CHAPTER XIII.
DUELS DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
It has been truly said that during the French Revolution, the foot of Liberty slipped on blood, and she fell prostrate under a military despotism. Under the Directory an attempt was made to restore society to its ancient prejudices, modified by the times, and duelling became fashionable amongst the upper classes of society, more especially in upstart circles, while in the army it was constantly resorted to both by officers and soldiers. Scarcely a day passed without a meeting in the Bois de Boulogne, while garrison towns were continually disturbed by desperate duellists; pistols were now adopted by civilians, and the sabre, rarely the small sword, became the arm of the military.
That duels should prove of frequent occurrence amongst soldiers and officers of lower rank might be expected, since general officers showed the example. In 1802, Generals Destaing and Reynier having quarrelled in a discussion relating to the Egyptian campaign, Destaing was killed by a pistol-shot in the breast. Napoleon, who was then First Consul, expressed his displeasure, and for some time the survivor was obliged to absent himself from Paris.
A diplomatic duel took place at Naples under the reign of Murat. At a levee of the king and queen, Count Dolgoroucki, the Russian ambassador, took precedence of the French envoy, Baron Durand de Mareuil, who as family ambassador had a claim to a prior introduction. The baron took no notice of this circumstance at the time, but on quitting the palace sent a message to the Russian nobleman, who replied that he would submit the affair to his court.
The French General, Excelmans, who was present at the time, immediately called upon the Count de Beckendorf, the first secretary of the Russian embassy, to demand satisfaction for the insult offered to France in the person of her representative. The challenge was accepted, and at the same time it was agreed that the two ambassadors should be present at the meeting. However, the Russian ambassador would not allow his secretary to take up the quarrel, and he accepted the message sent by the envoy of France. The ambassadors becoming principals, the seconds resolved that, according to the ancient Italian custom, they should follow their example, and the four combatants met. Both ambassadors were slightly wounded, but Beckendorf was run through the body by Excelmans, and recovered with great difficulty. The war with Russia broke out shortly after, and it is generally supposed that this insult offered to France by the Russian minister was one of the pretexts that accelerated the event.
Napoleon invariably objected to the practice of duelling; and, although he knew from the character of his officers and soldiers, that it was impossible to prevent it, yet he visited with his displeasure all the superior officers who transgressed the regulations on that subject. He was frequently heard to say, that he never could place any dependence upon a duellist in battle, and that Latour Maubourg, the bravest of the brave, had never drawn his sword in a private quarrel. Such was also the opinion of Follard, the commentator of Polybius, who observed, “that in his time, duellists were in great vogue, but he generally found them the very scum and dishonour of the army, and the first to flee in moments of danger.”
Gustavus IV, as has been already related, with more chivalric feeling than wisdom, sent a message to Napoleon, who replied, “that he would order a fencing-master to attend him as a plenipotentiary.”
During the reign of Napoleon, it appears that duels were not frequent; society was no longer convulsed by party feelings and violent political recriminations; discord had ceased to reign, and all France submitted quietly to the iron yoke of military despotism. Former disputes had arisen in the intrigues of courts, in which depraved and ambitious females reigned paramount; and in the incessant altercations of these privileged and honoured courtesans, the fashionable men of the age were constantly involved; political debates were also a common cause of hostile feeling, and a subsequent meeting: but under the empire, no one could express his opinion, and political discussion became merely a matter of form; the press, being also under the immediate control of government, could not give offence, and when it did offend, as it was the organ of the state, the injured party could obtain no public or private redress.
The restoration of the Bourbons operated powerfully upon society; all former animosities that had been kindled in silence, and smothered by prudence, broke forth with an uncontrolled fury. The monarch was reluctantly obliged to allow the freedom of the press, and the public journals became the daily vehicle of slander and insult. The French were unaccustomed to this licentiousness, which, from ancient usage, is overlooked in general by British legislation,—lawyers and newspaper writers could not brook these open insults, and literary duels marked this period by their frequent occurrence. The return of the emigrants was also the source of many duels; these unfortunate gentlemen, “who had nothing learnt, and nothing forgotten” during their exile, assumed a haughty bearing towards the officers of the republic and the empire who were without birth or any name but that which their valour had rendered noble, which could not be brooked by these soldiers of fortune. Few duels between the ancienne noblesse and the parvenus, it is true, took place at court; but they were not unfrequent in the army, until the sons of the olden times began to respect the children of the revolution for their glorious deeds of arms, the narration of which formed a great part of their conversation. Yet much blood had been shed ere this reconciliation had taken place: the noble youth of France who now surrounded the restored throne, devoted their time to obtain some skill in swordsmanship, and in many of their quarrels with the old officers, who had been for years out of practice, they displayed a superiority which the former severely felt.