Remarks.—​Where the battle was of such short duration, it is, of course, difficult to find much to say in the shape of remarks. To every judge of milling who was on the ground, not excluding some of Brettle’s own friends, it was obvious from the very first round that, bar an accident, the victory must lie with the favourite. In fact, in our own hearing, at the conclusion of the first round, where Tom drew the crimson from Brettle’s mouth, and set his sign manual on his forehead, one of the backers of the latter said, “It’s all over; we shan’t win.” It had been anticipated that the Champion, in his anxiety to win the bet of £200 to £20, would at once take the initiative, and that thereby he would throw himself open to the dangerous right-handed counters of Bob; but those who knew Tom Sayers were too well acquainted with his judgment and tact to believe any such thing; hence their confidence and the great odds they so freely laid. From the very commencement it was obvious Tom saw the game he had to play, and the calm way in which he shifted his position so as always to present a square front to the enemy delighted every one. He was, of course, taken by surprise at Bob’s getting home first, but this only rendered him steadier, and convinced him that he must act in a cautious manner. We do not believe he for a moment contemplated going for the bet, although we feel convinced that had one vicious upper-cut got home he must have won it to the greatest certainty. In all his recent fights he has been the one that has fought in the jump-about, dancing-master style, but here he was the steady old stager, quietly biding his time and seldom throwing away a hit. The knock-down blow in the fourth round was indubitably a fair knock-down, but it must not be forgotten that although matters thereby looked favourable for Brettle, the real fact was that Tom in his counter got home much heavier than his opponent, and that had he been stepping in instead of back at the moment he would not have been floored. The proof of the effectiveness of the blow was seen on the men again appearing at the scratch, when Tom showed no mark, while the evidence of his visitation to Bob’s eye was unmistakable. That the battle terminated as it did we cannot help feeling was fortunate for Brettle. Tom’s dangerous right—​never brought into play until he has his man “safe,” as he says—​was already busy; true, he missed once or twice, but he is not the man to do this often, and had it got home effectively there is no telling what injury he might have inflicted. The actual cause of Bob’s accident it is impossible to fathom. Some aver that it was partly caused by the heavy blow in the fifth round, others that the shoulder was injured by the fall on his hands, but, as he was able to use it so vigorously in the last round, we believe both these suppositions to be wrong. Possibly they may have rendered the muscles weaker than usual, and predisposed the arm for such a contretemps, but our own idea is that Bob, swinging his arm out so very viciously at a distance from his man, and receiving a tap on the collar-bone at the same moment, the joint was jerked out entirely in that manner. That his arm was dislocated there was not the slightest doubt, for we have the evidence not only of the surgeon himself, but also of Jack Macdonald, as to the dislocation being reduced: and even if we had not, the expression of poor Brettle’s countenance and his contortions when in his corner were far too natural to have been put on for the occasion. We should not have thought it necessary to make these observations had we not heard it whispered that a set of idiots, who think everything connected with the ring is “a barney,” or something tantamount to it, have been going about saying that there was no accident at all, and that the statement as to Brettle’s accident was all moonshine. The gentry who make these remarks should look at home, and before throwing mud at persons in a different walk of life, should consider whether in the event of a similar compliment being paid to themselves, there would not be a much larger portion of the sticking part attached to them, and whether they could be as easily whitewashed as their humbler, though perhaps, honester, brethren of the P.R. Of Brettle’s performances we need say but little. He evidently found himself out-generalled from the first; and this being the case, all that remained for him to do was to make the best of a bad bargain, and this we are bound to say he did to the utmost of his ability. Our own opinion was, before the battle, that he had not the ghost of a chance, and that opinion was borne out by the result. We are sorry that he was disappointed in his expectations, which were entirely raised by his underrating his man; but as we do not believe he will be a loser by his defeat, he is, perhaps, not to be so much pitied as some of his less fortunate compeers. He has been always a general favourite, and so long as he perseveres in his present straightforward course he must retain the good wishes of all parties. As we have stated above, we think he has taken a wise resolution in retiring from the Ring, and we hope that no vain flattery on the part of any interested admirers will induce him to change his resolution.

These excellent remarks of the writer, on the readiness of silly persons to impute dishonesty to the losing pugilist, are as laudable as they are just and honest. We shall elsewhere have occasion to remark upon a recent work devoted to the resuscitation and reassertion of these defunct, discreditable, and often dishonest “shaves.”

With this very easy defeat of the Birmingham Pet, Tom Sayers, as was generally supposed, had disposed of the last of his competitors for the belt; but it was not to be so. A breeze, whispering of war, was heard from across the broad Atlantic. Aaron Jones, not long after his defeat by Sayers, had emigrated to the land of the stars and stripes, and being a fine-looking young fellow, of good address, and of quiet and civil deportment, had found much favour as a teacher of the art pugilistic among our Yankee cousins. His anecdotes of British boxers and exemplifications of the English method became fashionable among the young bloods of New York, and the subject of pugilism grew to be the talk of the town. John Heenan had been selected by a party to “whip” John Morrissey, who for some reason had become obnoxious to some of them, and Heenan’s friends made choice of Aaron Jones as trainer and ring adviser of “The Benicia Boy.” Heenan, however, being attacked by illness, was stopped in his work, and thus forced to go into the ring with a stone of superabundant flesh, and suffered defeat at the hands of Morrissey. About the close of the year 1858, distance lending enchantment to the view, the Transatlantic papers told us that Aaron did not think Tom Sayers such a very formidable customer after all, and “Had a mind to return and have a second (third?) shy for the belt.” Rumour added that, failing Aaron, Uncle Sam was about to send over one of his champions, to see what he could do towards humbling the pride of the little Englishman. Early in 1849 rumour ripened into certainty, and a letter reached Bell’s Life office from Mr. Wilkes, inquiring on what terms Heenan could be placed on the rota to have his turn against Sayers. A good deal of astonishment was created at the time by the fact that the defeated man, and not the winner of the American fight for the championship, had been selected; but when it came to be remembered that Morrissey, the winner, was an Irishman by birth, and not a native American, the wonderment ceased, and Heenan was recognised as the proper representative of America. The Editor of Bell’s Life replied to Mr. Wilkes’s letter, intimating that immediately on the receipt of a deposit from Heenan he could be placed on the list. He further stated, however, that, in the event of his winning, he would not be permitted to take the belt back to America, without leaving its equivalent in value or remaining here three years to contest its possession against all comers on the usual terms. By the next mail, after Mr. Wilkes’s first letter, came a second, dated New York, March 29, 1859, which was as follows:—

“Office Wilkes’s Spirit of the Times, New York.

“March 29, 1859.

“Dear Sir,—​Enclosed please find a draft for £200 sterling, drawn in your favour on the Bank of Liverpool, which I have been requested to forward to you, on the part of Aaron Jones, in order that you may deposit for him the necessary sum for a meeting with the Champion of England within six months of the date of the battle of the 5th April, between Sayers and Benjamin; and in case the winner of that fight do not accept, you will please hold the money subject to my order. The language with which Jones accompanies this draft is as follows:—​‘I, Aaron Jones, hereby challenge the winner of the coming fight for the championship, to fight me in six months from that time for two hundred pounds and the Champion’s belt. The fight to take place near London, and to be governed by the rules of the London Prize Ring.’ Jones also requests me to say to you for him that ‘he would prefer having the forfeit or first deposit to be as much as fifty pounds, as he does not wish to be at the trouble of crossing the Atlantic for nothing, though he is willing to pay his own expenses over and back to get the fight.’ He also hopes that Sayers will, for old acquaintance’ sake, give him the first chance; but this is a consideration which I have no right to press, after having previously consented to lay before you the wishes or the claims of Heenan. Your sense of propriety will find a law for the matter, and will, I hope, likewise permit me to remain, yours, very truly at command,

“GEO. WILKES.

“P.S.—​I am also desired by the backers of Jones to say that the stakes will be increased to five hundred pounds a side, if the Champion wishes it.

“G. W.”

To this letter Sayers at once replied, closing with the proposition of Jones, and thus placing that hero first on the list of candidates after his second battle with Benjamin. Hardly had the missive of the gallant Tom been despatched when another letter arrived from Mr. Wilkes—​who throughout acted as the adviser and amanuensis of both Jones and Heenan—​enclosing a sum of £50, which he had been directed by his friends to stake on the part of Heenan. In that letter he requested the stakeholder, if not contrary to rule, to give Heenan’s claim the preference, as that aspiring youth had been the first to challenge Sayers, and was fearful that if he was not at once placed on the list of candidates, his chance of encountering Sayers might be entirely lost by some unforeseen accident. Inasmuch, however, as Jones, with prudent foresight, had been the first to post the coal, the stakeholder felt bound, according to practice, to give him the priority, and Heenan was compelled reluctantly to moderate his impatience; Heenan, like Jones, offered, if Sayers wished, to increase the stakes to £500 a side.