Daily Yellowstone journal., 1886-07-13
DECLINE OF THE DUEL.
The Great Advance Made In Popular
Opinion-Slayes to a Custom.

It has been less than twenty-seven
years, less than the average lifetime Of a
generation, since Robert Toombs deliv.
cred in the senate of the United States a
eulogy on Senator Broderick. of Califor
MIA, who had been killed in duel with
Judge Terry. In referring to the man.
ner of Broderick's death Toombs says:
"He fell in honorable contest, under q
code which he fully recognized. While
/ lament his sad fate, have no word OF
censure for him or his adversary.
think no man under any circumstances
can have a more enviable death than tc
fall i'm vindication of his honor"
When those words were uttered they
probably expressed the sentiment of
large majority of the senators Of the
United States. There was probably not
senator at the time who, if he did not
approve the code" would have been
bold enough to denounce it.
This speech, which was in thorough
accord with the manifest spirit of the
time when il was uttered, is a moral
milepost from which we can measure the
great advance made in the popular opinion
ON the subject of dueling III IA compara-
lively short time. II a member of either
house Of congress were to apologize in
speech in the capital for the practice OF
dueling, it would probably be the death.
knell to his political ambition. 1t would
at least mark him as a victim Of that un-
compromising public opinion which in
every part of this country has set the
seal Of its condemnation op dueling and
abolished "the CODE"
This sudden and almost universal aboli-
| tion of custom SO entangled with the
highest conceptions of honor, so firmly
/ fixed in social ethics, and So softened al
to the real features of its barbaric cruelty
by gentleness and courtesy that pre-
served the romance Of medieval knight
/ hood, is indeed remarkable. Ii is prob
ably the best single proof that could b.
| offered of the advance of our people in
| good morals and true culture.
The last retreat Of the doomed custom
was Virginia. After il had been abjured
almost everywhere else it seemed tc
flourish there. This was because of the
peculiar political complications in that
state which brought men into sharp per.
sonal antagonism. In the heated cam.
paigns Of 1880 and 1881 personal diff
culties were numerous, and frequent
| expeditions were made to the field OF
honor While most Of those engaged
in this deplorable business We're men OF
unquestioned courage. the percentage OF
damage to the number Of duels was sc
small as to bring these combats into
general ridicule. The term Virginia
duel" was coined, and is still extant, tc
express an affair with all the pomp and
ceremony of a bloody encounter minus
the blood.
An intelligent Virginia gentleman.
who was until late years a believer in
-the code" told me the other day that
dueling was dead in this state. He said
that the crystalization of the best publ
opinion in that state against it within the
past two years had been simply wonder
full, and there is not county in Vir-
/ ginia where man would not now ele-
vate himself more in the opinion of the
people by declining challenge than by
accepting one.
There never was time in truly civil
lied country when man did not revolt
from the thought of Staying or being
slain in these deliberate combats. Men
who faced each other with deadly weap-
ons to fight to the death often had no an.
imosity. They were slaves TO a custom
/ which had drfted from barbarism into
I civilization; to an idea which had held
its place in some hard portion Of the pop
ular conscience untouched by the inilu-
enccs thar We're beautifying and and re-
/ fining all other sentiments of the popu-
lar heart. Puhlic opinion bolstered duel
ing into All unnatural prolongalion of it,
sway. Now that pubic opinion has not
only withdrawn Its support but has
lifted It's implacable cry against the mis-
cradle custom, 1t must go.-Atlanta Con.
stitutIou.