self-elected associates succeed to the very utmost fulness and fruition of tholr desires they cannot exercise any material influence on gambling. Absolutely the most they can do in to put some .trifling and temporary inconvenience in the way of those who wish to gamble. What would happen? Those of m«« who are fond of racing and see no harm in an occasional bet, , - have for years past striven diligently to purify the turf atmosphere. Wβ have done our best to fight against the knaves of various kinds who bring discredit on our sport, but if we have to defend ourselves against the fools -who, knowing nothing about our sport, venomously attack it, we ahnll not have time to devote to the knaves, who will make headway accordingly. Betting on ra6e« can never be checked, and, as I have before pointed out, if it could be an infinitely worse state of things would arise. Wagers on racing nre not recognised by the Jockey Club, the stewards* of which "take no cognisance" ot, betting; but there are tribunals—the committees of Tatter&all's and of the Booms at Newmarket. But who is to decide bets on cricket, football, golf, tennis, glove-fights, foot-racing, whippet racing, or the scores of sports which would become matters for speculation if the backing of horses was rendered awkward ? Swindling, fights, assaults, riots, would be of continual occurrence, Mr Penciller will nob pay mc a bet; I have him up at Newmarket or in London, and he either justifies his refusal, or he disappears for good from those parts of a racecourse where £ am likely to meet him ; but what if Bill Stumps refuses to pay Jack Ball a bet ou a cricket; match ? As for Mrs Ormlston Chant, I do not care to discuss her proceedings, but may exprtss the belief that no one in modern times has given such a fillip to immorality, by enabling its professors to put forth such plausible and seductive defences. If there were any initiative among keepers of disorderly-houses, she would surely be presented with a valuable testimonial.