The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-23 00:00:00

THE _DERBY UNLUCKI

(From fi'P

II is now a good many years ago since Lord
Coleraine, popularly known as " Blue lingel•,"
froth the colour of the clothes he used to wear, had
an altercation wit ha st range 7. at Drury-lane Theatre,
at the conclusion of which the stranger threatened
to pull his nose. The noble lord applied to his
brother, Colonel Hanger, to know what he ought
to do under the circumstances. "Soap your nose
well," was the fraternal reply, " and it will easily
slip through his fingers." la. other words,-take the
little disagreeablrs of life as easily as May be, and,
if they must be fairly encountercd, call iii tl,e help
of soap and good humour. and'brar what must be
borne with as much placidity as yon .
_ _

to your aid. Now, there was that terrible division'
of Monday night, and the authors eud abettors of
it threaten to do worse. Let us venture to recoil's-
mend our Paper Duty Abolition friends to soap their
noses well and lay in a stock of good humour and
good spirits on Epsom Downs to-day, and they will
he in a better condition to meet the next tweak;
Why should their hearts be heavy when :o many
hearts are rejoicing ? If they have made a mistake
for once let them do as all about thew are doing—
forget all mistakes and disagreeables for one day,
and start for Epsom Downs and the struggle for
the blue riband of the turf. How dare those imPu-.
dent foreigners say that we English are a Dacia
choly people ? There will, be more good.t'un tied
merriment at Epsoniilo-alny, and eundo et redeundo,
than France and Germany—ny, and Italy to boot,
could show in five years. We don't often take
holyday, but when we do we carry our purpose to
its legitimate conclusion with all the energy of the
national character. For once all business entangle-
ments are forgotten. The Premier and the coster-
monger, the merchant whose balance is all right
and the merchant whose balance is all ,wrong, the
lawyer and his client, the detective and the swell-
mobsman, the ins and the outs, are all intent
upon a common object,Sind that is the Derby.
Independently of the natural and annual occasions
for jubilee, this year it bursts upon us after an
eight months' winter. Last week we were
shivering, and certainly not blessing the East
wind, and to-day, with light garments and lighter
hearts, we are on our way to Epsom ; and the
lilacs are in blossom, and whatever is is right, ex-
cept perhaps the jam at the turnpike. This great
English-festival is one to which every one comes
attired in his holiday feelings and his pleasantest
looks. A man must be of sour, austere character in-
deed, no ray of sunshine can ever have lost its way
into his churlish heart, if he refuses to Azar his part
in the general mirth to-day. How admirably, and
by what harmonious clockwork, do the humours and
Eccentricities of each member of that enormous,
never-ending procession strike at their appointed
season, the end attained being that more thousands
of persons than we dare to name have spent a happy
holiday for at least one day in the year; and if it
is so, where is the great harm ?
Now, to-morrow we trust to lay before our readers
a full, true, and particular account of the running
horses," with the names, weights, and colours of the
riders," as the boys say who supply us with the
racing cards. Even.then our leading columns can
scarcely be devoted to the discussion of Derby mat,-,
ters unless they are connected with the graver
events of the day. But why should not our states-
men condescend to take a lesson from the teaching
of the course ? One of the maxims which would
most undoubtedly be acted upon either at Tatter.-
sail's or in the Ring at Epsom would be to avoid an
unlucky man. The maxim may be heartless, but it
is sound. Let us transfer our observations from the
Derby at Epsom to the successive Derby days at
St. Stephen's. There is Mr. Bright, a keen and a
knowing man, as one would suppose, but he is born
under an Unlucky star. As soon as he backs a horse,
the chances of the animal dwindle down to zero.
To be sure, when he first came into the Ring he had
a small burst of luck, which seems to have turned
his head ever since. That was the famous year of
the great race between the noted mare Protection
and the celebrated horse li'ree Trade. " Free
Trade," as we all know, won in a canter. But who
trained the horse?—not Mr. Bright. We can
well remember how a sharp young Corinthian--
Charles Villiers—took the horse in hand as
a colt, and brought him into form, although
everybody was sneering at him for his pains,
and foretelling failure and defeat. Then the
famous Sussex :trainer, Richard Cobden, took the
horse up, and worked him into a long stride with
such infinite pains and perseverance that his ulti-
mate success was a certainty. Mr. Bright no doubt
fell upon his fee'. that time ; but what has been the
story since he took to training on his own account ?
There was another mare, " Economy," got by Hume
out of Budget, which was very fairly placed indeed
till Mr. Bright backed her, and then straightway
she was beaten by " Extravaganc—a horse which
had quite fallen into the rear of pubhc opinion.
Well, then, " Peace" was John bright's next sa n-
ture, but, as we all unfortunately remember but
too well, that fiery horse " Crimea" smashed that
little calculation into pieces. All this was bad
enough, and the members of the Ring were h,Tin-
ning to lose faith in Mr. Bright's judgment, but he
is such a bold, outspoken man that it requires some
nerve to count up his mistakes to him, even when
the mistakes are as palpable as so many broken
bottles. His friends insisted that he should have
another trial, and that it should be a solemn one.
There was a colt left of the old " Reform" stock—
the great mare of Earl Grey's lot in 1832 —and once
more the human race would pin their faith on John
Bright. lie might take up the Reform colt, train
her as he pleased, select his own jockey and time
of running—in fact, do what he pleased so that he
won. We ask all bystanders and spectators to de-
termine in what condition this mare has been
brought out of the stable. 'We have seen the trial
gallops, and now at the critical moment 25 to 3
against Mr. Bright's two-year-old is freely taken.
Well, some people may say here is an undecided
event, and miracles are never out of date; but what
will any one say to the race of Monday last? John
-Bright would ride the well-known horse " Paper
Duty" himself, although warned that he had no
qualification, save wind, to fit him for the discharge
of so delicate a duty. He was far above weight,
he was known to be short in his temper, but no-
thing would serve him but to put on a brown
jacket and gray sleeves, and ride the horse
himself. There had been so much dust raised
about the matter, and so much brag about
Paper Duty's stride, that the ruck were disheart-
ened. Paper Duty was carrying Blight for vie-
tory,
when he could no longer keep his temper
under control, although Paper Duty was well past
the distance-post. One dig with his spur, one cut
with his whip, and the horse was thrown out of
his stride, and the " Old Earl" beat him hollow.
Now, is this proper riding ? Is this the jockey, the
backer, the trainer in whom we are to repose fur-
ther confidence ? Granting that in each of these
instances something like a case can be made out for
John Bright, still he is Mourad the Unlucky.
Many other scraps of sound scholarship might
be picked up on the Epsom Course to-day. Why
will Mr. Gladstone play at Aunt Sally on the na-
tional account ? Each of the sticks which he casts
in so janty a manner at the venerable face of that
lady costs money. The game of throwing good
money after bad is a losing one, and there must be
a grievous to-morrow behind the merriment of to-
day, unless merriment be tinctured with discretion.
No doubt, great license is allowed on the Derby-
day, but it does not look well, to say the least of it,
when we see a man so keen after his sport that he
not only exhausts all his own cash but anticipates
his next quarter's income, and all because he will
have that short pipe out of Aunt Sally's dusky lips
at all hazards, Many other analogies between the
political and sporting circumstances of the times
present themselves readily enough to the imagina-
tion ; but considerations of space forbid us to pro-
ceed further with them here. Let us augur cloud-
less skies and a happy day for the thousands to
whom this great national gathering is a festivityt
indeed. At least we are happy in respect,—
that, be,
that, whatever our momentary difficulties e meal;
join
we are a happy and a united people. We
as this
cordially and heartily in such
against holydaycamp, county
without being divided campt dreadag of foreign against county, and
domestic strife.
serious hos-
tility,
Whatever may be the animositiesbetween political
free
from all
parties we may saykcieecl
so we are
in this Country that they
are bat skin deep„rather resembling the rivalry
of the course than the deadly hatreds which we
see existing between members of the same com-
munity in foreign landa. The Derby. day is a kind.
of marking period in our annual history. We take
it as an epoch, and ask ourselves what has occurred
to disquiet us or afflict us as a nation between. this
day and the corresponding day of last year. The
period has, indeed, been singularly free fY:om cala-
mity, either of pestilence, war, or famine', or any of
the great scourges which afflict humanity. May
we be able to give as good an account of ourselves
on the next Derby-day !

The Stock Exchange Committee yesterday anaai.
mously confirmed the suspension of the fcrur members em-
ployed by Pullinger in his speculations.. By a misprint
yesterday it was made to appear that their case had been
rendered less serious in the eyes of the cc,mmittee by some
exceptional circumstances, but it is only cone of the parties,
Mr. Braddock, who stands in this position . His suspension
consequently is limited to three months, while that of
Messrs. R. Johnston, T. 'Uzielli, and Sheldon will con-
tinue to the 25th of March, when the p imers of the present
committee expire.
M. Mires, the Paris millionare, it is said, assures
to his daughter and son-in-law, Prince de Polignac, by
marriage contract, 120,000 f. a-year, tv carriages, with.
horses and servants, and an apartment 1 his hotel in the
Rue Neuve des Islathurins.