Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-10-08
DUELLO IN FRANCE.
a SCRATCH OFTEN SATISFIES
THEIR OFFENDED HONOR.
Few Fatsiities-The Code on Which the
Practice Is Based Is n Minute one
Newspaper Men Keep IL Up Now.
Philadelphia Timcs.)

leading newspaper, In support OF No-
posi,ion made by General Clauseret'in
the French parliament for the abolition
OF the duel Yet he acknowledges that
he would himself fight In case where
the code OF honor demanded H. Inc pun
liz shows some little Indignation when
droI has q fatal issue. as in the case OF
voung CAPTAIN Mayer last year. No one
! man could live down the refusal TO nght
under ordinary circumstances.
! This preiudice is so great that IL con-
! trolls even the courts of justice. y rev
weeks since a newspaper editor IN laroes
! fought a duel with "A city counclllor 10
! bis own discontinue. He took advantage
of the columns OF his paper to accuse MS
/ adversary of having used his LETT hand IN
! the encounter. a thing forbidden Dy the
| code I'm fighting with swords TINS state
nen, brought him a suit for libel, and
| no was condemned to six months lmprls-
! onn,ant with 300 francs damages 10
nav. plus the insertion Of the decision OF
/ the court In six newspapers, al the choice
/ ~ the man whose honor he had impugned.
| AIphonse Daudet maintains that the uuci
will always hold good among the baul
nations-that it belongs TO their IDEA OF
honor. which no civilization can 90 away
! with.
! Of honor among professional tribe OF
Gentlemen. who had little else to do than
! 10 attend TO their public honors and pri-
! ,,ate measures In the army II has al
vavs been a matter OF military etiquette
~ rigorously observed i'm Germany as In
/ France But in France the duel has now
| come 10 be engineered for the most part
| bv newspaper men. Often the grouhu OF
| offence Is something that has appeared III
1 print and. at least. the quarrel - sure 10
| 10 frs, ventilated I'm the public press.
| The duel is announced beforehand as an
| itor, of news often enough arrange
ments the disputes about punctilios Of
| honor. and In general the theatrical side
! Of tho combat are handed over TO the
journalists. Then. when the duel Is over
/ tha ''yyitnesses" Ghey are no longer the
! "soconds') show their literary skill IN
: procos verbal. which is published glori-
| ously.
II often happens that the duel results in
/ nothing more than this harmless eNhipl-
| ton Of vanity. This is called playing 10
| the gallery that is. getting one ser
! talked about. But too often the French
duels end in death or serious personal in
iiries And what IS worse. II keeps alive
& among the higher classes that same rcck-
2 I.esnass of life and cruel appetite Tor
! blood which. among the common people
| has produced the reign Of terror In me
\ great revolution, the massacre or me
| Commune in 1S7l, and still renders NE
| I'm Paris by uicht insecure in comparison
| with London or Berlin.
A SCRATCH IS NOW ENOUGH
| In the old days honor was never salts
! fed short Of the disabling or death o'
/ one Of the parties. In present usage any
scratch which puts one party In posi-
ton Of manifest infcrioriy to the other
or even a popping Of pistols that produces
no result at all after a couple OF tines
Is frequently thought sufficient
4 chance encouter. such as often hap
pcncd when men commonly wore swords,
is not n duel from the lack Of prcmeditd-
, ton and mutual agreement. \ fist-hgnt
I cannot be a duel on account OF the ma
ture OF the weaTons This has been de-
| clGed by canonists In cases where an un-
I lucky blow has produced death, and OBJ
! lection was made 10 Christian burial on
! the ground Of dueling; the fist. OF its ma
! ture. is not a deadly weapon. Paul dc
T CaSsagnac, the ShaTp-tOngued editor OF
Q L'Autorlte. the Bonapartist journal. has
I had duels without end. After seventeen
/ has proved his courage beyond possibility
OF doubt. he ventured on "A new choice o.
weapons. lie had been challenged by
! fellow editor. who was a VIGOROUSLY bad
/ orthography
| Practically the only weapons now al
! lowed in the French duel are the fencing
| sword and the pistol. The reason for this
| Is plain These are the only weapons
whose use is universally familiar TO men
| likely TO fight a duel. The sabre is per-
mitted only to cavalry officers, where both
| cOmbatants have practice Of II.
An instance of the present code insisting
| 81 ha Of no
! In one of the political duels Of the last few
weeks. The COmts d'HaussOnville Is
! grave man and an able writer. and the
representative Of the Comte de Paris, who
would like 10 be King Philip Of France.
! Though already far on in the sixties he
was obliged to accept a challenge from
man much younger than himself. In spite
Of the rules concerning the choice OF wea-
ons, the duel was restricted to the -.
"a the inhrmity of the Count prevented
his stretching his legs asunder IN the
position required for sword-hghtng.
To see how essentially the duel has
changed 1t IS only necessaH 10 study the
different parts played by the present W.T.
nesses 1.-TWO for each principal, taking me
part Of the former secOnds) In the Old
times the duel was hand-to-hand hght 10
settle quarrel, in the first place between
the PRINCIPALS. but with the seconds well
x.
an affair Of honor, and not quarrel that
Is. Il concerns the demanding and giving
a reparation for an insult
The business Of each pair or witnesses,
to whom the principals have confided the
interests of there honor. is, FIRST, TO de-
eide whether the violation OF honor has
such as to warrant the duel secondly,
whether the parties are qualined 10
make such reparation of honor. a man
.GT . Tod aNi1pnflW
ruled out by the code thirdly, TO leave
no means untried for settling the affair
without recourse TO arms and only
then. finally, to decide on the details OF
the combat.
The witnesses themselves are in no
wise involved I'm the quarrel ~ their
PRINCIPALS. In the crop OF challenges
that lately sprung up against the Rad
zeal leader Clcmenceau. one Of the FAR
ties who had failed in forcing a fight on
him, endeavored to have n out with his
| witnesses. This was noted ~ an " In
correction" violating the Coz
In more than one hot 4. ' 81 the
last parliamentary session. ven the
friends of one deputy had been put in
relation with the friends OF another. II
was decided that there was no cause
for a duel. OF course. the readiness OF
both parties to fsht-if there had been
a cause was duly made known and
each set OF witnesses published "A process
verbal, which testified 10 their own per-
! feet honorability.
THE QUESTION OF THE OFFENCE.
The question OF the offence is the most
| delicate OF all. for 10 the offended party
belongs the choice OF weapons. The Of
fence may be given by spoken word, by
something written. by a gesture or
blow. II must be something calculated
to wound publicly the self-love and
honor" OF the other party. Such an
offence may have different degrees.
Taken by itself II gives the offended
party the right TO the choice OF weapons.
II accompanied by an insult 1t gives him
also the right of choosing the duel,
which ought TO take place within for
ty-cight hours. If there is direct blow
or assault he has even the choice Of dis
tances as well.
Naturally one offence may call out an
other then the right is all on one side
OF him who was first lnsulted as we'll as
offended. Catulle Mendes is one OF the
best known men In Paris. He has been
writing successful poetry. stories and
librettos for many wears taking his mart