The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-20
ABOUT DUELS AND oRDEALs.
OLD TIMERS REHEARsE SOME Nv
TEREsTING STORIES.

aAAAAg VI Nht u Nht
tice-The Five OrdeaIs of the
Church-A Few of the Notable Old
Time Duels-FrivOIOus Pretexts
Therefor.
From the Boston Herald.
Boys" said Squire Ben, as the old
timers again came together, Il have been
reading in Charles Mackay's Memoirs
Of Extraordinary Delusions and the Mad
ness Of Crowds an article on DueIs and
Ordeals." which interested me greatly.
as showing the propensity of men. even
under Christian influences, to cut one an
others threats on the slightest provo
cation.
Most writer's, Mr.. Maclkay says in ac-
counting for the origin of dueling. derive
it from the war-like habits of those bar
barous nations who overran Europe in
the early centuries of the Christian era,
and who knew no mode so effectual for
settling their differences as the point
of the sword. In fact, dueling, taken
in its primitive and broadcast sense, means
nothing more than combating. and is
the universal resort OF all wild animals.
including man, TO gain or defend their
possessions or avenge their insults.
las civilization advanced, the best in
formed men naturally grew ashamed Of
such a mode of adjusting disputes, and
the PRONUNCIATION OF some sort of laws
for obtaining redress for injuries was the
consequence. Still, there were many cases
-, foh oil Of
could not be rebutted by any positive
proof on the part of the accused; and
in all these which must have been eX-
ceedingly numerous in the early stages
of European society, the combat was re-
sorted to. From its decision there was
no appeal. God was supposed to nerve
the arm of the combatant whose cause
was just, and TO grant him the victory
over his opponent.
LAS Montesquien well remarks, this be-
lief was not unnatural among people
just emerging from barbarlsm. Their
manners being wholly warlike, the man
deficient in courage, the prime virtue OF
his fellows was not unreasonably sus-
pected of other vices beside cowardice,
which is generally found to be co-eXistent
with treachery. He. therefore, who show
ed himself most valiant in the encounter,
was absolved by public opinion from any
crime with which he might be charged.
las a necessary consequence, society
would have been reduced to its original
elements, if the men of thought. as dis
tinguished from the men of action, had not
devised some means for tanning the unruly
passions of their fellows. With this view,
governments commenced by restricting
within the narrowest possible limits the
cases in which II was lawful to prove or
deny guilt by single combat The clergy,
however, whose domination was an intel
lectual one never approved of a system
of Jurisprudence which tended so much
to bring all things under the rule of the
strongest arm. From the first, they set
their faces against duelling, and endeavor-
ed, as far as the prejudices Of their age
would allow them to curb the warlike spir-
1t, so alien from the principles of religion.
In the council of Nalentia, and afterward
in the council of Trent, they excommuni-
Gated all persons engaged in duelling, and
not only them, but even the assistants and
spectators.
But II was not mere hatred of blood
shed which induced the clergy to launch
the thunderbolts of accommodation
against the combatants; il was a. desire Ia
retain the power which to do them JUS
tice they were in those times the persons
best qualified to WELD. The germs OF
knowledge and civilization lay within the
bounds of their order; for they were the
representatives of the intellectual as the
nobility were of the physical, power OF
man. To centralize power in the church
and make it the judge of the last resort
in all appeals both in civil and criminal
cases, they instituted five modes of trial
the management of which lay wholly in
their hands. These were the oath upon
the evangelists; the ordeal of the cross,
and the fire ordeal for persons in the high
er ranks; the water ordeal for the humber
classes; and, lastly, the corsned, or bread
and cheese ordeal, for members of their
own body.
1.-The oath on the evangelists survives
to this day in a modified form in our
courts of law. The trial by the cross was
in the nature of drawing lots. The fire
ordeal was severe, because red hot iron
would burn the innocent as we'll as the
guilty, but the clergy, it is supposed,
took care to warn the innocent to pre-
pare their hands to resist the heat of the
iron. AS regards the water ordeal, the
same trouble was not taken. -, was 4
trial only for the poor and humble, AMI,
whether they sank or swan, was thought
of little consequence. In regard to the
ccrsned ordeal, it was simply the swal-
lowing by the accused priest of a piece of
barley bread and cheese, and ii is said
that there is no instance upon record of
priest having been checked in this
nIanner-hiS success in swallowing being
taken as an evidence of his innocence.
Here is a curious instance of the fire
ordeal being tried upon books instead of
persons: When, under Pope Gregory VII,
it was debated whether the Gregoran
chant should be introduced into CASTLE,
Spain, instead of the Musarabic given by
st. Isadore of Seville to the churches of
that kingdom, very much ill-feeling was
excited. To settle it big fire was made,
and both books put into the flames. Gu
riosly enough both went through the
fiery ordeal unscathed, upon which it was
decided that both books We're agreeable
to God, and they were used by turns in
all the churches of Seville.
But l started more particularly to talk
about duels. Among the earliest duels
upon record is a very singular one that
took place in France in the reign of Louis
II. "a. d. S70. Ingelgerius, Count of