Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1857-08-12
ENGLISH FAIR PLAY.

There is no quality of which the English art
more fond of boasting, than their habitual ant
infexible fair play. They talk Of it every
where; they speak of it on all occasions. They
elevate it above all their virtues, and insistupor
it as the leading national characteristic. Per
haps it is, but perhaps, at the same time, this
reiteration may cover defect, and John Bull
be- in reality, no less touched with the leaver
of ordinary human defect than other people in
the world. We know very we'll, that John
claims to lead the universe in every description
of exploit, and he being an old gentleman tolc
rably we'll stuffed with conceit, we do not ex.
pect him to be any more magnanimous than
another, in affording facilities to get himself
beat. Indeed, if he were hard pressed in fight
we should expect to see him put a stone in bis
handkerchief, as quick as any guerilla ever
known. Johns habit Of fair play, therefore.
must be credited only according to the measure
of his human nature, and when we find it
streaked with such veins of inclination, as have
appeared in it Of late, we are justified in coming
promptly to the conclusion, that John Bull is
some times sort of humbug; or at least, or
most, mere man, as other men are.
We have, in previous articles, given the histo-
ry of the appearance of the American horses in
England, the sneers with which their preten-
sions were met, and we have likewise given q
few specimens of the abuse which has been Law
| ished upon us, for the presumption of having
challenged all England to that trying test of
blooded horsehesh-four mile heats. That sort
of race, it seems did not suit John Bulls book,
and he preferred to lie back, Till he could catch
us in his " handicap" races, where he could load
us down with weight; or in his "weight for
aS ba tn
short single dash of mile, or two, or three.
Being in England, and having no option but to
submit to English terms, Mr.. Ten Brock was
obliged to be content with their short and un-
satisfactory trials and consequently entered his
horses for the Goodwood Cup" weight for
age race, or two miles and halt, with fourteen
pounds allowance for horses of foreign birth.
Straightway upon this entry, clamor was set
up of the immense magnanimity of this four
teen pounds allowance, but on examining the
other conditions of that race, we found that
English horses, Of the same ages as our own,
were, under certain circumstances, and because
of their defeats upon the English Turf, entitled
to allowances which placed them at rate Of
advantage, in the way of weight much beyond
our horses.
The claim of liberality, therefore, fell at once,
and we saw that the rule of the Goodwood
Cup race, which allowed fourteen pounds to
foreign horses, was q mere compromise OF the
claims of allowance which they might other
wise have presented for contests let in their
own countries, contests over which the English
Jockey Club could have neither cognizance nor
control, and consequently could not notice. The
rule, therefore, concludes that fourteen pounds
is about tue average Of what unknown foreign
horses might have been entitled to, had they
been running on the British Turf. This is the
philosophy of the fourteen pounds allowance,
and as proof how the rule sometimes works, we
refer to the table of the Goodwood Cup weights,
under our English Turf head, where the name
Of a horse called Zig-Zag will be found, and who,
though older than Pryor, carries six pounds less.
This: however, though not the magnani,nity
it is claimed to be, is, nevertheless, fair play,
for it is squared according to n settled rule,
which we can understand, and Willingly abide by.
We come now, however, to something which
We do not esteem to be fair play-notwithstand-
ing John Bulls great reputation for that cquali-
ty-and that something is the way in which
the English umpire, who applies the weights for
the Ebor Handicap Ga single dash of two miles,
to be run for on the Goth August, and for which
Pryor and prioress and cntered), has handi-
capped those American horses. We give the
following table of tie names OF the horses ell
tered, and the weights they have been assigned
to carry, from the official records Of tue Racing
(,alnn1or.-