The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-05-21

Of Victoria . great change Was manifest
The example OF the English court largely
hxes the standard OF English fashionable
morals and manners. and il is .: ieas.
plausible 20 presume that to the influence
OF the reformed and refined ouE OF Vic
,oria was due the rapid decay and death OF
r~rszefi.hsing. once 50 common and popc-
lar with The Esgiish people Since the
Gay that Heenan Tough, Tom King, sone
ihirty-ive years ago. we 60 not remember
tina. a conspicuous p.ixeiight has taken
place in England that was not followed by
the arrest and severe punishment OF ali
parties concerned in il. Mitchell and Sui
Ivan fought in France and were arrested
there after the f'ght-
While it IL true that p~rizeight,ng is at a
lower eob in this ountr than il ever was
before. nevertheless in a fs~ Of our states
il has u far more vigorous life than it has
in England. because the Iaw against it is
not SO earnestly enforced. The governor
Of Louisiana prevented the fight between
Sullivan and kilrain taking place in his
jurisdiction, bn: did not stop the fight be-
tween Corbes: and sullivan. The governor
of Mississippi arrested Sullivan after his
figh: With kilrain. The fact that prize
fights are suffered to take place in Cali
fornia under the fimsy shield Of the pro-
lection of the wealthy athletic Club"
proves hat the ruling public opinion in
that state is not opposed to this
brutal pastime. The avs OF Oregon
are ample to suppress pr~izefghting. yet
the police authorities Of Portland have
not always enforced them. Our G 100000
OF people are scattered over o vast extent
of country, and public opinion greatly
varies In the different states. A governor
OF Massachusetts, who would not exert
himself to make it impossible to hold a
prizeight in his jurisdiction, would be-
come historically infamous with the peo-
pie of his state, but no such fate awaits
the governor Of Mississippi Or the brutes
in broadcloth who form the San Francisco
association for :he perpetuation of prize
fighting. Home rule exists in every state,
while in England the central authority
can stop prizstighting in every county of
Great Britain and Ireland. 1t is true also
that our youth as a nation may be pleaded
in excuse for re-perpetration Of some
OF the former fol.ies and vices Of EnRland's
ciyiliz alton.
1t is said that Queen Victoria rebuked
the Prince Of Wales tor his interview"
with Sullivan. 1t is not the first time
that his excellent mother has had to re-
buke the prince. Queen Victoria in her
long life has never lost her sense of the
moral dignity of her position. and no
wonder she felt indignant that the heir to
the throne should at middle age be 90
dead to the decencies and dignity Of his
position as to give an audience to a vul-
gar brute, whose avowed business was q
defiance OF the law of both England and
America.
Julian Hawthorne. who, like his famous
father, is a man Of superior athletic
power, thinks well of pr~ixefighting: thinks
the ferocity and love of fighting for its
own sake. cultivated by prizefighring,
are good to maintain national virility
and pugnacity. This is an absurd view,
unworthy Of a man OF brains. There
Is no more justification in condoning
p~rizefighting because q gentleman may
wisely include sparring in his pursuit of
physical culture than there is in condon-
ing a disgusting drinking bout and noisome
orgy because a gentleman may drink q
glass of wine at his dinner. There is no
sort of connection between brutal ferocity
and courage. The most. heroic. utterly
fearless seafighter on England's naval An
nails was Nelson. a small, pale. delicately
built man OF short stature: of sickly habit
and insignificant physical powers. The
courage that makes n soldierly people is a
spiritual quality and does not rest on fe-
rocity for its inspiration or its endurance.
Any old Union or Confederate soldier will
testify 10 the fact that brutal. ferocious
men do not make superior soldiers; that
there is truth as well as poetry In the
lines: THE bravest are the tenderest,
the loving are the daring"