The Sun.
London, England, 1834-06-19 00:00:00

DISSENTERS.

REPORT OF THE DEPUTIES
COMMISSIONED TO TAKE CHARGE OF THE MEMORIAL

church has been corrupted and debased by its state
connexion and subserviency, there is every probability
that, under the blessing of God, this society will take
deep root in the metropolis, and extend its branches
speedily all over the land.

Upon the whole, in the opinion of the deputies, the
prospects of Voluntary Church Societies are as auspi-
cious as the most sanguine of their friends could ex-
pect. Built on the good coafessiln which our Divine
Redeemer made before Pontius Pilate, and to which
it is their honour to cleave—" My kineom is not of
this world"—so obviously equitable in their claims as
to commend themselves to the common sense even of
those who are comparatively unacquainted with their
scriptural evidence—with the Dissenters of Britain,
with every missionary institution in existence (with
one slender exception, perhaps), and with all America
witnessing to the efficiency of their principles, they
may humbly but firmly hope that if they are patient
and persevering, forgiving under injury and insult,
and intrepid in the midst of discouragement and hos-
tility, the day is not remote when their cause must
triumph. H. HEUGH.
A. MARSHALL.
JAMES JOHNSTON.

Glasgow, June 6, 1834.

ABOLITION OF DUELLING.

COPY OF MR. BUCKINGHAM'S PROPOSED BILL "TO PRE-

VENT THE BARBAROUS AND SANGUINARY PRACTICE OF

MILLING."

Whereas many valuable lives have been sacrificed,
and many innocent and unoffending families have been
deeply injured, by the barbarous and sanguinary prac-
tice of duelling; and whereas the custom of appealing
to arms, and determining private quarrels by single
combat with deadly weapons, is a relic of feudal ages,
and wholly inconsistent with the duties of religion,
the dictates of morality, and the ends of justice; and
whereas the practice is defended chiefly on the ground
that there are no competent tribunals to take cogni-
zance of such offences as are usually the causes of these
deadly encounters ; and whereas it is desirable to put
an end to this practise of duelling by substituting a
better and more satisfactory mode of determining such
differences as may arise among officers of his Majesty's
civil, naval, and military services, as well as among,
gentlemen not included in either of these classes ; be it
therefore enacted, by the King's most excellent Ma-
jesty, and by and with the advice and consent of the
lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this
Parliament assembled, and by and with the authority
of the same, as follows:--
I 1. That courts of honour shall be established, with
full powers to take cognizance of, hear, anddetermine
all cases referred to them for adjudication, by parties
conceiving themselves to be insulted or aggrieved ;
and that the decisions of such courts shall be binding
on both appellants, under penalties to be hereafter
specified.
2. That these courts shall be constituted of not less
than three, nor more than seven individuals, of a rank
as nearly as may be attainable to that of the parties
making the appeal, and that the selection and nomi-
nation of such individuals to form the court of honour
prescribed, shall be vested in the following authori-
ties :—For the adjudication of all cases of dispute be-
tween the servants of his Majesty, whether civil,
naval, or military, the principal officer in that depart-
ment of the public service to which the appealing par-
ties may belong, at the nearest station to the spot
where the dispute may have arisen ; and for gentlemen
not belonging to any branch of the public service, the
senior magistrate, or the sheriff of the county in which
the points of' difference may occur.
3. That persons having any cause of quarrel, not
cognizable by civil or military law, but such as is
usually determined among gentlemen, by reference to
private friends, or by appeal to arms, shall select, as
at present, each a second, or representative, who
shall have power and authority to draw up a statement
of the cases of their respective principals in writing,
copies of which shall be interchanged between each,
and signed by both parties.
4. That the statements thus drawn up shall be laid
before the proper authority, indicated in a preceding
clause, with a request that he will summon the requi-
site individuals of the rank and number required to
form the Court of Honour, whether civil, naval, mili-
tary, or otherwise, within a period of not less than
three, nor more than seven days, from the date of
such appeal, which individuals shall be bound to attend
at the time and place appointed as jurors of our Lord
the King. _ _

5. That the Court being assembled shall proceed to
elect the senior member in age, as its President ; and
after hearing the seconds as advocates on either side,
shall call before them such witnesses as they may deem
necessary, and receive such oral or written testimony
as they may consider fairly applicable to the case in
dispute ; after which the President shall sum up the
evidence, and the jurors or members of the Court of
Honour shall each deliver their opinions and decision
on the case, beginning with the youngest member,
and going upwards with the remainder by seniority of
age ; when the President, as Judge, shall pronounce
his verdict, which, if concurred in by the majority of
the Court, himself included, shall be held binding on
all parties, and without appeal.
_

6. That the expense of such proceedings before
Courts of Honour thus constituted shall be confined to
the payment of the advocates, witnesses, and costs of
evidence on either side ; the service of the jurors or
members of the Court of Honour being gratuitous, as
in grand juries and courtsmartial at present; but that
in all cases the party proved to be the aggressor in the
dispute, and condemned by the verdict of the Court as
being in the wrong, shall be held liable to the payment
of all the costs on both sides, and be subject to be de-
tained in custody until such costs are discharged.
7. That the refusal, on the part of any individual
giving or taking offence, to refer his case to the adjudi-
cation of a Court of Honour, constituted as above
described, shall be taken to be an acquittal of the party
consenting to such an appeal ; and such refusal of any
one party, when communicated by the other who
consents to the Court, shall, when duly authenticated,
be published under their authority as a judicial settle-
ment of the case.

8. That in the event of both parties in any quarrel
holding the authority of such Court of Honour in
contempt, and still appealing to arms, and engaging in
a duel with deadly weapons--whether actual injury be
inflicted by the combat or not—the following penalties
shall be imposed on the convicted offenders, whether
principals, seconds, or accessaries before or after the
fact. If in the civil, naval, or military service of his
Majesty, the offenders shall be dismissed from their
public employment, and deprived of all rank and pay
for a period of not less than five, nor exceeding seven
years. If in no branch of the public service, the
offenders shall be deprived of all rank in society, and of
all civil and political privileges as British subjects,
and placed without the protection of the law for a like
period.

9. That in the event of any wound being inflicted
on, or death ensuing to, one or both parties engaged
in any duel, the property of the other parties, includ-
ing both seconds and accessaries, shall be held liable
for full pecuniary reparation to all who may be injured,
either directly or indirectly, by such wounds or death,
to the extent of maintaining, as far as the joint pro-
perty of all the parties will admit, the families and de-
pendants thus deprived of their natural protectors and
supporters, in the same state and condition as they
would have been maintained had no such wounds or
death occurred.

10. That this act shall commence and take effect
from the Ist day of January, 1835 ; that it shall ex.
tend to every part of Great Britain and Ireland, and
all our colonial possessions, settlements, forts, facto.
ries, and establishments, wherever existing, by sea or
land ; and that it shall be taken and deemed to be a
publiC act, and shall be judicially taken notice of as
such by all judges, justices, and others, without being
specially pleaded.

Her Majesty has, we perceive by an adver-
tisement in our paper of to-day, been pleased to cone
fer her high and distinguished patronage upon that
admirable series of works now publishing under the
general title of the " Sacred Classics, or Cabinet Li-
brary of Divinity." During the course of its publica-
tion, we have felt it our duty to call the attention of
our readers to the great importance of its contents, and
the opportunity afforded to all classes of the commui
nity of accumulating that knowledge on which are
established the soundest maxims of wisdom ; and
happy are we to find that one so exalted in station, and
whose character stands so high in the estimation of our
countrywomen, should have had the discrimination to
select such a work on which to bestow the influence of
her patronage. It is as honourable to her Majesty as
it must be gratifying to the spirited projector of so
national a series of valuable works. We are also
happy to see that Dr. Southey and the Rev. Oeerge
Croly are shortly to give their valuable assistance in
the production of the Introductory Essays,