The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-12-23

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have carried the improvements Of the age We
live in to greater lengths to have discarded
the absurdities Of bygone ages more COM
pletely, and to have inaugurated fresher ideas
and more excellent systems than either our
progenitors, the English, or their more volatile
neighbors of France. We laugh at feudalism,
we sheer at an aristocracy and we abh0r the
idea Of despotism; yet we permit and encour-
age by permitting, malicious practice,
severely punished even III seudal times and
utterly stamped out by those other govern
mental and social institutions whose example
Of self-regulation we decline to follow. We
profess to have law for the prevention Of
secret arms but scarcely week passes with
out bringing with 1t fresh cases OF lives sacri-
feed from the fatal facility which the practice
we condemn lends to the murderous intent of
an angry man. word, joke, laugh is fol-
lowed by blow, and in the first flush Of
startled anger pistol is drawn and another
life destroyed ere judgment or reason has
had time to offer one lettering word. Regret
may accompany the flash Of the pistol, and tho
homicide--to call him by no harsher name
may feel the horror OF his deed; but the mis-
chief is done, and his next care must be to
seek some Alsata until time and influence may
dim the recollection Of his offence. On the
other hand, there are too many men who, con-
scious Of being armed, seek occasion to quar-
rel, or at least use no effort to avoid doing so,
mentally calculating that If circumstances
demand 1t they are prepared to resort to
extreme measures. The very fact OF Q man
deliberately loading pistol and hidlng 1t on
his person before going about bis daily 0ccu-
patton must mean one Of two things-either
he is in lawless country, where every mans
life is in bis hand or he sets out calmly con-
templating tbs possibility, if not the proba-
bility, Of shooting some friend or enemy before
the day is over. In peaceful c0mmuHity,
where the former circumstances do not exist,
ihe latter, perforce, must be the case, and
the excuse usually made in extenua-
ton Of an act such as that to
which we now allude--that the shot
was fred in moment Of anger and under
great rovocation--loses much of its force
when met by the statement that carrying the
weapon was intentional and deliberate.
A defiance Of the law, contempt Of its ven
geancc and an utter disregard for the life of
some future antagonist are the salient points in
the character Of a man who thus secretly arms
himself; and we have no hesitation in saying
that the feeling which prompts him to carry
pistol IL unknown to the mind of brave man,
and is nothing else than a pa.try fear-fear lest
BIO may not have decided advantage in dis
pute, fear Of the consequences that must follow
some sct ySie@ ~ ioYYttYtps mr. fr31f s'ttT 1,
.si1 Airte4 EltatliE S{Esei't N',se" EncSsE
'injdry Nay We consfrd5d tcHis disadvantage.
In other communities than our own man
who carried a pistol concealed about him
would DO branded bully AMI "a coward
and ostracized from all decent society and we
fear that until our own people take,a decided
line and pronounce their unqualified con-
demnation Of the custom and those who follow
it tine law will be comparatively poweriess to
uproot it..
In making these remarks we alMde to-
no particular cases, nor do we make any
reference to individuals. We speak only OF
matter SO general that it Is constantly recur-
ring even in the heart Of New York, where ut
least respect for the law and the certainty Of
punishment might be supposed to have
lettering effect Who can count the number
of Americans that in billiard rooms, hotels and
other public places have been sacrificed ut the
shrine Of passion and so-callcd honor! Who
can tell the number Of men that daily saunter
dewn Broadway with the blood Of one or two
Of their fellows yet to answer for! and who
can reckon the number of widows and orphans
left desolate because their husbands and
fathers would persist In carrying pistolsf
What record 10 there Of unfortunate people
fire Of these selfconsituted executioners
The trays that occur in crowded places are
far more numerous than single-hsnded COM
bats, and when pistols are drawn their
owners care little who else they may
shoot, provided they injure their oppo-
nent A man may DO killed In the street
and family LEFT TO mourn his loss and seek
their bread as bes. they may; but II the man
| that fired the pistol has missed the one he
intended to kill the death OF the other Is looked
| upon AZ a mild species Of manslaughter. We
cannot afford tune or space now TO argue with
those men--and there are many-who excuse
and uphold the practice ofcarrying firearms. We
viii only say that II they are insonsiblc to
| Christian obligations regardless OF the laws Of
their country and indifferent abon, their own
lives and the lives OF others, some touch Of
| pity for the misery Of helpless women and
children might reach the hearts Of those gem
tlencn whose honor appears 10 be such a
precious commodity
If a man reflected when he loaded his
pistol In the morning that the wife and
children whom he processes 10 love more
dearly than his own life may find him in
the evening a corpse or felon, he would pos