Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/495

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DUDLEY 433 DUFFY Mary to order his immediate execution (1554). DUDLEY, JOHN, Duke of North- umberland, son of Sir Edmund Dudley, minister of Henry VII.; born in 1502. He was left by Henry VIII. one of the ex- ecutors named in his will, as a kind of Toint-regent during the minority of Edward VI. Under that prince he mani- fested the most insatiable ambition and obtained vast accessions of honors, power- and emoluments. The illness of the king, over whom he had gained complete ascendency, aroused his fears, and he endeavored to strengthen his interest by marrying his son. Lord Guildford Dudley, to Lady Jane Grey, descended from the younger sister of Henry VIII., and per- suaded Edward to settle the crown on his kinswoman by will, to the exclusion of his two sisters, the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. The death of the king, the abortive attempts to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne, and the ruin of all those concerned in the scheme are among the most familiar events in the annals of England. He was beheaded in 1553. DUDLEY, ROBERT, Earl of Leicester. See Leicester. DUEL, a premeditated and prearranged combat between two persons with deadly weapons, for the purpose of deciding some private difference or quarrel. The combat generally takes place in the pres- ence of witnesses, called seconds, who make arrangements as to the mode of righting, 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 of duelling is referred to the trial by "wager of battle" which obtained in early ages. This form of duel arose among the Germanic peo- ples, and a judicial combat of the kind was authorized by Gundebald, King of the Burgundians, as early as 501 A. d. When the judicial combat declined the modern duel arose, being probably to some extent an independent outcome of the spirit and institutions of chivalry. France was the country in which it arose, the 16th cen- tury being the time at which it first be- came common. 6,000 persons fell in duels during 10 years of the reign of Henry IV. In 1602 the king issued a decree against dueling, declaring it punishable with death, but the practice continued. The practice of dueling was introduced into England from France in the reign of James I.; but it was never so common as in the latter country. Cromwell was an enemy of the duel, and during the Pro- tectorate there was a cessation of the practice. It came again into vogue, how- lever, after the Restoration, thanks chief- ly to the French ideas that then inun- dated the court. As society became more polished duels became more frequent, and they were never more numerous than in the reign of George III. Among the principals in the fatal duels of this pe- riod were Charles James Fox, Sheridan, Pitt, Canning, Castlereagh, the Duke of York, the Duke of Richmond, and Lord Camelford. The last mentioned was the most notorious duelist of his time, and was himself killed in a duel in 1804. A duel was fought between the Duke of Well- ington and Lord Winchelsea in 1829, but the practice was dying out. It lasted longest in the army. By English law fatal duelling is considered murder, and the seconds are liable to the same penalty as the principals. An officer in the army having anything to do with a duel ren- ders himself liable to be cashiered. In France duelling still prevails to a certain extent; but the combats are usually very bloodless. In the German army it is com- mon, and is recogrnized by law. In the United States duels are nearly everywhere prohibited by State laws. In some of the States the killing of a man in a duel is punishable by death or by forfeiture of political rights, and in a large number the sending of a challenge is a felony. In the army and navy it is forbidden. During the Revolution there were a number of duels. Alexan- der Hamilton was slain by Aaron Burr. Decatur was killed and Barron wounded fighting a duel. Andrew Jackson killed Dickinson, and fought several other duels. Henry Clay and John Randolph fought in 1826. De Witt Clinton was a duelist. DUFFERIN, FREDERICK TEMPLE HAMILTON-BLACKWOOD, MARQUIS OF, a British statesman and author, son of the 4th Baron Dufferin; born in Florence in 1826. He began his public services in 1855, when he was atteched to Earl Russell's mission to Vienna. Sub- sequently he was sent as commissioner to Syria in connection with the massacre of the Christians (1860) ; was under Indian secretary (1864-1866) ; under secretary for war (1866) ; chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1868-1872) ; Governor-gen- eral of Canada (1872-1878) ; ambassador ■at St. Petersburg (1879-1881); at Con- stantinople (1882) ; sent to Cairo to settle the affairs of the country after Arabi Pasha's rebellion (1882-1883) ; Viceroy of India (1884-1888) ; ambassador to Italy (1889), and to France (1891), He died Feb. 12, 1902. DUFFY, SIR CHARLES GAVIN, an Irish patriot; born in County Monaghan in 1816; early devoted himself to jour- nalism in Dublin and Belfast, returning to the former in 1842 to start along with