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itfefr the mischievous instrument which has gained such an ascendancy over the httmari mind * that Ac laws of God and our country are set at open defiance . People are hardly aware how large is the empire of fashion , and what powerful and tyrannical sway she exercises over her Subjects . It
exceeds the power of the papal chair iii its most flourishing state . It has neither rivers , mountains ., nor oceans for its boundaries . In this country it has effected what the power of law or force could never have done ; it has made all ranks forsake their native beverage for a foreign decoetion of tea-leaves , while we see almost a rebellion raised
up iji the East Indies for attempting to shorten a mustachio by force . Fashion makes us submit to every deformity of dress ingenuity can in \ rent ^ withotrt a murmur or complaint . Fashion ! tl * ou all-powerful goddess ! I at this time
invoke and call thee to my assistance to give the death -blow to this barbarous , this cruel custom , which thou hast estab - lished and confirmed ; a custom which involves the hap * - piness of all thy votaries , and which in one fatal inpinent of delirium converts the mansion of felicity into the abode of- misery and distress . * ' *
The remedy I submit for consideration is as follows : — That an association be formed from the highest circles and of men of the most distinguished politeness in the kingdom ; let it be called the association of honour , and all the disputes which can now only be settled by duelling be referred to them , and judgment thereon be given by their committee appointed for that purpose , whose decision shall be
final , and the party so adjudged shall make , the required apology . It would be a gem of the brightest lustre in the crown of his Majesty to be president of this society ^ nor is such a suggestion to be accounted visionary , when I inform yqu that a gentleman long resident in Russia assures me that Catharine the Grear , treated duelling with such ridicule and contempt , that she effected in her vast empire what I am now recommending here , and the practice of
duelling in her rei g n totally ceased . It may be objected that the decisions of this court of honour would be of no avail s but let the punishment of those who are hardy enough to resist the voice of fashion be considered and it will be found otherwise . The offender would not only be accounted dishonourable , but what has more weight , unfashionable aud impolite . He should receive na
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Dnelling : 357
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yojl . ii . 3 ^
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1807, page 357, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2382/page/17/
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