The New York herald., 1872-05-29
The Approaching International stru~~
gle-Ncw York Versus London.

we nave oil along endeavored to keep our
readers promptly and fully informed of every
thing Of interest pertaining to the second great
Anglo-American amateur rowing match, and
in recent issue our London correspondent
has brought us all the latest details Of how
both parties are getting on.
Despite abundance Of coarse and stormy
weather the Atalanta men have settled steadily
down to their work, and seem to be acting with
commendable Judgment in all they have to do,
unless we may except the matter Of procuring
o boat for the race, and, even more serious
thing, competent and careful coaching.
Pleasant as is the idea of rowing in an Ameri-
can-built boat only, and so keeping up the ma
tional distinction as markedly as possible, it
would seem to us wiser to have obtained the
very best boat and oars that money could buy,
no matter whose handiwork they were. They
may rely on it that their rivals will do all this,
and that the latter see already what they should
have discovered long ago-namely, that this is
a contest between men, and men at liberty to
choose their tools and their method of using
them, too, and that, if national pride is to be
consulted, as in o race Of such prominence il
unquestionably is, it will be far more gratitied
if its guardians win fairly and surely, no mat
ter for such trife as who built their ship,
than if they lose because they would only row
in an American bottom. Nearly four yeats
ago Harvard, by on equally nice distinction,
threw away one of the very best chances
crew ever had, the right, when she had once
fairly and clearly won the lead, of reaping the
benefit Of such winning; and her blunder can
never be remembered on this side the water.
save with regret.
Then, again, we are told that neither crew Is
being coached. This is little surprising
with the London men, even though they have
been long since coached so much, but with the
Americans we cannot fail to regard it as q
grave mistake. Probably no crew that ever
rowed would not have been much benefited by
careful coaching, and generally none are SO
ready to admit this as they who could go best
without it. But if, as our correspondent says,
''the hold of the Americans con the water ia
light ''there is perceptible hang on the
feather" and ''the stroke is short" surely
here is ample room for careful instruction. A
''rapid" but 'feeble' style, with automatic
regularity" are all well enough to look at,
but we hold that the party Of men who take il
on themselves to stand SO very prominently
before the public eye, and who assume the
special care of matter that touches the pride
of two great nations, and which must seem,
whatever the truth really may be, to go far to-
wards determining whether England or
America can boast Of the more enduring men
physically, we hold that these men have no
right to omit the resort to any proper and be-
coming means that may be reasonably expected
to aid them to the effecting their purpose.
1t is plain, and must have been all along,
to any one who has read or heard what the
press Of either this country or England has
had to say about the contest, which is set down
for four o. clock in the afternoon Of the Mon
day Of week after next, on the Thames water,
that it is to be a race between light, almost
under-sized men, On the one side, and men
who will average well up towards 'heavy
weights on the other If any one doubts
that the chances do not lie with our side LEI
him consider whether, if he could today
have the choice between having our represented
tives some fifteen pounds apiece heavier, in,
stead of lighter than their opponents other
things being equal-he would not quickly vote
that way. But other things are not even equal;
for, besides having the heavier men, England
sends to the fore three of her rowers whose
names are and have been for almost dozen
years deservedly among the very foremost in
her amateur rowing annals men who have
won, not one or two, but many closely con-
tested races who have rowed together two or
three times as long as their rivals-an expert
ence that always tells, as the Ward brothers
can testify-and who, if they could not ten
days ago steer well without coxswain, know
every inch of the course for it is the one they
live on; while in the matters of climate, being
at home and being used to just the kind OF
excitement in store for them shortly and in
many another thing besides, it is easy to say
whether or not there is good ground to think
that the chances are with them or the Ata-
lantas
And whom do the Londoners take for the
fourth thwart? Not one among all the hum
dreds of their past membership but new
man, fresh from place in the twice victorious
Cambridge Varsity boat-one who after re-
peated trials wins the place from Time, the
giant of the Oxford crew, that defeated Har-
ward, and who (Tinne) stands six feet two and
half inches in height, and weighs nearly two
hundred pounds, even when trained. 1t is
pretty clear that John b. Close is rare good
man, and it is equally SO that the Londou
Rowing Club are striving with all their might,
aud leaving no stone unturned to win what
will manifestly be far the most important raca
they will have ever rowed,
| The conclusion that forces itself upon us ia