On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    May 26, I860.J The Leader and Saturday A...

  • 

    THE DERBY BAY AND THE TSTHMIAN GAMES. TH...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Criminal Trials. We Have Recently Had Oc...

    iuries should decide by a majority ; and he has on many occasions displayed his unfavourable opinion of juries m general Grand iuries , too . are to be abolished , first m the Cxty of London , and the next step , no-doubt , will-be to abolish them everywhere else This a « -ain , we take to be a great mistake . The grand jury not only diminish the labour of the common juries , but they take out of their hands a large number of those very cases in which the latter would be likely to come to an erroneous decision . It is said that the grand jury is composed of the same materials as the petty lury but this is either a mistake or a misrepresentation . In the country it is composed of the magistrates almost without mixture , and in the metropolis it has a large proportion of the higher and more educated element . On this account , we cannot but feel that the abolition of the grand jury would be a step fraught with evil to the interests of public justice . ¦

    _ __ , It has long been a recognised right on the part of those who have property or character , or both , at stake in a civil action , to demand a special jury . This proceeding is attended with some expense but it is so often felt to be absolutely necessary for the due attainment of justice , that we have few important civil cases now tried by petty juries . But this advantage , so greatly valued and so extensively used in matters which concern money and reputation , is not to be had when life and liberty are at stake . If a merchant has an action in which he may lose a thousand pounds , he is permitted to sav , " I do not choose that this shall be decided by a dozen men , probably ignorant , perhaps prejudiced , certainly not capable of understanding the scale on which my operations are transacted . I will have a jury of merchants . And he has them . the losof thousand

    But if the result is to be , not the saving or s a pounds , but the character , liberty , or even the life ; of the accused , he has no such privilege ; lie may challenge any juror of whom he has reason to believe that he is a prejudiced person ; but this is all , and practically the privilege is of little use , and is very rarely exerrf" * ICpM ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦ .. Much benefit , would result if juries were habitually selected from a higher class of men than that which now supplies them . Professional men are all exempt from serving , and we would not do away with this exemption . The nature of their avocations renders it uiireasonable-to expect lawyers and doctors to ^ serve on juries , _ and we should be very sorry to see clergymen in such a position . -But we do not see why gentlemen should not act . They are the

    persons most fitted for the office . We should be unspeakably disgusted if the judges of the land were chosen without due reirardTto their educational qualifications ; and a juror is a judge—a judge of facts , of evidence , of character . The judge-on the bench tells lnm the law , and afterwards apportions the sentence ; but it is ^ the juror who decides on the important question , " Guilty or not guilty ; and we fear that unless men of a higher grade are chosen for an office so weio-htv , iuries will fall more and more into contempt , and such political jurists as Lord Campbell will assimilate our proceedings to those of the Continent . We shall not now speak of the necessity which exists for a Court of Appeal , but shall merely indicate one step which would obviate much of the mischief pointed out iii this article . Let there be a right in criminal cases , us well let it with

    -ng-irrcivil-fTrfg «» rt" ^ lflt " tLn < 3 - ' f gciaHjurv ..: . and rest the judge to decide whether the case bo one of sufficient importance to ' iustify the demand . The expense should in all cases be paid by the defence , and this would prevent any abuse of the privilege . If such an arrangement as this could be made , all parties would probably be satisfied , for no one contends , or ever has contended , that in commonplace trials a common jury ia not < l mte sufficient . I he more educated classes would feel themselves safer , and the cry against juries , which , however justifiable , is in a high degree unconstitutional , would soon cease to be heard .

    May 26, I860.J The Leader And Saturday A...

    May 26 , I 860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 493

    The Derby Bay And The Tsthmian Games. Th...

    THE DERBY BAY AND THE TSTHMIAN GAMES . THERE is nothing which an Englishman talks about so long beforehand as the Derby Day . It is the grand High Festival of the nation—the great Oasis of Holiday in the wide Desert . of the -working year—the day of solemn sacrifice to the Sacred Horse—the apogee of British carnival . The goose of Michaelmas , the turkey and plnm-p « dding of Christmas , the pancakes of Shrovetide , are as nothing in ' the scale against that random hamper which is stowed away in the boot of the multiform vehicle which whirls us down the road to Epsom on tlmt sacred Wednesday in May . As school bova , whoimmediately they return to school from the holidays of

    Mid-, 6 ummer , begin to coxxnt the days until the holidays of Christinas , so the children of a largo growth no sooner see tho ghostly white figures start up on the blnck board over against tho Grand Stand , than they begin to think of tho next Derby—of the starters , of the probuble winners , nnd , if they are sporting personages , which a considerable per-centngo of them are , whether they shall be nioro or less lucky next time . This one thought survives all others . The season passes away ; Parliament shuts up its doors ; wars for uu idea , or for Bomoth ' ing even less , are waged and finished ; old dynasties aro overthrownand new ones raised on their ashes ; " the woods .

    , decay and fall , " as Mr . Tennyson has it—and through all wo are thinking of that next Derby Day , —of tho four-in-hand that wo shall go down the road in ; of tho white coat and whito hat with a blue veil that wo shall wear , nnd astonish tho natives with ; and , above all , of that reckless luncheon , which derives such a s & sfc from out having to invert our plates for a second course , and get at our stout and chumpngno by knocking- off the necks of the bottles against the ¦ carriage-wheels . The intprest taken in the Derby is confined

    to no particular class ; it pervades every grade and every section of society—from the highest personage in the realm down to the humblest . Here , on the dusty road , the emblazoned chariot of the peer is jostled by the chartered 'bus of the shopman and the clerk , th tumble-down gig of the small tradesman , and the donkey-truck of the costermonger . His Lordship , fresh from the solemn conclave of the Imperial council-table , is as much intent upon the pleasures of the day as Chummy the sweep , emancipated for the nonce fro : n the black thrall of his soot-bag . My-Lord lounges on wellstuffed cushions , and Chummy is bumped along on a couple of deal boards ; but . Chum my ' s talk is my Lord's talk , and my Lord ' s talk is Chummy ' s . It is all about Wizard , and Umpire and Thormanbv , which are to win , one or other , and

    Mainstone and Cape Flyaway , which are not to win , one or other . And while my Lord bets " ponies , " Chummy lays his halfcrowns , and is quite as feverish about the result . Mainstone and Cape Flyaway These names remind us that the Premier and the ex-Premier are competitors for the Blue Ribbon of the Turf . Did not the illustrious Pam himself , forgetful of his Greek antiquities , give these races the name of the " Isthmian Games P . " And was it not Lord Dejbbt who instituted the order of that Blue Ribbon of the Turf , which he has not yet been destined to wear , and which , Clmmnry will tell you confidentially , the Ring wont let him wear , for fear that he should sell off his stud and quit the turf ? Sell off his stud ! Did not Lord Deeby sell off his stud long ago P Did not Madame Geisi make her last appearance years since , and is she not this

    verynight upbraiding Bollio on the boards of the Royal Italian , as of old ? What Englishman who has had a passion for racing -will ever consent to bid farewell to Epsom Downs , while he has health to bear the journey , money to pay the charges , and a tooth left in his head to masticate cold ' pigeon-pie withal ? But the Derby has its serious as well as its gay aspect . It is , unfortunately , too literally true in racing matters , that it is" money that makes the mare to go . " We question if races would be so frequent , if so much care would be-.. taken and so much money expended in the breeding of horses , if it were not for the opportunity which they afford for winning , and , let us add , losing money . Some idea of the amount which has been involved in this Derby may be gathered from the fact that no less than 224 horses were entered"for the race . Putting down the expense of the training

    of each horse at £ 200 , which , we imagine , must be much under the mark , the whole cost to the owners would be £ 41 , 800 . In addition to this , £ 25 lias-to-be paid for each horse which does not start , which in this instance , as only about 30 horses started , would give something like £ 4 , 000 . These are the legitimate expenses % but now comes the betting . Who ^ shall -say how -many thousands , hundreds of thousands— millions have been staked on this Derby ? Throughout the length and breadth of England , for months pastr every-club has been a little " Tattersall ' s , " every public-house a " Corner . " Nor is the speculation confined to England alone ; it is _ as rile in the sister kingdoms , and evenextends to our distant colonies , whore those interested wait for months tor the news . To the steady-goir . g , nonprofessional sportsman , who takes an interest in races because he is an Englishman , and can ' t help it , and who ventures his shilling ma sweepstakes , or spurts his half-crown with a , friend to get up n little —eTcitement-a ^ t'Mit—^ ^ - ^^ "t—tn _ t ] ie ... convivial philosopher , who

    having an eye to liquor and sociality bets his bottle , his glass , or his pound of Havannahs ; to the privileged young lady in mauve silk , who lays gloves and doesn ' t mean to pay , save with a smile which is worth all M . Hoitbigant ' s shop—to these , it is a matter . of small moment whether the " favourite" comes in first , or whether the goal is first reached by some outsider , whose name has scared v ever been mentioned . But stnnd by the professional turiite , and watch him . He is a regular book-maker , one who lives by betting , as other men live by stockbroking , or thimble-ridging , or skittle sharping ; or he is a banker ' s clerk , who has embezzled the funds and trusts to the race to put him " square ; " or ho is simply a shopmanwho has dipped his hand a little too deep in his muster s till .

    , Such as these have no eyes for the wonderful sc « ne pn the Downs : the vast masses of human beings piled against the sky ; the sea of white faces , cresting the black surface like a fringe of foam ; the white tents , dotting the ridgeof the hill ; the pieturesqueencampmenta of the gipsv fortuneteller * in tho hollow below—not on these does tho gaze of the betting-man rest , but on the Knot of horses crowded round the starting-post . His mind is full of their numbers and colours . As ho sees them start and turn tins corner , and sweep round tho hill , and hoars tho thunder of their hoof ' s roll nearer and nearer on the resounding- turf , ho forgets that ho is standing there a unit ainon < - ten thousand . The surrounding scene fades from his view ; he horshears but tho

    sees nothing but that knot of striving es , nothing tramp of hoofs which scarcoly beats faster , or louder , than his own heart . And now ho picks out the particular horse upon whose speed of foot his fortune , his life , perhaps , is cast . lie is well forward in the fi ' ont rank , and expectation beats high in tho breast of that feverish gambler . Now tho great struggle of tho last halfmile begins , and the - horse is fuHintr hehind . .. Frenzy now takes possession of the desperate man . Wedged in there among the crowd , ho is riding faster than either jockey or horse . - In imagination ho has the spur on his heel and tho whip in his hmid . He shouts out tho colours of his favourite like one demented , and-as if his shoutiiur would inspire the beast with speed and urge him on wrion

    faster . His shouts are at length mingled with cui-hos , ami mo coal is readied by some horso other than his , his curses die away ? n impotent gasps . His hope has gone out hlco n fl « njing brand which is cast suddenly into the sea . Wlmt black do . npair falls upon hundreds , nay , thousand * , at that moment . ' Here , now , upon

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 26, 1860, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26051860/page/9/