The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-14 00:00:00

LOJNDON, 7HUI?SDAY, APRIL 14, 1870.

The Duke of MONTPENSIER has received his sen-
tence from the Court-martial appointed to try him
for the duel in which he caused the death of the
Infante Don ENRIQUE. Ho has escaped with a
slight penalty, for one month's banishment and a fine
of eleven hundred rounds, do not constitute a serious
sentence, when we consider the offence with which
the Prince has been charged ; at the same time it is
difficult for English readers fully to realise the state
of things abroad, or to estimate the very different
views which are entertained with respect to duels
and duellists to those which prevail among our-
selves. It is necessary that this circumstance should
be taken into consideration when any criticism is
passed upon the affair, and when we take note of the
proceedings of foreign courts of law and judicial
inquiries. The Duke of MONTPENSIER was placed in
a very awkward position by the attacks of Don
ENRIQUE, and no one can deny that he had received
the utmost provocation before he had recourse to the
mistaken but apparently inevitable mode of satisfac-
tion which issued in so fatal a termination. It would
have been quite impossible for him to remain in Spain
without vindicating his honour, which his adver-
sary had so vehemently assailed by his persistent
libels. To do this would have entailed heavy
sacrifices on him, for he was in all the
excitement and eagerness of his candidature for the
throne, a candidature which had succeeded so far as
to justify well-grounded hopes for the result. Don
ENRIQUE exhibited the utmost intolerance when the
Duke came to Madrid, and lost no opportunity of
insulting him, no matter how much he outraged good
taste, good sense, or good feeling in the process.
So far as the duel itself can be taken into account,
the whole story goes against Don ENRIQUE. Ile
hadall the advantages of choice for pistols, position,
and the right to fire, but nothing mollified him,
and he conducted himself from first to last with
the greatest brusqueness; in fact, his conduct
rather resembled that of a savage than a gen-
tleman of Position, and certainly did more to excuse,
if not to justify, his antagonist than the most vehe-
ment partisan of the Duke could have effected by his
advocacy. The fist time the Duke fired in the air,
and naturally enough considered that th's gracious
act would lead to the termination of the encounter.
But Don ENRIQUE was not to be put off in this man-
ner, and insisted on the prolongation of the duel.
He got the worst of the second exchange of shots,
and again the Duke was anxious to desist. All sen-
sible persons would have agreed that enough had
been done to satisfy the most aggiieved recipient
of real or imaginary wrongs ; but no, the
indignant champion was resolved to proceed, and
accordingly the last and fatal moment arrived. Don
ENRIQUE'S third ball went far from the mark, but
that of the Duke of MONTPENSIER'S struck him iu his
dart tompl', and he fell dead without a word. It is
no exaggeration to say that he died the victim of his
own infatuated course of proceeding, and that he
persisted, in skite of every opportunity afforded by
his adversary, in carrying on a contest which had
Aready been too far prolong!,l. The whole try of
the MONTPENSIER duel contrasts Most favou-ably
with the tragic scene which was enacted at Auteuil,
and the Prince of the ORLEANS fallli.y seems to have
been distinguished for a quality which was essentially
wanting in the representative of the BonapartiAs,
that of self-control. From first to last he seemed
free from passion, and quite prepared to act in a
manner becoming a chivalrous opponent. Let us
hope that some good may arise from the painful dis-
closures and sad scenes attendant on these encounters,
and that we may soon see the beginning of the end
of the system that has been so pertinaciously followed
in foreign countries since it has died out in ours.
True, the affair at Auteuil was not a duel, but it
was in consequence of the projected duel of
several political disputants that the fatal visit was
paid, which entailed such disastrous consequences,
and might have led to still more serious complica-
tions. What is wanting in this matter is time for
thought, and if the lookers-on will reflect uron the
sad and solemn consequences of these affairs, which
originate in a hasty word, and terminate in evils that
cannot be redressed, and regrets that can never be
palliated, they must acknowledge that a change for
the better is earnestly to be desired and demanded.
The Spanish encounter bears the palm over the
Auteuil tragedy, but princes as well as meaner in-
dividuals might employ life to a better purpose, and
meet death in a holier fashion than by engaging in
such affairs of honour, where misfortune is blame,
and success is compromising.

If the fashion were adopted in St. Stephen' swbich
prevails in some large schools, where recreant scholars
are kept in the schoolroom on holidays to complete
their unfinished tasks, wearied M.P.'s would have
but a small chance for escaping for a while from the
Eight of the green benchee. The most easily
satisfied mortal must be forced to acknow-

IPdge there would be very little hope of
good marks or favourable comments, or certificates
of industry. Arrears of work are accumulating at a
frightful rate, and all parties are begining in these
early spring days to break down prospectively at the
terrors of an August kitting. When Midsummer
has turned Mr. GLADSIDNE will, indeed, very likely
play the tart of .the scholastic RHADAMANTIIUS, and
insist on retaining the would-be truants, who
have failed to accomplish their tasks, and as
meteorologists indulge us with visions of a
tropical summer, England will have to go through
another of her national penances on account of her
sins towards Ireland. The truth is, that the con-
dition of Parliamentary business is mo.A unpro-
miaing—Education, the Ballot, the Licensing ques-
tion, and awhole. h( st of other measures of more or less

importance, for which the country has been waiting
patiently year after year, are gradually grow-
jpg fainter in the distance. Week after
seek g•es -by, nights and nights are spent
over a clause or half a clause. Words are
altered, eliminated, addol, Ministers and Opposition
and in lep(nderit m tubers weary themselv.s and each
uther in endless (FscusEitn.s, and here we a e at the
Easter holidiys with the great measure of the st-scion
not yet at its fourth clause is committee! e
House can hardly be charged with want of iLdastry,
for the sittings have been carried on far past mid-
night, aul the alteration in the usual hours Ills
been made much earlier than ordinary. When the
morning sittings were proposed before Easter a great
outcry was raised, but the inexorable facts wer". SUL