The Sun.
London, England, 1826-11-20 00:00:00

DUELLING.-COURT OF HONOUR.

[We have much pleasure in copying the following sensible article upol
the absurd practice of Diamtirso from the titasuow Faaa ream]

Rastsais on the 104 TRIAL of DAVID LANGDALI, Esq.,' for
killing Mr. Mona Alt in a Duel.--By Geoaaz BuctiLe.u, Esq..
of Kelloe. Pp. SS. Edin., 1828.
We had chalked out for ourselves the subject of this
judicious pamphlet for an article, as one, of considerable
interest and importance, before Mr. Buchan made his ap-
pearance as an author,—we cane ist but feel somewhat
obliged to' him therefore, for furnishing us, with so good an
occasional cause, as his " Remarks' do, for drawing the
atteption of our readers; for a moment, to the question
which he professes to discuss.
The turn at once unreasonable, unholy, and illegal, which
public opinion has, of late years, taken, on the subject of
duelling r the alswibil bondage• in which aria caprice of
fashion enchains the nolhds of men, otherwise moral and
enlightened, and by which their actions are at all times,
(though no doubt very reluctantly,) determined ; and the
decided tendency which these must have, to confound moral
distinctions, on this subject, in the minds of the young,
thoughtless, and half-informed, are circumstances pregnant
with mischief to the present and coming generations, and
ought, therefore, to be boldly met and resisted, by all who
have the means of doing so, in however minute a degree;
or who have the interest of law, religion, reason, morals,
their country, and mankind, seriously at heart.—All these,
it is manifest, are at ," war, open and avowed," with this
weak, selfish, and absurd, though, fashionable practice ; yet
all of them are found, with the upper and influential ranks, to
be inert and useless, when brought to bear against it. Dan-
dies and drivellers—foplings and fools—laced, braided, and
whiskered pandoors—creatures, out of a gross of whom,
we suppose, a grain of common sense could scarcely be
obtained, by the most skilful analysis—despotically give
the law, in this matter, to philosophers and legislators, to
princes and ministers of state, nay, to the bench of justice
itself, which ought, in our humble opinion, rather to frown
upon and condemn, and, doing so, abolish it. That this
is the duty of judges and juries, in all parts of the British
empire, is clear, from the following authorities, as quoted
by our author :
" As to the law of Scotland, Mr. Baron Hume states,
Where a duel takes place upon a challenge, and is fol-
lowed by the death of one of the parties, this, according to
the law of Scotland, is mnrder in the survivor, how fair
and equal soever the manner of conducting the combat.
But the better to repress such irregularities, to which the
fervent temper of the Scots so strongly disposed them,
the legislatur, by the Statute 1600 c. 12, raised the bare
act of engaging in a duel, to the same rank of a capital
'crime as the actual slaughter, without distinguishing whe-
ther any of the parties did or did not suffer any wound or
materiel harm on the occasion. To complete the restraint,
it was, by Statute 1696, c. 35, made punishable with ba-
nishment, and escheat of moveables, to be concented in the
giving, sendingi or accepting of a challenge, even though
no combat should ensue. (Hume's Crtm. Law, vol. ii.
ch. 17.)"
" On the law of England, Judge Blackstone having de-
bleal"i'' not so properly (the essential
ingredientfine d
of the carne of nu
`malice
to
spite or malevolence to the deceased in particular, as any
etvtial
wdeisthigna
sinedagteei:erdalel,:heenradte`express malice,. to be, when
o
, and formed design,
doth kill another ; which formed design is evidenced by
external cireumstances, discovering the inward intention,
such as lying in wait, antecedent menaces, former grudges,
and concerted Schemes to do him some bodily harm;'
adds, with the view of leaving no doubt, that killing in
duel comes within the legal description of murder, This
takes in the case of deliberate duelling, where both parties'
meet avowedly with an intent to murder, thinking it their
duty, as gentlemen, and claiming it as 'their right, to wan-
ton with their own lives and those of their fellow-creatures,
without any warrant or authority from any power, either
divine or human, but in direct contradiction to the laws of
God and mon ; and therefore the law has justly fixed the
crime and punishment of murder on them, and on their
seconds also.' (Blackstone, 'vol. iv. p. 198, 199.)
Judge Foster says, 'Deliberate duelling, if death en-
sueth, is, in the eye of the law, murder. For duels are
generally founded in deep revenge ; and though a person
should be drawn into a duel, not IIPHI) a motive so Mini-
m!, but merely upon the punctilio of what the swordsmen
falsely call honour, that will not excuse. For he that de-
liberately seeketh the blood of another upon a private
quarrel, acteth in defiance of all law, human and divine,
whatever his Motive may be.'—Foster's Crown Law,
Disc. 11. cap. 5.
The divine law, on wfiish the law of our country evi-
dently rests, is not lea express on this subject; and to any

One who truly receives the scriptures as the oracles of
the living God,'- the obligations it conveys must be felt
as wholly irresistible.
The first general law refordititmurder, was given to
Noah, immediately after the flood,- Gen. it. lit 6, Surely
the blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every
beast will I require it, and at the band of man ; at the
hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be
shed; for in the image of God made he man. The second
general law is included in the ten commandments, delivered
to Moses in the midst of the thunders of ,Sissal—ssa
hn-
pressive emblem of the penalties attached to their violation,
Exod. xx. 13. Thou shalt not•kill.' These are follow-
ed by more detailed ordinances, founded on the first laws.
' The ritual and ceremonial part of the Mosaic dispen-
sation, was superseded by the dispensation of the Gospel;
bat the spiritual authority of the commandments given to
Moses, remains equally binding in every Christian coun-
try, as it was on the Jewish peoples The scriptures also
enjoin the most ample forgiveness of injuries; and we are
again and again warned, that if we do not forgive others
their wrongs against us, we have no hope of forgiveness
from God. If you forgive men their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you forgive
not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses.' And hie Lord was wroth, and deli-
vered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that
was due unto him; so likewise shall my heavenly Father
do also unto you, if ye, from your hearts, forgive not every
one his brother their trespasses.' Put on bowels of
mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suf-
fering, forbearing one another, forgiving one another: if
any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ for-
gave you, so also do ye. "Be patient towards all men ;
see. that none render evil -for evil unto any man." AVenge
not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is
written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.
Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him • if he thirst,
give him drink; for in doing so, thou shalt '
heap coals of
fire on his head. Be not_ overcome of evil, but overcome
evil with good.'
No language can be more plain than the above—.no
intimation more-clearly given of the Divine will, with re-
gard to murder, in any supposable shape, and all the pro-
pensities of the heart, from which the crime emanates. It
might be reasonably supposed, that, with such direct, such
fearful denunciations of the Divine vengeance in view,
few would be found so unthinking or so daring as to bid it
defiance. The laws of God and of man have united their
clearest dictates on the subject, and with such luminaries
in sight, with such a pillar of cloud by day, and pillar of
fire by night,' it might have been thought that few would
have wandered, notwithstanding all the perversity of the
human mind, and the depravity of the buman heart."
But, it seems, all these authorities, both divine and hu-
man, are now obsolete!' We have outlived them ! They
are incompatible, according to Mr— Jeffrey, with the maxims
of modern refinement I The grand discovery has at length
been made, that St Paul, its well as his master, was all in
the wrong—and the great apostle of the upper ranks is
henceforth to be some captain of the Tenth Hussars, or
perhaps a Brumme ! The maxims of the mess, the
morals of the " hells," and of St. James' Coffee House,
are forthwith to be embodied into the law of the land ;
forgivenness of injuries, and all the moral dignity which it
was wont to confer, together with the immortal rewards
which are attached to it, have been voted to be ',vulgar and
worthless by British juries—unworthy of the ambition of
men of spirit, and of such as are miscalled gentlemen!
.Prole pudor ! But if the upper ranks of society are thus
to be permitted by courts of law to place themselves
beyond the pale of all law; at least all such as is recognized
by reason, religion, and the Tealm, in one particular in-
stance, where, we would ask, is the' licence to stop ?
If one part of the law -of honour is to be embodied
into the law of the land, as " liberally accommo-
dated to human feelings," why may not those who profess
to be regulated by it insist upon the othei parts of the
code, such as the lawfulness of adultery, seduction, cruelty
to servants, rigorous treatment, of tenants and other depend-
ants, injuries done to tradesmen by insolvency or delay of
payment, being admitted also ? To be consistent, after
having recognized the lawfulness of duelling, our courts of
law cannot punish or reprehend any of the above pecca-
dilloes, all which, like duelling, are unpunishable by the
laws of honour ! So just is the remark of Paley on this
subject, that " if unauthorised laws of honour be allowed

to create exceptions to Divine prohibitions, there is an end
of all morality, us founded in the will of the Deity ; and the
obligation of every duty may, at, one time or other, be dis-
charged by the caprice and fluctuations of fashion."

As a favourable specimen of our author's style, we select
the following passage, with the sentiments of which, we
need not say, we cordially concur:—

'" We are, however, very far from considering the case
hopeless. We, on the contrary, trust that a better order
,of things will, and that not distantly, return. We' do not
deem any sudden transition from relaxation to rigour, to
be desirable; it would in truth be unjust, and nothing of
the kind can be requisite. In the temper of the favoured
times in which our lot has been cast, the rigid severity of
the law's administration' will seldom, if ever, be needful,
and the,stream of mercy, if permitted to flow from the true
the only legitimate source, may generally. flow with safety.
In truth, however, we think that something short of that
mark would be ere long found to suffice from the gradual •
disuse of the obnoxious practice. Let the unlawfulneas of
duelling be stedtbstly and uniformly declared from the
Bench, and its true character exhibited to view, and the
practice will probably not long stand against this. There
is in the present day seldom to he met. with that tiger-like
thirst of blood, that blood only will satisfy ; and if proper
means were used to make people feel that the duellist
breaks his country's laws, and invokes on his head the
Divine vengeance, the punctilio of honour, that absurdity
has so broadly stampt, will probably recede, and other
more harmless means be devised of bringing occasional dif-
ferenees to a settlement."
The " more harmless means " which Mr. Buchan refers
to, are, we suppose, the establishment of a court of honour,
similar to what .obtained in France in the reign of Louis
XIV., and which had so good an effect in abolishing duel
-
ling in that country. With regard to such an institution,
Dr. Paley has the following passage :
" For the army,
where the point of honour is cultivialtuerd..
With exquisite attention and refinement, I would establish
a court of honour, with a power of awarding those submie.
sinus and acknowledgments, which it is generally the
pose of a challenge to, obtain; and it might grow into a
fashion with • persona of rank of all professions, to refer
their quarrels to this tribunal."

This pamphlet does great credit to the good sense and
good feeling of Mr. Buchan, and though he may fail to
circa any great change in the minds of those who allow
themselves to be earned away by the current of fashion on
the subject which he treats of, yet he has succeeded com-
pletely in establishing the glaring impiety and illegality of
the practice, and what he says, must he peculiarly conso-
-I►tort' to those who may be suffering from the contumely
have chosen the " bet part of braving all ate
and scorn of a thoughtless and profligate world—be.suse
rather than Atermake shipwreck of ibtir
they may
tfhaesgeOod conscience."
fsaeivtehriatyndofo