The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-03

that pertains to the reading OF an official
document addressed to the fleet. Courtesy
required that Lieutenant Guest and his friends
should listen with respect, and their surprise
may be imagined when they heard the finding
of court martial upon the case of -
officer in his Majesty's service, who, for wan
tonly provoking an insult in public house,
and before and in the presence of innumerable
witnesses, and then for refusing to properly
resent the same, is hereby csshiered from his
Maiesty's service. The instant the reading
was ended the usual hustle on board Of
man-of-war commenced, and the British Off
GERS, more kindly ceremonious than ever,
bade adieu to the American officers; and so
ended this romantic adventure, founded upon
the then accepted laws of dueling.
1t is a melancholy fact, probably, that the
brilliant legal genius of S. S. Prentiss will be
forgotten when "reminiscences of him will be
remembered. Prentiss was New Englander,
and had probably by education as great hor-
ror of duelling as any man living; but when he
went South he found that public opinion fa-
vored the code, and as he intended to succeed,
he was not going TO embarras5 himself with
any popular odium. He found 1t easier to
fight duel than to be annoyed by a ques-
tionable public opinion. AS hundreds of
others have done, he discovered moral to be
a more difficult kind of courage than mere
physical bravery. In the splendor of his
early career he was surrounded by the
associations subsequently designated as ''the
flush times' of Mississippi. Vicksburg, his
chosen residence, was then in the height of its
unparalleled prosperity. No city in the South
ever rose to wealth and importance and re-
tnement as rapidly; and the consequence was
1t gave an eccentric, reckless, and novel cha
racter to its population. The prominent citi-
2ens were about equally divided between the
best representative men of the North and the
South, the former giving solidity and order to
all business enterprises; the latter inspiring
society with kind OF "reckless chivalry'' and
devil-may-ca care spirit that was as positive as it
was novel. The failure to have a note dis
counted at a bank was often treated as a per-
sonal insult. We knew of one gentleman who
attacked another in the street for refusing his
promise to pay without an Endorsement.
In the midst Of the excitement Of prosperity
the citizens would hold public meetings and
vote equal sums for the building of church
and theatre. At one of these popular assem-
blies some one suggested that ferry-boat was
needed, and thereupon an appropriation was
provided, and in due time the boat was COM
pleted. 1t was gay time when the little
craft came down the river from its birth
place at Pittsburg, covered with flags,
and announcing it's arrival by peals of
petty artillery that echoed far and wide against
the high bluffs, and then died away over
the lowlands in the west. The excitement
Of welcome over, it was discovered for the
first time that there was no town on the
Arkansas shore opposite to run the boat to,
and its usefulness promised to be failure.
The proprietor, however, was not easily put
down. The Arkansas shore opposite was then
the great duelling-place for Mississippians and
high-spirited people Of the adjoining States;
and as soon as it was known that they could
be so pleasantly conveyed to the ground the
spot became more cherished than ever. A
hr1l1 haor fobf hoI &c kbo oI,
seemed to cluster about these human combats;
and II the parties engaged happened to be
popular editors, or gentlemen of large politl-
cal reputation, enthusiasm knew no bounds.
Prentiss, in his wildly humorous way, used to
declare that the ferry boatman provoked
he had large placards printed in blank, TO
be filed up and posted about the streets when
necessary; but this was unquestionably an ex-
aggeration. a pending duel was often an
nounced, and this was advertisement enough;
nor was it necessary TO take any especial
pains to find combatants. II the general mar
ket was dull, the rival editors OF the city were
pitted against each other, their daily edito-
rails always personal enough to afford the
basis of pretty quarrel.
The present generation of active men can
not remember what a painful, and almost
lawful interest these combats excited away
from the active centre; nor will the injury
they did, and the misrepresentation they
caused to be made of Southern society, ever
be fully appreciated. Yet there was nothing
in them that does not afford a parallel
among the records and doings of ex-
citable Irishmen who thirty years earlier
made Dublin and Galway so famous for the
dueling codes. 1t was not uncommon in Ire
land for difficulties growing out of legal argu-
ments to be decided by pistols; as yet We have
no recollection of ever hearing of Southern
court that adjourned to witness the fight.
Yet Curran, when unknown to fame, provoked
the ire of one Walsh, who was great favorite
with the mob, and all the members of the bar
except the judge went out to see the "sport."
The principals were conducted to a ten-aere
inClosure surrounded by hedge, from behind
which the legal spectators, along with the
idlers of the entire village population, reeped
and encouraged the combatants after theil
peculiar fashion.
Prentiss was as witty as Curran, and just a:
reckless. He was the idol Of a crowd, the
members of which were never tired of singing
his praises. How could he escape persona
difficulties, when it was seldom dinner party
could be kept up until late hour without
ending in an affair Of honor Of duelling
when he first commenced his career at Vcks-
burg, he spoke with unreserVed censure OIL
keen sarcasm. His remarks were considered
| pardOnable because they came from
New highlander, but they finally got up
the impression he would not fight
that his early education would paralyzt
! his natural courage. IL was under this i'm
preston he was drawn into his first difficulty;
but he came out of it so gallantly, displayed Sc
much physical courage, such daring reckless
ness, that he gnnihilated the plOtters agains