Prefects, magistrates, editors, shopkeepers, had now descended into the camp; and no situation of life, age, or condition, seemed to be matters of consideration. Comte Leon, a supposed natural son of Napoleon, fought several duels; one with the colonel of the National Guard of St. Denis, and the other with an English officer of the 18th Hussars, of the name of Hesse, who had lost to him eighteen thousand francs at play. In this last meeting, it was decided in writing, that the parties should be placed at thirty paces from each other, and advance to ten paces. They both moved forward three paces, took aim, but did not fire. Hesse made another step, and Leon did the same, when both firing, Hesse received a wound in the left breast, and expired after three days’ acute suffering. The widow prosecuted the survivor; but after a short trial he was acquitted, Mrs. Hesse not appearing on behalf of the prosecution.
In the singular duel between two persons of the names of Lethuillier and Wattebaut, the survivor was condemned to ten years’ imprisonment. The circumstances were the following:—Lethuillier and his wife kept a maison de santé at Pantin, and Wattebaut, who called himself a man of letters, lodged with them. They were both staunch republicans, and their uniformity in political opinions cemented a strict intimacy between them. However, political affections did not prevent Wattebaut from paying more than common attention to the fair wife of his host. A dispute arose, when it was decided that they should fight with pistols, and at the same time it was also agreed that no seconds should be present at the meeting, to avoid the possibility of any reconciliation, while at the same time the honour of Madame Lethuillier would not be compromised by the circumstance being confided to others. The parties met in the wood of Romainville; Wattebaut in vain sought to reconcile matters by affirming his innocence in the most solemn manner; the husband was inflexible. Wattebaut fired, and his ball entering the right temple, grazed along the eye, passed through the root of the nose, and came out by the left eye, Lethuillier being struck blind. Wattebaut seeing him fall, fancied that he was dead, and fled; but the wounded man contrived to crawl as far as the cemetery of Pantin, where his groans attracted the notice of some persons passing by, who carried him home. Lethuillier pursued his adversary before the tribunals, maintaining that he had been treacherously wounded before he had taken his ground, and after he had proposed to his adversary to fight across a pocket handkerchief. Wattebaut, on the contrary, asserted that he had fired according to the stipulated pre-arrangement, contradicting the charges brought against him in every particular. Although no evidence appeared on behalf of the plaintiff or the defendant, the latter was condemned to ten years’ imprisonment.
Such was the fury of duelling during these times of excitement, that two brothers actually engaged in a conflict of this nature: one of them fired on his adversary, a dragoon in the 11th regiment, and having missed him, knocked him down with a bludgeon, and only left him when he considered him a corpse.
A duel was fought between Cadet Gassicourt the chemist, and one of the Mayors of Paris, and his assistant, Viguier, about some repairs that were required in their parish church; and in 1834 the president of the Cour Royale fought a barrister, when the judge was wounded by the pleader. About the same period the celebrated meeting between General Bugeaud and a lawyer of the name of Dulong took place. Both of them were members of the Chamber of Deputies, and the quarrel arose in a debate in the house regarding the treatment of the Duchess of Berry. As this was what was called a parliamentary duel, the particulars of this transaction are curious. The discussion arose on the subject of the imprisonment of the duchess under the general’s custody, when a deputy of the name of Larabit maintained that an officer was not obliged to fulfil an ignoble mission. Soult replied, “A soldier’s first duty is obedience;” on which Larabit observed, “The President of the Council says that a military man should obey: this I readily grant; but when a man is conscious of his rectitude, and is ordered to recede from his duty, he should cease to obey his superiors.” “Never, never!” exclaimed several members; on which Dulong added, with much warmth, “What! is a man in obedience to the command of his superiors to become a gaoler and degrade himself?”
This hasty expression was not distinctly heard by all the members present, nor did it reach the ears of General Bugeaud until some friend repeated the offensive language. The general immediately went over and sat near Dulong, who gave a satisfactory explanation, disclaiming any personal allusion. Here the matter would have rested, had not one of the newspapers taken up the subject, when the general demanded a written apology from Dulong, a request to which he immediately acceded by transmitting to the editor of the paper a statement in which he declared that he had meant nothing personal or offensive in his speech. This letter was sent to the general, who forwarded it by M. de Rumigny, one of the King’s aides-de-camp, to the editor of the Journal des Débats. Soon afterwards an evening paper published the following paragraph:
“The Journal des Débats having reported yesterday that M. Dulong had made use of language most insulting to General Bugeaud, it was this day affirmed in the Chamber that the honourable general had insisted on an apology on the part of M. Dulong, which will appear to-morrow in the Journal des Débats.”
On reading this report, M. Dulong immediately addressed the editor of the Débats to request he would not publish his declaration, and the general himself called at the office for the letter, and afterwards waited upon M. Dulong. Seconds were appointed, and as matters could not be settled to the satisfaction of all parties, a duel with pistols was arranged to take place the following morning.
General Bugeaud, who was considered one of the most dexterous shots in the army, suggested to M. Dulong the advantage that might result to him from the use of swords; but Dulong, who as a lawyer knew nothing of the use of arms, thought that the pistol would offer him a greater security.
The parties met at the Bois de Boulogne at the appointed hour, when it was decided that they should be placed at forty paces from each other, and on a given signal advance and fire whenever they thought proper. General Bugeaud in the most honourable manner, and to give his adversary every possible chance that the greater distance could afford, fired at the second step, but unfortunately with too much precision, as the unfortunate Dulong dropped wounded by a ball that had entered the skull over the left eye, and he expired on the following morning. This fatal event was clearly the work of political writers, who fomented the hostile feelings of both parties, and whose conduct only admitted of this extenuation, that they were always ready to fight amongst themselves, or with any other political antagonist who wanted to decide a question by recourse to arms.
This duel caused a considerable sensation in Paris; the King was much censured for not having prevented it, as the chances were most unequal between a skilful combatant and a literary man, who had never handled sword or pistol. Moreover, the written apology of Dulong, instead of being returned to him when the hostile meeting was decided upon, remained in the hands of the general’s second; a most unfair proceeding, since the ill-fated Dulong, who fought sooner than give publicity to a statement which was reported to have been obtained by threats, had the unquestionable right to demand the restoration of the document; and this letter, which it was affirmed had been burnt in the Palace of the Tuileries, appeared a few days after Dulong’s death in several provincial papers.