The New York herald., 1870-02-06
The Americas Cup.

The cup won by the yacht America is a
peculiar interest to the whole country as an
evidence of the victory of the little craft which
bore our colors in contest that arrayed
against her the best boats and the best sailors
of the people who are our only rivals on the
ocean. 1t is the sign of a fact that is signif-
cant In national sense--the fact that the
American people tried, with equal oppor-
tunity, have at least no superiors Oh
the sea. In the race this cup memo
rizes first class American yacht sailed
against feet Of yachts that represented
the best nautical skill of England, and beat
them, with distance to spare. Here was a
simple trial of those qualities in the two
people that have made them great maritime
nations. In his origin the sailor is merely
man thrown upon the sea with piece Of tim
Der. He is driven to dare the element by
some necessity in his circumstances. If he
has not those qualities Of head, hand and
heart that at him for the struggle with winds
and waters, he remains man on piece of tim
ber AZ long as he lasts. He may get second
timber and crosspiece, and may stumble on
the contrivance of a rudimentary sail, or he
may get his timber dug out on one
side This is as far as certain races
ever get, though compelled to struggle
with the sea for indefinite ages. On the con-
trary, If the man has the sailor in his natuxe
| his timber gets a rudder, mast, a keel,
! bowsprit, and in time becomes a ship. Now,
there are differences in the degrees Of excel
opment of their craft. One has an eye for
grace and trims his craft to please the sense
Of beauty, and the other, caring little for this,
| secures perhaps some equivalent advantage
The final question is as to who has the best
average Of good qualities, and this question
between peoples is never to be determined
save by such practical test as that in which
the America beat the British heet-a test
which fully proved the qualities of the peoples
! who are the two great rivals for the mastery
of tke ocean. It is because it is significant Of
| the result Of such q contest that the cup won
by the America has a national interest.
| But it promises to become also to the world
at large q symbol Of supremacy on the sea.
British yachtmen, recognizing this character
in it, chafe at the thought that such symbol
should so long remain here, and desire TO
make it subject to another test Their theory
Is that since we won the cup there have been
| such changes in the relative status Of the
nations, as shipbuilders and sailors, that this
cup, so far as it is sign of superiority in
these respects, is no longer justly ours. They
claim that they prohtably accepted the unplea-
SAINT lesson Of the Americas triumph relin-
qnished the errors that they had held till
then, and since that time have greatly
improved their vessels in all the capabilities
of good ships, while we, on the other hand,
have remained stationary. 1t is, we believe,
just; but no evidence has yet been
| given of this by victory over
American yachts. We do not forget the
Sappho; but the fact that she was crippled
depriyes her defeat of fair value as test of
the points at issue. There has been change
in vessels relatively in some important
respects. For instance, in the time of the
America the best point Of the British yachts
was to sail before the wind The America
| was best on the wind. Now our boats are
better before the wind than they then were,
and English yachts have improved in what
was their bad point. We do not know that
| the change has been so great as to completely
| reverse the respective excellences, but the
boats are at least nearer an average. The
fact Of such a change makes 1t probable that
there may be others as yet less evident. 1t is
only natural that Englishmen, aware Of this
change, should desire new trial. If they
should beat us the cup would 60 once more
to their side; and thus in future the world
may see this trophy changing hands--the
sign for ages Of the possession OF the
supremacy it symbolizes q sort Of
sailors Holy Grail; and as it was tabled in
| old times that the Holy Grail would be found
wherever were the best virtues Of Christian
knight so this may indicate the whereabouts
of the best qualities of maritime people,
| We ought then, to be sure that this trophy
does not pass out Of our hands except upon
the certainty that some other people build
better ships and man them with better sailors
than ours. The only English yaohtman who
has made any proposition with regard to this
cup eutertains an idea Of a race that certainly