The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-08-22

AS soon as possible.
Rcsoived, That the Committee appointed,
Cause 'he proceedings OF this meeting to be
published.
: By order Of he Meeting,
JonN BRooME, Chairman.
&c :. LEsgkus LOOMS, Secretary
The FIRST blank hus been fled IN 6y
me Commitfee wifh oftly and the second srilh
fifteen.
ThE FOLLOWING IS THE ADDRESS
TO THE ELECTORS.OF THE STATE
OF NEW YORK.
"A number of your felioW citizens solicit
your attention to asubject OF great ard COM
mon Interest They address you not AS adhe.
rents to ary political or ecclesiastical party ;
but as men who abhor that atheism which re
jects the authority & government o. Gol-as
citizens who feel the Importance of making
the law respected; and who know thar the
lnpun'ty OF crime tends to destroy both pub
lie order and private happiness, with ali the
security of property, Liberty and life. AS
TRENDS, brothers, fathers OF families, to
whom the social charities are sacred and
who Can never hold cheap the blood of such
as are united TO them in the tenderest ties
OF amity, OF nature and of love. They call
upon You To consider and resist the preva
lence OF a crime which strikes ut YOU i'm all
these relations; which has hitherto eiuded.
but too successfully, the several efforts to
suppress it; and which, emboidenetl by past
impunity, threatens to leave nothing safe of
all that is venerable and valuable in human
litc-the crime OF Dueliing. .se
ihey need not prove the absurdity and
atTocity of practice which cannot reckon
mang its advocates Single wise or good
man FeTv even Of the abandoned. venture to
n F,Nr, /.
this, that /" it is a means, however bad,
which the state Of society renders Necessary
tor the protection of person and character -
and that II one should not resent an insult
by calling out its author, or should decline a
Challenge from another, he would become
an object OF universal contempt, liable to
the meanest aifroms, and incapable of re
tanning his place among men OF dignity and
spirit Briefly, tina public opinion, whcih
regulates private homer, is in favor OF Duel
ing, and compels one to sacrifice his rea-
son, his conscience. and his wishes, to the
responsibility of his social staining
mus the duellist, assuming it as fact,
that he is to be rewarded With the approba
ton OF the community, flies to his weapons
OF death ; safes his revenge with blood and
produces PUBLIC OPINION as the warrant
for his murders
On the NJ oRALITY of this doctrine il would
be superhuous to comment. There can be
but one Judgment pronounced upon it BY all
who recognize the distinction between right
and wrong, as originating in higher source
than human custom. But if the allegation
OF fact is correct; if the duellist has rightly
estimated the public opinion, if it is true
that the American people look with salts
faction upon deeds which fill every virtuous
breast with horror and dismay, then is our
condition dreadful indeed
We cannot submit to such q libel upon the
understanding and the morals of this nation.
Public opinion is merely the collective OPT
mon of individuals. TIC be known. il
must be expressed And when, where, how
has 1t been expressed in FAVOR OF DUEL
LING! Let the man be produced who has,
from principle refused either to give or ac-
cept challenge, and has been pursued. bv
public reprobation'
The true expression of public opinion is
to be sought in the religion of the land, in
its laws, and in the conversation of its inha-
bitsnts.
The religion of the land is decisive
L nat reilSIon which Is received by the peo-
pie OF the United States as of divine autho-
rity. and which has interdicted not only the
matured act, but all indictments to the COM
mission of it.
The laws of the land are decisive. They
speak death to the man who kills another in
duel. They speak degradation and infa-
my TO every man who, in any manner, assists
III duel. But the laws are inerciful.-
They will not aIow Of any avoidable risk of
Furnishing the innocent. And the guilty, a
vailing himself of their precaution and of
the facility of escape, created by different
Jurisdictions. eludes their blow, and in the
very act of shrinking from this expression
OF the public will. pleads PUBLIC OPINION
in his own vindicationi
The private circle is decisive. Go thro'
the state from house to house number the
patrons OF duelling and when you have
found them one in thousand of our indie
pendent electors, begin to speak of their o.
pinion. Shall we, then, hear that our OPT
Mons collectively are in diametrical cont a
dictIon to our opinions seharateLy? And
that the public ahhtaud8 practice which
every one who contributes to make I'D that
pubic, handful ofthe desperate excepted,
Pronounces to be SeHSeieSs and 7picked 2
Yet strong as the facts are, full, perempto-
ry, solemn and habitual as are the express
ons OF public opinion against duelling, with
out one solitary expression in i,s favor, this
baneiul practice, the offspring of barbaroas
manners and bloody passions. is still father
ca upon PUBLIC OPINION And, what is
deeply alarming, gains rapidly among our
ciuzsns-gains,i in opposition to all the ex
postulations of reason, and all the sanctions
OF religion; III opposition to the ebnke Of
the law; 70 the testimony of the wise and
good; to the protestations of common huma
MY to the tears of the widow and the sor-
rows of the orphan to the aecnies of a
bosom nj &