The New Dominion, September 2, 1871

It is said in the Halifax papers that the Renforth crew can speak in very severe terms of the bad treatment they received in St. John. We do not believe a word of it. Low as is our estimate of the candor and truthfulness of the Tyne Crew, still we know they would exercise better policy than to state what tens of thousands of people would at once declare to be a LIE! No. The infernal lie was made by the Halifax editors, and attempted to be saddled on the Tyne crew.

There is no truth in the story that the editors of the Halifax papers were sober on Monday, the day on which they penned their infamous libels on the Paris Crew.

We believe it is now settled beyond a doubt that, had the St. John Crew rowed in Halifax, three notorious editors of that city were prepared to place obstructions before the boat, at a point half a mile from the judges’ stand, and thus destroy the chances of victory.

Truth is Mighty!

Owing to the melancholy circumstance which threw a funeral pall over the community, on the day of the great Boat Race on the Kennebecasis, we restrained our jubilant feelings on Saturday last, and, in common with the vast populace, appeared before our readers in sackcloth and ashes. Now that the shadow of gloom has almost entirely disappeared, we can contain ourselves no longer. The enthusiasm of our nature is bubbling up under the excitement of the events of the 23^rd August, and unless we let off steam there must, in the nature of things, be an explosion. Language cannot be found, in all the collections of both ancient and modern lexicography, sufficiently forceable to describe our feelings over the triumph achieved by our St. John Crew, in the greatest aquatic contest of this, or any other age. The world is united in the opinion that the race, so far as contested, was, decidedly, in favor of the St. John oarsmen; and we are convinced, from what we saw, that had the race been rowed, without accident, or rather the intervention of Providence, The Tyne Crew would have been forced to wince beneath a most humiliating defeat. Previous to the race, the Tyne men and their backers were exultant over their prospects, underrating, in the most ludicrous manner, the personal appearance and style of rowing of our men, and asserting, publicly, that the race would be a "soft" one. Of course the Tyne Crew knew better than that the race would be "soft", of that their noble competitors where a white less manly in their personal appearance than they themselves are; but their rude professional life led them into the adoption of this style of "bluff" with the hope of intimidating our men, and discouraging their backers. It may be the style in England, where the Tyne men came from, but it is, to say the least, very "inettiquetical", and betokens a vast amount of impudence, the offspring of sheer ignorance. The result of the race, so far as it was run, has opened the eyes of the too confiding friends of the Tyne, and established, beyond gainsaying, the fact that better blood, better bottom, more skill, and more polished gentlemen are found among the Aquatic Champions of the world - the St. John Crew - than were ever reared upon the Tyne, with all its thrilling and noble records. All honor to New Brunswick and its unrivalled four. The gallant Paris quartette have gained a glorious renown, in which every son of our Province is more or less identified, a reknown that will stand out prominently upon the page of aquatic history for all time, and to which it shall be our pleaseure evermore to direct the eye of the stranger. With steady finder, and proud-swelling heart we shall often point to their heroic struggle upon the placid waters of the Kennebecasis, and tell our children, to latest time, how we vanquished the famed Champions of Mother Land in the terrible struggle for aquatic supremacy.

We lament, with others, the death of Renforth; and, while our sympathy would meet with his weeping widow and orphan child in their mourning home across the Western Ocean, still we must be true to ourselves, see that the men, for the loss of whose companion and chief we sympathize, have acted other than a true manly part toward our community. They came to our shores, and we bade them a cheerful, hearty welcome. They were strangers in our midst, and we flung wide open our hearts and homes to do them honor. Aye all this, and more too, we did in all warm-heartedness according as we were wont, and yet withal, when death lays his iron grasp on Renforth, the foul calumny escapes from the lips of his surviving companions and friends that he has been poisoned. What gratitude, what nobility of soul is there in the men who can wrench themselves from the bosom of a community which is lavishing upon them so much kindness, and fling the barbed arrow to the world? Not satisfied with scattering broadcast over both Continents their unfounded suspicions fitting to debase and degrade our community, they next assert, nay, they swear that the struggle in the race, from the start till the moment when their champion fell, was no struggle at all. In the face of twenty thousand eye-witnesses this is their testimony on oath. We can understand why, according to the nature of their profession, these men from the Tyne, should seek to make people believe they were merely engaged in child’s play. To speak otherwise were to destroy their reputation; but reputation or no reputation they should not have lost sight of the fact that they were on their oath. Let us see how far credence is to be placed in the statements of these men, and ascertain, if possible, from figures which do not lie, whether the Tyne Crew were merely pretending to pull, or were rowing as well as they knew how. Kelly swears: "we were not then going nearly so fast as we are in the habit of going - no racing pace." This statement Percy reiterates also, on oath. Now we ask the public to remember that, at the moment Renforth fell, the time keeper’s watch indicated FOUR MINUTES, and the distance rowed was THREE-FOURTH’s of a mile - or, say, one mile in FIVE MINUTES, which would admit of the Tyne Crew going over the whole course, of six miles, in THIRTY MINUTES. Messrs. Kelly and Percy may tell their yarns to the marines - certainly the people of the Province or the intelligent ones of other places, do not believe it. The fact is that if men ever struggled in a contest of the kind, these men did. The brag, and bluff, and burlesque in which they and their friends disgustingly indulged at the expense of the St. John oarsmen have been well repaid. It is now unmistakably discovered that the bosom of our Blue-nose waters nurses as hardy sons (and we won’t go behind the bush to saydaughters too) of toil, as do the waters that wash the shores of that little English Isle from whence came our ancestors, and whose glory and honor we have every sought to uphold. Of course we hear the skeptic speculate upon the probable result of the race, had the entire course been hone over by both Crews; but was not the result evident? If in the space of free-fourth’s of a mile the St. John men were able to lead their Competitors three lengths of their boat, how much figuring does it requite to show that the Tyne Crew would have been half a mile behind, at least, at the end of six miles? We have read with indignation, and with a sense of shame, the contemptible scribblings of a portion of the Montreal press, which, from the first, has been endeavouring to underrate our Crew. The men who pretend to lead public opinion in Montreal, and call themselves editors, are the tame followers of a clique who assume the title of aristocracy; they dare not utter word derogatory to the "Old Country," or that which comes thence. They are literally and truly men undeveloped - or Darwin monkeys in the middle or apeish state. Some of these characters came to St. John with what tends they could beg and borrow, and, betting all upon their favorites - the Tyne Crew - lost, and are now home again, engaged in the mean and contemptible business of detracting from the well earned merits of our Champion Oarsmen.

Unhappy Halifax!

A storm of indignation seems, suddenly, to have broken over the heads of our brace "Paris" Crew. Halifax has been the theatre of the most consummate black guardism, its people and press, with a few honorable exceptions, the nefarious actors. It appears that on the arrival of the world’s aquatic Champions, in that notoriously depraved City, it was discovered that a feeling of the most intense hated existed toward the gallant four of St. John, who heretofore had contributed to the fair fame of the Dominion of Canada, of which Halifax is a disreputable and meanly integral part. Our oarsmen, at first, could scarce credit their sense, that the animosity evinced was general; and it was not till they had overwhelming evidence of the state of affairs that they began to speculate upon the prospects of fair play should they engage in the contest. Notwithstanding, however, the intention of Halifax was to aid and assist in exterminating the Champions, if possible, by jockeying and other disreputable means, still Fulton and his comrades were willing to stem the tide of opposition, and risk the danger of obstacles which were intended to be placed in the way of their boat, provided the water of the harbor promised to be placid enough to admit of their running away from their enemies. One trial satisfied them that their frail skiff could not glide as swiftly as they would wish over the turbulent billows of Old Chebucto, and therefore the chances were as ten to one that the united designs against them, of the Halifax people and the English crews, would be successfully carried out. This being their experience, they honorably and immediately notified the proper authorities of their intention to withdraw from the Contest. Calmly and cooly, viewing all the circumstances, could anything be more manly? and yet what is the result? The sickening details of the fierce action of Halifax are well known to our readers, and confirm the rumors that were rife here a week and more ago, that our crew would not receive, at the hands of the Haligonians, the ghost of a chance to sustain their well-earned laurels. Poor, miserable, contemptible Halifax, has distinguished itself in a role infinitely more disgraceful than Lachine with all its disreputable action of last year. There is nothing would delight us more than to have the editors of the Citizen, Chronicle and Express in St. John at this moment, when we would row them over a "course of sprouts" to the no small delight of the community generally. We have a couple of sacks of very fine feathers and a number of gallons of very excellent tar, and if Dr. Walker will kidnap, in some way, these reptiles, and bring them over here, we will treat them the way they deserve.

When we reflect upon the narrow escape the St. John men have had being chizzeled out of their honors and Championship, we feel grateful that the developement came so soon. What a powerful combination was exerted against them but by reason of its nefarious character it came to naught. Shame! Shame!! Shame!!! Halifax. What have our crew ever done to merit so much infamous treatment? Have they not always comported themselves as gentlemen, (however, the people of Halifax are no judges of this characteristic), have they not always honorable sought to maintain the honor of the Dominion in aquatics, and have they ever flinched from competition with the most distinguished oarsmen of other countries, when there was any prospect of receiving fair play? No! they have not; and it is just here that Halifax feels sore. She looks with contemptible jealousy at St. John marching on to prosperity and fame, and her indignation kindles. Gladly would she, if she could, tie a millstone around the neck of this City, and drown it in the sea of forgetfulness. This, however, she cannot do. The giant strides, of our enterprise, in all its departments, she cannot overtake. Her people are too mean and contemptible, and her Press to much given to the lowest Billingsgate, ever to be regarded worthy of confidence by strangers without, hence it is that only by intrigue does she succeed in peopling her streets; once in a great while, with unsuspecting victims. It is a great pity that this fair Dominion should be cursed with such foul blot as Halifax, or that such a noble Province as Nova Scotia should be compelled to bear the stigma of such an infamous Capital.

The Inquest, to ascertain the cause to the death of James Renforth, will be resumed on Monday, by which time it is expected the heart and stomach will have been analyzed in Boston, where they were sent in charge of one of our physicians, who will probably return this afternoon. We do not imagine anything in the nature of poison will be detected, as we think death resulted from the heroic efforts of the Champion to make up, by his own strength, for the inability of his fellow oarsmen.

The Telegraph states that in 1857 our oarsmen were compelled, through fear of violence, to leave Halifax by night. We are informed by one who was present that such was not the case; for, although they had sufficient cause to apprehend danger, they had sufficient courage to face it. We may state, however, for the benefit of those who are not in the habit of believing our contemporary, that its account is, in the main, correct, although matters were even worse than there stated.

We would respectfully suggest that the great Saint John Skating Rink be flooded for the purpose of allowing the Paris Crew to practice for their next great "victory". -Hal. Citizen.

Judging from the manner in which Halifax Harbour freezes over in the Winter, we must deem it a Skating Rink of itself.

It is said that the Saint John Crew, after backing down, intend to return by the overland route, as they fear that the water of the Bay of Fundy will be too rough for them to cross. -Hal. Citizen.

We imagine if the funny men of the Chronicle, Express and Citizen were in St. John, they would find several routes too rough to carry their sore bones back to Halifax.

The St. John Crew appear to take to heart the remarks addressed to them in Halifax by a so-called "deputation" of St. John gentlemen who are said to have waited upon them and assailed them in the vilest language for withdrawing from the race. The "deputation" consisted of two persons, who certainly do not represent public sentiment here. In the judgment of our citizens, the St. John Crew acted quite properly.

-Telegraph.

The St. John crew may naturally feel grieved at the insult, but by no means take the matter so much to heart. They have sense enough o know that the folly of one or two is not an indication of public feeling.

Should they (the Paris crew) persist in their determination not to row, they had better give up any pretentions to the champioship, and spend the remainder of their lives paddling in a wash-tub, should they find the water smooth enough. -Hal. Citizen.

It would not be a bad idea for the Haligonians, Citizen included, to paddle in wash tubs. It might cleans them of some of their natural vileness.

In the Aquarial Gardens in Boston there is quite a large reservoir of water for the Seals to play in. It is fenced round and roofed over, and would form a capital place for the "Champion" Crew of St. John to row in. -Hal. Citizen.

What shall be done with the Sharks of Halifax.

The result of the races in Halifax proves conclusively the emptiness of the boats of the Tyne crew, and goes far to show that poor Renforth was THE MAN in the contest here.