Stewart, greatly indignant at this outrageous conduct, formed the resolution of ridding the world of such a pestilence; and at the same time perilling his own life by compelling the Frenchman to fight a duel which would render the fall of both of them certain. He sent him a message, and requested a meeting behind the Iguanna rocks. He then, accompanied by two of his men, proceeded to the rendezvous, and directed them to dig a grave sufficiently deep to receive two bodies. D’Egville soon appeared, and Stewart proposed, as conditions of the duel, that they both should stand in the grave, holding their pistols in one hand and the end of a pocket-handkerchief in the other. The sun was shedding its parting rays on the wild spot he had selected. Stewart was firm and calm: the Frenchman, despite his efforts to appear undismayed, betrayed evident signs of perturbation.
The seconds, one of whom was Wilthorpe, drew lots for the word of command—the fatal signal of death. The parties descended into the pit; Stewart with an undaunted step, D’Egville with much trepidation. The handkerchief was placed in their hands, firmly grasped by the Scotchman, tremblingly held by the creole: the word “Fire” was about to be given, when the ruffian swooned and fell at the feet of his adversary. Stewart spurned him with his foot, as a dastardly and contemptible coward, and left him to the care of his worthy companion and friend.
In the same colony, a fatal duel of a most singular nature took place in 1830. Two planters, having made rather free at a merry dinner, quarrelled and determined to fight a duel with muskets. Their boon companions consented to the meeting; but, knowing the friendship that had long existed between them, and the absurdity of the dispute, they determined to load the pieces with powder and without ball. The parties met, fired by signal, when, to the utter dismay of the seconds and the party assembled to witness the sham fight, one of them was shot in the back and dropped a corpse. Recovered from their surprise, they carefully examined the surrounding bush, when at last they discovered a negro concealed under a tree, and armed with a carbine. The man was seized, and confessed that he was the assassin. The motives that had impelled him to this deed were most singular. It appeared that the preceding day, one of the planters had passed by a gibbet on which a negro was hanging, when he wantonly put a pipe in the mouth of the culprit. It was a companion of the unfortunate man, who, on beholding the action, resolved on punishing the planter as soon as a favourable opportunity might present itself. He was present when the duel was decided on, and he hastened to his cabin, loaded a carbine, and concealing himself behind a tree, near the scene of action, intended to fire upon his victim; but the darkness of the night led to the fatal mistake, which deprived the offender’s adversary of life.
It is not only in the British colonies that law officers show the detestable example of duelling. In 1829 the attorney-general of Martinique shot a French count, in consequence of some ill-timed jokes in a ball-room. Not long ago, the governor of one of our transatlantic possessions fought a duel with the chief-justice of the island. Nor can we be surprised at these disgraceful occurrences, when it is notorious that the judicial and legal situations in the colonies are not always conferred on merit, legal attainments, or proper qualifications, but often upon persons who merely possess patronage; and any tyro who is called to the bar is considered fit for the judicial bench of a colony, or the duties of a crown lawyer. The same abuse of power became the curse of the Spanish American possessions; whenever a hidalgo was ruined, or too poor to live in the mother country, or unfit for any situation at home, he was sent out to Las Indias to make a fortune. It seems to be the destiny of all colonies to be subject to misrule and oppression; and one might imagine that to colonize, imports creating future enemies.
Amongst people of colour duels are not uncommon: at Hayti, the greatest insult is to call a man a mulatto, an offence which induced one of their generals of the name of Lapointe to order the legs of a negro to be sawed off.
The evils of colonization are every day becoming more evident in Algeria, a possession which will prove to France a drain of blood and treasure, and the tranquillity of which is frequently disturbed by disputes and duels, both amongst military men and civil officers. There, as in America, party spirit runs high; and the greater the difficulties public functionaries have to encounter in the discharge of their duty, and their care of personal interest, the more liable will society be to a want of harmony and difference of opinion. Colonies may be considered as republics belonging to monarchical governments, and many anomalies must necessarily prevail in their administration.
The subject of duelling in the United States, and the many causes of its frequency to which we have alluded, cannot be better illustrated than by the following extract from the works of our poet Moore:—
“The rude familiarity of the lower orders, and indeed the unpolished state of society in general, would neither surprise nor disgust, if they seemed to flow from that simplicity of character, that honest ignorance of the glass of refinement, which may be looked for in a new and inexperienced people. But when we find them arrived at maturity in most of the vices, and in all the pride of civilization, while they are still so remote from its elegant characteristics, it is impossible not to feel that this youthful decay, this crude anticipation of the natural period of corruption, represses every sanguine hope of the future energy and greatness of America.”
Although we cannot agree with our author in the latter part of his opinion, as America is daily rising to power and eminence, yet there is no doubt that the rancorous hostility which will long prevail between the democrats and the federalists, the wealthy and the poor, the northern and the southern, will prove for a considerable time an endless source of discord in a land where licentiousness is considered liberty.