LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
POLITICIANS AND THE TURF.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
&R,—Lord Palmerston had one advantage as regards his con- nection with the turf, which, for the present, is denied to Lord Rosebery. Two at least of his political opponents were as thorough turfites as himself. In the first place, there was Lord Derby. Both during the time when he was Lord Stan- .ley—he was called to the Upper House by this title—and after he became Earl of Derby, he was keenly interested in 'races, and would for a week or so, for the sake of sport, forego politics. It was declared that once on returning to the House -of Commons, after a week so spent, he joined eagerly in the discussions respecting the trial of Mr. O'Connell ; and in- tending to assert that some important document had been duly handed to the Clerk of the Crown, actually said, "Well, Sir, this document was handed to the Clerk of the Course ; "
and rushed on with his argument quite unconscious of his dapsus lingua. Some years afterwards he submitted to the
jockey Club a series of resolutions for the improvement of its business. By that time Palmerston had virtually, though mot formally, retired from the turf. The Record newspaper, ignorant of the new Premier's antecedents, and at that time most grateful to him for many Episcopal appointments suggested by Lord Shaftesbury, contrasted the career of his lordship with the wickedness of Lord Derby, the Tory leader who had intermeddled with turf doings, in a way that showed ideep knowledge as well as lively interest in such matters. The secular Press informed the Record that its pet politician had in former days trained more racehorses than Bishops.
On one occasion, at Newmarket, Lord Palmerston caused s. flutter among scholars by insisting on calling a favourite mare, not (as Virgil makes it) lliinê, but as if it were written Monne. Appeal was made to Cambridge scholars ; and they were compelled to admit that as it was originally a Greek name, it must be lawful (with "modern Greeks) to lay stress upon the acute accent of the penultima. Some fan, however, was made of it ; and a magazine (I think Blackwood's), published a ballad, which began somewhat on this wise:—
" The Whigs have many a child of fame, Great Cottenham and little Johnny,
But sure he claims the foremost name, The chiel that owns fleet Ilionnee.
His Lordship too has doubtless read In Sophocles's Antigonnee," &c.
After Lord Stanley's removal to the Upper House, the Whigs were confronted for a time by one still more deeply immersed in turf matters,—namely, Lord George Bentinck. As leader _ of the Protectionists, deeply and naturally offended by the sudden conversion of Sir Robert Peel to Free-trade, Lord George declared, in the course of a debate, that the Prime Minister of this great country ought to be, before all things, a „stable man. Mr. Punch immediately took the hint, and gave us ia cartoon of "Weighing for the Premiership ; " Lord George, in jockey-like attire, being prominent with his own dictum (below the picture.
On one occasion, Lord John Russell, annoyed with some inquiries of Lord George on small matters, hinted, in a vein of sarcasm, that Lord George had better retire .to a club where such minutie were discussed ; and where be, the noble lord, had won a great reputation by inspection of a horse's teeth and the disproof of the alleged age of the steed. It suited. Mr. Disraeli, for the moment, to resent Lord John's attack "on one of our national pastimes," to assure him that lord George would show the same courage and determination in the House as at the Jockey Club, and finally to inquire whether Lord John, at that time Premier, would keep out of • office members of a club of which the three stewards were at that moment my Lord A., the Marquis of C., and the Duke of Bedford ? Ile even asked whether the noble Lord would deem that Duke an unfit person for any appointment from the 4Jrowi0 As the Duke was then helping his brother with his _ Nurse, the question was an awkward one to parry.
Pray excuse all this gossip. I write merely as a bystander, tut year interesting leader seemed slightly to ignore these 6110001111, and so brought them to my memory.—I am, Sir, &c.,
HAIM JUVENIS.
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