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just passed against these illegal practices, | great coats, threw them down with the seems only to have irritated the offenders, game, &c., behind them, and approached and made them more daring and desperate. the keepers in an attitude of attack. A The following is a copy of an anonymous circular letter, which has been received by several magistrates, and other eminent characters in this neighbourhood.

"TAKE NOTICE.-We have lately heard and seen that there is an act passed, and whatever poacher is caught destroying the game, is to be transported for seven years. -This is English Liberty!

"Now, we do swear to each other, that the first of our company that this law is inflicted on, that there shall not one gentleman's seat in our country escape the rage of fire. We are nine in number, and we will burn every gentleman's house of note. The first that impeaches shall be shot. We have sworn not to impeach. You may think it a threat, but they will find it reality. The Game Laws were too severe before. The Lord of all men sent these animals for the peasants as well as for the prince. God will not let his people be oppressed. He will assist us in our undertaking, and we will execute it with caution.'-(Bath Paper.)

smart contest instantly ensued, both parties using only the sticks or bludgeons they carried; and such was the confusion during the battle, that some of the keepers were occasionally struck by their own comrades in mistake for their opponents. After they had fought in this manner about eight or ten minutes, one of the poachers, named Robert Simmons, received a violent blow upon his left temple, which felled him to the ground, where he lay, crying out murder, and asking for mercy. The keepers very humanely desired that all violence might cease on both sides: upon which three of the poachers took to flight and escaped, and the remaining three, together with Simmons, were secured by the keepers. Simmons, by the assistance of the other men, walked to the keeper's house where he was placed in a chair; but he soon after died. His death was no doubt caused by the pressure of blood upon the brain, occasioned by the rupture of a vessel from the blow he had received. The three poachers who had been taken were com

upon the body of Simmons was taken on Monday before W. Trigge, gent., Coroner! and the above account is extracted from the evidence given upon that occasion. The poachers were all armed with bludgeons, except the deceased, who had provided himself with the thick part of a flail, made of firm knotted crab-tree, and pointed at the extremity, in order to thrust with, if occasion required. The deceased was an athletic, muscular man, very active, and about twenty-eight years of age. He resided at Bowle, in Oxfordshire, and has left a wife, but no child. The three prisoners were heard in evidence; and all concurred in stating that the keepers were in no way blameable, and attributed their disaster to their own indiscretion and imprudence. Several of the keeper's party were so much beat, as to be now confined to their beds. The two parties are said to be total strangers to each other, consequently no malice prepense could have existed be tween them; and as it appeared to the jury, after a most minute and deliberate investigation, that the confusion during the affray was so great, that the deceased was as likely to be struck by one of his own party as by the keeper's, they returned a verdict of -Manslaughter against some person or persons unknown.'

"DEATH OF A POACHER.-On the even-mitted to Northleach prison. The inquest ing of Saturday se'ennight, about eight or nine o'clock, a body of poachers, seven in number, assembled by mutual agreement on the estate of the Hon. John Dutton, at Sherborne, Gloucestershire, for the purpose of taking hares and other game. With the assistance of two dogs, and some nets and snares which they brought with them, they had succeeded in catching nine hares, and were carrying them away, when they were discovered by the gamekeeper and seven others who were engaged with him in patroling the different covers, in order to protect the game from nightly depredators. Immediately on perceiving the poachers, the keeper summoned them in a civil and peaceable manner to give up their names, the dogs, implements, &c., they had with them, and the game they had taken; at the same time assuring them, that his party had fire-arms (which were produced for the purpose of convincing and alarming them), and representing to them the folly of resistance, as, in the event of an affray, they must inevitably be overpowered by superior numbers, even without fire-arms, which they were determined not to resort to unless compelled in self-defence. Notwithstanding this remonstrance of the keeper, the men unanimously refused to give up on any terms, declaring, that if they were followed, they would give them a "brush," and would repel force by force. The poachers then directly took off their

"Wretched as the first of these produc tions is, I think it can scarcely be denied, that both its spirit and its probable conse

quences are wholly to be ascribed to the exasperation naturally consequent upon the severe enactment just alluded to. And

the last case is at least a strong proof that

severity of enactment is quite inadequate to correct the evil."-(pp. 356-359.)

Poaching will exist in some degree, let the laws be what they may; but the most certain method of checking the poacher seems to be by underselling him. If game can be lawfully sold, the quantity sent to market will be increased, the price lowered, and with that, the profits and temptations of the poacher. Not only would the prices of the poacher be lowered, but we much doubt if he would find any sale at all. Licences to sell game might be confined to real poulterers, and real occupiers of a certain portion of land. It might be rendered penal to purchase it from any but licensed persons; and in this way the facility of the lawful, and the danger of the unlawful trade, would either annihilate the poacher's trade, or reduce his prices so much, that it would be hardly worth his while to carry it on. What poulterer in London, or in any of the large towns, would deal with poachers, and expose himself to indictment for receiving stolen goods, when he might supply his customers at fair prices by dealing with the lawful proprietor of game? Opinion is of more power than law. Such conduct would soon become infamous; and every respectable tradesman would be shamed out of it. The consumer himself would rather buy his game of a poulterer at an increase of price, than pick it up clandestinely, and at a great risk, though a somewhat smaller price, from porters and booth-keepers. Give them a chance of getting it fairly, and they will not get it unfairly. At present, no one has the slightest shame at violating a law which every body feels to be absurd and unjust.

Poultry-houses are sometimes robbed;-but stolen poultry is rarely offered to sale;-at least, nobody preteads that the shops of poulterers, and the tables of moneyed gentlemen, are supplied by these means. Out of one hundred geese that are consumed at Michaelmas, ninety-nine come into the VOL. L

jaws of the consumer by honest means; -and yet, if it had pleased the country gentlemen to have Goose Laws as well as Game Laws; -if goose-keepers had been appointed, and the sale and purchase of this savoury bird prohibited, the same enjoyments would have been procured by the crimes and convictions of the poor; and the periodical gluttony of Michaelmas have been rendered as guilty and criminal, as it is indigestible and unwholesome. Upon this subject we shall quote a passage from the very sensible and spirited Letters before us:

"In favourable situations, game would be reared and preserved for the express purpose of regularly supplying the market in fair and open competition; which would so reduce its price, that I see no reason why a partridge should be dearer than a rabbit, or a hare and pheasant than a duck or goose. the animals bear to each other in France, This is about the proportion of price which where game can be legally sold, and is regularly brought to market; and where, by the way, game is as plentiful as in any cultivated country in Europe. The price so reduced would never be enough to compensate the risk and penalties of the unlawful poacher, who must therefore be driven out of the market. Doubtless the great poulterers of London and the commercial towns, who are the principal instigators of poaching, would cease to have any temptation to continue so, as they could fairly and lawfully procure game for their customers, at a cheaper rate from the regular breeders. They would, as they now do for rabbits and wild fowl, contract with regular supply of their shops, which would persons to rear and preserve them for the be a much more commodious and satisfactory, and less hazardous way for them, than the irregular and dishonest and corrupting methods now pursued. It is not saying very much in favour of hunan nature to assert, that men in respectable stations of by honest than dishonest means. society had rather procure the same ends Thus would all the temptations to offend against the Game Laws, arising from the change of society, together with the long chain of moral and political mischiefs, at once dis

appear.

"But then, in order to secure a sufficient in fair and open competition, it will be breed of game for the supply of the market, necessary to authorise a certain number of persons, likely to breed game for sale, to take and dispose of it when reared at their S

or fish for the ensuing London season. Nobody is so poor and so distressed as men of very large fortunes, who are fond of making an unwise display to the world; and if they had recourse to these means of supplying game, it is impossible to suppose that the occupation of the poacher could be continued.-The smuggler can compete with the spirit-merchant, on account of the great duty imposed by the revenue; but where there is no duty to be saved, the mere thief-the man who brings the article to market with a halter round his neck-the man of whom it is disreputable and penal to buy,

expense. For this purpose, I would suggest the propriety of permitting by law, occupiers of land to take and kill game, for sale or otherwise, on their own occupations only, unless (if tenants) they are specifically prohibited by agreement with their landlord; reserving the game and the power of taking it to himself (as is now frequently done in leases). This permission, should not, of course, operate during the current leases, unless by agreement. With this precaution, nothing could be fairer than such an enact ment; for it is certainly at the expense of the occupier that the game is raised and maintained: and unless he receive an equivalent for it, either by abatement of rent upon agreement, or by permission to take and dispose of it, he is certainly an injured man; whereas it is perfectly just that the owner of the land should have the option either to increase his rent by leaving the disposal of his game to his tenant, or vice versa. Game would be held to be (as in fact it is) an outgoing from the land, like tithe and other burdens, and therefore to be considered in a bargain; and land would either be let game-free, or a special reser-ductions from the profits of any trade vation of it made by agreement. to which they attach, and great discouragements to its pursuit.

"Moreover, since the breed of game must always depend upon the occupier of the land, who may, and frequently does, destroy every head of it, or prevent its coming to maturity, unless it is considered in his rent; the licence for which I am now contending, by affording an inducement to preserve the breed in particular spots, would evidently have a considerable effect in increasing the stock of game in other parts, and in the country at large. There would be intro

duced a general system of protection, de

pending upon individual interest, instead of a general system of destruction. I have, therefore, very little doubt that the provision here recommended would, upon the whole, add facilities to the amusements of the sportsman, rather than subtract from them. A sportsman without land might also hire from the occupier of a large tract of land the privilege of shooting over it, which would answer to the latter as well as sending his game to the market. In short, he might in various ways get a fair return, to which he is well entitled for the expense and trouble incurred in rearing and preserving that particular species of stock upon his land."-(pp. 337-339.)

There are sometimes 400 or 500 head of game killed in great manors on a single day. We think it highly probable the greater part of this harvest (if the Game Laws were altered) would go to the poulterer, to purchase poultry

who hazards life, liberty, and property to procure the articles which he sells; such an adventurer can never be long the rival of him who honestly and fairly produces the articles in which he deals. Fines, imprisonments, concealment, loss of character, are great de

It is not the custom at present for gentlemen to sell their game; but the custom would soon begin, and public opinion soon change. It is not unusual for men of fortune to contract with their gardeners to supply their own table, and to send the residue to market, or to sell their venison; and the same thing might be done with the manor. If game could be bought, it would not be sent in presents :-barndoor fowls are never so sent, precisely for this reason.

The price of game would, under the system of laws of which we are speaking, be further lowered by the introduction of foreign game, the sale of which, at present prohibited, would tend very much to the preservation of English game by underselling the poacher. It would not be just, if it were possible, to confine any of the valuable productions of nature to the use of one class of men, and to prevent them from becoming the subject of barter, when the proprietor wished so to exchange them. It would be just as reasonable that the consumption of salmon should be confined to the proprietors of that sort of fishery — that

the use of char should be limited to deliberately shoots a man whom he the inhabitants of the lakes that sees in his fields the other of whom maritime Englishmen should alone eat purposely places such instruments as oysters and lobsters, as that every other he knows will shoot trespassers upon class of the community than landowners his fields: better that it should be should be prohibited from the acquisi- lawful to kill a trespasser face to face, tion of game. than to place engines which will kill him. The trespasser may be a child - a woman—a son, or friend: - The spring-gun cannot accommodate itself to circumstances, - the squire or the gamekeeper may.

we

It will be necessary, whenever the Game Laws are revised, that some of the worst punishments now inflicted for an infringement of these laws should be repealed. To transport a man for seven years on account of par- These, then, are our opinions retridges, and to harass a poor wretched specting the alterations in the Game peasant in the Crown office, are very Laws, which, as they now stand, are preposterous punishments for such of- perhaps the only system which could fences. Humanity revolts against them possibly render the possession of game -they are grossly tyrannical and so very insecure as it now is. We it is disgraceful that they should be would give to every man an absolute suffered to remain on our statute books. property in the game upon his land, But the most singular of all abuses, is with full power to kill to permit the new class of punishments which others to kill and to sell; the Squirarchy have themselves enacted would punish any violation of that proagainst depredations on game. The perty by summary conviction and pelaw says, that an unqualified man who cuniary penalties rising in value kills a pheasant shall pay five pounds; according to the number of offences. but the squire says he shall be shot; - This would of course abolish all qualiand accordingly he places a spring-gun|fications; and we sincerely believe it in the path of the poacher, and does would lessen the profits of selling game all he can to take away his life. The illegally, so as very materially to lessen more humane and mitigated squire the number of poachers. It would mangles him with traps; and the make game, as an article of food, supra-fine country gentleman only accessible to all classes, without indetains him in machines, which pre- fringing the laws. It would limit the vent his escape, but do not lacerate amusements of country gentlemen their captive. Of the gross illegality within the boundaries of justice - and of sach proceedings, there can be no would enable the magistrate cheerfully reasonable doubt. Their immorality and conscientiously to execute laws, and cruelty are equally clear. If they of the moderation and justice of which are not put down by some declaratory he must be thoroughly convinced. To law, it will be absolutely necessary this conclusion, too, we have no doubt that the Judges, in their invaluable we shall come at the last. After circuits of oyer and terminer, should many years of scutigeral folly-loaded leave two or three of his Majesty's prisons*- nightly battles-poachers squires to a fate too vulgar and in- tempted and families ruined, these delicate to be alluded to in this Journal. principles will finally prevail, and make Men have certainly a clear right to law once more coincident with reason defend their property; but then it must and justice. be by such means as the law allows: - their houses by pistols, their fields by actions for trespass, their game by Information. There is an end of law, if every man is to measure out his punishment for his own wrong. Nor are we able to distinguish between the guilt of two persons, the one of whom

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than twelve hundred persons were com In the course of the last year, no fewer mitted for offences against the game; besides those who ran away from their families from the fear of commitment. This is no slight quantity of misery.

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THIS land of convicts and kangaroos is beginning to rise into a very fine and flourishing settlement: - And great indeed must be the natural resources, and splendid the endowments of that land that has been able to survive the system of neglect and oppression experienced from the mother country, and the series of ignorant and absurd governors that have been selected for the administration of its affairs. But mankind live and flourish not only in spite of storms and tempests, but (which could not have been anticipated previous to experience) in spite of colonial secretaries expressly paid to watch over their interests. The supineness and profligacy of public officers cannot always overcome the amazing energy with which human beings pursue their happiness, nor the sagacity with which they determine on the means by which that end is to be promoted. Be it our care, however, to record, for the future inhabitants of Australasia, the political sufferings of their larcenous forefathers; and let them appreciate, as they ought, that energy which founded a mighty empire

One, and no small excuse for the misconduct of colonial secretaries, is the enor

mous quantity of business by which they are distracted. There should be two or three colonial secretaries instead of one: the office is dreadfully overweighted. The

government of the colonies is commonly a

series of blunders.

in spite of the afflicting blunders and marvellous cacœconomy of their govern

ment.

Botany Bay is situated in a fine climate, rather Asiatic than European, with a great variety of temperature, but favourable on the whole to health and life. It, conjointly with Van Diemen's Land, produces coal in great abundance, fossil salt, slate, lime, plumbago, potter's clay; iron; white. yellow, and brilliant topazes; alum and copper. These are all the important fossil productions which have been hitherto discovered; but the epidermis of the country has hardly as yet been scratched; and it is most probable that the immense mountains which divide the eastern and western settlements, Bathurst and Sydney, must abound with every species of mineral wealth. harbours are admirable; and the whole world, perhaps, cannot produce two such as those of Port Jackson and Derwent. The former of these is landlocked for fourteen miles in length, and of the most irregular form: its soundings are more than sufficient for the largest ships; and all the navies of the world might ride in safety within it. In the harbour of Derwent there is a roadstead forty-eight miles in length, completely land-locked; varying in breadth from eight to two miles;-in depth from thirty to four fathoms, and affording the best anchorage the whole way.

The

The mean heat, during the three summer months, December, January, and February is about 80° at noon. The heat which such a degree of the thermometer would seem to indicate, is considerably tempered by the seabreeze, which blows with considerable force from nine in the morning till seven in the evening. The three autumn months are March, April, and May, in which the thermometer varies from 55° at night to 75° at noon. The three winter months are June, July, and August. During this interval, the mornings and evenings are very chilly, and the nights excessively cold; hoarfrosts are frequent; ice, half an inch thick, is found twenty miles from the coast; the mean temperature, at day

light, is from 40° to 45°, and at noon

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