These repeated triumphs, as well as the not less frequent ones of MM.  Lefevre, Lupin and de Juigne, have naturally set the English a-thinking.  They have to admit that the time has passed when their handicappers could contemptuously give a French horse weights in his favor, and a party headed by Lords Falmouth, Hardwicke and Vivian and Sir John Astley of the London Jockey Club has been formed with the object of bringing about some modifications of the international code.

A war of words has ensued between Admiral Rous and Viscount Daru, the respective presidents of the two societies, in the course of which the admiral has urged that as English horses are admitted to only two races in France, the Grand Prix de Paris and the D[e]auville Cup, while French horses are at liberty to enter upon any course in England, it is quite time that a reciprocity of privileges were recognized, and that racers be put upon an equal footing in the two countries.  Not at all, replies M. Daru; and for this reason:  there are three times as many race-horses in England as in France, and the small number of the latter would bring down the value of the French prizes to next to nothing if the stakes are based, as they are in England, upon the sum-total of the entries.  In France the government, the encouragement societies, the towns, the railway companies, all have to help to make up the purses, and often with very considerable sums.  Would it be fair to let in English horses in the proportion of, say, three to one—­supposing the value of the horses to be equal—­to carry off two-thirds of these subscriptions?  To this the Englishman answers, not without a show of reason, that if the foreign horses should come into France in any great numbers this very circumstance would make the entrance-moneys a sufficient remuneration to the winner, and that the government, the Jockey Club and the rest would be relieved from a continuance of their subventions.  The discussion is still kept up, and it is not unlikely that the successors of MM.  Rous and Daru will keep on exchanging notes for some years without coming nearer to a solution than the diplomats have come to a settlement of the Eastern Question.

I have said that the Jockey Club of Paris grants subventions to the racing societies of the provinces, which it takes under its patronage to the number of about forty-five, but it undertakes the actual direction of the races at only three places—­namely, Chantilly, Fontainebleau and Deauville-sur-Mer—­besides those of Paris.  Up to 1856, the Paris races were run on the Champ de Mars, where the track was too hard and the turns were very sharp and awkward.  In the last-mentioned year the city ceded to the Societe d’Encouragement the open field at Longchamps, lying between the western limit of the Bois de Boulogne and the river Seine.  The ground measures about sixty-six hectares in superficial area, and this ample space has permitted the laying out of several tracks of different lengths and of varying form, and has avoided any necessity for sharp turns.  The whole race-course is well sodded, and the ground is as good as artificially-made ground can be.  It is kept up and improved by yearly outlays, and these very considerable expenses are confided to Mr. J. Mackenzie-Grieves, so well known for his horsemanship to all the promenaders of the Bois.