J.L.SULLIVAN IN ENGLAND.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 237, 14 January 1888, Page 5

J.L.SULLIVAN IN ENGLAND.

I'erpool, so dense was the (^yo^SSafc vtetkn&o a iA-^MBi fa fe«'4 *$m% !*. «io l !

LOiUihoritießj^widauL OiUihoritieBj^widau Fieet-street* ifc recfuired rthT "exertions" of the police to compel his" • to make •? way ; r for - him i to 1 his hotel. .■• , v ' <- m? ni • ,' < ,

"ciHis Reception in liondoni ', ■' M Sullivan, ''" 'says a sympathetic reporter; "arrived at Eustori at a ( half-past 30'616ck , "and I ' was" afforded' a 'tremendous reception ' by '- an assdmbla&e' Variously ' festhnateft at bdtween 7000 and 12 000. A ,lafy?e force of pqlicemen , had been oppe'cially told' off for' the occasion, but they wei'e entirely 'unable to cofae 1 with the crowd, and w,hen the train ,-arVWed the people clambered over the tops of the carriages, while 12 omnibuses full of sporting men made their way int6 the statioii. On Sullivan , malting his 'appearance he was 'ijfeeted with loud cheering, waving of handkerchiefs, hats, sticks, etc. , and so eagpr were those' assembled to get a hand-shake from the visitor that they ciwyded around him in .a manner that made it impossible for the party tq reach the vehiclo ,in waiting. In this dilemma the champion dasjied 1 into a mourning coach standing near, but so many people crowded into it that Hie bottom fell out. A brougham was then procured. , This is a picture less satisfactory for moralists than those eulogists of past times who are wont to declare that a course of Sunday-schools and Education Acts has, in their despondent phrase, " made a milksop of John Bull." '

The Champion of Champions. Is there any man in all England — prince, statesman, peer, philosopher, pocb, preacher, or artist—whom 12,000 persons would care to crowd Eueton station on one of the wettest and bleakest after noons in November, for the . mere chance of obtaining a passing glimpse of his figure? It may safety be asserted that , there is not one - excepting Mr John&i. Sul livan, the champion of champions,' who measures 16£ inches round his biceps, and who has knocked more men out of time in the last eight years than any othe"r. in habitant of the planet. That is - his dis tinction, His- fame] began in 1831, when he -knocked Steve. Taylor, . a heavy weight of considerable repute^ senseless in • the • middle ,of the second round. He comes here, with a champion belt blazing with gold and diamonds, challenging the •world to produce any jnan to /fight him for any sumup.to £2,000. " Sullivan j"< says his eulogist, '• is a beautiful specimen of manhood,his limbs being symmetrically formed, the muscles standing: out as prominent as whip-cords when he is, in 'condition." The champion possesses " the agility of a lightweight}, t while as a clever .fighter- and a I punishing, hitter hie e<jtfal has .never been | known or heard of. ho man has ever been known to deal him an effective blow, and ' during'Kis "career he'h'as never as much as received a discoloured eye." The only serious damage he ever received was when he broke a bone in his arm by hitting another fellow too hard on the head. That is the man whom the English masses assemble in their thousands to applaud as the typical hero of their time whose name stands foremost in fame's eternal beadroll.

Matter for Reflection. What are wo to'ithink of it? Matter enough .for reflection there is, of many, kinds. The most obvious thought suggested by this outburst of popular enthusiasm is the wonder that, with such a deeply rooted admiration, almost amounting ! to a mania for boxing, the better part of, the nation shouUljhave been able to stamp out the prize-fight. , It' is not a hun- ( dred years since the allied sovereign?, when; they visited England after Napoleon had been shut up in Elba, were entertained with a i sparring entertainment by Jackson ; it is' | not fifty years since the prize ring was' regarded as pre-eminently the national sport ; it is hardly thirty years since' a merry mill between two professional bruisers was ono of the regular Sunday at- ■ tractions in most of the public housos in St. Giles,' and yet prize-fighting has practically been suppressed. There must be many thousands, perhaps millions, of men who regard, the interdict which the law has .placed 'on prize-fighting as grandmotherly legislation as an attempt* to make people moral by Act of Parliament', and as, anabomirrable.intertehce with the liberty of the subject ; but nevertheless the thing* has been done. Our "moralists „! { and '. humanitarians, by .vising the , police and" the Act of Parliament, h,avo smashed the prize' ring. iMze-fighiing still goes ,on in holes and corners, bpt the police arp as keen to hunt .down prize-fighters as coastguard'smen to detect smuggling, and ■on the .whole the " noble, art, , except when practised with gloves'; is now practically extinct. If, this has been, , done , with , the prize ring, what' may not be done,, with the racecourse and the, public-hquse ? Another reflection less comforting to the modern ; reformer is. the evidence which Sullivan's recep j tion'',affords (( pi; the failure of'legislation tojehange ,tne , minds and ideals of man," The police can, puji c^own prizefighting, but, the prize-pending cult, the! worship of th£ man, .with, 16in, pic^ps.as, the ideal* 4 man, ( remains', as strong as ever. "If th'e'st.rong hand wer^,' removed ? the prize )ring ' would be',, re-established' tomorrow. So, fpr^the matter. .of', that, /would the bullfight and badger-Tfraitingi, The broad faciiis that what maybe called the pothouse public isas savage, as brutal J? and as,fierce as' ever. If,' we relaxed wie restraints which the church 1 and :Cjbapel public ha^ye put upon it, ,we should see it putting in pra&tice the' ideals of UfeSyHich we're acclaimed on hxs' .arrival in the'persQiV of the, Marvel of ' tlie- Ago."' ", \\t is, a text on "winch Mr Auberon;,.Herbert .would love ,to .collate. But to^'his "m'oraHsings we, reply that I ' /althiq'ugli >we ''"h^e not changed the heart of the w^lc| beast pf the pothous^, we ha^© at least , chained him Vnpi' ,'. so, jthat^' tieT is no . longer free ; *, to, . b ( e. , ( a nuisance to, -,! others, and althougK' no ' legislation can make the, leopard ,phonge, his : §pots, .even' Mr Herbert .might ' thint -ii if I|e were ij) Ijis^.ile^ghb^ur^ood, if t theb3ru,te> were safely secured- in 'his cage. ~ t{ Pall Mali Gazette." » t , . .•,!»,.•.'