“But,” says the advocate of duelling, “must I submit, then, when I am insulted, to be disgraced?” Certainly not, sir; but, in order to preserve your character from infamy, you should be careful not to employ means which, instead of rescuing it, actually adds to its degradation; or, in other words, in order to preserve your _honour_, you should not resort to means really _dishonourable_. But with the view to appreciate the weight of this subject, I have endeavoured to bring it home to myself, and consider what reply I would make in case I should be _challenged_. In our country, where we have no _Court of Honour_, (an institution, by the way, which I think ought to be set up,) I would say to the challenger, “Sir, if you think yourself injured or insulted beyond the redress of civil laws, I am willing to submit the case to gentlemen of honourable standing, and settle it according to their decision.” If he would not listen to this proposal, but still insisted on fighting, I would say to him, “Sir, neither my conscience nor my judgment will allow me to be so fool-hardy as to throw my life away by meeting a man who seeks my blood, nor will my humanity nor my moral feelings allow me to imbrue my hands in the blood of a fellow-being.” Should he then call me a coward, I would reply, “Sir, you show _no proof_ of it. I hold that fighting duels is more frequently an evidence of a _want_ of _moral_ courage, than a proof of physical courage. If, by my course, I display no proof of the _latter_, I certainly do of the _former_, by thus braving public opinion on a point which I consider wrong. But suppose you _did_ thus prove my want of physical courage, you only show that my _intellectual_ and _moral faculties_ are stronger than my _brute propensities_; and is this a disgrace to a rational being?” Let the advocates of this practice say what they will in vindication of it, and attempt to justify it on the ground of its expediency, necessity, &c., the fact is, all their reasonings upon the subject are shallow, sophistical, and disgraceful in a civilised, or more especially Christian community.