The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-08-17
The History OF The
Code OF Honor

Apropos of the ridiculous duel between
the count of Turin and Prince Henry of
Orleans, in which the count. resenting
Henry's printed animadVersions on Italy,
pinked him on the shoulder and ran him
through the bowels, the Springfield Re
publican says: The duel in Europe will
undoubtedly be inherited by the goth CEN
tury, in which it may survive for a con-
siderable period. According to the pres
ent outlook it may flourish in Latin and
German countries for a full hundred
years after it's disappearance as a society
function in the Anglo-Saxon nations. In
Germany the affair of honor at the
present day is very common, so much so
that under the baneful influence of the
kaiser's extreme militarism the army Of
fcerS are grown accustomed to pierce
with their swords on the spot, without
the formality of challenge or the con-
cession of an adequate defense, such un-
happy civilians as may ruffle their
feathers or jostle their spurs and BAN
giles. In France, Notwithstanding the
spread of republican ideas, the duel, to
quote the celebrated remark of La Bruy-
ere, is still 1.-The triumph of fashion-of
vanity"
In an article on "The Duels of All Ma
tions" in the Cornhill magazine some
months ago, James Pemberton-Grund,
who himself once fought a French vis-
count, and is an expert on the duel's his
tory, declared that the surest way to the
favor of society women, and conversely
to that of the mob. in France is even now
through the duel And 1t will not dsap-
pear, he asserts, until the French women
crush it with their dsapproval So there
is nothing strange in Prince Henry's
readiness to fight because of his refiec-
tiors upon the Italian army in it's dis
astrous Abyssinian campaign. The duel
is still the fashion, and 1t rests on vanity,
not requiring special courage as ordin-
arily fought. Death is not sure to result
from 1t, and on the other hand, the sur
vivor, If he happens to have given a dra-
matte account of himself. becomes a sort
of hero in both the salons of the aristo-
cracy and the music halls of the popu-
lace. AS Americans we can only suggest
that kaleidoscope, pictures Of the modern
encounter would make it more complete
and up to date.
The duel, indeed, seems to suit the gen.
ius of the French people. French laws
today do not forbid 1t, and the man who
kills his adversary in fair encounter,
according to the code, is as sure of ac-
quittal as the southerner who might
help to lynch a negro. The French have
never made much of athletic sports, and
the old Anglo-SaXon fisticuffs, the parent
or modern pugilism in England and the
United States, never found favor with
them in the settling of insults or quar-
rels between man and man. They ad-
mire the person skilled in the rapier or
the pistol much more than the athlete
and boxer. "A blow is not an answer to
blow" says the duel code prepared by
that great authority the marquis of
Chateauvillard; nor is the apology, even,
accounted sufficient satisfaction for one
who has been struck by another. And all
this is true today in France, although
Cardinal Richelieu. 2b centuries ago af-
ter his brother had been killed in a duel
used all his power to stamp out the prac-
tice. Before the cardinal came to issue
his edicts 5000 Frenchmen were killed in
duels between 1889 and 1907, or about one
Frenchman day for the period. Several
noblemen were hanged by Richeleu's or
ders, but all his severity availed nothing
The duel remains even now, and II is a
singular and striking evidence of a fun
damental difference between the Anglo
Saxon and the continental Character
More sentimental, romantic and passion
ate than the Englishman, the continental
retains the duel, while the more intense
ly practical mind of the Anglo-SaXon has
some time since cast il aside as utterly
irrational and idiotic, and especially un-
businesslike, When the Englishman
ceased being a mere cavalier and set out
to capture the worlds commerce and ex-
changes, he put aside the follies Of youth
the duel among them.
o
Yet stories of duels are among the most
popular and interesting reading to be
found In all literatures. The writer in
the Cornhill tells a number of them. Such
was the French idea of "honor" at the
time that when a certain Partisan editor
In 1884 cut the price of his paper one
half, thus incres sing greatly its circula-
tion, he had to fight four duels with rival
editors who disapproved OF his business