The Express.
London, England, 1867-06-04 00:00:00

P.ROFE.4SOR GOLD WIN SMITH ON " THE
DERBY."

Mr. Goldwin Smith has addressed the following
letter to the Manchester Examiner :—" Sir, —The cor-
respondent of one of the journals, describing the Derby,
says that among the cheering which hailed the NUMMI of
the victor ' was to be beard here and there • sound, half
scream, half sob, telling a tale of heavy lots, if not of
absolute ruin.' Subsequent report seems to confirm the
tale. This is the spectacle which Lord Palmerston
compared to the Isthmian games. It is about
as like the Isthmian games as the character
of Lord Palmerston was like the character, cast in a
narrow but genuine and noble mould, of the Greek hero.
The reward of the victor at the Isthmian games was •
crown of leaves ; this, with an inscription on enduring
marble in his city, and the more enduring monument of
Finder's verse. Of betting I believe we have no record.
If any sobs and screams mingled with the exultation of
victory, they told only of the honouratlo agony of defeat.
If a parallel is to be sought in antiquity for
these sports of ours, it should be sought rather
in the delirious and degraded passions of the
Roman circus in the last age of degenerate Rome. It is
needless to say that this is horseracing no longer. It is a
gigantic system, or rather frenzy of national gambling.
The horses are no more than the two straws pulled from a
haystack, or the two drops of rain running together down
the window-pane, on which, for want of anything better,
gamblers have been known to stake their money.
The whole kingdom at the approach of the Derby
becomes a gambling table, at which men who never
saw a horserace, who could not tell the points of a
horse, who would not know Hermit from a hack, and
even women and boys, hasten to taste the vile delight of
gambling, often to their demoralization, eometiines to their
ruin. As to the pretence of keeping up the breed of
horses, it is needless to say that it is about as valid and
about as sincere as the defence of fox-hunting on the
ground that it clears the country of vermin. Gambling—
gambling, every year more extensive, every year for higher
stakes, as the need of excitement increases—this is now
the grand national amusement, and its crisis is the great
national event. The men of theCommonwealtb put a stop to
bear-baiting and the other ' sports ' of that time. This
is set down as • proof of their moroseness, and
Macaulay says, in his epigrammatic way, that the bear-
baiting was put down, not because it gave pain to the
bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators. Vane
or Cromwell would probably have answered that it was
not because it gave pleasure, but because the pleasure
which it gave was an ignoble, unmanly, and de-
grading pleasure, unworthy alike of • Christian
and of an English citizen. Those days, however, are
gone by. Nobody would now propose to interfere
legally with any amusement not contrary to public order
or decency. We have learnt that • censorship of manners
in attempting to cure throws in the disease. If, indeed, as
the Times tells us, the aristocracy, our hereditary legisla-
tors, are gambling away their estates and impoverishing
their titles, it may become necessary that the state should
step in for the protection of hereditary wisdom. But other-
wise, as offences against Heaven must be left to the juris-
diction of Heaven, so moral diseases must be left to moral
cures. It is hard to meet in any moral philosopher
with a good diagnosis of the moral malady of
gambling, or a good prescription for its cure. Moral philo-
sophers occupy themselves too much with general senti-
manta and theories, too little with the practical examina-
tion and treatment of the infirmities to which humanity
is heir; they are too much of the preacher and essayist,
too little of the physician. There seems to be no
principle or propensity in human nature in itself
evil; our vices are the depravations or over-excitements
of natural tendencies and desires. The feeling of hope,
or whatever it is that leads us to venture and aspire,
is capable, I presume, like other feelings, of being over-
excited by artificial stimulants, such as the gambling
table or the betting ring affords. Or perhaps a lower but
more natural explanation may be found in the love of
gain combined with the dislike of labour. But one
thing seems certain, that the passion for gambling pre-
vails only in the absence of any worthy object of interest
or desire. A man whose mind was full of manly
aspirations, or whose heart was occupied by strong and
pure affections, would not be seen waiting at the
telegraph office, with agony in his face, for the news of a
horse race, or heard screaming and sobbing at Epsom
because one animal had got its head before another. The
clergymen and moralists who are lamenting and denouncing
this base mania will find that in the case of the individual
they will do little by attacking it directly. The only
way of expelling the unhealthy and immoral interest is
by implanting an interest which L healthy and
moral. And as with the individual, so it is with the
nation. Give us a parliament capable of being the organ
of national aspiration and effort, let great questions be
once more handled in earnest by great men, Ist our poli-
tical chiefs once more display the qualities which touch a
nation's heart, and the soul of England will soon cease to
be absorbed by • horse race. That it should be so absorbed
at present is not wonderful. I see in the shop windows •
caricature the form of which is itself taken from the race-
course. A jockey, whose looks bespeak him the
most knavish of his tribe, is distancing his less
cunning rivals in • race. This is a caricature of
the Reform struggle in the House of Commons, a caries-
tare, no ; but • simple picture of she humiliating reality.
On the greatest of all national questions this parliament,
which Mr. Lowe calls heroic, not only allows itself, but is
apparently pleased, to be ridden by cajolery and fraud ;
and the victory in legislation belongs to him who is most
I familiar with the tricks of the turf and most unscrupulous
in practising them. Who can blame the nation for turning
its mind to a more genuine and purer object of interest in
a race horse ?—I ma, kc, GOLOWIN SMITH."

AT raz PARIS RAcits. —Concluding his description
of the races on Sunday, thecorrespondent of the Post writes :
—"Any faithful historian who is celled upon to record the
varied company or worlds' which dotted the racecourse
to-day would leave a conspicuous blank if he were to omit
the mention of many dozens of young ladies occupying
broughams and open pony chaises of varied build, but
almost invariably well horsed. gentleman, no father,
no brother, none of the family apparently accompanying
these exquisitely-dressed young women, and yet they must
have rich ' relations 'of some sort. Look at their wonder-
ful headdress ; it must be an age of luxuriant hair ; nature
is evidently most bountiful in her crops this year of race
1867 ! A wilderness of golden, nut-brown, purple-black ;
and that the pearly flesh tint, and eyes which perhaps
art has made larger And more lustrous ; there is no
excuse for not entering into the compact of holy matri-
mony. Observe, too, how the whole world imitate the
demi- swede. Who sets the fashion now in Par'? I gaze
with wonder on a princess, a real and true princess ; her
hair, ab ! ye gods forgive me if it be not her hair as grown
on her own head ; it falls in a sort of uncombed confusion
over a narrow back, just as you might imagine a beauty's
tresses look coming from a bath. la all this studied nag-
ligenoe to charm the imperial people, or is it to promul-
gate a new fashion? We know why certain young ladies
make themselves conspicuous by attractive toilette oon-
colts, but what object have the holies of the grand-week
in making male people turn round and inquire, although
we have so many mighty sovereigns amongst us? Let the
curtain drop; investigation ought to have its limits, even
if we are moral doctors or great artists. The races to-day
painted a true picture of Paris life. Sovereigns smiling
under a maak ; women indulging in sham amulet ; deceit
and deception; sharpers and dupes ; sunshine and then •
storm about 4 o'clock; just as it shoed be !"
THS Worst LONDON YACHT CLUB. —The entries
for the ocean match of this club on Saturday next closed
last night, and are are as follows :
SCHOONERS AND YAWL&
Names. Tons. Description. Owners.
Avoset
Loadstar
Anita
Minstrel
Julia
Modena 133 . &Maser .. DLL A. 0. Wilkinson.

COTTIRIL
Namur. Ti... Owners.
Mobs
ShoWilig lft Mr. Norge Wells.
Pbryne 66 Mr. T. Groves. Mo.
Tingles 46 11r..1. Duncan.
Vanguard
Amason
The eaves is from the Lower Hope into Harwich harbour.
Schooners and yawls, classed together, will sail for • prise
of 501. They have a time allowance of a quarter of a
minute per ton up to 150 tons. Cutters sail for • prize
of 401. ; half • minute per ton will be allowed then, up to
75 tons. Nu time allowances will be made above either of
these. The race is to start at 5.30 cm. The Queen of
the Thames will accompany the vessels, leaving Graves.
sad at 5.