A recent decision of the acting attorney general enables athletes who win cups in foreign countries to bring them in free of duty in the future. The Spirit of the Times says: "The Ascot Cup, won by J. K. Keene's Foxhall in England, and detained in the New York Custom House for non-payment of duties, has been released, the Acting Attorney-General giving an opinion that "the article in question having a similitude in material and quality and texture, and the use to which it may be applied, to a medal made of the same material-namely, gold and silver-is free of duty under certain sections 2,498, and 2,505, of the act of March 3, 1883. The purpose of the cup, like that of a medal, is to commemorate a particular event, and substantially it is a trophy, and has no other value except in point of material, and is free of duty,' A basket of cups, won by Mr. L. E. Myers during his recent visit to England, have been detained on the same pretext, but will now, no doubt, be similarly released."