The Evening Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and Echo. TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1902. THE DECLINE OF DUELLING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5, 7 January 1902, Page 4

The Evening Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and Echo.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1902. THE DECLINE OF DUELLING.

For tho cause that lacks assistance For the wrong that needs resistance Tor the future in the disU-.nce . And the go.rl that, we can do.

Within the twelve months public fueling on the. Continent has set strongly against the practice of duelling. Prom the English point of view the duel is an obsolete barbarism; but we are liable to forget that two generations ago no man with a social or personal reputation to lose dared to object to the peculiar form of "satisfaction" demanded by anyone who chose to quarrel with him. Duelling has died out in England sooner than in Continental countries, largely because the English race takes a practical view of things, and has been the first to realise the absurdity of regarding "honour" as a necessary concomitant of skill in shooting- or in sword play. Moreover, some of the greatest of our literary men have helped to discredit | the duel by throwing the weight of their intellectual and moral influence into the scale against it. Thackeray, Dickens, Henry Kingsley, George Meredith have done more to suppress the duel as a social institution than could have been effected by a score of Acts of Parliament. The duel as a test of social or military honour is as much an archaism in England as 'the Anglo-Saxon "ordeal" or the mediaeval "trial by combat."

But on the Continent the militarism which dominates ihe nations in every act and aspect of their lives has enabled the duel to maintain its hold almost unshaken. In France the increased value attached, with advancing civilisation, to human life, has resulted in a compromise whereby "honour" is satisfied with tlie least possible risk to everybody concerned. In Germany the national character —less fanciful and visional-}' than that of the Gaul —has not freed itself from its devotion to the social and military codes of the fiddle Ages. The strength of the element so long represented by Bismarck in politics and society has helped to confirm these conservative views of life, and to perpetuate them in conditions as utterly inconsistent with the views of conduct and character that they express. The importance attached to duelling at the German universities and the elaborate system of association and training connected with it all aid in rendering the duel a familiar feature of social existence, and make any reaction against the authority of tradition and custom proportionately difficult and slow.

Yet there are many signs that even among the Continental Teutons the day of the duel has already gone by, and that public sentiment and the ; conscience of ' the nations, though they have developed slowly, have now outgrown the old superstitious reverence for "honourable satisfaction." In July last several Berlin newspapers created a sensation by publishing a list of members of the nobility who, on the invitation of Prince Lowenstein, signed a declaration against duelling-. This document describes duelling as a practice "contrary to reason, to conscience, to the demands of civilisation, to the law and to the welfare of society and the State." The subscribers state their opinion that it is "an empty and unjust prejudice" to regard a man as a coward because he declines to" fight a duel, and they add that everyone who from conscientious motives refuses to "give satisfaction" is" a man of "honour worthy of all respect. At the same time the reformers admitted that they could hardiy hope to change public sentiment radically at a moment's notice, and they therefore suggested that in cases where personal honour is involved application should be first made to courts jof honour, which might suggest some compromise not discreditable to any person concerned. This public protest against the essdls of duelling naturally caused a violent controversy in Germany. It is almost impossible f°r us to realise the difficulty of malting head agarinst the tremendous power of Continental militarism. The German

ifi' trained and reared In the conviction that he is a soldier first and a citizen afterwards, and the whole tone of public and private life is set and led by tbe Army. Among the professional soldiers there is a strong determination to maintain the duel at all hazards. The Courts of" .Honour, which are supposed to disputes that may involve duels, almost invariably encourage the strictly military view of the situation. The Kaiser lately instructed the Prussian, Minister for W Tar to censure in the Reichstag the Court of Honour, which failed to prevent the sensational Blaskowitz duel. A few months ago a Court of

Honour considered the case of an officer who had been struck by a junior lieutenant who was drunk at the time and, frankly apologised when sober. The senior officer was dismissed from the army by the Court of Honour because he had suggested and accepted an apology, and the colonel of the regiment in announcing the decision of the Court informed his officers that the only advice he could give them was "in all cases to challenge at least to a duel with swords." Such an episode may give some idea of the difficulties in the way of abolishing the duel in Germany. The most hopeful sign in connection with the attempted reform is the strong support that it receives from the Kaiser. A few days ago he threatened to expel from the army | the sons of two generals in high command if they disregarded his ! orders against duelling; and in every | way he is lending the potent force of his impetuous and energetic character to restrain the overweening arrogance of professional militarism j—a pride and presumption which he | has himself in the past done much |to euconrage. In spite of all obj staeles the movement against dueli ling .is . spreading throughout j Europe; and within the past week jthe chief Austrian and Hungarian

nobles, statesmen, and clergy have united in a protest to the Emperor against duelling. Happily for the cause of civilisation, it is not likely that this barbarous and sanguinary institution will be able to hold its

ground much longer against enlightened public opinion. The Kaiser has done much for his country, but he has never done more for its cure and social advancement and welfare than by his outspoken and vehement eondenination of the duel.