Dueling

The truly great are only those who, regarding life as a voyage that must lead them to an objective, make little ado about the rough spots along the way, and never allow themselves for an instant to detour from the upright path. With their eyes constantly set on their objective, it matters little to them that the barbs and thorns of the path threaten to cause them scratches; these graze them without harming them, and they stay on course. To expose their lives by avenging themselves for an offense is to recoil before life’s trials;  it is always a crime in God’s eyes and if you were not as enthralled as you are by your prejudices, dueling would be deemed a ridiculous and supreme folly to human eyes.

Death resulting from a duel is a crime of homicide – your own legislation recognizes this fact. No one has the right in any event to make an attempt on the life of his fellow man. It is a crime in the eyes of God, who has traced out your line of conduct. Here, more than anywhere else, you are judges of your own case. Remember that you will be forgiven only according to how you yourselves have forgiven; through forgiving, you draw nearer to the Divine One, for clemency is the brother of power. As long as one drop of human blood runs over the earth as the result of human hands, the true kingdom of God will not have arrived: that kingdom of peace and love, which must banish animosity, discord and war from your globe forever. Then, the word duel will no longer exist in your language except as a far-off, vague memory of a past which once was; men will recognize among themselves no other antagonism than the noble rivalry of doing the good.

Adolphe, Bishop of Alger (Marmande, 1861)