The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1805-01-18

cling, are utterly inadequate to the preventi-
on of this great and affiiSting evil, propohi-
on, to the truth of which every man mutt in
itsntaneouly afient. 1t is believed to he fact,
that the furvivor in a daei has never been
ragued before ajury, in this commonwealth,
from the commencement of the revolution to
the prefent day. Sometimes a warrant has
been iiued to arrcit the acculed, but the profc-
cntion has been almoa invariably terminated by
an acquittal before the examining magistrates.
Often. the tranfaction remains entirely unnoti-
ced, and the party purtues without interrupt
on from the officers of the law, the friends
OF the deceaied, his accutomed avocations.
This apathy of the magiarates, and this H.
lence on the part of thofr who have to deplore
the death of friend or kinfman, obvioully re-
fult from the abfurtity and injufice of our
criminal code. BY law, even according TO the
reformed penitentiary iyfem, as it is called,
adopted within few years paa, killing man
in duel is murder. 1t is a matter of no con-
fequeuce that the accufed had received the mott
humiliating provocation that his conduct was
conciliatug and correct: that further patience
would have embittered his future life, BY filb-
je6ting him to the fcorn, or what is worfe, the
pity of the brave, the infuts of the cowardly,
and the perpetual reproaches of his own tortu-
red feelings: all this isimmaterial he has fhed
the blood of man, and the law pronounces that
ted to breathe the infected air of the penitenti-
airy, even among thieves and robbers, of whole
reformation fome hope is WISELY entertained
but clatled with the midnight murderer, whole
object is plunder or revenge, the hired afafiin,
who trafIics in human blood, and the moniter
who lifts his accurfed hand againtf his parents
life, he is to be cut off, as a wretch whole ex-
.iitence cannot be tolerated by fociety, and for
whole offence nocxpiation can bcmade. Againf
4 law like this, the common fcnfe and the hui
mainly of mankind revolt. The magistrates
forget their duty: witneiics will not attend
and even the friends of the deceafed are filent.
The coniequence is that the law as itnow lands
is dead letter. It's denunciations are vain
and the practice of dueling remains precifely
on the fame footing, as if every law relating to
II was totally repealed. Surely, il is not i'm
polite, to difcover fome preventive fyRem,
on this fnhect, more confonant to the feelings
and judgment of the world. From the time of
Scion to the pretent day, il has been, in theo-
ry at leait, maxim oflegiflation, that the laws
o. 4 country ihould be adapted to the cuftoms,
the manners, and the fentiments Of the inhahi-
taats. The trsth of this maxim is completely
lidhrated by the preceding ftatement. The
law which declares killing man i'm duel to
be in ali cafes and under all circumstances,
murder, IS Incompatible with the manners and
ffntiments of our people, aud is therefore total
~ neglected. If then the Legislature with to
contribute their aid towards the fupprefion of
this great and deplorable evil they mutt fpeak
within the walls of the Capitol, the fentiments
which as private msn, they, in common with
their fellow citizens, entertain. They nut
make determination between an act, proceed
iHg IS In the cafe juA now fuppofed, from that
SENSE Of honour, which is implanted in the
human b'eat, as the germ of every virtue(aJ
ard one proceeding from deliberate wickednefs,
habituai cruelty, or the oetirc of gain: between
2 man z, often Nth Jut malice ~ in de-
Te.lce oFreputaticn(e) for an injury which the
laws Of flciety are incompetent TO redreE,(l
againif an adverfary placed on the ground of
exatt equality, and the wretch, who, deftitute of
feeling as of virtue, robs the heIplefs traveller
in the dart, aud then murders him, hoping
thus 20 efcape the vengeance of the law. This
determination is made by the people of every
country, where duelling is pra6tfed: and
therefore muff re noticed by the !es.:G,.;:re, Oil
r5sir laws viii be utterly ditregarded.
VIVA, then is TO be done? The anfwer, ex-
claims the pous moraliit, is obvious. Let fiIch
meafureS be adopted as will put flop to this
cuftom, which religion forbids, which reafon
condemns, which humanity depIores.
In reply to this exclamation, it has been fire.
9uently remarked, that the iupprefiion of duel
ling, by legal denunciatiors, is mpracficable.
This petition is not affirmed to be absolutely
true but it is admitted to be 70 by one wri-
ter eminently difinguifled for his knowledge
OF mankind, (eJ and by another no lefs difin-
guiihed for his learning and his piety.(f) This
admlfiion is warranted by experience. In eve-
ry part of Europe, where any degree of free
dom is to be found, and where duelling is
praGifed, the efforts of the fovereign to iup-
prefs 1t, have been, hitherto umuccefsful. II is
not in the power of government TO control the
fentiments of the people. The mind may be
intructed, but it cannot be coerced. This
truth, Obvious as it is, was for ages overlooked
by the rulers Of mankind, and the attempt to
eitablifh opinions by force, long made the Chrif-
tian world, one tremendous field of car
mage and defolatiou.
Until, therefore, the time fhal arrive, at
which the precepts OF the wife, and the exam
pie of the brave and good, fha teach men
magnaniInoufy to inbnit to perfons injury and
abufe, and to defpife the offender, rather than
the perion injured, the public fentinent will
have an influence on individual condnet, Of
which the law cannot diyen it. The greateft Of
all Punifhments is the contempt OF our fellow
men and therefore the lefs evil, the chance Of
pin and death, will be occadonally encoun-
tered. This obferyation applies with peculiar
force 10 the citizens of republican govern
nent. In Great Britain and in other European
countries. rank and wealth place many of the
leading members Of fociety, beyond the reach
of e..nfitre The hiTa e 81.