ass, like the
nobility of feudal times, are restless, impetuous, eager for excitement,
and prompt to settle all questions with the sword. Like the fierce old
barons, at the head of their vassals, they are ever ready to resist and
nullify the _central_ power of the State, whenever it interferes with
their individual interests, or even approaches the strong holds of their
prejudices. All history shows, that men possessing hereditary, despotic
power, cannot easily be brought to acknowledge a superior, either in the
administrators of the laws, or in the law itself. It was precisely such
a class of men that covered Europe with camps, for upwards of ten
centuries.

A Southern governor has dignified duelling with the name of an
"institution;" and the planters generally, seem to regard it as among
those which they have denominated their "peculiar institutions." General
Wilkinson, who was the son of a slave-owner, expresses in his memoirs,
great abhorrence of duelling, and laments the powerful influence which
his father's injunction, when a boy, had upon his after life: "James,"
said the old gentleman, "if you ever take an insult, I will disinherit
you."

A young lawyer, who went from Massachusetts to reside at the South, has
frequently declared that he could not take any stand there as a lawyer,
or a gentleman, until he had fought: he was subject to continual insult
and degradation, until he had evinced his readiness to kill, or be
killed. It is obvious that such a state of morals elevates mere physical
courage into a most undue importance. There are indeed emergencies, when
all the virtues, and all the best affections of man, are intertwined
with personal bravery; but this is not the kind of courage, which makes
duelling in fashion. The patriot nobly sacrifices himself for the good
of others; the duellist wantonly sacrifices others to himself.

Browbeating, which is the pioneer of the pistol, characterizes,
particularly of late years, the Southern legislation. By these means,
they seek to overawe the Representatives from the free States, whenever
any question even remotely connected with slavery is about to be
discussed; and this, united with our strong reverence for the Union, has
made our legislators shamefully cautious with regard to a subject, which
peculiarly demands moral courage, and an abandonment of selfish
considerations. If a member of Congress does stand his ground firmly,
if he wants no preferment or profit, wh