The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1901-01-10
THURSDAY...JANUAR 10, 1901.
Weather forecast for Fred
erickSburg and Vicinity.
Fair and cooler ZHuTSdGy.
FALSE CODES OF HoNoR( ?,

What is really more important than
the suppression Of hszing at West Point
is that the students shall not ADOPT
false codes Of honor. Any one familiar
with the various artificial codes that at
one time and another have done duty
in European and American life know
what q handicap on true manllness or
the highest form Of social life such
codes have been. In Europe those
countries that still stick 80 the ridIcu-
lous modern duel have the lowest moral
and physical stamina, the least msnli-
ness, while personalities in public. pri
yste and political life sink 30 q gutter
level and menace the social order.
No one deems an Englishmsn oow-
ard because he scorns the bastard code
of the iuello, since his Spanning its
childish punctilio aud procedure is full
evidence Of higher manliness and
greater individual bravery. The same
thing is true Of American life. There
is no less manliness now, when duel
ing is practically unknown. shan there
was when Is was supposed TO regulate
conduct and establish high level OF
social intercourse. AS matter Of fact,
IL did nothing of the kind, and to-day
those sections Of the country which
still banker after the spirit Of the duel.
and still adhere 30 the personal encoun-
ter as q means of settling difficulties
between gentlemen, represent she low
est level Of social life IN the United
States.
The foregoing we clipped from the
editorial columns of the Philadelphia
Press short time ago. In the argu-
ment against dueling there are some
good points, some in which the con-
servative and thoughtful class of
Americans will concur. Certainly
we have no defense to make in be-
half OF the code duelo. 1t can claim
none in the light Of human justice or
in the most liberal construction Of
the divine law. But we must enter
exceptions to the sweeping assertion
Of our radical Philadelphia contem
porary when by innuendo it charges
that the South is one of the sections
which represent the lowest level Of
social life in the United States" The
Puritanicsl aud Quakerish-both
symbolical of "fansticap'-minds,
which afterwards implanted their
ideas in Northern America, never
could see any virtue in the cavaliers
who drove them from the sod Of
Europe, and instinctively through
generations the same antipatby has
been transmitted to their American.
lied descendants. Hand in hand
with the defense of woman the not
veins of chivalry exacted blood for
personal wrong, and it is the blood of
these cavaliers, who made Europe the
Mother Superior of the world, which
now courses the veins of many q
Southern family. The Sepoy exscts
the blood Of the Anglesee who de-
stroys his home; the Shylock demands
money for the infraction of moral
or civil code. The Southron, no
nearer akin to the one than the other,
prefers to wipe out dishonor with the
highest price to be paid by the trans
gressor. Because the Northerner ex-
acts it in the civil courts and is salts
fed with punitive revenge or money
indemnity is he to stand in Judgment
upon one whose ancestors have trsns-
mitted to him a code Of ethics which is
as old as the world itself 7
1t is better for humanity snd the
advancement Of the world that the
"code" should 60, even though its
Nbsnishment now and then will cause
aheart to DO eaten out in longing
for retributive justice, but no argu'
ment can stand which seeks to place
the New World descendants Of the
cavaliers in lower social scale than
their Northern brothers who may be
satisfied with the more pacific rem
edy. In the words of Matt Ransom,
abiding to the city which lies be-
tween us and our Philadelphia censor,
before you can believe it "you must
pull down the capitol, remove its
Monuments and obliterate its name.n