The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-07-12
The Remedy.

If the recent duel will be productive of
one result, it will not have been fought
wholly in vain. If it shall end the mis-
cradle personalities which have gotten to pc
so common with Virginia journalists, it
will have served the State good turn. If
it will teach the assumed le. lers Of public
opinion, that vituperation, abuse and the
bandying of epithets display merely such
ability as the vulgarest street loafer excels
in, its lesson will be of incalculable benefit.
No one has ever yet been convinced by
abuse No cause worthy Of advancement
has ever been promoted by branding it's
opponents with the choicest selections of
billingsgate. Such a course only serves to
show how utterly deficient in argument
and reason those who adopt it are. 1t adj
vertises either a poverty of brains OF weak
ness of position. 1t demonstrates that he
who resorts to it is Incapable of addressing
the Judgment of men, OF else seeks to
champion cause which dares not appeal
to that tribunal. 1t is time the people
were demanding cessation of this Chinese
warfare. 1t is an insult to the intelligence
and character of the State, which should
receive the united condemnation Of those
who have the good OF society at heart.
There is a remedy, and it should be applied
with unsparing severity. If the law OF
libel were properly enforced, it would
prove more effective in closing these flood
gates of defamation, than all the duels
that could be fought. Let he who assails
the character, veracity or reputation OF a
man make good his charges before an i'm
partial jury OF else suffer the consequences,
and let public opinion sustain such an APP
peal. The law is swift to mete out its
punishment to the poor wretch who steals
OF even attempts to steal q purse, whilst
the filcher Of good name, which cannot be
measured by the standard of Troy, laughs
at the Courts. Why? Because popular
sentiment, unwilling todivest itself of the
old feudal idea that every man should be
the custodian of his own reputation, con-
dennis, in effect, any attempt to invoke
the aid of the Courts in preserving to him
that which is dearer than all else, even
life. Strange anomaly. He is hidden to
fly to the halls Of justice for redress in
the most trivial wrongs, but sneered at
and derided when he appeals to the same
tribunal in matter in which his most
precious possession is involved. 1t is q
stigma upon our civilization that such is
the case, and every consideration of right
and interest demands that it be no longer
tolerated Let it be known that this
wholesale villification must cease. That
the man who ISLANDERS his neighbor must
pay for it and pay for it roundly. The
heaviest fine and Imprisonment should be
imposed on conviction, and he who is adj
judged guilty and undertakes to make way
with his property OF is unable to pay,
should be forced to work out the fine in
the chain gang OF penitentiary. If one OF
two such judgments were given, there
would be no occasion for the duelling oath,
and society would be relieved of the dis
gushing exhibitions which it is almost
daily called upon to contemplate, and
which make it very questionable whether
the press is more of a promoter of good
than dispenser Of evil.