New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-02-10

keltt OF South Carolina gets credit from the
| Washington correspondents of the press, and from
our Own among the rest, for having made "manly
and msgDsnimous apology for the disturbance
which he occasioned in the House, by first attempt
ing to browbeat Mr.. Grow, and, when that experi-
ment did not succeed, seizing him by the throat
and attempting to strange him. The great objecs,
however, Of his boosted apology to the House seems
to have been TO find an occasion for stating that be
| (Keitt) was not conscious Of having been knocked
| down. 1t is plain enough that he considers that
| point Of vastly more consequence than the other.
That the order, dignity and decOrum Of the House
| should have been trampled under foot is small
matter, which few words from the magnanlmoua
Mr. Keitt may easily salye over; but had the mag
| unanimous Mr. Keitt been conscious Of having been
hit and not merely bit, but actually knockeddOwn,
| that would have been terrible affair ndeed-an
| insult which nothing but blood could have wiped
out. How fortunate, therefore, that Mr.. Grow
did the business 30 effectually, and that the mag
unanimous Keitt, in falling headlong, never knew
what hurt him. or even that he was hit at all
The authority of Keitt in matters of personal
may be set down as about equal TO that of the
present Supreme Court of the United States on
questions of slaveholding law. Indeed, We have in
his famous apology ruling introduced by
way Of Obttr dicium, not less novel and startling
and-itmay appear to some nOtsufhcicnty versed IN
the refining, quibbling and lodging spirit Of the
Southern code Of honOr-nOt less questionable than
L. II
ertO it has been supposed that blow was blow,
especially when it went to the extent Of knocking
man down. 1t has even been thought that to run
his head against post might be sufficient to CON
vince the most obstinate skeptic as to the reality Of
things external to himself Keitt, however, pro-
ceeding upon high metaphysical grounds and adapt
ing to the rules of the duelo the principles of the
philosophy of Berkeley and the idealists who re-
solve everything into perceptions Of the human
mind gives the HOuse and the world to understand
that this matter of blows all depends upon the
consciousness of the party struck and that if his
consciousness be thoroughly knocked out of him,
he is thereby released from taking any further no.
tice of the matter. His honor is untouched 1t is
all the same to him-at least so far his honor is
il
Upon the question of what may be demanded by
the rules of the Southern code of honor, we shall
not presume to dispute the authority Of Keitt. No
doubt his knowledge Oh that subject s vastly greater
than ours We are fully conscious of the mOrtify-
ing ignorance displayed in supposing that it must
be contrary to Southern notions of honor to steal
assassin-lke upon Senator seated in his chair and,
provided with two confederates watching in the dis
lance, to commence a murderOus assault upon him.
We thought had Keitt there: but the loud and
universal applause showered from the Southern
States upon his proceedings and those of his col
leagues in that matter proved to us how much bet
ter versed Professor Keitt was in Southern ideas of
honor than we. Whether, therefore, man knocked
down so thoroughly that he knows not that he
in Keitt's case perhaps we ought rather
to say itS-n the same predicament with
man not touched at all; whether Keitt, sprawling
insensibe on the pavement is not still just as much
a person of intact honor as the same Keitt was
lurking behind the chairs of the Senate Chamber,
with his pistol in pocket TO aid and abet in the
assassination of Senator Sumner-that is point
which conscious Of our ignorance of these mys-
teres. we shall not attempt to discuss. But we do
pretend to some little acquaintance with the laws
of honor as they are understood hereabouts, and
as they prevail the civilized world over; and we
must say that, accepting Keitt's metaphysics-ad-
uniting him to stand in the predicament of man
not hit at all-the apology which he made altogether
fails to come up 10 the mark. Had he frankly ad-
mtted that in assauting Mr.. Grow, he had not only
viol,ted the decOrum of the House, but that also,
SO far as that gentleman was personally concerned,
he had been promptly and properly punished on the
spot-such a statement of the case might have
excused him from the necessity of any apology to
Mr.. Grow, on the ground that Mr.. Grow had him
self taken satisfaction at the moment. But assum-
ing that Keitt was not hit at all which is the i'm
preston he attempts 10 convey, or If hit that since
he was unconscious of that hitting II is to go for
nothing, it then inevitably follows, since by his
own free confession he was the aggressor, that he
owes an apology not to the House alone for the
violation of its order, dignity and decOrum, but to
Mr. Grow also for the assault upon him.
According TO the ideas in vogue at Washington,
where sayeholding and border-ruffan notions have
ACQUIRED an alarming sscendency, Keitt's apology
msy. for aught we know, be entitled 10 be set down
az manly and magnanmous, as it appears to par
take of that same skulking, sneaking and prevari-
eating character SO prominent in that other South
Carolina affair of honor-the attempted assassina-
ton Of Senator Sumner
II was an opinion of the Jews, and, borrowed
from them, the idea was introduced into the
Christian church, that the same divine oversight