Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1819-03-30

OF his own WayWard vanity and yinGiCtlv6-
ness; to take the life OF fe How being and
in doing so, to destroy, peihaps, the peace
cffamilies kill the hopes OF a wife that
but minute before was exulting. and brea-
thing forth the incense of gratitude to her
bounteous creator for the worldly comforts
he had afforded her and her offspring, to
plunge her perhaps INTO insanity, and all Of
them into dlstresses which can find no ter
mination but in the grave.
When an abominable spirit Of this kind
RACES at large under the Indictment of Po-
pulor error, advice is fruitless; the au,hori-
ty of the church is Intellectual decla-
nation of the pulpit is no more regarded
than the whistling of the wind ;-since those
| who disregard the injuctions Of holy writ,
will be little likely to yield to the expostu-
lations of its humble interpreter /; and hu-
man ingenuity eyerts itself in vain 10 de-
wise modes Of prevention, without recur-
ring to measures which will ;ead to I'LL up
the measure, even 10 running over, OF hu-
man shame aHd misery. Yetthe spirit ought
to be encountered-speedily too-and that
by spirit somewhat resembling Itself. .
furies with their fire brands ravage the
earth, and make war upon the peace of
society, let other furies be invoked to sub
due them. In Great-Brtain, some time
ago, the execution, on gallows, OF gen
lleman Of respectable connections and rank
in The army did more to put down the prac-
tice of dusling than all the volumes that
had ever before been written, and all the
homilies that had ever before been preach
ed against it. For the crime OF suicide, the
laws assigned, as preventative, the dis
grace of dragging the corpse of the offender
naked through the street-and this SEN
tence, am told, was actually executed
some years ago at Hartford,i in Come cticut.
Aalient history informs Us that at one Pc
Rod, when the crime OF suicide became
frequent beyond all former example, the
legislature passed law that the bodies OF
all who died in that way should be pub
lickly exposed naked in the streets, and
that it had the desired effect. In like man
ner the crime Of duellng might possibly
be prevented, or at least its ravages dimin-
ished by annexing to the commission OF it
some posthumous disgrace; the cure might
be taken from the same source as the dis
ease-and the same vanity and false sense
Of shame which urged vicious fool to re-
venge, deter him from committing a muir
der that would brand him, though dead,
with indelble infamy. Were duelllsts hung
in chains like other murderers, there would
be few ducls.
In my opinion, however, those who have
argued against the practice of duelling,
have failed OF being as successful as they
might, by not selecting those topics which
a profound knowledge of the human heart
would direct them TO as most likely to come
to that particular kind OF selhsbness ofheart,
and perversion OF judgment, to which the
crime owes its existence. There is not one
of the herd, however inveloped in bar
barism and ignorance, or cCrruptedby pride
and irreligion, who does not well enough
kEow the general tenor of the moral, the
religious and The legal dissuasives that have
long suhsisted against it. Other ground,
therefore, ought to be taken, particularly
as it is a melancholy truth, that there are
many young men, and, fear, many who
have long had the bloom of the plumb rub
bed by the fingers of time from their cheeks
who plume themselves upon their cou-
rage in bidding defence to the laws of God
and think that fearless impiety helps to
thicken the iaurcls they may crop by bril-
liant act of murder. To turn from an act
because it is likely to incur the wrath oil
heaven, would, TO such wicked fools as
these, appear disreputable, because i'm
plying fear and submission and thus, the
whole of their vice arising from fear of be-
ing thought susceptible OF fear, they would
rather incur fresh penalties than acknow-
ledge themselves capable Of shrinking
The fact is, that their exlravagant notions
on this subject arise from an absurd and
mistaken estimate of the value of courage.
Their reasoning is founded on an idea thai
bravery isa very rare commodity-and tina,
if they do not give some strong practical
proof of their possessing share O. it, they
will be suspected of being de6cient.-By