Washington sentinel., 1854-02-03
The so,,le AFFAIR.


/ h3t The soule Affair.
We publish below the letter of Mr.. Soule, jr.,
in which some Of the runors in relation to hs
combat with the Duke Of Alba are corrected:
LETTER FROM MR.. soULE, JR.
Mr.. Soule, jr., has addressed letter to the
Bayonne paper, which contained what he con.
siders an unfair account of the circumstances
Of his duel with the Duke of Alba. He writes:
You say that my quarrel with the Duke Of
Alba took its rise in some remarks in some
peasantness upon the toilette of Madame
Soule, exchanged between the Duke of Alba
and tire Ambassador of Frances and you speak
with sort of solemnity of very particular in
terest which has been taken in the affair by the
Emperor of the French. 1t may be well that,
in spite of the aversion which your correspond
ents seem to have for truth, it happened to
them in this case at least and no doubt through
inadvertence, to render it an involuntary hom
age. What they tell you in this respect has
indeed obtained some credit here, and at any
rate gives determinate character to the causes
and object of the offence, ,sone TO my mother
"But this point / abandon to you, seeing
that il cannot cause me the least anxiety. As
regards all except the two assertions of which
have just spoken, / repeat there is not one
word Of truth in what your correspondent makes
you say. 1t was from the mouth of the Duke
Of Alba alone that the remark reached my ears,
which caused me to demand of him satisfac-
tion by stern and peremptory letter. This
remark, you say, was only an innocent plea
santry upon the toilette of Madame Soule, the
eccentric taste of whose dress had been noticed
by the whole company.
" This is q version which comes too late after
the one Of which you have made yourself the
complaisant interpreter. The dress Of my mo-
ther had nothing at all to do with the insult
which was thrown upon her. Her toilette,
which consisted of dress OF velvet from the
hands of Mdlle. Palmyre, was that Of a woman
OF taste and OF good society, who knows how to
unite that regard which the exigencies of the
world command with the respect which lady
owes to herself"
Mr.. Soule then proceeds to contradict some
statement regarding the letters that passed be-
tween the duke and himself and then pro
ceeds:
You say that caused myself to be waited
for on the ground after having demanded and
obtained q delay of forty-eight hours. I did
not demand, and consequently did not obtain,
any delay. / arrived on the ground at the
same time with the Duke OF Alba, and at the
place Of meeting FIVE minutes before the hour
agreed upon.
You say that was followed by six carriages
full of Yankees who reside at Madrid. I was
followed only by one servant, and by the car.
riage which contained my father my physician,
one of my friends, French like Yourself and
one American-the only American who resides
at Madrid aside from the personnel Of the lega.
ton. These we're all left at quarter Of
league from the place Of combat. You give
me twenty-three years of age. ! am hardly
twenty-five; but you take care not to say that
the Duke Of Alba is thirty.six, that he had
many years of instruction with the sword, and
that he had twenty-three days to exercise him.
self after having received my challenge, which
he declined by explanations ample and salts.
factory before sending me his, which l accepted
without hesitation and at the instant.
You say that my hand tired quick under
the weight Of a sword which found too heavy.
The swords were heavy, it is true; but it was
not at my instance that they were exchanged
for other and lighter ones, which the Duke Of
Alba had brought with him. You say that
was wounded 1t is an error; have not re-
ccived the slightest scratch. In fine, you speak
Of the promises which, you say, have made
to give the lie to the English press, and to
burn before the witnesses the letter which the
Duke Of Alba had written to me. i was in.
capable Of making, and i have not made any
promises of this kind, nor Of any other kind
had nothing to do with the English press which
is altogether foreign to me- @
"The Duke of Alba has taken care not to
lay upon me any Of the slightest requisition,
well knowing what account should have made
with it. Besides, such requisition, with re.
spect to the letter which he had written me,
would have served only to create the impress.
hat rht = =.
to his character
"And you crown your recital by description
of the combat, which represents me as having
been the whole time of its duration at the mercy
of the Duke Of Alba, and scarcely able to hold
out my sword.
"ln order to confonnd the detractors who
hide themselves behind you, have only to
place under the eyes of your readers the ac-
count which has been given of the combat bv
our seconds-that is to say, those Of the duke
and mine. Will you, sir, rectify the falsehoods
which your correspondents have made YOU to
utter? | am unwilling to doubt it; but If YOU
refuse, l shall find means to nnmask and to
brand the infamous caluminator Of whom YOU
have made yourself the ECHO and the guar.
anty.
u am, sir, your most obedient servant,
"NEVIL SOULE."
The following is the memorandum Of the
seconds referred to by Mr.. Soule
"The undersigned seconds and witnesses o.
the encounter which took place in the after.
noon Of Wednesday, 18th instant, between his
excellency the Duke Of Alba and NJ. Nelvil
Soule, do hereby declare that the same com.
menced at twenty minutes before four Of that
afternoon, and was suspended at ten minutes
before four; and, being renewed five minutes
later, was again suspended past four o'clock.
The undersigned having perceived that the ia
tgue of both the combatants proceeded from
the bad state Of the ground, and still more from
the great weight Of the Spanish swords with
which they fought, changed these for other
lighter ones, with which the combat, being
again renewed at four o'clock and ten min
utes, was continued until the undersigned
thought themselves obliged to give new rest
to the combatants, which was repeated three
times more, and for the space Of Eve minutes
each. AS in the last but one Of the pauses
there had been an occasion in which the COM
batants drew near and addressed each other