PASSION-WEEK AND PRIZE-FIGHTING.
WE never read the account of a "milling-match " without feelings of extreme disgust. From the titled blackleg who drives four-in- hand to the ring, down to the pel'jured ruffian whom he bribes to "fight a good cross," the whole race of the " fancy" are the objects of our thorough detestation. In prize-fighting, all that is not bru- tality is swindling. From the hour when the match is made, till the last round is over, and the half-murdered wretches can stagger up to "the scratch" no longer, it is all perjury, treachery, and bestiality.
Prize-fighting is the peculiar crime and disgrace of our country. No other civilized people tolerate any thing of' the kind. Fo- reigners are at a loss to conceive how a brave and Christian nation. can endure exhibitions which in many respects are more brutally degrading than those which are adduced to prove the barbarism of the Pagans. Englishmen, when abroad, blush with shame at the mention of this foul blot upon their national character. Surely the strong arm of the law would be better employed in punishing the actors in and promoters of these scenes of glaring vice and violence, than in seizing the baskets of starving orangewomen, or fining the venders of cheap fish. We would enact that every man who attended a regular prize-fight should be pilloried, or at least put in the stocks for a day. That would soon put a stop to these displays of " fistic excellence." The punishment would be dis- gusting and disgraceful, and therefore well suited to the offence.
We make these remarks at the present time, from seeing in the Morning Chronicle, an account of the pugilistic proceedings of the week. It was entitled "Field-day for the Fancy," and com- menced in the following manner- " This being Passion-week, those who have a "passion" for milling yes• terday bad an opportunity of gratifying their propensities in witnessing the de-. cision of two matches between Harry Jones, commonly called the Sailor Boy, and Jack Cooper, the Gipsy, and Anthony Noon, yclept the Pocket Her• cures, and Jack Lenny vulgarly called the Cow-boy. The first of these matches was for 25/. a side, and the latter for 101. a side."
Now, we pretend not to any Puritanical or superstitious regard for particular days or seasons : still there is something in the an- nouncement of Passion-week being selected as the season pecu- liarly appropriate for the exhibition of unchristian brutality, which strikes us as ineffably disgusting. Would not the Bishop of LONDON and his right reverend brethren be better employed in en- deavouring to suppress this scandal, than in devising the means of preventing half-suffocated mechanics from gulping down a mouth.; ful of fresh air on the Sabbath ? But " the thunder of the laws is• hurled on gin." The sound of an unlicensed fiddle in a pothouse is an insufferable abomination; while the ruffianism of a milling- match in Passion-week excites no attention from "the lights of the Church and guardians of the laws." What is this but strain- ing at gnats and swallowing camels ? We do trust that the time is fast approaching, when, even to be preSent at these worse than gladiatorial exhibitions will, be visited with heavy minishment. The Bishop of LONDON may rely upon it; that more vice is engendered on one " field-day of the fancy," than by fifty steam-boat excursions to Richmond or don- key-races on Hampstead Heath. If, therefOre, he would really mend the morals of the land, let him first endeavour to put down prize-fighting, especially in Passion-week, and then there will be time enough to stop the Sunday travels of cabs and omnibuses.
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