The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1804-09-20 00:00:00

l

TO THE'EDIPOR OF 771.8 BRITISH PRESS.

OBSERVATIONS UPON DjELLING.

Ma. Eniroa,
The much regretted and untimely death of Gen.
Hamilton, of New York-, occasioned by the pistol
of Colonel Burr, has induced ma to offer to the
public, through the medium of your paper, a few
observations upon the prevailing fashion of duelling.
That this mode of settling disputes, and resisting
injuries, should prevail in civilised and Christian
countri•i, appears as singular as it is ahsurd. If
Inv fricn (tor it is more frequently a friend than a
s;.ranger) has tittered any thing which I may'im-
pute to malevolence or rancour, or if his assertions
tend ti won tid my charafter, in conformity with the
modern laws of honour, I must hurry to the field of
blood, and there demand his life as an atonement.
Permit me now to ask the man of honour, how he
can reasonably seek for a settlement of differences
in the life of a fellow-creature? what discoveries, oil
hat evidence of the truth or falsehood of his anta-
gonist's assertions can be given to the world by the
lifeless body of the supposed tra lacer? or, If the of-
fence be avowed insult, or dire assault, I should
submit tollim, whether it would not be more rea-
Fonahle and praise-worthy to commit his cause to
the justice of his country, than to Lara-ii his life in
gratifying the impulse of revenge! Here then the
mystery is unravelled—rerelige is the harpy which
drives the headstrong combatants to the field, and
it remains with men of honour to decide, whether it
be More hononi shla to demand another's life for an
angry look or hasty word, or to sacrifice the consi-
deration of self and revenge at the altar of peace and
reconciliation, and whether, under circumstances of
aggravation, our courts Of jnstice he not the most
onoutahle tribonals, to redress the injury and stig-
audie the offender ? It most be admitted. that the

prevalence of Duelling mast be ascribed, not to the
necessity of the practice, but to the gratification of
unsuhdued passions t hence, in Cie infancy of em-
pires, before the torrent of pure justice had learned
to tow in au uninterrupted channel, and before the
mind of man teas softened and refined by civilisa-
tion, we find that Duelling was generally prevalent.
That a habit, f -untied in barbarism and the indulg-
ence of turbulent passions, should be continued
and sanEtioned in polished countries, in melons, too.
blessed with the mild and genial ray of Christianity.
barely manifests some alarming deft& in the consti-
tution of states. or depravity in the manners of the
people. In regard to this country, the wholesome
laws which have been enaded, to prevent this deli.
berate species of homicide, exculpate the Legislature
both fr.ro wrokness and negled. Upon the prin-
ciple, that no man has a right to wanton with his
own life and that of his fellow-creature, without
warrant or authority fmm any power, either divitte
or human, hut in direa centeadiaton to the laws of
God and man; the law of this nation has just iy fix-
ed the crime and punishment of murder upon the
principals and their sreen.h. The root of the evil,
therefore, lies in the manners of that description of
individuals, generally known by the name of the
" fashionable great," whose time is too often spat
in idleness and dissipation, and whose morals and
habits are not, consequently, the most pure. To
persons of this class, these observations may be of
no advantage; but to such individuals as are not
callous to the suggestions of conscience, but may be
in danger of swerving from the path of rectitude,
from the influence of bad example ; they may, per.
hart, by leading them to reflation, prevent the
commission of an aCt, for which years of contrition
will be unable to atone, and which may finally pro-
duce their own death, as happened in the instance
of G. A. Eaker, who died of a broken heart, in con-
sequence of taking away the life of the late unfor-
tunate General Hamilton's son in a duel. If the
duellist have a, wife and family, and self-preserva-
tion be not strong enough to prevent his throwing
himself into the arms of death, let him relied upon
, the misery which his fall still occasion. A widow
and children are left behind to deplore the loss of
thar head and prote.flor ; and if conjugal love and
parental affestion existed among them, what an ac-
cumulation of distress must the fatal ball bring with
it to the house, a few minutes before, perhaps, in
. the complete, and apparently secure enjoyment of
peace and happiness ; if, in addition to this, the inno-
cent sufferers are dependent upon the activity and
exertions of the deceased for a comfortable subsist-
. . ace, how wretched must be their condition, how
aggravated his guilt! Yet Duellists alt as if they
war considered those things; I am willing to int-
pate to them a want of consideration; for, desire.
rarely wicked must that man be. who can expose
his life to satisfy a false notion of honour, with a
Mill prospect of the calamities which his fall will
bring upon his surviving wife and family. 1 shall
conclude my observations swan this subject for the
present, with a quotation front an author, whose
sentiments are entitled to the highest respet't :
" How fantastic," says he, " and how unjustifiable
are those supposed laws of modern honour, which,
for an affront received by some rash expression in
conversation, tequire no less reparation than the
death of a lellow.creature ; laws, which, as they
here no foundation in reason, never received the
least sanehoh tram any of the woe self paisAealmetiAre
es awidrio, but were devised in the darkest ages of
the world, and are derived to us from the firociotte
iarbarity of Gel4ie manners."
Aug. 12, 1804.

01SEIVA70R.

The Dan, But t.%Nn, from Liverpool, was lost
on the coast of Africa on the 14th cf July, crew
saved.

Our Plymouth Corresponient informs uc. that the
114iselfrIcate, which bad just arrised tl-e e with Mr.
Faust on board, had received very sudden and
strange orders on its departure from dorunn.a. This
frigate WAS direCted to proceed to Plymouth with an
possible dispatch. and ni t to chase or Attack Any
'nem% 'a ship by the way. She did not even ap-
proach our fleet c;ff Ushiult. She bore dispatches
from Admiral Cocut►ns. which are supposed.
from the circumstances stated, to be of considerable
importance. Previous to the sailing of the Naiad.
the /liaw,i Jo man of war was on the point of sailing
fw England. She his.' all her stores on board. and
had attually received the letters from the fleet, to be
delivered in this country, but she was countermand-
ed. TAU countermand was attributed to an appre-
hension entertained by the Admiral, that a Spanish
wax wculd inanaeJaately t4.e place.