Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rdd and Gun. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 18 96 
Terms, $4 A Yeab. 10 Cts. a Copt. 
Six Months, $2. 
VOL. XLVI — No. 6. 
No. 318 Broadway, New York, 
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THE LORD AND THE DEED. 
The Forest and Stream is, we believe, the only paper 
in the world which, has been consistent in its estimate of 
Lord Dunraven since his peculiar and we hope exceptional 
character first began to disclose itself in the beginning of 
his brief and not over-brilliant yachting career. What 
he is to-day be was a year ago, when he forced the Squad- 
ron to indorse his third challenge for the America's Cup ; 
three years ago, when he was haggling and dickering with 
the Cup committee of the year for the match of 1893; and 
seven years ago when he wasted a season in a like fruit- 
less negotiation. As for the American papers, it is barely 
one short twelvemonth since they were praising as broad, 
generous sportsmanship the same selfishness, obstinacy 
and obtuseness which they are roundly condemning to- 
day. The only difference is that while then these lordly 
qualities were being employed in the ignoble task of in- 
ducing the Royal Yacht Squadron to stultify itself and eat 
its own words for the benefit of the New York Yacht 
Club, now they are employed in seeking some excuse, 
however paltry, for a second ignominious defeat. As long 
as Lord Dunraven was willing to condone the illegal alter- 
ation of trust conditions, to use the powerful influence he 
once possessed against the interests alike of fair play and 
of British yachting, and to subordinate all matters of 
principle to his own selfish interests, he was, to American 
critics, brave, generous, noble and an ideal sportsman. 
To us his treatment of American yachtsmen last summer 
and fall appears very little worse than his treatment of 
his fellow yachtsmen a few months previously; the sole 
consideration in each case has been himself alone. 
"We have before pointed out the exact nature of what 
may deservedly be termed the "deal" by which the last 
match, to say nothing of that of 1893, was arranged be- 
tween Lord Dunraven and the New York Y. C. At 
the time that Wyndham Thomas Wyndham Quin, Earl 
of Dunraven and Mount Earl, abandoned in a pique a 
political career and for the first time interested himself in 
yacht racing, the whole yachting world was agitated over 
the recent illegal and unfair alteration of the terms of 
trust of the America's Cup; this alteration being con- 
demned alike by British yachtsmen and by many Ameri- 
can yachtsmen both within and without the New York 
Y. C. All international racing had ceased with the 
declaration of the Royal Yacht Squadron and other 
British clubs that they would never again challenge under 
conditions which they believed to be entirely illegal. 
Before the end of his first season as a yacht owner, Lord 
Dunraven had set his eyes upon the America's Cup, and 
to all appearances determined to win a name among 
British yachtsmen by possessing it at whatever possible 
cost. As the situation then was, no British yachtsman 
with any respect for himself or his compatriots could even 
look toward the Cup with an idea of challenging. Not 
only was the New York Y. C. as yet unprepared to 
grant such perfectly fair terms as it has since twice given 
to Lord Dunraven, but it absolutely refused to entertain 
any overtures for a match save upon the basis of a full 
; and complete recognition by the challenger of the right 
of the club to do what it pleased with the America's Cup, 
and of the legality and fairness of what it had recently 
done. To the credit of British yachtsmen be it said, 
there was but one man in the United Kingdom, the Earl 
of Dunraven, who was so completely blind to the right 
and justice of the case as to agree to anything and every- 
thing that the New York Y. C. demanded, provided 
that the club in turn would give him a series of 
three out of five races on the open sea. Willing as he 
was from the first to barter principle for a mere tempo- 
rary personal advantage, it was four years from the date 
of his first challenge before a match was finally made on 
terms that no one has ever been able to understand 
clearly; and the Valkyrie II. -Vigilant races of 1893 were 
sailed. 
The only good that came of this match was the clear- 
ing up of a number of misunderstandings and contradic- 
tions for which Lord Dunraven was largely responsible, 
and the emphasizing more clearly of the exact issues and 
the mortifying position which any British club must 
assume in order to be allowed to race for the Cup. This, 
however, was of no importance to Lord Dunraven, but 
his misdirected efforts were renewed with such success 
that the proud and haughty Royal Yacht Squadron was 
brought to a most complete and ignoble surrender. 
While as Americans, and with no special reverence for 
a yachting organization which does so much to retard 
and so little to advance the sport as the Squadron, we 
should perhaps rejoice at this; yet looking as we do at the 
fraudulent deed of 1887 as a national disgrace, we still 
view with regret that indorsement and acceptance of it, 
through various shifts and subterfuges on both sides, to 
which the Royal Yacht Squadron was forced through 
the personal efforts of Lord Dunraven. 
We need not recall in detail the various incidents of 
his long struggle for the Cup — how in 1889 he professed 
a most disinterested desire to race Valkyrie I. against 
American yachts for a nominal prize or no prize at all, 
and yet refused to cross and race for the 70ft. cup spe- 
cially offered by Gen. Paine; or how, in the following 
year, be refused the challenge made through Mr. Stephen 
Peabody for a series of international races with Titania, 
Katrina and Shamrock, of Valkyrie's class; or of his flat 
and positive statement that he would t never challenge for 
the Cup under the terms of the new deed; the only con- 
clusion that can be drawn from his words and actions 
through a period of seven years is that he cared for the 
possession of the America's Cup and nothing else, and on 
no matter what ignoble terms. 
Whatever sympathy we may feel for Mr. Iselin in the 
very unpleasant position in which he has been placed for 
the past three months does not extend to the New York 
Y. C. No one knew better than the men who made the 
new deed of gift, and who have since been mainly in con- 
trol of all negotiations for Cup matches, that the better 
class of British yachtsmen — such men as Sutton and Henn 
and of the older generation that raced such yachts as 
Kreimhilda, Egeria, Miranda, Formosa, Vanduara, Iona,. 
Bloodhound and Cetonia— would never again challenge 
for the Cup; and no one was quicker to recognize the true 
character of the vain and ambitious tyro who could so 
easily be bought to do their bidding. The deal was a fair 
and open one (of its kind); Lord Dunraven was to secure 
the recognition of the new deed from the Squadron, and 
in return he was to have the number of races, fair 
courses and other conditions which had thus far been 
denied to Sir Richard Sutton, Lieut. Henn and the Clyde 
syndicate. 
On its part, the New York Y. C. has carried out its 
agreement to the letter. In spite of all talk about the col- 
lision in the second race and the crowding of the steam- 
ers, the matches of 1893 and 1895 will go down into' 
yachting history as among the fairest ever sailed between 
two nations. In spite of this, for the unfortunate sequel 
the New York Y. C. has no one to blame but itself; had 
its actions from the first been fair, open and straightfor- 
ward, it would never have been under the necessity of 
seeking the aid of one who was willing to betray his own 
friends to advance his private ends; nor would it have* 
suffered the annoyance which this selfish, erratic and. 
whimsical lord has inflicted on it since the early autumn. 
And now a final word as to the New York Y. C. 
taking matters bye and large, it has even in spite of this 
last trouble been peculiarly fortunate in the last few 
years. The worst mistake in the club's history was made- 
on that night in the fall of 1887 when its evil advisers led 
it to disdain the challenge of Mr. Charles Sweet and to 
make sure of the undisturbed possession of the Cup by 
such a change of terms as should make a fair contest im- 
possible. That two matches have been sailed since then 
is due solely to the assistance of Lord Dunraven, purchased 
in the manner we have stated. Through his aid the club 
has been able to face down and to force an unwilling but 
absolute retraction from the Royal Yacht Squadron, thus 
shutting off to a great extent all future objections against 
the legality of the new deed. The club is fortunate to-day 
in that it has triumphed over the proudest yachting or- 
ganization in the world; and has finally asserted its right 
to do wrong and to perpetuate an Unjust and illegal act. 
In one sense the club is fortunate because it has at length 
had its own way in spite of all opposition; and though it 
has had to make certain concessions to the cause of fair 
play, it has been able to restore the America's Cup to in- 
ternational competition. Such a triumph as this, however, 
in a bad cause, is in itself a disgrace; nor is the wrong of 
1887 likely to be forgotten; long after Lord Dunraven has 
passed out of yachting and after the true circumstances 
of the foul and of his charges are accepted by yachtsmen, 
it will be remembered, to the discredit of the New York 
Y. C. 
There never was a better time to end the whole nau- 
seous episode of the new deed than with the disappearance 
from yachting of the only man who has raced under it; 
and with the many unpleasant experiences of the past ten 
years to warn it the New York Y. C. will be wise if it 
avails itself freely, and when under no possible pressure 
of compulsion, of the opportunity to rectify the mistake 
of 1887. The men who made it have long known, and 
admitted by their many efforts to misinterpret it, how bad 
the new deed is; the members of the club now know it, 
and the yachting world has always known it. While 
new challenges may come in time, we are just as firmly 
of the belief that there can never be a permanent resump- 
tion of fair international racing under it as we were three 
years since, when the final agreement on the Valkyrie II. - 
Vigilant matches was hailed by the club as the end of all 
controversy over the deed of gift. What we said then 
has twice come to pass — the two matches that have been 
sailed have each been followed by quarrels and ill-feeling. 
There is no step that would do so much good for the 
New York Y. C. and for American yachting to-day as the 
reconsideration of tbe action of 1887 and the restoration 
of the original deed of gift under which tbe trust was cre- 
ated, with its "mutual agreement" clause in the foremost 
place; and, if deemed necessary, supplemented by such 
additional conditions as, without conflicting with the 
obvious intentions of the original donors, shall secure for 
all future races such generally fair conditions as have 
twice been given to the most unworthy of all Cup chal- 
lengers. 
NEW YORK FISH COMMISSION. 
We give elsewhere generous extracts from the first re- 
port submitted to the New York Legislature by the Fish- 
eries, Game and Forest Commission. The document has 
added importance and demands more than the ordinary 
attention given to papers of its class, because it may fairly 
be accepted as furnishing a gauge of the new board, and 
as an indication of what we are to expect from it. Con- 
sidered in this light the report is satisfactory and promis- 
ing. It is written with intelligence, common sense and 
an evident grasp of the situation. It shows — and shows 
very clearly — that the Commissioners have set about their 
task in a businesslike way, and it contains the promise 
that they so intend to administer the affairs of their 
office. 
SNAP SHOTS. 
Didymus calls attention again to the Florida quail 
killing tourists who emulate the big scores of the butchers 
before them. Happily there is now a legal limit of quail 
killing; the law prescribes that no one shooter may take 
more than fifty birds in a day. That ought to satisfy any 
but the insensate destroyers, male and female, who have 
been wont to brag of their hundreds. We trust that there 
may be found at Tampa and other centers of quail killing 
activity people who will have the law of these score 
shooters. 
Convicts and non-residents are joined together in a class 
by themselves in an excise measure now before the New 
York Legislature. And a very proper classification it is, 
if we are to accept all that the advocates of non-resident 
game laws tell us. 
