Chapter III (6)

Much good would result from making it the duty of the coroner to hold an inquest after every duel, whether the consequences had been fatal or not. When a pistol is discharged, accident alone determines what shall be the consequence. The guilt of the shooter is just the same, whether the ball take effect or not. It is true the parties might, according to the law as it now exists, be prosecuted, and since Lord Ellenborough’s Act they are liable to be capitally convicted; but it has not been made the particular duty of any public officer to see the law put into execution, and consequently nothing is done. Since, however, a great, and perhaps the greatest part of the efficacy of punishment results from the certainty of its infliction, it is evident that every temptation to violate the law, from the hope that accident will be favourable, ought to be cut off.

In the present state of society, the total abolition of duels cannot, as experience abundantly shows, be effected. A speedy, certain, and reputable method of punishing insults must first be discovered and established. At present, with respect to those injuries, society is in a state of nature. The right of private war has only been surrendered, because the individual is better protected by the arm of the law than by his own strength. Whenever there shall be instituted a supreme court, to act as arbiter among nations, public war will, for the same reason, fall into disuse, or will only be made for the purpose of chastising a refractory member of this great community, just as the police officers may be said to carry on war against the criminals whom they apprehend. But as it would be preposterous to expect a nation to sit down quietly under its wrongs until such a court is appointed, so it is equally unreasonable to demand that private men should always refrain from redressing, by their own means, those grievances for which the law offers no remedy. By the plan which we have proposed the balance of pain would be fearfully against the aggressor; and that noxious animal, the bully, must soon become extinct. At present he stands on equal ground with his antagonist; or rather, from having made a just estimate of the worthlessness of his own life, he is aware that the stakes are in his favour. Add to this, he generally has no better occupation for his time than to become very expert at his weapons. In England, these creatures are happily become rare; but in Ireland, notwithstanding its boasted exemption from venomous animals, in France, in the United States, and in our own colonies, the breed still flourishes—at once the terror and the disgrace of civilized society.

THE END.

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LONDON: PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY, BANGOR HOUSE, SHOE LANE.

FOOTNOTES

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Footnote 1:

See Spelman’s Glossary ad vocem “Campus.”

Footnote 2:

The following is his memorable letter written to Lord Viscount
Villiers in the year 1616:—

“MY VERY GOOD LORD,—Yesterday was a day of great good for his
Majesty’s service, and the peace of this kingdom concerning duels, by
occasion of d’Arcey’s case. I spake big, and publishing his Majesty’s
strait charge to me, said, it had struck me blind, as in point of
duels, cartels, &c., I should not know a coronet from a hatband. I was
bold also to declare how excellently his Majesty had expressed to me a
contemplation of his concerning duels; that is, that when he came
forth and saw himself princely attended with goodly noblesse and
gentlemen, he entered into the thought, that none of their lives were
in certainty, not for twenty-four hours, from the duel; for it was but
an heat or a mistaking, and then a lie, and then a challenge, and then
life; saying, that he did not marvel seeing Xerxes shed tears to think
not one of his great army should be alive in a hundred years. His
Majesty was touched with compassion to think that not one of his
attendants but might be dead within twenty-four hours by the duel.
This I write, because his Majesty may be wary what he saith to me (in
things of this sort), I being so apt to play the blab. In this also, I
forgot not to prepare the judges, and wish them to protest, and as it
were to denounce, that in all cases of duel capital before them, they
will use equal severity towards the ‘_insolent_’ murder by the duel,
and the ‘_insidious_’ murder; and that they will extirpate that
difference out of the opinion of men, which they did excellently
well.”

Footnote 3:

Charles Moore.

Footnote 4:

Whitelocke’s Memorials.

Footnote 5:

William, first Duke of Devonshire.

Footnote 6:

The officious interference of the Speaker on this occasion was
evidently offensive to the professional character of Dr. Brocklesby
and Mr. Graves; and Mr. Wilkes, by the delicacy of his behaviour,
conveyed a severe censure on his conduct and that of the House.

Footnote 7:

On discovering his wound, and in allusion to a report then prevalent
as to the badness of the ammunition supplied to the army, it is said
that Fox jocosely exclaimed, “Egad! Adam, it would have been all over
with me, if you had not been charged with Government powder!”

Footnote 8:

See pp. 327, 349.

Footnote 9:

Christian’s Blackstone, vol. iii. p. 125.

Footnote 10:

Blackstone.

Footnote 11:

See the verdict of a court-martial, holden 1818, on charges preferred
against Lieutenant-Colonel Abernethie, of the Marines, for
_neglecting_ to demand the “_honourable adjustment_” of a dispute, and
the subsequent decision of the Prince Regent on that occasion.

Footnote 12:

Blackstone.

Footnote 13:

Robertson.

● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).