The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1856-08-05
From the \ y. Courier Id Fnqairr
THE BURLINGAME AND BROOKS AFFAIR
OPINIONS OF GEN. JAMES WATSON WEBB.

brooks and BurlingaDle.-A correspondent
draws very strange inerences from ouI
silence on the subject; but really there is nc
necessity for anything being SAID in regard tc
| It, Ii we were grAFely to publish, that the
Atlantic is salt or brackish and that oil sound
ngs, 1t is of deep bIueish color, our readers
would laugh at Us, and most probably imag-
Inc they were reading the Express or some
! other Slavery extension journal. And yet the
Iprecise position occupied by both Brooks and
BurlIngame IN the estimation of every high
minded and honorable man III the country is
quite az well established as are the character
and color OF the water OF the Atlantic.
We have long since ceased to be an advo-
cate of The Duel, even as a necessary eUil; but
with the requirements and all the minutIae OF
''the cole,'' nobodV can be more familiar 1t
was our duty as an officer OF the army, to un
derstand it; and 1t has ever been our boast,
that our knowledge was always used in the
peaceful arrangement OF affIIrs; and we may
here repeat what we have said hundred times
lin four cases out OF five affairs of honor are
permitted TO result IN the Duel, through the
lgnorence, want of TACT or the preludIces OF
the friends whose duty it is to arrange mat
ters.
'The Code" and its requirements are pre-
cisely the same now that they were a century
lago; though it cannot be denied that in the
United States the Duel has too frequently de-
generated into single combats having revenge
instead OF point oil honor for it's object. This
remark, however, is not applicable, or rarely
SO, to the officers OF our army and Navy. In
France the Duel continues to be the arrange
ment OF point OF honor, and consequently the
small sword Is the customary weapon, and the
slightest scratch drawing blood is deemed
| - ~, 4. 1t
English army duellng has gone out of fashion
The pistol, however, is the weapon still re-
sorted to, but the parties are placed at fifteen
PAGES back to back. At the word, they wheel
and fire; an should either party pause to take
ann he is forever disgraced and liable to he
shot down by either of the friends.
This has always greatly ameliorated the
practice, and deprived it Of its savage and bar
barous tendencies. But while the steady ad-
vance of civilization in Europe has thus grad
ualy triumphed over the relic of barbarouS
age here, In the United States, the blightng
and desolating influence of slavery, with it's
demorahzing tendencies, its brawls and street
fights and the habit of carrying arms has CIV
en- to the duel u darker, more savage and more
barbarous aspect than it ever presented in Eu
rope. Revenge-a desire to kill and destroy
an enemy--and not a point of honor, is a
marked characteristic of too many of the
slave States. Muskets, pistols and bowie
knives are not untrequently all permitted to
be used in the same savage conteSt-mIscalled
a duel and each party is permitted to take
his own time to slay his adversary in his own
Way-blood, not honor, being the object of
such contests. Under such circumstances and
amid such surroundings every effort to ex
clude the life from the duel, and to compel
the parties to wheel and fire without aim has
been defeated OF course, when the practised
pistol shot claims the right to face his adver-
sary, take deliberate aim, and fire when he is
ready, all nice sense of honor Is waived, and
the only possible resort for the party unskilled
in the use Of the pistol is to select the rifle or
mnsket, and thereby take from she practised
dueil1st the unfair advantage uEon which he
plumes himself.
Thirty years ago, a Captain in one OF our
Regiments challenged Lieutenant of the
same Regiment who, knowing the expertness
of his adversary with the pistol, named the
1nusket, loaded with the ordinary cartridge
at ten PAGES. The friend of the challenger
objected, and board Of officers convened to de-
eide the question. They deprecated The secc-
ton of the muSket, but after Il review OF the
whole ground, and ianentIng that public
opinion would not modify ''the code,' so as to
make it more humane and more in conformity
with its obect-the settlement of point OF
honor and not the qualification of blood
thirsty spirit-they determined that 1t was
the coacetea privilege of the challenged party,
to name the time, place, weapons and distance;
and concluded their report as follows Moth
ing could be more absurd than that the chal-
lenger should, in his note, designate the time
and place for meeting, and yet ne might as well
clam that privilege as to object to the weap-
on selected Whenever gentleman sends
challenge, he did so with knowledge that his
adversary has the selection of time, place, dis
tance and weapons and he has nothing 10 do
but submit"
This is ''the code" in the Army and Navy,
in the North and in the So,tth-among gentle
men everywhere: and nobody knows it better