Bibliothèque mondiale du cheval

« So much has been said and written, if little has been done, regarding our general horses, their propagation, improvement, culture, supply, insufficiency, and dearness; to which catalogue we ought to append an alleged decadence, that the subject has fairly passed through that amount of exciting ventilation and publicity which leads to popularity in the public mind.
Writers of varied classes of opinions have dealt w’ith it through works of standard literature, and the medium of the press and periodicals. Men capable of handling it in its varied ramifications and details have devoted energy and ability to exhaustive essays for the last quarter of a century on the subject of our general and military horse supply. From such utilitarian and highly commendable efforts, we have at length aroused the consideration of the great and powerful, without, up to the present, any result beyond that of incontestable practical confirmation of the warnings of writers on the subject.
The Royal Commission granted upon Lord Rosebery’s motion in the House of Lords, have discovered, with mathematical accuracy, the inadequacy of supply to our demand; but, unfortunately, nothing has been yet done, or suggested, to rectify so alarming and inconvenient a state of things. Observations at such a juncture, submitted for public consideration and appreciation, will be rigorously expected to have their base, at any rate, in sound and rational premises. For this is a subject of importance so over-whelming as to embrace considerations of the maintenance of our national supremacy in the future.[…] » Présentation de l’éditeur (1874)