Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-08-30

Twenty-Five years ago, at the table OF
gentleman whose father had fallen in a
duel. the conversation fell upon dueIng,
and after it had proceeded some time the
host. remarked emphatlcaIIy, that there
were occasions when 1t was mans sol
emn duty to fight. The personal refer
ence was too significant to permit further
insistence at that table that duellng was
criminal folly, and the subject oil CONVEX
satiOn was changed.
The host, however, had only reiterated
the familiar view of General Hamilton.
His plea was that, in the state OF publc
opinion at the time when Burr challenged
him. to refuse to fight under clrcum-
stances which by the ''cOde OF honor au-
thoriZed a challenge. was to accept
brand of cOwardice and want OF gentle
manly feeling which would Danish him to
a moral and social coventry, and throw
cloud Of discredit upon his family. 80
Hamilton, one of the brayest men and one
of the acutest intellects Of his time, per-
mitted worthless fellow to murder him.
Yet there is no doubt that he stated ac-
curately 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 antece-
dents who would not have challenged any
man who had said of him what Hamilton
said of Burr. Hamilton disdained eX-
PLANTATION or recantation, and the result
was accepted as tragical, but in certain
sense inevitable.
Yet that result aroused public senti-
ment to the atrocity of this barbarOus
survival of the ordeal Of private battle.
That one of the most justly renowned of
public men. of unsurpassed ability,
should be shot to death like mad dog,
because he had expressed the general
feeling about an unprincipled schemer
I mi ST
But that he should have been murdered
in Difference to practice which was ap-
proved in the best society. yet which
placed every other valuable life at the
mercy Of any willy vagabond, was a pub
lie peril. From that day to this there has
been no duel which could be said to have
commanded public sympathy or approval.
From the bright June morning, eighty
years ago. when Hamilton fell at Wee
haWken, to the June of this year, when
two foolish men shot at each other in Nir-
ginia. there has been a steady and COM
plete change of public opinion. and the
performance of this year was received
with almost universal contempt, and with
indignant censure of a dilatOry police.
The most celebrated duel in this cOun-
try since that of Hamilton and Burr was
the encounter between COmmOdOres De-
catur and Barron, in 1920, near Washing
ton, in which Decatur, Ike Hamilton, was
mOrtally wounded. and likewise lived but
a few hours. The quarrel was one of pro-
siOnal.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 dueling,
the only gain from the Decatur duel was
that 1t confirmed this conviction, In both
instances there was an unspeakable shock
to the country and infinite domestic an
@uish. Nothing else was achieved. Nell
Their general manners nor morals were
improved, nor was the fame Of either COM
Blatant heightened, nor public confidence
in the men nor admiration of their public
services increased. In both cases it was
calamity alleyiated solely by the resO-
luton which it awakened that such ca
lamities should not occur again.
Such Il 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-fye years ago,
but the outcry with which it was Teceiv-
ed even at that time-One of the news
paper moralists lapsing into a rhyme as
he deplOred the cruel custom which led
excellent men to the fatal Held
'Where Clieys meet their Graves
and the practical disappearance of Mr..
doan and strong was the public cons
/ ueHihatlon, ana how radically 4bo
general view of the uueI Was changed
Even in the burning height of the pO-
litical and sectional animOsity of 1856.
when Brooks had assaulted Charles sum-
ner, the challenge Of Brooks by some of
/ Summers friends met with little public
sympathy. During the excitement the
Easy chair met the late Count 6uFOwski,
who was constant and devoted friend Of
Mr.. Sumner, but an Old World man, with
all the hereditary and social preiudices of
the Old World. The Count was furious
that such a dastardly blow had not been
avenged. Has he no friends?' he eX-
claimed. rs there no honor left in your
country" And, as if he would burst
with indignant Impotence, he shook both
his fists in the Gif aad Numbered out.
''GOOd God Will not somebody challenge
anybodyE'
No, that time is passed. The elderly
club dude may lament the decay of the
good old code of hOnor-a word of which
he has very ludicrOus cOnceptiOn-as
Major Pendennis, when he pulled off his
wig, and took out his false teeth. and
removed the padded calves of his legs,
used to hope that the world was not sink
ing into shams in its old age. Quarreling
editors may win a mornings nct0IIety by
stealing to the field, furnishing a para
graph ~ VAe Reporters anu running dWpv
from the police. But they gain or,iiv the
unsavory notoriety of the man in c1ried
wig and Powered waistcoat and huge
Mapped coat Of tae last century who used
to parade broadway, The costume was
merely an advertisement, and of very
contemplate wares. The man who fights
a duel to-day exottes but one comment.
Should he escape he is ridiculous. Should
he talI she common opinion of enlightened
mankind writes upon his headstOne: HE
died as the fool dmth"