On Monday the Roman papers _published the text of a
A letter addressed by the Pope to the Archbishops and Bishops in the German Empire and in Austria-Hungary, condemning the practice of duelling. The Pope condemns duelling as not only anti-Christian, but contrary to reason and common- sense :—" If even the challenger in a duel is victor, all reason- able persons will admit that he has merely proved that he is
the stronger man of the two, or the better fencer, but certainly not the more honourable man." General Grant, in his "Memoirs," uses a characteristically -shrewd argument• against duelling of a similar kind. He says he can under- stand hating a man badly enough to want to kill him, but not badly enough to give him a chance of killing you. In spite,. however, of the common-sense arguments, we doubt if duelling. on the Continent will be stopped by Papal intervention. Its comparative safety—European duelling, taken as a whole, is. about as dangerous as Rugby football—has given it a new lease of life. The Pope, it is to be noted, refuses in any way to • recognise the distinction drawn in many countries between duelling in the Army and duelling among civilians. The "pretext that duelling is to the advantage of military bravery," he holds absurd. " That which is legally prohibited is essentially different from that which is morally prohibited, and that which is morally pro- hibited should never be tolerated by law in any class of society." The Pope concludes by recommending young men to form an association against duelling. The Pope has shown " no small courage in issuing this, his latest Encyclical, for it- is the nobles, the class most faithful and devoted to the Papacy, who will think themselves injured by the attempt to stop duelling in Catholic countries.
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