Manly and Athletic Exercises, 391 



opponent of fair British boxing with the naked fist suggest a better 

 plan for the settlement of all such disputes as cannot be amicably 

 arranged, and I will cheerfully bow to his decision. But as I feel 

 certain that no one will be able to do so, and as I also feel quite as 

 certain that some other redress than that afforded by the courts of 

 law will be sought for by the lower classes, I once again, and for 

 the last time, contend that fair British boxing is the best recourse, 

 and that as long as the prize-ring exists, boxing matches will 

 generally be conducted in a fair and manly spirit. It is rarely that 

 any national custom is put down without a foreign one usurping its 

 place, and trifling as any such innovations may appear, they never- 

 theless point significantly to departing nationality. 



One thing is certain, that this is not the time to interfere in the 

 least with any custom, rude as it may be, which has the slightest 

 tendency to keep up the true old national British spirit among our 

 lovk^er classes. The fact may not be apparent to those '^ gentle- 

 men of England who live at home at ease," but men like myself 

 who reside abroad cannot shut their eyes to the fact of the grossest 

 jealousy with which Great Britain and all her doings are regarded 

 by all foreigners, and I say it in full confidence that I am speaking 

 the truth, that she has not one true friend in any foreign nation, 

 nor is there, I fancy, a single country in the world (although they 

 may not perhaps own it), but would rejoice to see her involved in a 

 war which might ultimately prove her downfall. " Why does not 

 England help the Poles?" "Why does not England help the 

 Danes?" was in everybody's mouth in the north of Europe during 

 these late disturbances. All honour to our good Queen and her 

 advisers, that we were not drawn into that struggle, and I trust 

 that we may always steer as clear of interfering between foreign 

 powers. It is probably on this account that the English have lost 

 great caste on the continent, but whatever the cause, one thing is 

 clear, that the name of an Englishman certainly does not now carry 

 the prestige in any foreign country which it did twenty-five years ago. 



This, however, I care little about, and as long as Britons are but 



