November 30, 1778. THE Number 456.
NOR T H-C AR OL I N A GAZETTE.
With the lateft ADVICES, Foreign and Domestic.
A k"T m I I ,1. .Sir.. ' I
To the Printer,
SIR, Halibax, O8obtr 29, 1778.
1BEG ihe attention cf the public to the following hints i n a
fubject, which, however chimerical the grounus of it are
'generally thought to be, often becomes a matter of fern us
confequence, and deeply affects the o.dcr and weli-bongof
fociety. This is the p.-LClice cf duelling. The w-r'd feerr.s
to be much dividtd in opinion upon thw fubject. Your men of
moderation and temper ctts:m it highly prefumptuous and injuf
xiriable, to rilque their iives merely to repair an imaginary in
jury done to tnetr honour; whiilt your men of nictr feeling?, and
fewer fcruples, not only think it incumbent on them to vindicate
their honour at the rifque of their lives, but deem this mode of
cbaftifement the only- n,tan to difcourage impertinence, and pre
fer c good breeding. ,
Ii fecms, however, to be generally agreed, and that by men
of the grcatelt fpirit, that the practice of dueliing is naturally
pernicious to the peace and happineis cf fociety. And upen this
ground, a royal author ol the prefent ege, whole courage to fiht
was never doubted, bar. recommended to the well difpofed part of
mankind, to agree to hold all fighting cf duels infamous, in or
Oer to prevent the mifchief of fuch a practice, and finally to ba
nifti it cut of the worlJ. But nothing can fee more viiionary and
fruith fs, than to attempt to render thac infamous, which the
men of fpirit in many cafes conceive to be the only mear s of fap
porting their honour, and faving them from infamy and difgrace.
A man who will cifpicfe with facisfaction for an actual inju
ry, where the law has provided him a remedy, will commonly
be'etieemed a good natured man ; but will not for that caufe be
deemed a peltron, nor degraded from the rank of a gentleman T
Whereas on the contrary, in feme cafes, a man who will put up
with a mere ideal injury, without faciifactiv n, where tue laws of
the land have given nim no remedy a: all, mull iubmit to be held
an infamous coward, and quit his fitie to the rank of a gentle
man. Men whofe honour has not been nled to be ri:bbed and galled,
and whofe feelings in this refped, are o nftquen.ly not fo ceii
cate and tend , can hardly perceive the realon of this difference.
But facts will be facts, whether their draff are undcrftecd or not.
I am apt to think h owever that the rrjf .n of this difference ari
fes from the cenjeq-enca of the injuries a man receives : The da
mages tttftaincd in hi property may be cafiiy repaired ; the inju
ries he may fultain in his drefs, ai.d the ornaments ol his pcrfon,
may be quickly redreifcd, atfi even 1 w.ud in his fcfti may be
icon healed up, without any reparation or amends from the au
thor of tfofe wrongs ; but a wour d in a man's honour is not fo
cafilv cured. Nothing uW.of moie fatisfaflion from the ag.
grcfT-r, can do this ; and fometin.es even that will hardly do the
buSnefs lo effectually as might be wilhed. v
By Jathfud.in in this cafe, is meant cither the aggreflor s ac
knowled..., v h 1 fault, a'd aking the i.jured genihman's par
don, in terms properly fubmiffive ai.d unequivocal, or accepting
a challer.ee in m him, and th roron Joining him like a gentle
man. 1 fay, hk; a gcntUman. tor in tuis cafe, feghui.g ac firty
cuffs, kicking, Humping, biting, or gouing, not ondcrrto d.
Nor cculd fuch a fighting at all fettle a p.int ol honour or give
Che defired fatisfaCi. n ; unlefi the combatiants be luppefed to be
equally matched, bc:h in bodily prowef , and (kill in that kind
of figging; and ncidur of them ihtuld take any dithoncuiaole
advantage of the other iu the time of ccmoat.
But itch an equality as this, may but very feldom happen;
end therefore for deciding fuch cofjtefti in a more recip.ocal and
pendeman like manner, recourfe is ufuaily had to fire arms; where
each ccrrrbattar.t ftands upon equal ground, and is fueled to
have an equl chance with the other. For lfm f
equal, the pcint of hvn.ur may aill remain ncdccided ; acd .he
ftain in a gentleirfan's honour, who has any inch adranuge of
the chance, may notwithstanding his having fought, continue as
rubbed out, a. it was hep he ra the combat.
As to any obfervatiens refpefling the antiquity of this mode of
deciiton, the people frcm whem it derives its origin, and by
whom it has been handed down to the prefent times, the alterati
ons and improvements it has undergone itnee the invention of fire
a. ms, and the modern rullss of conducting it, they are both un
neceiTary and foreign to my prefent dtfign. I hall therefore
content myfelf with tnly coufidering the nature of thefe things
which principally Relate, as well as thofe that -generally contri
bute, to this kind of contention.
And here it may be laid dewa as a certain and invariable max
im, that no individual of the human race ever received, or can
receive, an ii-jury, without having a right either natural or civil,
fn rfircrrrP r,r rT!r it I n a late fl T.Atttrt thS rl j'nt individual-
t J i V T V 4. W W 1 i jll I I . . " - mm - - -
ly and amply refided in every human creature. But the obvious
inconvenience of everv man's being left undr the influence of
prjudice, partiality and refentment, to revenue the wrongs, and
redrefs the injuries he had fulained, induced men to form ihem
felves into focieties, under fuch modes of government, and rules
of living, as they judged moft effectual for fecuring to every one
his natural right, or fubftituting civil rights in. the room of fuch
Oi them as were inconvenient to be exercifed in a Hate of fociety ;
in oidtr to prevent as much as poiTible, t"he neceffity of a ftate of
war fare, as Weil as to obviate the unntnefs of a man's being, a
jucpe and executioner in his own caufe.
But notwithttanding this general defign c? forming focieties,
civil rtmedies for injuries ftiltaincd, have been provided bfj, the
laws of fociety, and efpecially in this aoun'rv, only itf part; and
nul in m'.i eaica, uur even iu an jyciici, ti jujuij. '.wi
fecms abfurd, to fuppofe that men itould have given up, or that
their entering into a ftate cf fociety mould have annihilated, their
natural rights of rtdrelTing injuries, in any degree beyond, or
prior to, tne fubAitation of civil remedies in their room.
But if any one will attempt to prot e, that natural rights to re
drefs injuries are annihilated by entering into c ftate of flcie'y,
without the fubftitution of civil remedies in their rcorn, he mail
aif - prove (againit every day'? ."perience) that by the habitation
ot mankind in a It ate of fc t ;njuries themfelves unremedied
by the laws of the land, a . ike iie annihilated, or rendered
JmnnfliSIe to exift 1 or elfe ' cri a deftrine can by no means be
admitted ; becaufe other iie it would infringe the maxim before
laid down.
It therefore necelTarily follows, that where ever civil rights have
not been fubftituted by the laws ol fociety, in the rocm of natural
ones, adequate to the obtaining redrefs for any injury fuftained,
there, and in every fuch cafe without exception, fuch natural
rigtits ftill remain. And every man in that cafe, till an adequate
remedy by provision of the civil power, becomes attainable, ought
to be confideled as in a ftate of nature. For otherwife there
might be a injury without the right cf redrefs ; contrary to the
nrir.rir.lf. rf the a DO VlVk CH t lOTi ed iTiaXilD.
It will likewife be allowed as a maxim by every lawyer that
when and where ever a man has a right to redrefs an injury, he
has alio a righc to make ufe of the necefTary means for that pur
pofe. It will therefore be in vain to fay, that civil remedies are
generally provided by the laws cf fociety, for the redrefs of red
injuries ; but that it matters not whether ideal or. imaginary inju
ries are remedied at all or no. For irjuries that fubfiit only in o
pinion, are fometimts as really hurtful, as thofe which fubfiii ia
i&tt. Befides, men have a natural and unalienable right to be
fatiafied, as well where the injury is only imaginary, as where it
is real. And if no civil jurisdiction has cognizance to judge of
the nature of the injury, it muft of courfe, however inconvenient,
be left to the private judgment of the injured perfon.
I am clearly of opinion, that the equitable extenfion of the ci
vil a&ion upon the cafe, to redrefs the vail : number and variety of
real injuries, to which modern practice has made it fubfervknt,
has prevented numberlefs miichiefs, which otherwife would have
happened, through the neceffity of repairing thofe injuries by
force of private combat. And for that reafon, Jar fiom difcou
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