No one is compelled to fight, who in the commencement declares that it is contrary to his principles. Let it be recollected, that in the university cities, more than elsewhere, young people are crowded together, and compelled briskly to push and jostle each other, as it were, in their course. Let it be remembered, that though we may pronounce of the bulk of them, that they are well-educated youths, yet at the same time, in comparison with the circumstances of other young people, it is undeniable that far more frequent and greater occasions for antagonist attrition occur amongst them--in part, no doubt, on account of the greater pecuniary means in their possession, and still more on account of the unavoidable necessity of social life amongst themselves, especially in the lesser university cities, in which they cannot mingle with the family circles.
The foreign universities, where the duel does not exist, cannot be brought in evidence on this head, because they want other peculiarities of the German universities, which are of apparently great advantage. The constitution of the English universities, in particular, is totally different to ours, and more resembles that of our seminaries, where the students enjoy no such freedom. It must also be remembered that the regulations of our universities make them accessible to those without property, and who spring out of the lower classes, while in England only the rich young men, and those out of the higher classes of society, can possibly exist, with a few exceptions, at the great universities of England. The advantage of the German universities in this respect no one can deny, if he only turns his regard on the great number of the most distinguished of the learned men of Germany, whose talents have, through this very accessibility of the universities, been made beneficial to the public.
On the other hand, one cannot expect from the student who has sprung from one of the lower grades of society, the same degree of refinement as graces those of a higher stand. Thus, no wonder, if through these who have been accustomed to move in a ruder sphere of society, occasions for contentions are more readily created. It must be remembered that the student, be he who he may, regards himself on an equality with his fellow-student; but on that account so much the more jealously watches over his own honour, and on that account also more readily believes himself insulted. Hence the customary formula of a challenge, "Stupid youth!" which inevitably draws a duel after it, is characteristic, as it clearly indicates that the feeling of burschen-honour is grounded on the dedication to knowledge, whose disciples can naturally in no way be so insulted as by the epithet "stupid," which implies that he is totally unfit for a priest of Minerva.
Let these facile occasions of strife be borne in mind, and then let persons of practical experience be asked how many young people of other grades are wounded and even killed in scuffles and cudgellings, they will then be induced to judge more leniently of the duel amongst students, and rather pardon the extremes of a feeling of honour, than that the chance should possibly arise of a provoked student becoming in effect the homicide of his fellows.
Thus we may regard the duel, under its regular form, as a sort of discipline which the students exercise amongst themselves, and thus banish every ruder and not seldom dangerous explosion of passion. We say the duel in its regular form, and thereupon recall to the reader's memory the following particulars. According to the regulations for the arrangement of duels in Heidelberg, every challenge must be withdrawn when the opponent declares that he gave the insult in a state of intoxication. Every duel shall, before it is undertaken, be made known to the Senior-Convention, and by it an accommodation shall be attempted.
When these regulations are violated, this does not arise from the regulations themselves, but from the partisans who have neglected to demand from the seniors the execution of their own laws. The completion of the duel, according to the Comment regulations, by sword stroke and not by lunging, and with defensive costume, which covers almost every exposed part of the body, renders any dangerous consequences almost impossible. There is no instance, from time immemorial, of any such regularly and formally completed duel in Heidelberg, being attended with fatal consequences, or one which rendered life thereafter a burden, as is only too frequently the case at universities where the duel in every form is punished more severely than as a breach of discipline, and where, on that account, more dangerous but more easily concealed weapons are resorted to.
By these observations we would by no means defend duels, but merely, in some degree, excuse them. Laws against such customs, which are fast rooted in old prejudices, are seldom very effectual. As little as the fist-law could by power and at once be extirpated, so little, according to our opinion, can this be accomplished with the duel. It is true that there lies in the hands of the German governments, by means of the State's-examination, a power of punishing and suppressing this practice which foreign realms do not possess. They might, it may be said, pass a law, that whoever had been engaged in a duel, should forfeit his right to the State's-examination, and thereby state service. But it must be answered, that this would be in the highest degree severe for a small offence, which in itself the regular duel really is; thus, to punish a young man in such a manner that this one folly should put an end irrevocably to the whole of his life's prospects and career. Further, it has been seen, that exactly at those times when the duel of every kind was the most strictly interdicted and repressed, the most dangerous duels by lunge and shots became more than ever frequent. And yet these draw a punishment after them which has often made a young man miserable for the remainder of his life. So long as it is not the general opinion amongst the students, that the duel cannot be held as satisfaction, so long will they, in case of actual insult, not be deterred by the most stringent punishments from resorting to it. Till then, would it not be the most reasonable course to visit the most dangerous kinds of duelling with the most severe punishments of the law, but to pursue the ordinary and less dangerous not so harshly? If this alone remains to the student, he will by degrees convince himself of the ridiculousness of such a sham-fighting, and the duel will, as it is already become less piquant, cease altogether. It will be the duty of the teacher to promulgate better views upon the nature of duelling by speech and by writing, and thus to conduct their pupils out of the spirit of it. This the greater number of them have even taken suitable opportunities of doing. As an example we quote a part of the speech which the Obermedizinalrath and Professor Dr. J. N. Ringseis delivered on the 3d of December, 1828, in the hall of the High-school at Munich, at a time when the duel there had become exceedingly predominant and reckless.
"It is a sign of a noble mind to regard true honour as the highest good, as higher than life itself. He only who does not fear death, really possesses life. We will all strive after higher honour; and every one of us must be prepared at any hour to sacrifice our life for it. It is a duty through noble manners to honour ourselves; he only who maintains a nobility of conduct himself, can respect the manners of another. It is honourable to belong to a brave union; more mightily works the spirit of every one in union. It is honourable to love your native place, be it on the Isar, the Danube, the Rhine, or the Main, since what German territory has not a host of glorious recollections? It is an honourable, proud feeling to be able to wield the sword skilfully, as if it were a member of our body. But he who honours himself, his society, his native home, honours this feeling in another; he who recognises the sacred destiny of the sword to be the protection of the highest good of mankind, dishonours it not by unholy aims. The officers of our army covered themselves with evergreen laurel,--how rare is the duel amongst them! The hero youth of the universities of North Germany performed miracles of bravery in the memorable Liberation war; and the duel was, amongst those who returned, almost without example. Rare indeed is it in the circles of the highest society; to the noblest nations of antiquity, the Greeks and Romans, it was wholly unknown.
"I repeat not the thousand-times-reiterated arguments against the irrationality of the duel, since I know well that they have fought, even excellent men, although convinced of the perversion of the practice--have fought, bowing to the lordship of opinion, spite of the certainty of losing office, property, freedom, and life itself. Truly there belonged to such conduct a kind of obstinate bravery; but greater, nobler, more worthy of the sight of heaven is the courage which tames itself; the courage of him, who although fearless, although practical in arms, although secure from discovery and punishment, yet fights not; the hero-courage of a free obedience, which our poet sings:--
Courage has the Mameluke--obedience in the Christian law.