The Portland daily press., 1897-03-19
:oDD .DueLs.
Cartels Exchanged Between Monarchs-
voltaire and Maupertius.

|
The oldest duels generally have never
been fought, and among them is the long
series of royal attempts. Has any king suc-
ceeded in quilting OFF, the match for which
he thirsted with some trjumphan rival?
Perhaps SO; for many tried, and one cannot
recollect them all. But at least such bappy
hits have been very rare, says the London
Standard. Our conquering William chal-
| lenged Harold again and again, but without
| result. Years before that he had invited
his enemy, Godfrey of Anjou, to send
description of his surcoat and shield-he
| himself would do the same, and then they
might "haye it out'' before the assembled
armies. This message, by the by, is very
useful to those who contend that heraldry
is older than the Crusades. Edward III.
made an effort to esape his difficulties by
provoking the King of France to a duel,
| addressing him as 'sPrince de Valois. -
! Philip answered that letter to some up-
known person had reached him; if, per-
| chance. it were intended for himself but
misdirected, the King of France was ALWAYS
ready to light. But nothing more came of
it. On his turn, however, Philip demanded
duel when he found it impossible 10 re-
lieve Calais, suggesting in business-like
way that the high officers of each army
should meet and arrange preliminaries put
Edward did not care about it this time.
Buckle has laid down, with his usual au-
thority, that duelling was unknown before
the fifteenth century in France, the six
teenth in England; single combats at an
| earlier date are not to be described. We
are not without instances by any means
orf &c 1fr,,ito Ton,
Francois l. that he had broken hfs word
and offered to prove the same upon his
body. Francois replied, "Qu'il en- Wait
menti dams sa gorge" and invited the En-
peror to fix the time and place. Sporting
gentlemen of the period found no takers
probably at any odds when they offered to
bet that royal match would come off this
time. But it did not. The original letters in
which these soyereigns gave each other
the lie SO bravely were found in the carriage
OF Joseph Bonaparte after the battle of Wit
toria, and sent by the Duke of Wellington to
| Sir Walter Scott Where are they now? The
latest of such abortive cartels, and the most
amusing, was that sent by our George II.
to Frederick William of Prussia. They quar-
relied over the projected marriage of their
| chlldren-a story SO long and so wearisome
| that 1t bores one when Carlyle himself re-
cites it. Both monarchs were in earnest.
and both were brave as men could be, Thew
named their seconds-Brigadier-G General
| Sutten for England, Colonel DercheIn for
Prussia. The spot was fixed, in the terri
| tory of Hildesheim, convenient alike to
Hanover and Berlin. But when it came to
| appoint the day, sagacious Count Borck re-
| minded Frederick that he had been unwell
lately. His hand probably would be not so
| firm as usual In short, he could not do him
self justice. Better wait until his nerves
had recovered their tone. That was the ar
gument to weigh with king so passionate
| ly attached to reason and fair dealing that
he pursued them like mailman. Freder-
| lex raved, but he postponed the meeting
until his health should be quite restored
And meantime grave events distracted both
monarchs. e4t1
An odd duel which did come to fighting
was that of Sir jeffrey Hudson, the dwarf
| of Charles I.-he who was served up in a
pie. Though less than four feet high, Jeffrey
had a great soul and not little talent He
accompanied Henrietta Maria to France
young gentleman named Crofts-whose
sister is all too famous in history-bantered
him too roughly one day, and the dwarf
challenged his insulter. Crofts could not
refuse knight, but he armed himself with
| a squirt. They met on horseback in the
| park at Nevers. When the word was given,
Jeffrey set off at full speed, and in passing
shot his foe through the head. Mazarin
was furious at this breach of law, and the
Queen, in consequence, was furious with
| Jeffrey. Dismissed her service, he fell
iysf0 fha han Oft he md
that terrible slavery, ii we remember right
But it is more agreeable to recall duels
which ended with the challenge. Horace
Walpole tells instructive little story
He accompanied party of vauxhal,
among whom was a certain "Miss Spune,
who desired nothing so much the fun of
seeing duel-a thing which, though she is
fifteen, she has never been so lucky as to
see.'' This is in 1850. Some lively young
gallants intruded, and the gentlemen thrust
them out good humoredly. Such incidents
were usual at Vauxhall. But the ingenious
Miss Spune did her utmost to make Lord.
March call one of them out, and showed
temper when he declined. But this is by
the way. Every one who bears in mind
the customs of the period, while reading
Macaulay's review of the life of Macintosh,
must wonder what came of it. Unless the
gentleman so mercilessly lidiculed and
belabored there were incapacltated for fight
ing, by some physical or moral impeachment,
he must have challenged his critic; other
wise he would assuredly have been cut by
his friends The fact is that he did so, and
with a firm resolve to shoot him; but the in
cident has not received so much notice APP
parently as one might expect. Wallace was
the hapless editors name. He could not
find proof that Macauley wrote the article
until the latter had sailed for India; but
with ruthless determination he awaited his
return. So incorporating was his tone
when the moment arrived that Macaulay
had emo notion that meeting could be
avoided as he wrote to Napier. And the
most interesting point is that he himself
was quite ready. We look in vain through
the correspondence published dealing with
this matter for any scruples, Or indeed, any
physical qualms The scholar brought up
among the strictest sect of Chaplain, delight
and pupil of Hannah More, would have ex-
cha nUed ahotc apparentIv with as 1ittla ra