The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-17 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

THE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON THE VERY
SHAM FIGHT.—The story of how this match was
made, and how it did not come off, has been told by
the sporting papers in their very best style. 'W e
propose to compile, for the benefit of those who are
not habitual readers of those papers, a brief narra-
tive of the rise, progress, and ultimate failure of
the match. It appears that, by articles of agree-
ment dated June 10, 1864, Mace agreed to fight.
with Coburn " a fair stand-up fight according to
the rules of the Ring of the Pugilistic Benevolent
Association." The connection between pugilism and
benevolence, however obvious to the properly in-
structed mind, may possibly need some elucidation
far the general reader, and therefore we will give
what is, we believe, the correct explanation—
namely, that the above-named Association, which
is similar in its objects to those which are main-
tained by other trades and professions, depends
for support partly upon the proceeds of the sale of
inner...ring tickets at prizeefights ; and hence the
managers of the Association have been invested
with authority to appoint ring-keepers, and gene-
rally to superintend the ring and the proceedings
which take place within and around it. This ar-
rangement is not bad in theory, but a practical diffi-
culty sometimes arises when a ring-keeper who
has received a considerable sum for tickets prefers
to keep that sum in his pockets, instead of handing
it over to the treasurer of the P.B.A. __The only
remedy of the managers of the Association in such
a case is by a process similar to that of excommu-
nication by a Church of a disobedient member ; and,
unfortunately, the similarity may be traced, not only
in the process, bat in the equanimity with which it.
is apt to be received. In the present case, it was to
be apprehended that, even if the ring keepers were
ready to do their duty, the natives of the country
in which the fight was appointed to take place
would scarcely be found amenable to the delegated
authority of the P.B.A. We know very well that
Irishmen have conscientious objections to the use of
the fist, but if one of these ring keepers had pro-
duced, as they sometimes do, a staff to enforce erder,
we certainly should expect that some of the com-
pany would respond to such a congenial demonstrae
tion. It could scarcely be said to be impossible that
a genuine attempt to bring off this fight in Ireland
would end in a general row and scrimmage; and
if it was likely that the police would be called in
finally, it would be just as well for them to inter-
fere in the first place. However, to return to Mace
and Coburn, it was provided by the articles between
them that the fight should come off on Tuesday,
October 4, above 20 and under 100 miles from
Dublin, and that the referee should be chosen the
day before fighting. The men went into training
in due course, and both were reported to be doing
well and to be full of confidence. Mace obliged the
sporting world at Doncaster by walking over from
his training quarters at Sheffield to the races ; and
certainly both his appearance and the report which
his trainer gave of his pedestrian and other per-
formances were well calculated to inspire his backers
with the confidence which he professed himself.
When he said, after receiving the final polish from
his trainer, " I want to have a fight with Coburn be-
cause I am so well," it is likely that he was speak.
ing almost the only ward of truth that has been
uttered in connection with these proceedings.
The train which left Euston-square on the morning
of Saturday, the Ist instant, was ominously unfur-
nished with fighting " mugs." We learn that such
members of the P,R. as undertook the trip suffered
as much as weaker and less famous men in crossing
the Irish Channel. Even Mace himself, in the full
perfection of his training, enjoyed no exemption
from the ordinary sufferings of humanity. Sunday
and Monday brought a considerable accession of
leading pugilists, and also a detachment of those
hangers-on of the Ring, with regard to whom it
must have seemed mysterious how they got to Ire..
land, and still more mysterious how they would
get back. If they never got back at all, the balance
of profit and loss between the two countries on the
transaction would not perhaps be against England.
These worthies, it may be supposed, went over in
hopes of a job of ring keeping, and having with
extreme difficulty scraped together enough money
for their passage over, they must have been reduced
to provide for their passage back by expedimts into
which it would be unkind to inquire too particu-
larly. We can only hope that the warning given
by the editor of Bells Life, " that he has his eye
upon them," will have the desired eIT, ct, but we must
own that, in reference to the security of purses and
watches, we should prefer the eye of a policeman.
It very loon became evident that there was no pro-
bability of bringing the fight off, even if there had
been any desire to do so, which is extremely
doubtful. It will be interesting to see how Mr.
Edwin James treats these Irish proceedings in the
columns of the New York Clipper; and as American
journalists have had great experience in the mani-
pulation of similar materials, we should not be at
all surprised to find Coburn transformed into a
hero. But if he goes back leaving matters as they
now stand, his fellow-townsmen of New York can
hardly help feeling that they have been taken in ;
for they certainly got up an enthusiastic demon•
stration at his departure, under the belief that he
was going across the ocean to fight Mace. His
conduct bears rather a strong resemblance to that
of the gentleman who appointed time and place for
a hostile meeting, and earnestly entreated all his
friends on no account to give warning to the police.
Coburn sent Mr. Edwin James to the place ap-
pointed for the choice of a referee the day before
that named for the fight, and he instructed him to
name one Mr. Bowley, a hotel-keeper of Limerick,
of whom nobody had ever heard before, and to
agree to no one else. The representative of Mace, on
the other hand, proposed one well-known and unex.
ceptionable person, and even offered to agree in
choosing Mr. Edwin James himself. The con-
clusion drawn by Mace and his friends from the
proceedings of their opponents was the very
natural one that it was useless to remain
any longer in Ireland, and accordingly they
returned to England that night. Coburia proceeded
next day to the appointed place, which was 95
miles from Dublin, and, presenting himself at the
appointed time, threw his cap into a hastily formed
ring, and claimed the stakes. The police were at
hand in considerable force, but did not interfere,
probably because they knew that Coburn, however
valiantly disposed, could not fight unless he had
somebody to fight with him. But at earlier stages
of the proceedings the police displayed great acti-
vity, and laid hands on several robust persons on
suspicion that they' were the intended combatants.
But the people and the police of this happy land
showed utter ignorance of what a trained pugilist
ought to look like, and the general impression ap-
peared to be that any big man seen in the street
was likely to be Mace or Coburn, and the more
likely in proportion to his bigness. Almost the
only good that has resulted from this visit of Eng-
lish pugilists to Ireland has been to demoustrate,
what certainly needed domonstrating—namely, the
peaceable, law-abiding character of the Irish people.
If we were to attempt to take an elevated view of
the proceeding, we should say it was a mission for
propagating the doctrine of the superiority of the
fist over 'cae stick, and we should have to own that,
like some other missions, it has been unsuccessful.
There may have been some slight stimulus given to
the business of sporting public-houses by the
announcement that their proprietors had returned
from Ireland brimful of whisky and of anecdote.
But, on the other hand, the expenses of the journey
must have been considerable—not to mention such
disagreeable incidents as " breaking down bodily
at the first mouthful of boiled mutton and caper
sauce," and being reduced to a state of pitiable
incapacity for drinking, smoking, and almost for
swearing, during the passage of the Channel. It
would be superfluous to expend compassion on the
deluded backers who have found money for the
combatants. It is stated that £BOO has been
advanced to Mace to make good his battle money
and for expenses, and, as Caburn had to crose the
ocean, even a larger sum must have been found for
him. If those who advanced this money are
satisfied with what they have got or are likely to
get for it, nobody else has any reason to complain ;
but with our limited knowledge of American insti-
tutions, we cannot understand what Coburn's
motive could have been for playing a part in such
a farce. The net result of all that has taken place
in reference to the so-called international contest
appears to be that a considerable sum of money has
been spent, and a great deal of trouble has been
spent, to make the prize ring contemptible. The
enemies of pugilism can desire nothing more than
that pugilists should pursue their present course.
THE SPECTATOR ON THEATRIC REALISM.—The sue-
teas of Mr Boucicault's play, "Streets of London,"throws a
curious light upon the present taste of the English publis
Night after night for 60 nights the Princess's Theatre has
been crammed to the roof till the gallery looks like one of
those quaint photographs full of tightly packed faces, with
crowds anxious to applaud a play whose only merit is a
rough and partial realism. The story itself is a crude
mixture of a scene from "Hard Cash," David Dod's
arrival at Mr Harding's bank, and a French play called
" Les Pauvres," and the French portion has not been very
carefully adapted. English people do not stifle themselves