Daily national Democrat., 1859-04-22
The DuelIO.

means. a majority of the people OF tins l mon
who recognize " the code as fair and pro
per settlement of questions of honor between
man and man. In the Northern States gen
orally. n man who kills another in duel is
looked upon as a murderer, and society shuns
hir as a blood. stained demon. tits as much
as public mans reputation is worth, in a
Northern State, to either accept or send a
challenge to mortal combat. and so far from
having won laurels for so doing he is dcspised
by nearly every man, woman and child in
the country. In that portion Of the Union,
a man is honored for refusing to engage in
the duello, no matter how great may have
been the provocation. And thus when Sen
ator Wilson of Massachusetts, declined to
! fight Senator Gwin, who challenged him, all
Massachusetts, admired Senator Wilson and
despised Senator Gwin So when VIM. H..
Seward, of New York, was grossly insulted
| by Senator Bright, of Indiana, not long ago,
in the United States Senate, northern senti-
ment applauded him for his mdnl'neSS las
| they regarded t) in not calling the agSresSor
to the field of blood. In England, where the
duello was once quite common, especially IN
the feudal ages and in periods in which the
feudal customs still left their traces, the code
Of honor" has almost entirely gone ont of
use The times are different from the periods
when every gentlemen wore a soldiers sword
upon his thigh, and physical courage was not
less honored than the highest intellectual en-
dowments. The London Times congratulates
the country that those chivalric days we past,
and that the courts of law have taken the
of difficulties between gentlemen. That in
fuental and widely extended journal re
CARDS the code of honor as brainless and
senseless thing, settling nothing, doing no
Justice, and as liable to turn the scale in favor
of the wrong as the right. In this opinion,
it is sustained by a majority of the English
people. In France also, duelling is not by
any means so common as in former times, al
though it is much more common now than it
is in England. Very severe enactments are
in force against the practice in various parts
of Europe, and the penalties for their viola
tion are stringently executed.
Modern sentiments against dueling are
founded upon the proposition that the prac-
lice settles no question of right or Justice
hat the wrong g-doer is as liable to be killed |
as the man who is wronged that the villain |
'theart is put upon an equality with man
in every respect beneath him, if nobility and |
purity of soul are to be taken into account;
that the useful, upright and honorable citizen,
the man of family, with little ones dependant
upon him, or the hopes of numerous friends
and relations inseparably intertwined with
MS life, is as apt to be cut down by man
If comparative worthlessness of character
mere cipher in existence-as otherwise and
hat distress and misery to parties in no man
Ter interested in the cause of quarrel, are
by nearly every bloody meeting
that occurs. 1t is further urged that the
practice of dueliug originated in a supersti
ton, and, that that superstition being no
longer believed in, it is idle to keep up the
custom upon which it was founded. 1t is
very true that superstitious notions, of the
most ridiculous character, are at the bottom
of this practice 1t was religiously believed
in the old days of chivalry, when this custom
originated, that God would decide for the
right in all cases when his good angels could
prevail over the evil ones of hell, and that
success would crown the combatant who had
justice on his side, everything being equal
1t is curious fact, but none the less true
that in nine quarrels out of ten between men
of acknowledged character and respectability
each nan thinks he is in the right, and so in
these combats both parties would 20 into the
battle with full confidence that a special in
terposing providence would ensure a triumph
where it was due. There was also a belief
in those days, as intimated above, that Satan
or his imps interfered in behalf of the villain
and thus the scale was sometimes turned in
favor Of the wrong-doer. The villain relying
upon his Satanic supporters and the good
man upon the invisible assistance of Heaven,
would thus go into the contest with nearly
equal confidence. OF course, the enighten-
ment, or whatever else you may choose to
call it, of the present day, repudiates all such
notions. 1t is argued therefore, that with
the originating superstition ought to pass
away also the custom which is founded upon
it,
The arguments against duelling are nc
doubt worthy of very high consideration
but, at the same time, we are bound to admit
that there are aggressions, injuries and in
suits of such a character as to tempt any
man of true manhood and courage to avengC
them at the risk Of his life and to wipe then
out in the blood of his antagonist. SO that
while we can admire the moral courage of
man who, being brave, refuses to fight
duel, we can yet find on the other hand
thousand excuses for him who, sooner thar
bear an injury or an insult, would bare hi
breast to steel or ball upon the field of NOR
tai combat
OTIs BRETr-Our readers will remembe
that this is the name of the unfortunate maj
who had his feet amputated, after their bein!
frozen a few weeks ago at Stockton OWN.