The Conway Cabal was an intrigue by Gates, Lee, Mifflin, Wilkinson and others of George Washington' officers, in 1777, for the promotion of Brigadier-General Thomas Conway, contrary to George Washington's judgment. Washington was accused of incompetence and partiality, and finally Congress was prevailed upon to promote Conway to major-general and inspector-general. In 1778 Conway was wounded in a duel and apologized to Washington, confessing his wrong. Research Conway Cabal
A duel (from the Latin duellum) is a single combat following on a challenge, for the purpose of deciding some private difference or quarrel, and conducted according to the regulations of the code of honour. The combat generally takes place in the presence of witnesses called seconds, who make arrangements as to the mode of fighting, place the weapons in the hands of the combatants, and see that the laws they have laid down are carried out. The origin of the practice may probably be traced to the judicial combats of the northern tribes who overthrew the Roman power. Possessing no well-defined system of jurisprudence, they refereed the settlement of all disputes to an appeal to arms, invoking the deity to defend the right.
Duelling took hold early in France, and it is calculated that 6000 persons fell in duels during ten years of the reign of Henry IV. His minister, Sully, remonstrated against the practice; but the king connived at it, supposing that it tended to maintain a military spirit among his people. In 1602, however, he issued a decree against it, and declared it to be punishable with death. Many subsequent prohibitions were issued, but they were all powerless to stop the practice. During the minority of Louis XIV. more than 4000 nobles are said to have lost their lives in duels.
Duelling with small swords was introduced into England in 1587 from France. The first recorded English duel took place in 1096 between Williamcount of Eu and Godfrey Baynard. Duelling has always been illegal in England, with the issue of a challenge seen as a breach of the peace and the killing of an opponent as murder or manslaughter, with the charge raised against the survivor and the seconds. Notable duels include: Between the duke of Hamilton and lord Mohun which was fought with small swords in Hyde Park on the 15th of November 1712. Lord Mohun was killed on the spot and the duke died of his wounds as he was being carried to his coach. On the 8th of June 1807 a Mr Alcock killed a Mr Colcough and went mad as a result. On the 21st of March 1829 the Duke of Wellington and the earl of Winchelsea duelled with no injury, indeed the duel was a farce with both parties firing into the air. Research Duel
Trial by Battle also known as Wager by Battle, was a Norman innovation by which some civil actions and trials for felony at the private suit of the persons wronged might be decided by personal combat. A woman, a priest, a peer, or a person physically incapable of fighting could refuse such a trial. In civil cases men were usually hired to fight the duel, but in cases of felony or murder accuser and accused fought personally until one was slain. If the accused gave in, he was put to death: if he killed his opponent or the fight lasted from sunrise to sunset, he was acquitted. The last trial by battle was waged in the court of common please, Westminster in 1571; in the court of chivalry in 1631; and in the court of Durham in 1639. In the case of Ashford v. Thornton in 1818, the accused in a trial for murder pleaded 'Not guilty; and I am ready to defend the same by my body.' The plea was held good, and the accused set free, as the accuser would not fight. Trial by Battle was abolished by statute in 1818. Research Trial by Battle
Aaron Burr was an American lawyer and politician. He was born in 1756 at Newark, New Jersey and died in 1836. After graduating from Princeton in 1772 he joined the army at the outbreak of the revolution and served in Arnold's expedition through Maine to Canada, afterwards rising to the rank of colonel. He was a Republican Senator for New York from 1791 until 1797 and later a member of the New York Assembly. He was Vice-President to Thomas Jefferson from 1801 to 1805, having achieved the same number of votes for President as Thomas Jefferson, but having not been chosen for President by the House of Representatives which preferred Thomas Jefferson. In 1804 he fought a duel with Hamilton which resulted in Hamilton being mortally wounded. After retiring from the position of Vice-President he allegedly plotted the formation of an independent state in the Southwest, and was arrested and charged with treason, but was acquitted and subsequently left the USA for Europe, returning some years later to obscurity and poverty. Research Aaron Burr
Alexander Hamilton was an American patriot. He was born in 1757 at Nevis in the West Indies and died in 1804 in a duel. He was on the one side of Scottish, on the other of French birth. Deprived of parental care at an early age, he developed an astonishing precocity, and was, in 1772, sent to New York City. There, after a short period of preparation, he entered King's (later Columbia) College. While the Revolutionary fever was at its height Hamilton, in July, 1774, made a public speech on the patriotic side, marvellous for a boy of seventeen. He followed up this success by a vigorous war of pamphlets. When hostilities began Hamilton organized a cavalry company and served at Long Island and White Plains. As a member of George Washington's staff he rendered valuable aid; resigning from membership in the staff in 1781 he ended a brilliant military career at Yorktown, studied law, and married the daughter of General Schuyler. For a short time, between 1782 and 1783 he was in the Continental Congress.
He had risen to eminence at the New York bar, when he took part in the Annapolis Convention of 1786. There followed two years of contests and triumphs of the greatest renown to himself and moment to his country. Alexander Hamilton was one of the chief members of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He advocated a very strong-central government, but accepted the results of that assembly, and returned to New York to further by pen and voice the ratification of the American National Constitution. It is little exaggeration to say that Alexander Hamilton was practically the Federal party in New York. Of the eighty-five papers in the Federalist fifty-one are undisputedly his, and he had a part in the production of others.
At the State ratifying Convention in 1788 at Poughkeepsie he contended almost single-handed against a two-thirds majority, which he converted into a minority. He entered George Washington's Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury in 1789. His report on the public credit, reports on revenue, the mint, the bank, manufactures, etc., were of the utmost value in placing the finances on a sound footing. Meanwhile within the Cabinet he was confronted with Jefferson, advocate of radically different ideas; the two great leaders quarrelled almost incessantly, and Alexander Hamilton resigned in 1795.
He had previously accompanied the army for the suppression of the Whiskey Insurrection. He defended Jay's Treaty with Great Britain in the able Camillus letters, and was concerned in the preparation of George Washington's Farewell Address. He was, in 1798, appointed inspector-general in view of the imminent war with France. But he quarrelled with President John Adams and intrigued against the latter and in favour of Pinckney. Alexander Hamilton and Burr had been political enemies; the latter, while Vice-President, brought on a duel at Weehawken, New Jersey, on July the 11th, 1804, in which Alexander Hamilton was mortally wounded.
He also wrote, the Pacificus letters, report on the public debt in 1789, etc. Alexander Hamilton was perhaps one of the most brilliant of early American statesmen; his state papers were models of luminous and convincing argumentation; and he had an extraordinary genius for administrative organization. His weaknesses were, an imperious self-confidence, and want of popular sympathies. Research Alexander Hamilton
Armand Carrel was a French republican writer. He was born in 1800 and died in 1836 in a duel. For some years he was an officer in the army, but latterly settled in Paris, and acquired a reputation as an essayist and contributor to the leading opposition papers. In 1827 he published a history of the English Revolution of 1688, and in 1830 united with Thiers and Mignet in editing the National, which soon rose to be the leading newspaper in opposition to the government of Charles X. After the revolution his colleagues joined the government of Louis Philippe, and he was left with the chief direction of the paper, which still continued in opposition. In 1832 the National became openly republican, and enjoyed great popularity. He was killed in 1836 in a duel with Emile de Girardin. Research Armand Carrel
Arthur Thistlewood was a British revolutionary. He was born in 1770 at Tupholme, Lincolnshire and died in 1820. After serving in the army abroad he returned to England, settled in London and joined other malcontents intent on revolution. In 1816 he was arrested for his part in an unsuccessful uprising, but was acquitted. Later he was imprisoned for challenging the home-secretary, Lord Sidmouth, to a duel. In 1820 he organised the Cato Street Conspiracy, was subsequently arrested, convicted and hanged for high-treason. Research Arthur Thistlewood
Emile de Girardin was a French journalist and politician. He was born in 1802 at Switzerland and died in 1881. Educated in Paris, he was connected as projector, editor, or otherwise with a number of newspapers and periodicals, the most successful being La Presse, a Conservative organ established in 1836. A controversy in its columns led to a duel between Emile de Girardin and Armand Carrel, which proved fatal to the latter. In politics Emile de Girardin played many parts. He was fined 5000 francs in 1867 for attacks on the imperial government in La Liberte. He wrote numerous political pamphlets, and a few pieces for the stage. Research Emile De Girardin
Ferdinand Lassalle was a German socialist. He was born in 1825 and died in 1864. He was foremost amongst the founders of the Social Democratic Party in Germany. He differed in his views to those of Marx, being an ardent patriot (whereas Marx was an internationalist). He was killed in a duel, at the age of 39 in 1864. Research Ferdinand Lassalle
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Acre-Fight
