The History of Duelling. Vol. 2 (of 2)Millingen, J. G. (John Gideon)
Philosophy
The History of Duelling. Vol. 2 (of 2)
Millingen, J. G. (John Gideon)
Dueling
After which, the reckoning being paid, all the company, with the
exception of the prisoner, went out of the room to go home, and he
called to the deceased, saying, “Young man, come back, I have something
to say to you.” Whereupon the deceased returned into the room, and
immediately the door was closed, and the rest of the company excluded;
but they heard a clashing of swords, and the prisoner gave the deceased
his mortal wound. It was also found that, on the breaking up of the
company, the prisoner had his great coat thrown over his shoulders, and
that he received three slight wounds in the fight; and that the deceased
being asked upon his death-bed whether he had received his wounds in a
manner amongst swordsmen called fair, answered “I think I did.” It was
further found that after the throwing of the bottle, there was no
reconciliation between the prisoner and the deceased.
Upon these facts all the judges were of opinion that the prisoner was
guilty of murder; he having acted upon malice and deliberation, and not
from sudden passion. The argument of the Chief Justice went to show,
that after the door had been shut the parties were upon an equal footing
in point of preparation before the fight began, in which the mortal
wound was given. The main point then, on which the judgment turned, and
so declared to be, was the evidence of _express malice_, after the
interposition of the company, _and the parties had all sat down again
for an hour_. Under these circumstances the Court were of opinion that
the prisoner had had _reasonable time for cooling_; after which, upon an
offer of reconciliation from the deceased, he had made use of that
bitter and deliberate expression, “_That he would have his blood_;” and
again, the prisoner remaining in the room after the rest of the company
had retired, and calling back the deceased by the contemptuous
appellation of “_young man_,” on pretence of having something to say to
him, altogether showed such strong proof of deliberation and coolness,
as precluded the presumption of passion having continued down to the
time of the mortal stroke, and that there was no doubt but that he had
compelled Gower to defend himself.
It was also about this period that Addison and Steele, in the Spectator
and the Tatler, endeavoured to draw public attention to this subject,
and used both the power of persuasion and raillery to discountenance the
disgraceful practice. In No. 84 of the Spectator, Steele wrote an essay
against duelling, and in the character of Spinamont he alluded to a
meeting that had taken place between Sir Cholmondeley Dering and Mr.
Thornhill, when the former was killed. Thornhill was acquitted of the
charge of murder; but two months after, he was stabbed by two men on
Turnham-green, who exclaimed as they struck him, “_Remember Sir
Cholmondeley Dering_.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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