The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-27 00:00:00

UST.

SPIRIr OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The Americans have once more done a
thing never attempted by any other people. They
have set three pleasure yachts to race against each
other at headlong speed across the broad and stormy
ocean, from New York to Cowes, and, not content
with the longest race, they have added to the dar-
ing feat by rewarding the victor with about the
largest money prize ever proposed in such a contest.
The Henrietta, the Vesta, and the Fleetwing started
from New York at 1 p.m. on the 11th inst., and the
first of the three which arrived at Cowes was to re-
ceive a prize of $90,000, or no less than £lB,OOO.
The victory has been already won. At 5 40 p.m. on
Christmas-day the Henrietta appeared off Cowes,
having accomplished the passage from New York in
14 days, 4 hours, and 40 minutes. What this means
the reader will understand when we say that the
quickest passage across the Atlantic ever yet made
by a sailing vessel was only performed in 13 days
and 8 hours. In fact, the voyage would have been
a fair one even for a powerful steamer. The umpire
in the match left New York in the Scotia, and did
not get here much too soon to see the winner appear.
The two rivals of the Henrietta were only a few
hours behind her. No observer of American charac-
ter will be surprised at the interest which this un-
precedented contest excited on the other side of the
Atlantic. For some days before the start New York
was alive with excitement, and the sensation was all
the more intense from the evenness of the match.
It does not appear, indeed, that the Henrietta was
the favourite. Odds were laid at the last minute
upon the Vesta, though the beauty and promise of
the other two were thought astonishing. There is
only one circumstance which may be supposed, per-
haps, to explain the result. "The eye of the master"
is a potent spell, and the owner of the Henrietta
took passage in her himself. The Vesta and the
Fleetwing were intrusted to their respective cap-
tains, while their owners remained in New York ;
but the Atlantic Cable will have completed the
marvels of the story, and the issue of the race will
have been known in America as soon as it was
published here. A communication despatched from
our Government to the United States' Consul at
Southampton is evidence not only of the interest
taken in the event, but of the perilous character of
the race itself. The Fleetwing, it will be observed,
had six of her crew swept off by a sea in mid pas-
sage. Admiral Pasley was directed by the autho-
-1 rities to hold himself in readiness to offer the racing
vessels the assistance of the dockyard, and the coin-pliment was deservedly paid not only to these re-
presentatives of a friendly and kindred people, but
to the daring spirit of adventure in which the match
had been conceived and executed. There is, indeed,
no other such match on record. Some of our own
merchantmen have occasionally raced against each
other from China to England, but these were large
clipper ships striving to get a few hours' start in the
way of business. It was reserved for the Ameri-
cans to send three yachts to do in the Atlantic
what is usually done in the smooth waters of an in-
land sea,, and to carry on a race of this kind, not
for a few hours, but for a whole fortnight, through
night and day. The success, however, of the Hen-
rietta is as complete as that of the America a few
years ago, and far more surprising. The America
was simply an example of new principles dexterously
applied to shipbuilding; this ocean yacht race has
brought high national qualities into play, but in
both cases the Americans were true to their own.
pretensions and shot clear ahead of the Old World
It is remarkable that yachting, in which the
Americans have thus excelled us, has always been
regarded as the peculiar pastime of England, and it
is true enough, no doubt, that in no country is the
pursuit invested with so much favour and popularity.
But our yachtsmen take things comfortably. We
build our pleasure-boats really for pleasure and sail
them for pleasure. An Englishman's yacht is his
home, and the home often of his family, too, for
weeks together, and considerations of convenience
are allowed to preponderate in the design and equip-
ment of the craft. The Americans are both less do-
mestic and more adventurous. They want yachts
which can do what no other yacht has ever done,
and they get them. Perhaps the comforts of these
vessels might not be exactly suited to our tastes, but
they teach us something nevertheless. It is well for
progress that there is a nation which knows no
trammels of routine and shrinks from uo experiment,
however hazardous or audacious. The Americans
have always, and naturally, been distinguished for
shipbuilding and seamanship. They have set us the
example in half-a-dozen new models, and they are
pursuing the same course now, but we shall, perhaps,
not be wrong in considering this ocean yacht race as
expressive of another and more general spirit which
has been remarked for some time past as on the in-
crease in the States. The Americans are fast be-
coming a sporting people. They are establishing
races, and conducting them as they are conducted in
the ld World. That irresistible spirit which trans-
figures our whole metropolitan population on the
Derby Day is rapidly developing itself on the other
side of the Atlantic, and we may expect before long
to see all such sports as popular in America as they
are here. We rejoice at the sign. As it is our be-
lief that national character is substantially improved
by such pastimes, we are sincerely glad to find the
Americans moving in that direction. They have
got all the qualities of sportsmen. They are adven-.
turous, fearless, fond of excitement, persevering,
and acute. What they can accomplish as well as
design this very yacht race shows. It is no slight
thing for the owner of a pleasure boat to bring her
from one side of the Atlantic to the other in the
depth of winter with such skill and rapidity that the
passage could hardly be exceeded by strong and
well-handled steamers. Probably few people ex-
pected to see the visitors so soon, but the public will
certainly be pleased to hear that a suitable reception
bad been already designed, and that a grand enter-
tainment will be given to the gentlemen on
board the racing vessels on Monday next. We can
have no feeling of jealousy in such a matter as this.
We will not say that Englishmen could not have
accomplished such a race, but the idea would per-
haps hardly have occurred to them. Its novelty and
boldness are eminently characteristic of Americans,
and they may depend upon it that they will lose
nothing in this country of the credit to which such
success entitles them.

PosT.—As the time for the meeting of Parliament
approaches, and town begins to fill up with the
harder working men of public life, the interest felt
in the position and prospects of parties naturally in-
creases. This interest is heightened, too, by the re-
membrance of the peculiarity of the circumstances
under which the late Cabinet resigned, and of the
conditions under which the present Ministry holds
the reins of power. A great deal has been said about
taking office in the face of a majority; but it is
nevertheless certain—and, indeed, it is not likely at
this time to be seriously disputed—that Lord Derby's
Administration did, at the time of taking office, re-
present more nearly than that which it ousted from
the Treasury bench the opinions of the majority of
the House of Commons on the one vital subject of
Reform ; and, great as was the regret expressed by
a portion of that majority at.the necessity for losing
the services of such able men as those who composed
the late Cabinet, there is no doubt that the cost
had been counted, and that it was considered a
necessary price to pay for escape from the im-
position of the Russell-Gladstone views (and
in some degree, too, from their manner of enforcing
their views) on this question. Whether the pre-
sent Government does now represent the opinion of
the majority on that same question it is useless to
ask, because it is impossible to discover at present
ithether it does or not ; but the situation presents
some features which are well worthy of attention,
and which are calculated to throw light at any rate
upon the difficulties surrounding the question, as to
the vitality of the Ministry, which, as is usual at
this time of year, all politicians are now going about
asking each other. As regards numerical strength,
the Ministry and the Opposition are pretty much in
the same respective positions as the end of last ses-
sion left them. The Ministry have gained a few
elections during the recess, but not sufficient to be
of any importance, and the nominal forces on either
side can be gauged therefore pretty accurately.
Reform, however, is still, as it has been for a long
time, the chief object of political solicitude, and the
impediment to legislative progress in every other
direction, and has very fully shown that on this
question numerical force furnishes no test of actual
strength, and that there exists a moderate section of
politicians who do not agree with the views of either
the more timorous of the Conservatives or the more
enthusiastic of the Liberals, and who are sufficiently
powerful, by uniting with either of the extreme
parties, to prevent the other from having its
wicked will of the question. The lesson to
be learnt from this state of things is obviously
that which Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald inculcated
upon his former constituents at llorsham a week
since, that no settlement of the question of Reform
is possible without a compromise ; and, indeed,
what with unredeemed pledges and unsuccessful
performances, the whole thing has got into such an
imbroglio that, unless a spirit of concession is
shown on both sides, there is manifestly no hope of
any issue at all being found to it. This, then, is
the old question which the Ministry has to face on
meeting Parliament, and upon which it must very
shortly elect to take one of two courses. It were
useless to guess which of them will be chosen, or
whether, indeed, a third may not yet be found ; but
those which are at present apparent present diffi-
culties of no inconsiderable degree, and such as can
be met by no ordinary solution ; and the dilemma,
as it now appears to stand, is—Reform or no Re-
form. It has been assumed in certain quarters the
latter alternative will be chCsen---that the Conser-
vative party will, as it might very logically and