The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-06-20

State, and IT "bfg Richmond and the Ches-
apeake and Ohio railroad would hold out
sufficient Inducements their trade would
soon flow In that direction. MANFRED.
The Right and the Wrong Of the Dnei.
There Is published in Meeklenburg county,
in this State. in the towns of Boydton and
Chase City, a paper styled the so,.thside Vir,
gsnsaa. 1t is edited by Messrs. Baptist and
st. Andrew: We have on several occasions
called attention to its originality, and now
we copy from Its columns the following very
unique and logical view Of the questions OF
the right to resent insults and bow to exer-
else it. 1t Is He article of the day called
forth by the late duel. The indisputable
logic of the writer involves him in a maze,
from which st. Andrew-to whom he ap.
peals as TO a patron saint to deliver bim-
can hardly extricate him. Indeed, we doubt
whether anybody else can without cutting
the gordian knot of the difficulty by knock
ing tie suthor down. But read: -,
AN 1MaENsELy LOGICAL ESSAY UPON DUELLrke
Or SOMETHING OF THAT KIND. a..
ANY rational person must admit that a
man has moral right to resent, IN Insult ;
the only difference of opinion that can exist
Is in regard to the manner in which it should
be resented. ...s-.tz'
ANY 'bigh-minded man must acknowledge
that il is cowardly and wrong to take any
unfair advantage of an antagonist, and,
therefore, the manner Of resenting an insult
should be such as to place both insulter and
insulted rs nearly as possible upon pbysl-
cal equality.
In some communities the proper manner
seems to be considered argument. liza man
calls you liar, make him prove IL; and If he
fails TO do so, why, it is apparent that ne Is
both liar and slanderer himself. II
man affirm that YOU are horse-thlef or
scoundrel, talk him out of it. In this con-
nection we ATE reminded of an old story
which went the rounds Of the press num-
Der of years ago. A man from an arguing
community came South, and in conYersa-
ton with several gentlemen told one that ne
was darned liar" The gentleman at once
gave him straight-irOm-tlle-sh
which knocked him,down. The arguer picked
himself up. and wipin9 the blood from bis
face, muttered: ats confounded strange
country; UP in my parts if you call man
liar he talks you out of II, but down IN THIS
blasted place, they goes and punches your
head. Pm going hum" This method is
obviously unfair; for one who bas the gift
of CAB could insult or Yilify another to his
bearts content with impunity.
In other communities it is held that fisti-
cuff is the proper manner, Tut the absurdlty
of this method is apparent at a glarce. A
little man has no chance at all !; if big man
insults him he must sWalIowit, which would
be committing a wrong upon himself, OF
pitch into the big one and get cleaned out.
The powerful or the skilful have decided
advantage oyer the weak or unskiltul, who
are powerless to resent, and are at the mercy
of any bully, or snob, or enemy who chooses
to insult. or pick quarrel, or aseDge real
or fancied injury. This munner may have
some negative Recommendation; for instance,
it seldom kills, and very unfrequently re-
suits in any serious personal injury.
In some places the proper manner Is sup
posed to be through court Of Justice, but
The courts do not punish an insult unless it
amounts to slander, or defamation OF charaC-
ter, on personal injury; and then the law is
80 pliable that an abundance OF money can
twist and distort it to almost any decision.
So that the wealthy have an immense advan-
tage over the poor. And even admitting
that justice could be obtained in every IN
stance, it can be but little satisfaction to a
man to have an insult to binnself avenged by
well-paid-for process Of law; and, more
than this, it virtually comedies that one man
has right to treat another impertinently, 10
give him the lie, and insult him in a hun
dred other ways, to which any man with the
spirit Of sheep cannot submit.
In the South the duel is held TO be the
only honorable and just manner But this
is open to az many objections, and seems
almost as absurd as the others. The best
shot, or most practiced swordsman, or the
man with the greatest amount OF nerve mas
vast advantage. and, besides, men Will hsht
over a small matter as quickly as for gross
insult or grievous wrong, and may kill or be
killed as easily 81 though there was some
thing worthy of dying for. Again: because
u man is willing to peril his own life, he has
morally, for that reason, no right to require
another to du so. tt is 10 justification fol-
inviting death by the band Of another that
you undertake to take his life and although
| it may be an extenuation, it is no Justifica-
| ton for killing another that you give him an
opportunity to kill you. In the one case II
| is suicide, in the other it must be murder.
There is another objection to the duel: ii
man calls another liar, he is challenged
| and is killed. Well, what is gained! Docs
| it follow that because he is killed the other
is not a liar? or il the challenger happens to
| be killed, Is II any proof that he was? The
only inference Is this-that, granting one or
the other should have been killed, the
man who should or should not have lived is
| dead, or that the man who ought or ought
not to have been killed lives.
In the first place, there can be no doubt
| that man has moral right to resent IN in
suit. but that he has no moral right to take
an unfair advantage of another. Neither can
| it be doubted that argument, or tisticufS, or
the law, or5the duel, are in some degree un'
fair for one or other of the parties, and being
unfair, that they are morally wrong. 1t FOL
lows. then, that man has moral right to
resent an insult, but no moral right to resent
it in any known way. He cannot resent IL
unless be resents it in some manner. ano
unless he is aware of some manner which i
unknown be has no moral right to resent II
at all. fit is right to resent it, 1t Is mora'ly
wrong not to do so, consequently it is moral
" wrong to resent an insult ana morally
wrong not to do so it IL morally right 10 re-
sent an insult and morally. But that Is
getting mixed, and we will leave 1t FOR d.
Andrew to straighten.
REsToR ALTON OF .NosE.--ln Que OF the
German medical periodicals DR.. Malfattl de-
| scribeS the treatment OF a man whose pose