The New York herald., 1872-07-14

hteItiliy Aoiu Iio Sio"inB OtateS among tho
Rocky Mountains, and then will the work of
manifest destiny be practically accomplished,
if not before, by the absorption and control of
Northern Mexico. Truly we live in wonder
full age Of progress. No one, indeed, would
venture to predict the future of our glorious
country.
Commodore Ashbury Sent to Coventry
by Vice Commodore Douglas-A Proper
Rebuke.
A special cable despatch to the HERALD, pub
ished to-day, gives an account of the sailing
Of the Havre regatta on Thursday. The Ameri-
can yacht Sappho was entered for the race by
her owner, Vice Commodore Douglas, of the
New York Yacht Club, for the purpose of test
ing her speed with the famous English yacht
Guinevere, owned by Commodore Thellusson,
and expected to be one of the competing
yachts in the regatta. 1t appears, however.
that, for some reason not explained, the Gui-
nevere was withdrawn, leaving in tll.ss race only
one English yacht of sufficient tonnage to con-
tend with the Sappho-the well-known 1.-Two
mia, owned by Commodore James Ashbury.
Thereupon Vice Commodore Douglas with
drew the Sappho ALSO declining to sail any
xsce With Mr.. Ashbyry as bis sole antagonist.
But il order to prove tie superiority 81 tie
Sappho to the Livonia, already satisfactorily
established here MIR. Douglas started from his
moorings fifteen minutes after the regatta
feet had got away and bowled along
after the disputatious Commodore. The
Sappho was out only one hour and half, but
within that time she overhauled and passed
the Livonia, crossing her bows fully one mile
ahead, showing that had the former yacht
started for the race she would, doubtless, have
carried off the prize and the Lvonia would
have been nowhere in the contest
The rebuke thus administered to Mr. Ash.
bury, although q severe one, was undoubt-
edly justifable, and Vice Commodore Douglas
will be applauded everywhere for his spirited
refusal to sail rice against yachtsman who
has proved himself deficient in those sports
manlike sentiments that usually distinguish
his countrymen. The New York Yacht Club
some time since signifed their opinion of Mr.
Ashbury's remarkable fretfulness and tiresome
technicality while in American waters and his
subsequent ungracious charges against Ameri-
can yachtsmen by declining to accept the cups
he had presented to the club to be sailed for
by its members and directing their return to
their owner by the silversmith with whom
they had been lodged. Mr.. Douglas, who
is courteous and cautious by nature, and
who never acts on hasty impulse, has now
shown Commodore Ashbury how entirely the
American yachtsmen approve the course pur-
sued by the New York Yacht Club. Vice
Commodore Douglas is one of the most spir-
tied and enterprising yachtsmen in the United
States, and he sails boat that has not it's su-
perior in the world. It was sacrifice on his
part to forego the satisfaction of winning the
Havre regatta and carrying off the prize; but
he could not consent to meet o competitor
who, after receiving every courtesy and indul-
gence from American yachtsmen, and being
fairly beaten in every race, on every point Of
sailing and in all weathers, refused to accept
his defeat in good spirit and charged the vic
tors with unfairness and unsportsmanlike con-
duct We believe that Commodore Ashburys
legal acumen will enable him to discover,
the propriety and prudence of Mr.. Douglas
action. The Vice Commodore of the New
York Yacht Club could not derive any salts
faction from contest with gentleman who
had accused that club of sharp practice and
unsportsmanlike conduct, and temporary
visitor to England, whose time is limited,
would scarcely be wise to draw upon himself
one of those wearying and interminable foods
Of newspaper protests and special pleas that
are the inevitable penalty Of victory over
one of Commodore Ashburys yachts. The
luxury of defeating yachtsman whose chart
is Blackstone's Commentaries, who carries q
solicitor in addition to q sailing master, and an
eminent Queens counsel as well as cook, and
who writes faster than he can sail, can only be
INDUCED in when one has leisure to read col
umns Of newspaper correspondence and to
wade through quarto pamphlets literally en-
bellished with diagrams.
The English yachtsmen, who are true sports
men in spirit will, we are certain, approve the
action of Vice Commodore Douglas. mem
Der of the Royal Yacht Squadron would not
be likely to enter into contest with yachts
man who had charged the members Of the
squadron with sharp practice and unsports-
manlike conduct, and they are conversant with
the unpleasantness generally connected with
Commodore Ashburys matches. Some of
them, as matter of courtesy and national
pride, sympathize with his defeat in American
waters, and express the belief that he was
overmatched; but they ask him why he sailed
at all in New York if he considered himself
unfairly treated? He had the option of de-
clining to race, and an English yachtsman
does not understand why he should have
persisted in trying his fortune only