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DUELLING
185
Buckle, in his " History of Civilisation in England " (vol.
ii, p. 137, note 71), says quite truly : " The learned
professions have each their own tribunal, to which their members
are amenable, and the highest ranks of society, however
imperfect their standard of morality may be, are perfectly
competent to enforce that standard by means of social
penalties, without resorting either to trial by law or trial by
battle."
Defenders of duelling often proclaim that good manners in
society can only be assured by the possibility of duels. But
this is not so, judging from English society, which is more
fastidious as to forms and manners than many Continental
societies which uphold duelling. Some people think that
Englishmen use in speech with one another such strong
language that the manners of society suffer through it, and
that this would not occur if there were duelling. As a matter
of fact, good English society observes a very elaborate
phraseology, and even men who are incensed against one
another would not resort to strong language, because, as
already mentioned, they would be regarded as
ungentle-manly and vulgar. Good English society has a horror of
vulgarity, and is certainly not less refined than society on
the Continent. Of course, Englishmen do not suffer from an
overstrained point of honour, and they would not feel
themselves offended if, for instance, they were once
convicted of having said or done an unwise thing.
It is also sometimes said that a man must always be read}’
to prove his courage, and that this can only be done by
duelling. That is a point of view which can scarcely be
admitted. Apart from the fact that a duel is not at all a
test of courage, every man has a right to be considered
courageous, whether he is a duellist or not. Besides, there
are many and better ways of showing courage. During the
present war no one can accuse the millions of British fighters
of lacking in courage, yet they have never fought duels.
Napoleon was the sworn foe of the duel. One of his
best-known sayings is " Bon duelliste, mauvais soldat."
During the agrarian upheavals in Russia in 1905, when the
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