The Irish standard., 1886-05-01

"Councillor" Scott, who became lord
chief justice of the Kings b.nch and
Earl OF Clonmel, met Lord Tyrawly,
the Earl Of Llanduff, and many others,
in hostile encounter with swords and
pistols; that Baron Metge OF the ex-
cheouer was :: out - with his own
brother-in law, and with other people
as well that Judge Patterson of the
common pleas fought three county gen.
tlemen and wounded them all; and that
Lord Norbuuy, chief justice OF the
common pleas. had encounters with
lighting" Fitzgerald and many 9TH
ers. So tremendous was the reputa-
tion Of the judge as a fire eater" shat
he was trusted by ministers OF his
party TO frighten troublesome members
Of the opposition, and SO rapid was his
promotion in consequence that it was
said he ''shot up into preferment.
Equally illustrious people are men
toned as having indulged in this
vicious and criminal propensity. The
Hon. G. Ogle, priyy councillor,
fought q duel with one Barney Coyle, a
distIler Of whisky The conlbatants
are said to have been very determined,
but Ineffective, in their efforts to kill
each other; they discharged four brace
Of pistols without result. Sir Hard
inge Clifford, chief Inspector Of Ceylon,
had a meeting With Harvey Bagenal.
who was known subsequently as rebel
Leader. by whom ne WAS wounded. The
eminent Grattan, leader OF the Irish
House OF Commons, was also g. dnelIist
of note. He fought with and wounded
the Hon. Isaac Cory. chancellor Of the
exchequer. for an alleged insult spoken
during a debate Oh the union. The
provost OF Trinity ColIege-that foun-
tain head of all the peaceful arts-wag
>sout" with master in chancery, whom
he wounded, and his son, arnenable to
the parental example. had q hostile
meeting with Lord Mountmorris. Curl
ously enough, due]ling was more gener--
ally practised during the continuance
OF the reformed Irish Parliament
from l7S::! TO 1900. As many as 300 duels
are said to have been fought by prom
inent personages within that period.
Duelling clubs were established, to
which no man could obtain admit
tance who could not show that he had
exchanged d shot Or thrust with some
antagonist. And it sometimes hap
pened, as mayb be readily imagined, that
the valor Of the most confident cfal-
lenger oozed cut at his finger ends be-
fore The firm front OF the party chal-
lengea. an occurrence that happened
in February, 1888, is case in point. A
member Of Parliament. wearing the
uniform Of the Roscolnmon Volunteers.
was assaiIed in q public room by per-
son with whom he Was engaged in liti--
cation. and for that reason he did not
notice his assailant. His forbearance
was misinterp1eted by a young subal-
tern in the army who was present. In
dignant at the supposed poltroonery
of gentleman wearing military uni
form, this in1pulsiye youth snatched off
the hat worn by volunteer officer tore
the cockade from it. and tranlpled it
under foot. AS matter Of course.
challenge was the result, but the or
iginator of the dispute soon learned
that his antagonist bore the reputation
of a daring and skilled duel'ist,
and he lost no time in tender
ing an apology. But such a staJernent
of the quarrel would only be accepted
on condition that atonement should be
made for the insult in the same place
ii was given, under like circumstances.
Accordingly the over-bumptious party
was compelled to humbly beseech the
pardon of the gentleman he had i'll
suited in public, replace by another
the cockade he had torn from his hat,
and declare his conviction that his an
tagonist was we'll worthy Of wearing il.
At this time, too, there were III Dublin
men-who were supposed TO be gentle
men-who seemed to have no Other aim
in life than to annoy and provoke their
fellow-n1en into armed conflict. They
were, III fact, reckless roWdias, whose
exploits would mo wadays earn for them,
if not the reward of The halter. at least
insure them a long spell Of degrading
imprisonment s'Fightjng' Fitzgerald
was one Of them. IIe made practice to
stand in the middle Of a narrow Cross
ing in dirty street so that every p.ls-
senger should either step into the mud
or jostle him in passing in which case
the offending party was promptly chal-
lenged to fight.