4 DECEMBER 1909, Page 18

On Tuesday a duel with pistols was fought near St.

Peters- burg between H. Guchkoff, the leader of the Octobrist Party, and Count Uvaroff, a Deputy who was formerly a member of the party. Count Uvaroff was slightly wounded. The duel, according to the Times correspondent; was the result of Count Uvaroff 's attribution of reactionary motives to the Prime Minister, and Of a. letter in which H. Guchkoff described Count Uvaroff as an habitual mischief-maker who only desired notoriety. M. Guchkoff is liable to fourteen months' imprisonment, and Count Uvaroff, as the wounded party, to three months' imprisonment in a fortress. But the corre- spondent thinks that the authorities winked at the duel, and that there may be no prosecution. The Press deplores the practice of duelling to settle political disputes. If M. Guch- koff's description of Count Uvaroff is justified, the duel is a glaring illustration of the madness of the fashion which puts in peril the life of an important politician from the shots of any stray adversary who cares to force him into a fight. It cannot even be said that M. Guchkoff needed to prove his courage. That was proved long ago.