The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-09-01
DuELINo--pAsr AND PRESENT

= there were occasions when it was a man's solemn duty to fight. The personal re, ference was too significant to perm. further insis,ence at that table tha, duel. ing was criminal folly, and the subject of conversation was changed.
 The host, however, had only reiterated the familiar view of General Hamilton His plea was that, in the state of pubI,c opinion a, the time when Burr challenged him, to refuse to 6gh, under cireum. stances by which the scode of honor authorized a challenge, was to accep, brand of cowardice and of a want Of gentlemanly feeling which would banisa him to moral and social coventry, and throw a cloud of discredit upon h.s family. Sc Hamilton, one of the braves: men and one of the acute intellects 0, his time, permitted a worthless fellow to murder him. Yet there is no doub, tha, he stated accurately the general feeling of the social circle in which he lived There was probably TO, conspicuou, member of that society who was c. military antecedents who would not have challenged any man who had said of hir what Hamilton had said of Burr. Ham;- Noh 4AS0AtAG0 NNPt6hAtabti VI tCN6AN6AIJl and the result was accepted as uagical 5u: in certain sense inevitable.
 Ae, the result aroused public sent men. 90 the a;rociiy of this barba,ou, survival of the ordeal of private battle Ina, one of he mos, justly renowned oi public men. ot unsurpassed ability. should be sho; to death like mad dog. because he had expressed the general feeling abou: an unprincipled schemer was ar eNasperating public misfortune Br, tha, he should have been murdered n deterence to practice which was ap- proved in the best society. ye, which placed every other valuable lite a, the mercy ot any willy vagasond, was pub lie peril. From that day to this there has been no duel which could be said 10 have commanded public sympathy or approval From the bright une morning, eighty years ago, when Hamilton fell at Wee hawken, to the June of this year, when two foolish men shot al each other in Virginia, there has been a steady and complete change of public opinion. and the performance of this year was received with almost universal contempt. and with indignation censure of dilatoy 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, like Hamilton. was mortally wounded. and likewise lived but few hours. The quarrel was one of professional, as Burr's of political, jealousy. Bu, as the only conceivable advantage of the Hamilton duel lay in its arousing the public mind to the barbanty of dueling, the only gain from the De catur duel was that il confirmed this con viction. In both instances there was an unspeakable shock to the country and in- finite domestic anguish. Nothing else was achieved. Neither general manners nor morals were improved, nor was fe fame of either combatan, heightened. no, public confidence in the men nor aG- miration ot their public services increased. Ia both cases it was calamity alleviated solely by the resolution which i: awakened ;ha; such caami,ies should 10. occur again.
 Such resolution. indeed. could no: q; once prevail. and eighteen years after Decatur was killed. Jonathan Ciiley. Of Maine. was killed in duel at Washing loa by William !. Graves. of Kentucky This event occurred iorty-fve years ago. ou, ,he outcry with which II was received even at this time-one of the newspaper moralis;s lapsing into rhyme as he de plored the cruel custom which led eA- ce.lent men to the fatal tield-
 Where Ci.,eys meet their Graves''- and the practical disappearance Of Mir. Graves from public life showed how deep and strong was the public condemnation, and how radically the general view of the duel was changed.
 Even in the buring neigh, Of the poli,i- cal and sectional animosi;y of is,5. when Brooks had assaulted Charles Sumner. the challenge of Brooks by some of Summers friends me, with little public sympathy. During the excitement the Easy CErir met the late Coun, Gurowski, who was a constant and devoted friend of Mir. Sumner, but an old world man. with all the hereditary and social pre- judice Of he old world. The count was furious :ha. such das,ardly blow had not been avenged. Has he no friends: = he exclaimed. "!s there no honor lief. in your country" And, as if he would burst with indignant irnpaiience, he shook both his fists in the air and ,hunderei out. Good God . will no. somebody challenge any bodyr'
 No. ,ha; time has passed The elderly club dude may lament the decay of the good old code of honor-a word of which he has very luiic.ous concep,ion-as Major Pendennis, when he pulled of his wig, and took ou, his false teeth. and re- moved the padded calves of his legs. used 10 hope ,ha, the world was 10. sinking into shans in it's old age. Guar reiing editors may win a mornings Eo,o- r'c'y by stealing 10 the field. furnishing ! paragraph for the reporters and running away from the police. Bu, they gain only the unsavop notorie,y of the man ia curled wig and lowered waistcoat and huge tiapped coa, of the las, century who used to parade Broadway. The cos tune was merely an advertisement. and ot very con,empuble wares. The man who lights duel to-day excites bu, one