Cleo. All other Precepts and Commandments are visibly labouring to restrain the Passions, and cure the Imperfections of our Nature; but these Regulations of Honour are endeavouring to prevent Mischief, by soothing and flattering the Frailties they point at. In Offences against a Man's Honour, Pardon is not ask'd of God or the King, but of him who receiv'd the Affront. It is he, therefore, whom all the Address and Homage are paid to: He is the Idol that is kneel'd to, and the only Sovereign that can forgive the Trespasses committed against himself. The Punishment of the first Aggressor, you see, is altogether a Compliment to the Person offended, whose Wrath the Law is so far from blaming, that it justifies it, and gives him an Opportunity of indulging it by the Indignity it puts upon the Offender. The real Mischief is not apprehended from the Offender, but the Person offended; and therefore it is him, whom the Law coaxes and wheedles into good Humour, by offering him a Reparation that shall be equally honourable with what he would chuse, tho' less prejudicial to the Society. What the Law promises is a Tribute to the same Passion which he wants to gratify, a Sacrifice to the Idol which he himself adores. Should Any one personate these Laws, and, representing the Sentiments on those who made them, speak to a Man of Honour, who had receiv'd an Affront, an Officer of the Guards, we'll say, who had been call'd Fool by his Equal, the Purport of the Discourse would be this: You are very much in the Right, Sir, to be highly incensed against the Man who dared to call you Fool, you that are a Man of Honour, to whom, as such, the whole World ought to pay the highest Esteem. You have not only an undoubted Right to do your Self justice, and revenge the Affront that has been given you; but there is likewise such a Necessity of your resenting it, that if you could tamely put up the Injury you have receiv'd, and neglect demanding Satisfaction, you would deserve to be branded with Ignominy, and all Men of Honour would justly refuse ever to converse with you for the future. But the Person, whom you have this Affair with, being likewise a Man of Honour, it is greatly to be fear'd, that upon your demanding Satisfaction of him, a Battle will ensue, which, between two Persons who value their Honours a Thousand Times more than their Lives, will probably be fatal to one, if not to both; you are therefore earnestly desired by the King himself, that for his Sake you would make some Alteration in the Manner of taking that Satisfaction which you ought to receive; and the Marshals of France have not only given it under their Hands, that the Equivalents, which they have proposed for Fighting, will be as entire a Reparation to your Honour as can be obtain'd by Arms; but moreover they have promised and engaged their Honours, that in Cases of Affronts they will take up and content themselves with the same Equivalents, and on all Occasions submit to the same Regulations, which you are now desired to follow. And that it may appear, how highly reasonable this Request is; you are likewise desired to take the following Remonstrance into your Consideration: That the Valour and Steadiness of Men of Honour: are the grand Support of all States and Kingdoms, is a Truth not to be denied; and that not only the Peace and Tranquility, and all the Blessings we enjoy, but likewise the King's Crown and Safety would be precarious without them, is as unquestionable. For this Reason all wise Princes, Magistrates and Governours, will ever take all imaginable Care, on the one Hand, to cultivate and encourage the most noble Principle of Honour, and, on the other, to encrease the Numbers of the worthy Posessors of it, by favouring and on all Occasions shewing them the most tender Affection, as well as highest Esteem. It is easy then to be imagin'd, that a Monarch, who loves his People, and has the Interest of his Nation at Heart, must be sensibly afflicted to see it become a common Practice for such valuable Men to destroy one another, and behold that Bravery and Spirit, which should only be made Use of against the Enemies of the Country, hourly employ'd and lavish'd away in private Quarrels, that can have no other Tendency that the weakening of the Kingdom, and which, if suffer'd to go on, must compleat its Ruin.
Hor. You make these Laws speak very notably.
Cleo. I have said Nothing but what is certainly imply'd in them. Every Man in France knew, that the chief Motive of all those Edicts against Duelling, was the Loss of the brave Men that was sustain'd by that Custom. The Sinfulness of it was the least Consideration.
Hor. There, I believe, you wrong them, for I have seen some of these Edicts, where Duelling is call'd an Antichristian Practice, which God was highly offended at.
Cleo. In wording of the Edicts, indeed, some such Thing was put in for Form's Sake; but the Regulations themselves, by which the Men of Honour were to walk, were openly Antichristian; and in some Cases, instead of Teaching Men to forgive those that had trespas'd against them, they obliged and forced the Offended to shew their Resentment, tho' they would rather not, and desired to be excused.
Hor. Where the Affront was very heinous, I know what you say is true. But you set these Things in a strange Light. I can make the same Glosses upon our Laws, which oblige me to prosecute a Man that has robb'd me, if I can catch him, whether I will or not; and he shall be hang'd, tho' I forgive him the Injury, and even would beg his Life.
Cleo. There is a vast Difference between the two Cases, a Robbery, and an Affront: No body hinders you from forgiving a Man that robb'd you; but notwithstanding your pardoning him, he is punish'd for acting against the Laws; therefore his Offence is against the King, who is the Guardian and Superintendant of them. And No body but the King can pardon the Trespasses that are committed against his Crown and Dignity. Whoever robs you, must be hang'd, because he robb'd, not because he robb'd YOU in particular: Tho' you are bound to prosecute him for Robbing you, yet the Injury is reckon'd as done to the Publick; and you become a Criminal your Self, if you connive at his Escape, tho' he restor'd to you what he had robb'd you of. But in the Case of an Affront the Injury is reckon'd to be done to him only who receiv'd it. His Anger, as I said before, is thought to be just, and his Resentment reasonable, till an ample Satisfaction be made him; therefore it is He who is to be appeas'd, and He only who is to be applied to. The Laws that were compiled by the Marshals of France, don't pretend to mend the Heart, and lay no greater Restraint on the Spirit of Revenge, than Matrimony does on the Desire of Procreation; on the Contrary, they flatter the Frailty, and are administring to the Haughtiness of the offended: They are so far from denying him his Demands, or refusing to give him Satisfaction for the Affront, that they appoint it by Authority; in the ordering of which they make such ample Provisions for the Gratification of his Pride, as no reasonable Man could ever think of without blushing. The only Thing they oblige him to is, that he shall take the Satisfaction in such a Manner, as shall be most safe to himself, and least detrimental to the Publick. Now if you will consider first, that those who made these Regulations were Men of undoubted Honour, who hourly feeling the Force of it within themselves, were perfectly well acquainted with the Principle which it is built upon; and secondly, that the profound Humility of the Offender, and his asking Pardon of the offended, are two main Points in the repairing of Honour, necessary postulata, without which those knowing Judges thought it impossible, that an Affront could be forgiven: If, I say, you'll consider these two Things, you'll see plainly, what Passion in Human Nature it is, which those Laws of Honour tally'd with, and likewise that it is true, what I have asserted of them, that instead of reproving, curbing, or diminishing the Frailty that is offensive, which seems to be the Intention of all other Laws, their Aim is to prevent Mischief and do Service to the Civil Society, by approving of, cherishing, and indulging that very Passion, from which the Evil they would prevent can only proceed.
Hor. You think those Regulations were effectual, and yet you seem to dislike them.
Cleo. I dislike them because they are destructive to Religion; and if a Minister of the Gospel was to dissuade and deter Men from Duelling he would do it in quite another Manner. By a Minister of the Gospel I don't mean a Philosophizing Divine, or a polite Preacher, but a sincere Follower of the Apostles, a down-right Christian. He would, in the First Place, insist upon it, that Forgiving of Injuries was a Christian Duty never to be dispens'd with; because it is made the Condition on which we are taught to beg Pardon for our own Offences. In the Second, he would demonstrate that no Man is ever to revenge himself, how highly and how atrociously soever he might have been injured. If ever he heard of a Man's sending a Challenge for having been call'd Fool, or other verbal Injuries, he would reprove his Frowardness and Want of Temper, for resenting such Trifles as the Law of his Country thought it not worthy to take Notice of. He would appeal to his Reason, and ask him, whether he could think, that the Affront he complain'd of, was a sufficient Cause to take away a Man's Life. He would represent to him the Heinousnesss of Murder, God's express Command against it; his Justice, his Wrath, his Vengeance when provok'd. But if all these could not divert the Dueller from his Purpose, he would attack his stubborn Heart in its inmost Recesses, and forget Nothing of what I told you on the Subject in our Second and Third Conversation. He would recommend to him the Fable of the Bees, and, like that, he'd dissect and lay open to him the Principle of Honour, and shew him, how diametrically opposite the Worship of that Idol was to the Christian Religion; the First consisting in openly cherishing and feeding that very Frailty in our Nature, which the latter strictly commands us with all our Might to conquer and destroy. Having convinced him of the substantial Difference and Contrariety between these Two Principles, he would display to him, on the one Hand, the Vanity of Earthly Glory, and the Folly of Coveting the Applause of a Sinful World; and, on the other, the Certainty of a Future State, and the Transcendency of everlasting Happiness over every Thing that is perishable. From such Remonstrances as these the good, pious Man would take an Opportunity of exhorting him to a Christian Self-denial, and the Practice of real Virtue, and he would earnestly endeavour to make him sensible of the Peace of Conscience and solid Comforts that are to be found in Meekness and Humility, Patience, and an entire Resignation to the Will of God.
Hor. How long, pray, do you intend to go on with this Cant?