estrain crime. The man who
would defy the penalty of the law, and the commandments of his God
against seduction, will, however pause in his career when he finds that
there are brothers to avenge an injured sister. And why so?--because in
this world we live as it were in a tavern, careless of what the bill is
which we run up, but dreading the day of reckoning, which the pistol of
our adversary may bring at once. Thus duelling may be considered as a
necessary evil, arising out of our wickedness; a crime in itself rare in
occurrence, but which prevents others of equal magnitude from occurring
every day; and until the world is reformed, nothing can prevent it. Men
will ever be governed by the estimation of the world: and until the
whole world decide against duelling--until it has become the usage to
offer the other cheek upon the first having been smitten, then, and not
till then, will the practice be discontinued. When a man refuses to
fight a duel, he is stigmatised as a coward, his company is shunned;
and, unless he is a wretch without feeling, his life becomes a burden.
Men have refused from purely conscientious motives, and have
subsequently found themselves so miserable from the neglect and
contumely of the world, that they have _backslided_, and have fought to
recover their place in society. There have been some few, very few,
who, having refused from conscientious motives, have adhered to these
resolutions, because they feared God and not man. There was more
courage in their refusal than if they had run the gauntlet of a hundred
duels; a moral courage, which is most rare, preferring the contempt of
man to the wrath of God. It is, however, the most trying situation on
this side of the grave. To refuse to fight a duel, is in fact to obey
the stern injunction, "leave all, and follow me."

For my part, I never have and never will fight a duel, if I can help it.
I have a double motive for my refusal; in the first place, I am afraid
to offend the Deity; and in the next, I am afraid of being shot. I have
therefore made up my mind never to meet a man except upon what I
consider fair terms; for when a man stakes his life, the gambling
becomes rather serious, and an equal value should be laid down by each
party. If, then, a man is not so big--not of equal consequence in the
consideration of his fellow mites--not married, with five small
children, as I am--not having so much to lose--why it is clear that I
risk more