The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-05-10
Duellng in France.
A Draconian Law Against Fighting Under
the Code.
French SwOrdsmen and Fencing Masters
The Noble Art Of Self-Defense-Anec.
dOtes Of Noted COmbatants.
Gov. Ames Following the Examples o.
Richelieu and Gustayus AdOlphus.

The mania for dueling which af1licts on
young men, the recent bloody and fatal ter
mination of several encounters under TIN
Code, and the action of the authorities 0
the State Of Mississippi to prevent dueline
hereafter in that State by furnishing those
parties who have been arrested as principals
and accessories, renders the following ar
ticle which we clip from the New York
Herald, Of the Both nit, peculiarly interest
ing:
PARIS, April 6, 1874.
Among the many bills at present before
the French National Assembly there is one
against duelng, which proposes to rank
homicide in single combat with murder
pure and simple, and dueling wounds, even
Of the sli ghtest kind, with juries inflicted
"with intent to murder" In fact, duelng,
instead Of being, as it has hitherto been, a
1nisdemeanor, punishable with fine and
short imprisonment, would become, under
this new act, felony Of grave order. The
bill derives it's chief significance from the
fact that the Govern ent supports it; and
a recent trial, in which Ronmanian Prince
was sentenced to four years Imprisonment
for killing another Roumanian, the seconds
-
born determination on the part Of the au-
thorties to cope with the swash-buckling
mania. They will not cope with it success
fully for any long time, however, for
THE FRENCHMAN IS DUELING ANIMAL;
and there is no particular reason why he
should not remain so, for he seldom hurts
any one by his passion for sword play. OF
the countless dnels that have taken place in
France during the last quarter of century
hn hnl a tn haua
mated fatally, and in three of these foreign
ers were concerned. Two Frenchmen placed
opposite one another in their shirt sleeves,
and with weapon of Offense in their fists,
do not aim at eXter. nination; each wants to
draw from the other blood enough where
with to sign himself certificate of valor,
and no more. In England dueling was
abolished some forty years ago, because,
among cold-headed people, it was a
grim affair, fought out with pistols,
and resulting always in smashed limb
or lost life. Penal acts and social
ostracism went to work on the practice, and
when it became known that man who had
fought more than one duel would be black
balled at every decent club then fighting
fell into disrepute and rapidly died out. But
it did 50 chiefly because vanity is not the
dominant quality Of Englishmen. English
men are proud and self-satisfied, but their
self-satisfacton is Of that thick-skinned or
der that renders callous. Give an Englishman
to understand that you think him fool, and
he will think You one for your opinion; at
all events, his being fool in your eyes will
not make him one in his own, and he will
simply shun You as dull, unappreciative
dog. But call Frenchmln a bad name
and his vanity will bleed to the quick.
Here you will have insulted man who lives
only for outward show, and to whom the
opinion is consequently everything. He
will have no peace of mind until he
has established his superiority over you in
some way, or shed his blood in the attempt
in which last case You will be at least
forced to admire his pluck. One day a
Frenchman, going into cafe, ordered a cup
of coffee and roll for breakfast. Said a
second Frenchman, who sat at a neighbor-
ing table, "That's sorry meal" The first
Frenchman colored up to the roots of his
hair and asked for an explanation, which
the second one gave by stolidly repeating
his first remark. Thereupon the two went
out and fought to the discontinue of the
insulter, who received wound in the chest
But, while he was on the ground he looked
up gravely, and, with infinite conviction,
said, II hold to my opinion that a cup of
coffee and roll make sorry meal" Both
being French, neither would relent lot,
and they probably esteemed each other in
secret from that day.
An Englishman would have charitably
supposed that the critic of his sorry meal had
been drinking, and like Dog berry when he met
a thief, be would have moved off from his
company. Cardinal Richelieu made an iron
handed attempt to put down dueling and
actually succeeded for time but only by
the
EXECUTION OF TWO POWERFUL NoBLEMEN,
the Marquis de Bensron and the Count de
Observation-Disclosures AT about the |
sane date -Gnstavus Adolphus, who took |
many waf from Richelieu, set his face
against dueling in the Swedish army, and
hit upon novel exp dient for enforcing his |
veto. Two of his officers, named Tott and
Wrangel, going out to fight, found a provost |
captain and company on the ground and
with them mysterious man in black. The
captain advanced politely, and said 'The
King does not wish to prevent your little
affairs OF honor rs you please, but at the
same time he desires his laws to be obeyed
so here is the headsman, who will behead on
the spot whichever of you two gentlemen
kills the other" This threw a slight cold
over the proceedings, and Swedish officers
became SO wary Of fighting after this that
Peter the Great, recognizing his Muscovite
army, fifty years later, launched an edict
similar to Gustavus Adolphus' He,
WV 'HdS Hdhaptu W keep HIS DIlCeFS AT
peace, except, indeed, on one memorable oc-
caslon, when Prince Doigorouki and Prince
Zass, two Of his best generals, fell ont The
quarrel was too bitter for reconciliation, but
neither Of the Princes wanted to be hanged
There were hangmen, not headsmen. in
so they agreed each of them to
stand in an embrasure, under the heavy fire
OF besiegng forces, and to remain immovable
till one o. them dropped. 1t was DoIgorouki
who dropped-or rather went to pieces. for
q cannon ball cut him in two-and there
upon Zass coolly put himself under cover
This reminds one OF some other famous in
direct" duels which have either been held or
planned, and among them Of
CAGLIOsTRO's DUEL.
Cagliostro having called certain court
physician quack, that worthy dubbed up
and sent him challenge to fight with foils,
But Cagliostro went after the man and re-
marked blandly, II am Of opinion that,
being neither of us soldiers. we should keep