ication of the following sheets, to which they
for a long time urged me in vain. Those who do not know me, have no
right to impute a wrong motive; and if they do, I had rather be the
object, than the authors of condemnation. To publish a CODE OF HONOR,
to govern in cases of individual combat, might seem to imply, that the
publisher was an advocate of duelling, and wished to introduce it as the
proper mode of deciding all personal difficulties and misunderstandings.
Such implication would do me great injustice. But if the question be
directly put to me, whether there are not cases where duels are right
and proper, I would unhesitatingly answer, there are. If an oppressed
nation has a right to appeal to arms in defence of its liberty and the
happiness of its people, there can be no argument used in support of
such appeal, which will not apply with equal force to individuals.
How many cases are there, that might be enumerated, where there is no
tribunal to do justice to an oppressed and deeply wronged individual?
If he be subjected to a tame submission to insult and disgrace, where no
power can shield him from its effects, then indeed it would seem, that
the first law of nature, self-preservation, points out the only remedy
for his wrongs. The history of all animated nature exhibits a determined
resistance to encroachments upon natural rights,--nay, I might
add, inanimate nature, for it also exhibits a continual warfare for
supremacy. Plants of the same kind, as well as trees, do not stop
their vigorous growth because they overshadow their kind; but, on the
contrary, flourish with greater vigor as the more weak and delicate
decline and die. Those of different species are at perpetual warfare.
The sweetest rose tree will sicken and waste on the near approach of
the noxious bramble, and the most promising fields of wheat yield a
miserable harvest if choked up with tares and thistles. The elements
themselves war together, and the angels of heaven have met in fierce
encounter. The principle of self-preservation is co-extensive with
creation; and when by education we make character and moral worth a part
of ourselves, we guard these possessions with more watchful zeal than
life itself, and would go farther for their protection. When one finds
himself avoided in society, his friends shunning his approach, his
substance wasting, his wife and children in want around him, and
traces all his misfortunes and misery to the slanderous to