The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-12 00:00:00

SPORTING INTELLIGE7

TATTERSALL'S-LAST EVENIYG.

TWO THOUSAND.

sto 1 agst Fille de l'Air (taken and offered)
6to 1 agst Paris (taken and offered)
THE DERBY.
12 to 1 agst Scottish Chief (offered)
100 to 8 agst Paris (taken)
100 to 6 agst Blair Athol (taken)
100 to 6 agst Forager (taken and offered)
25 to 1 agst Coast Guard (taken)
25 to 1 agst Prince Arthur (taken and offered)
25 to 1 agst Coup d'Etat (taken)
25 to 1 agst Historian (taken)
2000 to 70 apt Birch Broom (taken)
33 to 1 agst Claremont (taken)
33 to 1 apt Ely (offered)
33 to 1 agst Appenine (offered)
1000 to 15 agst Horse Marine (taken)
1000 to 15 agst FitzAdine (taken)
1000 to 15 agst King John (taken)

THE LATE PRIZE-FIGHT.

(From the .11'ate York Herald.)

Another great contest between England and the United
States has been determined against us, to the disgust of the
" fancy " portion of our community, and the intense amaze-
ment of the American eagle. King and Heenan met on the
10th inst., and after a fight of 35 minutes the latter admitted
a defeat and gave up the battle, Twenty-five rounds were
fought. Heenan endeavouring to avail himself of his talents
as a wrestler, which are very great, and thus to win by the
exhaustion of his opponent. Doubtless this was partly
dictated by a desire to save his hands, which were likely
not so good as they had been represented to be. He gave
the only knock down blow of the fight, and fought gamely
to the end. So ends the last, thus far, of our contest with
England, About 1776 we had our first, and won, though
it was a hard fight. It was ended by a Catherine wheeler
at York-town. Early in the present century, 1312, we
fought again; but on this occasion the result was only a
draw, as the British lion—or the British bull, whichever it
is—or a British beast made up of the contrary qualities of
bull and lion, with the stupid bovine stubborness and the
feline treachery—was satisfied to close that struggle
when it was not more than half fought out. In another
contest of lesser magnitude than these we fought by
champions. England was represented by the immortal
Tom Cribb, and the United States sent one of its institut-
tions—the nigger, and a good representative specimen of
the race, too, named Molyneux. Now, although it has
been said that the nigger won't fight, I\lolyueux—a good
specimen of the American nigger—carne within an
ace, a black ace, of giving Tom Cribb—a magnificent
specimen of the English white man—a severe drub-
bing ; but England cut the ropes, and won. Tom,
however, was afterwards taken in hand by the famous
Captain Barclay, and in the next fight Cribb vanquished
Molyneux, and we were down is turn. Both these contests
took place on British soil. Then we had several contests
of another character on yachts, reapers, &c., in all of which
we were the victors. The America took the World's cup off
Cowes, and the English yachts were nowhere. Next we
fought by Champions again—Heenan for us, and Sayers for
his country and the stakes. England was beaten that time,
but she would not admit it, because, as she said, her cham-
pion was only a little fellow after all. But she took away
her champion's bolt, though she would not give it to the
man who had convinced her that her champion was un-
worthy to wear it. After that a Wall-street broker sent his
yacht to England, and brought on another contest, in which
we were beaten. Again we were beaten through one of our
steam fire engines, and finally we have been beaten in this
last immense mill between King and Heenan. Here aro
only four results against us in all these struggles, and that
is a state of the quarrel in which we might gracefully leave
it, but we have not yet heard of any American who is so
recreant as to propose that. Beyond all question, we take,
as a people, too deep an interest in this struggle t 3 leave
it yet, especially as the result is against us. Yesterday
so absorbed were all classes in the expectation of this news
that no other subject had any interest. Juvenal said
that the interruption of the Romin races caused more sor-
row in Rome than the loss of the battle of Cannes. Here wo
had the same public condition repeated, and by comparison
with this fight there was no civil war for a day, and even no
nigger. Immediately upon the receipt of the President's
late message, in which the country expected a plan for the
settlement of the difficulties of the South, we published an
extra, and the people absolutely would not buy it. But our
extra with the account of this fight sold by thousands.
One million dollars also were bet upon the fight in this
city, and at least three millions altogether in England, this
country, and Canada. Are we in this any worse than the
world at large ? No; all vigorous, healthy, and free races,
from the Jews down, have loved a fight. Moses was a
hard hitter, inasmuch as, by a single blow of his fist, he
knocked down one of those tough customers, the Egyp •
tians--that we can make nothing of—out of time and
into eternity. His descendants ornament the P.R. to
the present day. Ulysses fought the giant Irus for a
kid's fries, and was declared the winner on the first round,
having completely demolished -,the giant's snuffbox and
potato trap by a single hot one from the auctioneer. His
countrymen had already made her sport a national one, and
Greece deified muscle in Hercules. In the days when
Venice was free the prize-fight was one of her national in-
stitutions, even more decidedly than it is in England at the
present time ; but now there are no prize-fights in that en-
slaved and peaceful city. No institutions that flourished in
Egypt, Greece, and Italy, and that is alive yet, can easily
die. So there will be more fights. But after this we must
have a better representative than Heenan. No disparage-
ment is meant to his courage in this; but he certainly lacks
the proper organisation for a fighter. He has bone, muscle,
and all that; but yet he is too delicate in another sense. He
is, as the breeders would say, too " fine." His nervous
system is not the right one, and in this particular he is in
decided contrast with all the men who have been his oppo-
nents, and we may doubtless trace his many failures to
this source.