the peltings of the mob. He may be further imprisoned for a
year, at the option of the magistrate. In Connecticut the punishment is
total disqualification for office or employ, and a fine varying from one
hundred to a thousand dollars. The laws of Illinois require certain
officers of the state to make oath, previous to their instalment, that
they have never been, nor ever will be, concerned in a duel.[70]

[70] _Encyclopedia Americana_, art. Duelling.

Amongst the edicts against duelling, promulgated at various times in
Europe, may be mentioned that of Augustus King of Poland, in 1712, which
decreed the punishment of death against principals and seconds, and minor
punishments against the bearers of a challenge. An edict was also
published at Munich, in 1773, according to which both principals and
seconds, even in duels where no one was either killed or wounded, should
be hanged, and their bodies buried at the foot of the gallows.

The king of Naples issued an ordinance against duelling in 1838, in which
the punishment of death is decreed against all concerned in a fatal duel.
The bodies of those killed, and of those who may be executed in
consequence, are to be buried in unconsecrated ground, and without any
religious ceremony; nor is any monument to be erected on the spot. The
punishment for duels in which either, or both, are wounded, and for those
in which no damage whatever is done, varies according to the case, and
consists of fine, imprisonment, loss of rank and honours, and incapacity
for filling any public situation. Bearers of challenges may also be
punished with fine and imprisonment.

It might be imagined that enactments so severe all over the civilised
world would finally eradicate a custom, the prevalence of which every wise
and good man must deplore. But the frowns of the law never yet have
taught, and never will teach, men to desist from this practice, as long as
it is felt that the lawgiver sympathises with it in his heart. The stern
judge upon the bench may say to the unfortunate wight who has been called
a liar by some unmannerly opponent, "If you challenge him, you meditate
murder, and are guilty of murder!" but the same judge, divested of his
robes of state, and mixing in the world with other men, would say, "If you
do not challenge him, if you do not run the risk of making yourself a
murderer, you will be looked upon as a mean-spirited wretch, unfit to
associate with your fellows, and deservi