The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-08-31
Dueling, Past and Present.

Twenty five years ago, at the table
of O gentle man whose father had fallen
in a duel, the conversation fell upon
dueling, and after it had proceeded for
some time the host remarked, emphat-
ically, that there were occasions when
it was o mans solemn duty to fight.
The personal reference was too signi6-
cant to permit further insistence at that
table that dueling was criminal folly,
and the subject of conversation was
changed.
The host, however, had only reiter-
ated the familiar view of Gen. Hamil-
ton. His plea was that, in the state of
public opinion at the time when Burr
challenged him, to refuse to fight I'M
der circumstances which by the code
of honor" authorized challenge, was
to accept brand of cowardice and of
want of gentlemanly feeling, which
would Danish him to moral and social
Coventry, and throw cloud of dis
credit upon his family. So Hamilton,
one of the bravest men and one of the
acutest intellects of his time, permitted
a worthless fellow to murder him. Yet
there is no doubt that he stated accu-
rately the general feeling of the social
circle in which he lived. There was
probably not a conspicuous member OF
that society who was of military ante
cedents who would not have challenged
any man who had said of him what
Hamilton had said of Burr. Hamilton
disdained explanation or recantation,
and the result was accepted as tragical,
but in O certain sense inevitable.
The most celebrated duel in this
country since that of Hamilton and
Burr was the encounter between Com
modores Decatur and Barron, in 1880,
near Washington, in which Decatur,
like Hamilton, was mortally wounded,
and likewise lived but few hours. The
quarrel was one of professional, as
Burr's of political, jealousy. But as
the only conceivable advantage of the
Hamilton duel lay in its arousing the
public mind to the barbarity of duel
ing, the only gain from the Decatur duel
was that it confirmed this conviction.
In both instances there was an unspeall-
able shock to the country and infinite
domestic anguish. Nothing else was
achieved. Neither general manners
nor morals were improved, nor was the
fame of either combatant heightened,
nor public confidence in the men or adj
miration of their puplie services in
creased. In both cases it was a calam-
ity alleviated solely by the resolution
which it awakened that such calamities
should not occur again.
Such d resolution, indeed, could not
at once prevail, and eighteen years after
Decatur was killed, Jonathan Cilley, OF
Maine, was killed in duel at Washing.
ton by William j. Graves, of Kentucky.
This event occurred forty-five years
ago, but the cutlery with which it was
received even at that time-one of the
newspaper moralists lapsing into rhyme
as he deplored the cruel custom which
led excellent men to the fatal field
Where Cilleys meet their Graves
and the practical disappearance of Mr.
Graves from public life, showed how
deep and strong was the public con
domination, and how radically the gen
eral view of the duel was changed.
Even in the burning height of the
political and sectional luminosity o
1856, when Brooks had assaulted
Charles Sumner, the challenge o
Brooks by some of Summers friends
met with little public sympathy
During the excitement the Easy chat
met the late Count Gurowski, who wa
constant and devoted friend of Mr.
Sumner, but an Old-World man, will
all the hereditary social prejudices o
the Old World The Count was furi
Gus that such dastardly blow had no
been avenged. HAS he no friends :?
he exclaimed. ais there no honor lef
in your country?" And, as if he woQl,
burst with indignant impotence, n
shook both his fists in the air, ant
Numbered out, "Good God will no
somebody challenge anybody ?"-
Harper'S Magazine.