1830.] Affairs in General 331 



By some of those freaks which make the name of chance abominable, 

 this fellow got an estate in Yorkshire, and now sets up for a curator of 

 the constitution of the empire, as much as he ever did for a curator of 

 the constitution of the populace of the Strand. He sent to demand 

 why Brougham had called him an ' ' insect ;" as if the feelings of Mr. 

 Martin Bree, of " the green door and private entrance in the Strand," 

 could be hurt by any thing, save a horsewhipping or a ducking. 

 However, this was Harry's day of peace ; and he sent back a formal 

 declaration, that whatever words might have escaped his lips in the 

 hour of patriot enthusiasm, he wished Mr. Martin Bree Van Butchel 

 Stapylton good health on that and on all other occasions ; on which 

 Martin courteously acknowledged the compliment, and the aiFair closed, 

 the whole correspondence being announced to the empire with all due 

 speed, as " an affair of honour." 



But America has lately added to our examples of transatlantic 

 gallantry in these matters. A pair of doctors, quarrelling for something 

 or for nothing, took out their pistols. They fired and missed during a 

 round or two ; but their open determination was death. Accordingly 

 they went on with their shooting, advancing nearer to each other at 

 every round, until the right arm of one of them was broke. But this 

 was not the compact. They must go on. The wounded man took the 

 pistol in his left, fired, and broke his antagonist's arm. This of course 

 could satisfy neither of the heroes ; at last they both gained their object. 

 They fired together ; the challenger received the ball in his heart, and 

 died on the spot. The challenged received the ball in his lungs, and 

 died in three hours. While he was lying on the ground, he inquired 

 the result of his last bullet; and on being told that it done its business, 

 expressed himself " a happy man," and said, that now he could die 

 contented. 



And this is duelling the honourable arranger of scruples, the 

 delicate washer-out of stains, the curer of scandals, and general peace- 

 maker of society. Or is not this unequivocal barbarism, wilful murder ? 

 a determination to shed blood without mercy ? And yet our laws 

 slumber over such things. The judge pronounces a formal reprobation, 

 about which neither he nor anybody else cares a jot. The jury smile, 

 the criminal arranges his curls, and prepares for a new celebrity among 

 the fair. The verdict lets him loose the mob huzza him. The ladies 

 adore him, the gentlemen extol his heroism ; and thus a scoundrel, black 

 with malice and revenge, and dipped in blood from head to heel, a 

 human tiger, is triumphantly sent forth to prey upon mankind. 



Common sense is as rare among nations as among men; and no 

 stronger proof can be required of the fact, than the toleration of duelling 

 in any civilized country. The whole spirit of duelling is not merely 

 an anomaly in public manners, but an insult to that first principle of law, 

 which declares, that no man shall be the judge in his own quarrel, much less 

 the executioner. As to the actual circumstances, what can be a more extra- 

 ordinary violation of common reason, than that the formality of a murder 

 shall make the murderer innocent. The duellist puts himself in a situa- 

 tion to kill; and, in the generality of instances, without the common 

 excuses for bloodshed. The duel is seldom a matter of passion, often of 

 no actual injury whatever. In nine instances out of ten, it is a murder for 

 etiquette. But we are to be told that the challenger exposes his life 

 equally with that of the challenged. Yet if two butchers in a market 



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