Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1804-11-06

Ols
gislator and the nnoralist should leave them
to do SO, in dispair, without making laws,
or giving monitions againstit. Law and
reason exercised unre mittingly, would fritz
ter away the custom, and with it the Cpl
mon. The practice would then vanish, Of
course; besides, neither the legislator nor
the moral writer are jusri6aole, if in indo-
lent aoquiescence with false predication,
they desert the strict line of their duty, or
act like timid and conscientiously unskilful
surgeons, who suffer patient TO die a lin
gering, painful, certain death, from false
notion that the disease is incnrable, and a
s-lGsh fear Of usi,g the knife. Those who
say, stitis bad, but We cannot remedy IT."
do worse than nothine.--tor they add their
Right to the weight Of erroneous opinion,
and give further strength and circulation to
palpable mistake FIR 1t is lass than pail
pablo mistake to suppose that a thing NEST
necessarily exist, which has but very par
italy existed, which was long unknown,
and which in some countries, and those
immensely poplous and enlightened coun-
tries TOO, is scarcely dreamed OF. What
is this less than to assert that duelllng Is
inherent in the nature OF man ? Away with
such notions-they are mischievoHs when
circulated, and ought to- be smothered the
moment they are conceived.
A stranger to the nature OF nan would
conclude, from this mighty work that IS
made about it, that courage was rare a.
mong men, and that mar OF yald, was,
like great poet, orator, painter, or NUS
clan, a thing scarce, and difficult to be net
with. In short, "rara avlS, nigrogue ST.
milliaa Cueno." But, to th1 honor Of
MANS nature, it may fairly be asserted, thar
man destitute ofcourage is very rarely to
be found. Those who have professionally
had opportunities Of forming judgment
upon that point, will fortify with their as
sent our assertion, that often in thousand
men, not one will be found deficient DIVA
lour. Some possesses more of one kind,
and some of another, Some are highly
gifted and animated with the courage Of
sentiment, which incur8 the risk, while it
knows the full amount of the danger. O.
Tiers, from mere animal CO. .ormation,
possess constitutional courage; and G.
theirs again, from hebrtude and stupidity
of mind, are fearless, because ignorant of
danger. Few, very few indeed, want enc
or other of these kinds of courage; but
at would do no great credit to the friends
of duelhng, to see catalogue of those
men who have rendered themselves most
conspicuous for duel-coura3e. We do not
hesitate to say, that the most worthless,
and often the most abandoned and infamous
men in the creation, have been most cele-
brated for it. Highway robbers, house
! breakers, and gamblers. A certain black
legs in London, who, like the murderer in
| Macbeth. sc would DO any thing to mend
life or set rid of it," and cared not whose
! life,o how many he took, provided he could
supply his vices with full qualification.
made practice of sitting up with opulent
men offashion alone, playing at cards with
! them, and the next morning insisting he
| had won such or such sum ofmoney from
them, and challenging them, if they rcfus-
ed to pay him.
He generally chose the tinid, and they
knowingh his despara,e vi!lainy, paid him
the money falsely allcdged to be due, ra-
the, than risk their lives for the fellow,
like proper human butcher, had brought
himself, by practice, into great perfecuou
In the art of murder.-Some fought him,
| and were wounded. One was killed. AS
duel, it was found not murder. He kill
ed a second-The whole of his character
and proceedings came out on the trial, and
! he was found guilty Of deliberate murder
and hanged by the neck till he was dead.
| Respec, for his relatives induces US to sup
| press the name. Here were two innocent
1aen sacrificed to the abominable custom Of
duelling, by villain, who without one ray