Duelist

“ She checked herself, but too late. The practiced duelist laughed grimly in his mustache, as he might have done on discovering the weak point in his enemy's ward which laid him open to his rapier.
"You make my task easier," he said ”

“ The seconds met, the umpire presiding. All the details were quickly arranged. The distance was marked, the six shooters inspected and accepted, the two duelists placed facing each other.
"Meine Herren," said the Major in a loud voice, "I believe you understand the conditions. Fire at the word Three. Not before. Keep on firing until all barrels are emptied or until death or disablement. Breast to breast. Neither budging, swerving, receding, nor advancing is permitted." ”

“ The duties of a second are of such vital importance, that a celebrated fencing-master used frequently to say, “It is not the sword or the pistol that kills, but the seconds.”
With the safeguard of these precautionary regulations, although duelling is alike inconsistent with humanity and reason, there are many French writers who still advocate its necessity; such is Jules Janin, who speaks of it in the following terms: “The man is lost in the world of cravens, who has not the heart to risk his life; for then, cowards, who are numberless, affect courage at his expense. ”

“ Notwithstanding the wise enactments of this prince, during the wars of extermination that followed his reign these lamentable excesses were renewed in all their horror; and in the annals of the Lombards we find numerous traces of the 305 prevalence of duelling, both in Cisalpine Gaul and in Germany. According to the laws of Rotharis, single combat was admitted as legal proof; and when a man had held the property of another for five years, the latter could only claim its restitution by a duel; and in litigation amongst women, they had the privilege of naming a champion to dispute their rights. ”

“ The young gentleman proceeded admirably well, and gave the board an account, that he had read Fitzherbert's "Grand Abridgment,"313 and had found, that duelling is a very ancient part of the law: for when a man is sued, be it for his life or his land, the person that joins the issue, whether plaintiff or defendant, may put the trial upon the duel. ”

“ Many a man has fought a duel with perfect innocence as regards those points. Few, I believe, take their stations in the field with the deliberate intention of “killing, maiming, or doing some grievous bodily injury” to their antagonist, as imputed to the noble Earl now summoned to your Lordships’ bar for trial. Far from it. Few but would refuse a challenge, were it not for the disgrace with which such a refusal stamps the character. It has been often and truly said, that it requires more courage to refuse than to accept a challenge. It requires much for a single man to do so ”

“ It is not, I repeat, in malice or revenge that the evil of the system lies. Nor need I insist upon the violation of the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” No one will dispute, at least no man who ever saw his antagonist fall in a duel, but will remember the blow with which conscience knocked at his heart in that moment of anguish,—the distinctness with which for days and years afterwards he heard the still calm voice of God whispering in the silence of his heart’s wilderness, “Where is thy brother Abel?” The evil lies deeper still. ”

“ Sir Michael Foster, in his Discourse on Homicide, says:—‘Upon this principle, deliberate duelling, if death ensues, is, in the eye of the law, murder; because duels are generally founded on a feeling of revenge: and though a person should be drawn into a duel upon a motive not so criminal, but merely upon the punctilio of what the swordsmen call honour, that is no excuse; for those who deliberately seek the blood of another, act in defiance of all laws, human and divine. ”

“ Perhaps that duellist may be pardoned by those who look on, when he carefully removes from his person every mark that could furnish a target to his enemy, but he is no more than pardoned; and if there is one redeeming trait in the detestable character of the duellist, it is to be found in that ready exposure of his life to the chances of fate and skill, which does not stop to calculate a button or measure the narrowest line of aim which can be presented to an adversary. ”

“ We can therefore only properly discuss the duellum remotum here and now, and as the offended party if you will{62} fix the time, place, and weapons, my fine Toledo blade on my Merida dagger shall be at the service of your chopping-knife from the Ashkreuth forges or your hunting-knife tempered in Lake Sparbo.”
The “duel adjourned,” which the officer suggested was usual in the North, where scholars aver that the custom of duelling originated.
The most valiant gentlemen offered and accepted a duellum remotum. ”

“ He wished to know from her Majesty’s government, whether the act of the 1st of Victoria was framed with intent to put an end to duelling? If so, the trial which had occurred could only be considered as a mockery of justice. If their Lordships were really of opinion that duelling ought to be put an end to, then another measure, stronger than that now in existence, ought to be adopted. No later than yesterday morning, he found by the public prints, a duel had been fought by a Mr. Marsden and a Colonel Paterson, in which one of the parties was severely wounded. ”

“ Answer me, do not these crimes exist?"
"Yes," answered Franz; "and it is to punish them that duelling is tolerated."
"Ah, duelling," cried the count; "a pleasant manner, upon my soul, of arriving at your end when that end is vengeance! A man has carried off your mistress, a man has seduced your wife, a man has dishonored your daughter; he has rendered the whole life of one who had the right to expect from heaven that portion of happiness God his promised to every one of his creatures, an existence of misery and infamy ”

“ Still, there can be no doubt that duelling is a custom alike contrary to the order of society, and the command of heaven; and, the first judge who hangs a duellist as a murderer, and sends all the parties engaged in the transaction to the penal colonies for life, will have rendered a signal service to his country. ”

“ The great principle of legislation, that the severity of punishment ought not to be so great as to shock the general feeling, is gradually toiling its way from the works of theorists (as they are called) , into the heads of practical men, and in the course of a few ages these latter gentlemen may also be taught, that to visit with the same penalty the aggressor and his antagonist, whom he has forced into a duel, is not quite consistent with sound and enlightened maxims of justice ”

“ Most writers, in accounting for the origin of duelling, derive it from the warlike habits of those barbarous nations who overran Europe in the early centuries of the Christian era, and who knew no mode so effectual for settling their differences as the point of the sword. In fact, duelling, taken in its primitive and broadest sense, means nothing more than combatting, and is the universal resort of all wild animals, including man, to gain or defend their possessions, or avenge their insults. ”

“ Any formal discussion of the morality of duelling is, in England at least, happily superfluous. No fashionable vice has been so unanimously condemned both by moralists and divines, and in tracing its history we are reminded of the words of Tacitus, “in civitate nostra et vetabitur semper et retinebitur.” Modern views.Some, however, of the problems, moral and social, which it suggests may be shortly noticed. That duelling flourished so long in England the law is, perhaps, as much to blame as society. ”

“ And no man can easily persuade me that he is in earnest about the extinction of duelling, who does not lend his countenance to a suggestion which would, at least, mitigate the worst evils of the practice, and would, by placing the main agents in responsibility to the court, bring the duel itself immediately under the direct control of that court ”

“ I went over the packs, and found, to my unspeakable horror, that any one who was in the secret could hold them in dealing in such a way as to be able to count the exact number of high cards which fell to each of his opponents. And then, with such a flush of shame and disgust as I had never known, I remembered how my attention had been drawn to my brother’s mode of dealing, its slowness, and the way in which he held each card by the lower corner. ”

“ One cause of constant duelling was a challenge given on account of women; and some men, especially Berserks, went about from place to place making duelling a profession. It was quite common for a maid who had several suitors to say that she would accept the one who should be victorious in a duel. ”

“ The ‘practical establishment’ of the doctrine, that to fight a duel is not to commit a felony, which certain of our contemporaries have discovered in the acquittal of the Earl of Cardigan, upon a point of form, by the House of Lords, seems to be bearing early fruits. ”

“ But if death had ensued under these circumstances it would have been a great calamity; and although moralists of high name have excused and even defended the practice of duelling, your lordships must consider what, in this respect, is the law of England. There can be no doubt that by the law of England parties who go out deliberately to fight a duel, if death ensues, are guilty of murder. ”

“ A man is sufficiently punished, by being called out, and subjected to the risk that is in a duel.' But on my suggesting that the injured person is equally subjected to risk, he fairly owned he could not explain the rationality of duelling. ”

“ Mr. Jeffrey said, it was not necessary for him to state, that the essence of all crime lay in the motive; and, after all they had heard, it could not be disputed that Mr. Stuart went to the ground without one atom of malice. They had 272been told, that a duel was an irrational, barbarous, and pernicious practice; and that he who took it upon himself to send or accept a challenge was guilty of murder. He did not mean to offer any apology for the practice. The evils of duelling were ever uppermost in our view ”

“ But the sentiments and principles on the subject of duelling, avowed and acted upon in the progress of this trial, will be of far more importance in their consequences than the issue of the trial itself. An opportunity, in fact, is about to be afforded your Lordships of adding yet another benefit to the many which England has already experienced at your hands—an opportunity of stamping your past exertions in the cause of truth, religion, and civilisation, with the seals of sincerity and consistency: nay, words still stronger befit the occasion ”

“ He believed their Lordships would agree with him in saying, that, in whatever situation a gentleman might be placed when driven to have recourse to duelling, it was not a custom that was sanctioned either by the law or by the moral principle of the country. Each specific case must stand between the individual, his conscience, and his God ”

“ The diversity of political opinion has rendered duelling very frequent in the United States, Some years ago, General Hamilton, a man of the most distinguished merit, and who had been minister of finance, was slain in a duel by Colonel Burr, and two years before that fatal event, the eldest son of the general had lost his life in a similar manner. ”

“ In the examination of the evidence everybody is aware that the Judge, the counsel on both sides, and the witnesses, are straining all their ingenuity to prevent a verdict against the prisoners; and everybody sympathises with their endeavours. His Lordship, in his charge to the jury, explains to them again that every man killed in a duel is murdered ”

“ Well, if so, why do you object to my doing so?"
"I do not say that you ought not to fight, I only say that a duel is a serious thing, and requires due reflection."
"Did he reflect before he insulted my father?"
"If he spoke hastily, and owns that he did so, you ought to be satisfied."
"Ah, my dear count, you are far too indulgent."
"And you far too exacting. Supposing, for instance, and do not be angry at what I am going to say——"
"Well!"
"Supposing the assertion to be really true?"
"A son ought not to submit to such a supposition regarding his father's honor." ”

“ If, upon this charge, the Champion of the Demandant should be convicted and conquered in the Duel, then, his Principal shall lose the suit, and the Champion himself, as conquered, shall lose his law, namely, he shall from thenceforth never be admitted in Court, as a Witness, for the purpose of making proof by Duel, for any other person; [97] but, with respect to himself, he may be admitted, either in defending his own body, or in prosecuting any atrocious personal injury, as being a violation of the King’s Peace. He may also defend by Duel his right to his own Fee and Inheritance. ”

“ Even the most venturesome doublers realize that, except in the unusual case, it is unwise to double a bid of one, whether it be in a suit or No-trump. Some players hesitate about doubling a bid of two, preferring to take the chance of forcing the bidder higher. No general rule covering the situation can be laid down, as it depends greatly upon the character of the doubler's hand whether the adversary is apt to advance his bid. ”

“ The effect of doubling, re-doubling, and so on, is that the value of each trick above six is doubled, quadrupled, and so on.
After the trump declaration has been made by the dealer or his partner, their adversaries have the right to double. The eldest hand has the first right. If he does not wish to double, he may ask his partner, "May I lead?" His partner shall answer, "Yes," or "I double."
If either of their adversaries elect to double, the dealer and his partner have the right to re-double. The player who has declared the trump shall have the first right. ”