DUELS IN THE UNITED STATES.
To record the duels that have taken place in the United States of
America would require a ponderous work. They not only have been very
frequent, but in general marked with a character of reckless ferocity,
that clearly shows the very slow progress of civilization in that
rising country, where we have every reason to expect and to hope that
at some future period the practice of duelling will fall into as much
disrepute as in more polished regions.
This young country, notwithstanding its constant commercial and
political relations with the European powers and the mother-land, is
but little known; indeed, a knowledge of the customs, habits, and
ideas of its inhabitants, must be difficult to obtain, from their
territorial divisions, the great extent of their provinces, and the
difference of the institutions that rule their several states: in
the one, an offence is considered a heinous crime, which in another
is deemed a mere misdemeanor, an anomaly in legislation which must
arise from the variety of their commercial and agricultural interests.
It is, moreover, to be deeply lamented that most travellers who have
described their manners, after a mere hasty glance at the state of
their society, started on the tour of inquiry fully determined to find
fault, and possibly to speculate ultimately on national prejudices, as
their works have become more or less popular according to the ridicule
they have attached to American society, or the denunciation of its
hostility towards England. On the other hand, other travellers have
launched forth into lavish and enthusiastic praise, even of their vices
and errors; and France has not been backward in sending to the States
demagogues and visionaries, who consider them the seat of liberty and
independence.
That duels should be frequent in a new settlement is naturally to be
expected, more especially when the settlers are rude and uneducated;
the distance between their dwellings, the wildness of the forest, and
the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of having recourse to legal
and competent judicial authorities to settle their endless differences,
must induce them to take the law into their own hands, and arrange
matters with sword, pistol, rifle, or bowie-knife; or, if weapons were
not at hand, by the most ferocious pugilistic contests, partaking of
the savage yet honourable boxing of their fathers, and the ferocious
refinement of their Indian neighbours. Thus, wherever a colonist
_squatted_, he became the sole guardian and protector of his log-house
and property.
The influence of example, which the conduct of the upper classes
exercises on the lower orders, is sometimes reversed, and the false
notions of right and honour, entertained by the vulgar, are too
frequently adopted by their superiors, who from political purposes
are anxious to court that popularity which a display of what is
misnamed courage is sure to obtain among a rude people, who are
unwilling, from false notions of pride, to raise themselves to the
level of the civilization of their mother country. Fortunately, this
absurd prejudice is gradually losing ground, although, if we may
form an opinion by the public press, the bombastic style and the
silly bragging of their writers will tend to retard most materially
this desirable progress. The absurd fancy of seeking to alter the
language of their ancestors, is a convincing proof of the folly of
such pretensions to superiority, which a few accidental successes in
war have carried to a pitch absolutely ridiculous. It is not easy for
their legislators and their temporary rulers to oppose this bubbling
and frothy torrent of popular vanity; nor indeed dare they stem its
dangerous tide, which wafts them to power: and thus are they often
under the painful necessity of appearing to sanction excesses which
they sincerely condemn, and to use a style of exaggeration suited to
the morbid temperament of their constituents. With us the degradation
of the hustings is an occasional occurrence; in America every
public man is hourly polling. There is a state of feverish anxiety
perpetually raging, and duelling must be the inevitable result of such
a fermentation, and will continue to prevail so long as brute force is
considered a qualification.
Several of the states, however, have endeavoured to check the practice:
that of Massachusetts framed a law for that purpose in 1719, which
was revived in 1784, and subsequently in 1805; by this enactment,
any person fighting a duel was deprived of his political rights, and
rendered ineligible to any public situation for twenty years, and the
body of the deceased, when the meeting proved fatal, was appropriated
to anatomical demonstration. Similar laws have been promulgated in
Tennessee, New York, and other states. In Virginia public officers
were called upon to take an oath never to fight a duel upon entering
on their functions, and after this resolution duels became very rare.
In New Orleans, the papers of 1834, and several recent publications,
proposed the establishment of a court of honour, to decide upon any
differences that might arise amongst its citizens; and in 1831 Mr.
Livingston published his views on this important subject, relative
to which a French writer, Dupont de Nemours, speaks in the following
terms:--
“The diversity of political opinion has rendered duelling very frequent
in the United States, Some years ago, General Hamilton, a man of the
most distinguished merit, and who had been minister of finance, was
slain in a duel by Colonel Burr, and two years before that fatal event,
the eldest son of the general had lost his life in a similar manner.
“Most of the states have denounced a sentence of death against those
duellists who have killed their adversaries. But this penalty is
only comminatory, since it is eluded by the parties repairing to a
neighbouring province, of which they are not citizens, and which has
not the power to take cognizance of their offences; the laws on this
head not extending to the whole country, but being limited to each of
the eighteen confederate states.
“Moreover, European experience has evidently shown that death does not
intimidate those who fight, because they either brave it, or wish to
show that they do not fear its terrors.
“The habits of the Virginians disposed them to duelling more than any
other of the Americans, and the extent of the country rendered it more
difficult to seek the protection of a neighbouring state; for when
people are determined to fight, they are in general impatient. The
legislature of Virginia has therefore sought to obtain its object by
a less severe penalty, which from that very reason was more likely to
prove efficacious. They considered that when in frivolous matters, or
in differences of opinion which the law tolerates and even authorizes,
a man is induced to expose himself to death or to slay another, he is
actually demented, and that, therefore, all principals and seconds in
a duel should be considered labouring under an alienation of mind,
and deprived of any public station that they might hold; that their
property, moreover, should be vested in the hands of trustees, and
in fact be considered as labouring under an interdiction. Since this
enactment, duels in the state of Virginia have been rarely heard of.”
The first notorious duel that was fought in America was in the year
1630, when a challenge to single combat with sword and dagger, passed
between Edward Doty and Edward Leister, servants of a Mr. Hopkins.
Both were wounded, the one in the hand, and the other in the thigh.
As it was deemed expedient to repress such affairs, the parties were
condemned to have their hands and feet tied together, and to lie in
that condition for twenty-four hours, without either meat or drink.
This punishment was begun to be inflicted, but in an hour the pain
they endured was so severe, that, at their own supplication and their
master’s request. Governor Bradford liberated them on their promise of
future good behaviour.
The correspondence that arose between General Wilkinson and Mr.
Randolph, a senator, is somewhat curious. The former had observed,
that he had learnt that Mr. Randolph had called him a rogue: to this
the Honourable John Randolph replied, “In you, Sir, I can recognize no
right to hold me accountable for my public or private opinion of your
character, that would not subject me to an equal claim from Colonel
Burr and Sergeant Dunbaugh. I cannot descend to your level. This is my
final answer.” Upon this concise reply, the General wrote the following
letter to the senator:--
“SIR,
“I have received your letter of the 25th instant, by mail, in which
you violate truth and honour, to indulge the inherent malignity and
rancour of your soul. On what ‘level,’ pray Sir, shall we find the
wretch who, to mark his cowardice, fabricates falsehoods, and heaps
unprovoked insults upon unmerited injuries? _You_ ‘cannot descend to
my level,’--vain, equivocal thing! And you believe this dastardly
subterfuge will avail you, or that your lion’s skin will longer conceal
your true character? Embrace the alternative still within your reach,
and ascend to the ‘level’ of a gentleman, if possible; act like a man
if you can, and spare me the pain of publishing you to the world for an
insolent, slanderous, and prevaricating poltroon.
“JAMES WILKINSON.”
There is a _N.B._ by way of postscript, to tell the senator that “the
sacred respect due to the station he occupied in the councils of the
nation, alone protected him from the chastisement of his cane.”
The General kept his word, and when Congress was assembled, the
following notice was stuck up in the corners of the streets and in all
the taverns:--
“_Hector unmasked._--In justice to my character, I denounce to the
world John Randolph, Member of Congress, a prevaricating, base,
calumniating scoundrel, poltroon, and coward.”
At the time of the French Revolution two celebrated French duellists
were residing in Philadelphia, Louis de Noailles and Alexandre de
Tilly. The Viscount de Noailles was admitted into the family of a
Mr. Bingham, one of the wealthiest merchants of Pennsylvania, and a
senator. He soon after introduced the Count de Tilly, who was much
liked by Mrs. and Miss Maria Matilda Bingham, an only daughter. The
experienced seducer soon persuaded the young lady, who was not yet of
age, to marry him privately, and they were secretly united in 1799, by
a clergyman whom they had bribed.
This marriage threw the family into a state of consternation. The
mother died heart-broken, Mr. Bingham only survived her a few years;
and a Mr. Barry thought it proper to chastise the Frenchman, who
was, however, induced to leave the United States on the following
conditions:--Five thousand pounds ready money to pay his debts,--an
annual allowance of five hundred pounds,--and an acknowledgment on
the part of Mr. Barry, either in writing or by a verbal communication
through the Count de Noailles, that he merely _pushed_ against him in a
crowd!
In the year 1804, General Hamilton, who had been just appointed
ambassador from the United States to Paris, got involved in a political
dispute with Colonel Aaron Burr, then vice-president. Dr. Cooper had
published a pamphlet, in which he had said “Colonel Hamilton and Dr.
Kent say, that they consider Colonel Burr a dangerous man, and one
unfit to be trusted with the reins of government.” In another place
the same writer said, “General Hamilton has expressed of Colonel Burr
opinions still more despicable.”
The last passage excited the resentment of Colonel Burr, who demanded
from General Hamilton “a prompt and unqualified acknowledgment or
denial of the expressions which could justify this inference on the
part of Dr. Cooper.” General Hamilton admitted the first statement,
which he contended was fairly within the bounds prescribed in cases
of political animosity, but objected to be called on to retrace every
conversation which he had held either publicly or confidentially in the
course of fifteen years’ opposition. This would not satisfy Burr, who
insisted upon satisfaction and a meeting.
On the evening before the duel Hamilton made his will, in which he
enclosed a paper, containing his opinion of duelling; and, expressive
of the reluctance with which he obeyed a custom so painful to his
feelings, he says--
“On my expected interview with Colonel Burr, I think it proper to make
some remarks explanatory of my conduct, motives, and views. I was
certainly desirous of avoiding this interview, for the most cogent
reasons:--
“_First._--My religious and moral principles are strongly opposed to
the practice of duelling, and it would ever give me pain to shed the
blood of a fellow creature in a private combat, forbidden by the laws.
“_Secondly._--My wife and children are extremely dear to me, and my
life is of the utmost importance to them, in various points of view.
“_Thirdly._--I feel a sense of obligation towards my creditors, who, in
case of accident to me, by the forced sale of my property, may be in
some degree sufferers. I do not think myself at liberty, as a man of
probity, lightly to expose them to hazard.
“_Fourthly._--I am conscious of no ill-will to Colonel Burr, distinct
from political opposition, which, as I trust, has proceeded from pure
and upright motives.
“_Lastly._--I shall hazard much and can possibly gain nothing by the
issue of the interview.”
The parties met, and Colonel Burr’s shot took fatal effect. General
Hamilton had determined not to return the fire, but, on receiving the
shock of the mortal wound, his pistol went off involuntarily in an
opposite direction.
Few individuals died more lamented than General Hamilton, whose funeral
at New York was observed with unusual respect and ceremony. All the
public functionaries attended, and the bells, muffled, tolled during
the day. All business was suspended, and the principal inhabitants wore
mourning for six weeks. No death, save that of Washington, had filled
the republic with such deep and universal regret.
A singular and fatal duel was fought in New York by the late Stephen
Price, well-known as the former lessee of Drury Lane theatre. The
following is an account of this affair, extracted from the American
papers:--
“Benjamin Price was a grocer at Rhinebeck, and was considered the
flower of the flock. He was at the theatre one evening with a
beautiful woman, when a British officer, in an adjoining box, took
the liberty of turning round and staring her full in the face. She
complained to Ben Price, and, on a repetition of the offence, he turned
round and seized the nose of the officer full between his finger and
thumb, and wrung it most effectually.
“The officer left the box, and soon after a knock was heard at the door
of Ben Price’s box. Ben opened it, and there stood the officer, whose
name was Green, and who asked Ben, what he meant by this behaviour? at
the same time remarking, that he had not meant to insult the lady by
what he had done. ‘Oh! very well,’ replied Ben, ‘neither did I mean
to insult you by what I did.’ Upon this they shook hands as sworn
brothers; and some time after Mr. Green went to Canada to join his
regiment.
“The facts of this affair, however, reached Canada as soon as Mr. Green
did, and of course were bruited about. The officers of his regiment,
one of whom had a pique against him, caused it to be brought under the
notice of his brother officers, one of whom, a Captain Wilson, insisted
that Green should be sent to Coventry, unless he went back directly and
fought Ben Price. Green, therefore, set to work, and practised for five
hours every day, until he could hit a dollar at ten paces nine times
out of ten. He then came to New York, and challenged Ben Price. They
fought at Hoboken, and Ben was killed on the first fire. The seconds
ran off, and Green took a small boat, crossed the river, and boarded
a vessel in the bay just about to sail for England. The body of Ben
was found at Hoboken, with a piece of paper attached to his breast, on
which were inscribed the following words:--‘This is Benjamin Price,
boarding in Veney Street, New York,--take care of him.’ The body was
brought to the city quietly, and he was buried in New York.”
“Some years afterwards, Captain Wilson of the British army, whom we
have mentioned above, arrived in this city, from England, on his way
to Canada, and put up at the Washington Hotel. One day, at dinner,
the conversation turned on the death of Ben Price, and the manner
thereof. Captain Wilson remarked that he had been mainly instrumental
in bringing about the duel, and detailed the circumstances connected
therewith. This statement was carried immediately to Stephen Price, who
was lying ill of the gout, at home: his friends say that he henceforth
implicitly obeyed the instructions of the physician, obtained thereby
a short cessation of the gout, and was enabled to hobble out of doors,
his lower extremities swaddled in flannel. His first course was to
seek the Washington Hotel, and his first inquiry was, ‘Is Captain
Wilson within?’--‘He is,’ said the waiter.--‘Show me to his room,’
said Stephen, and he was shown accordingly. He hobbled up stairs with
great difficulty, cursing at intervals the gout and the captain with
equal vehemence. He at last entered the captain’s room, his feet cased
in mocassins, and his hand grasping a stick. Captain Wilson rose to
receive him, when he said, ‘Are you Captain Wilson?’--‘That is my
name,’ replied the gallant captain. ‘Then, Sir, my name is Stephen
Price. You see, Sir, I can scarcely put one foot before the other; I
am afflicted with the gout. My object in coming here, is to insult
you. Shall I have to knock you down, or will you consider what I have
said a sufficient insult, and act accordingly?’--‘No, Sir,’ replied
the captain, smiling, ‘I shall consider what you have said quite
sufficient, and shall act accordingly. You shall hear from me.’”
“In due time there came a message from the captain to Stephen Price;
time, place, and weapons were appointed, and early one morning a barge
left New York, in which were seated, face to face, Stephen Price and
Captain Wilson and two friends: they all landed at Bedlaw’s Island,
the principals took their positions, and Captain Wilson fell dead at
the first shot. The captain was buried in the vault there, and Price
and the two seconds returned to New York; but his friends (Wilson’s)
thought that he had gone suddenly to Canada, and always thought that
he had died suddenly, or had been killed on his way to England to join
his regiment.”
It is surprising that in a country where such an event as the death
of General Hamilton could be productive of such a general feeling of
regret, duels of the most wanton and desperate nature so frequently
occur. But a very few years since a furious outbreak of temper was
manifested in the state of Louisiana, where a Mr. Labranch, president
of the legislative assembly, as he was about taking the chair, was
assaulted by a Mr. Grymes, who endeavoured to strike him with a stick,
when he drew a pocket pistol and fired at the aggressor, but missed
him, and Grymes, in his turn, drew out a horse pistol loaded with ball
and slugs, and fired at him. The ball grazed the head of a senator who
was seated near the chairman, and who received two slugs in his arm and
hand. This occurred in 1835.
The same year a duel took place between a lieutenant of the American
Navy, and three passengers in a steam-boat, two of whom were brothers.
The parties landed; the lieutenant received a ball in the hip, and one
of the brothers fell dead on his fire. The surviving brother sought to
avenge him, but also received a mortal wound. The third survivor now
insisted upon satisfaction from the lieutenant’s second, whom he shot
in the breast; he then obliged the lieutenant, although exhausted from
loss of blood, to satisfy him still further, when he mortally wounded
him.
Fighting with rifles and muskets, sometimes by beat of drum, is not an
uncommon method of settling an American dispute; and frequently, as in
the case of their disputes with our officers at Gibraltar, Americans
have insisted upon fighting _double-handed_, or resting the pistol to
level it on the left arm: a proposal made to one of our officers, a
Captain G----, who had lost the use of his right arm in the Pyrenees,
but who contrived with his left to wound very severely the desperado
who sought to take such an unfair advantage of an honourable infirmity.
These differences, to which we shall refer elsewhere, must have led to
the most fatal consequences, had not the American commodore very wisely
put out to sea.
It is to be lamented that this recklessness of life, that prevails
in the United States of America, should have extended its baneful
influence over our West India colonies. Both the British and French
creoles are hasty in the expression of their displeasure, and
vindictive in seeking to avenge their real or supposed wrongs. This
circumstance is perhaps to be attributed to the great mortality which
afflicts these unhealthy regions, as the constant sight of death, and
the incessant tolling of the passing bell, must in a great measure
strip death of many of its terrors. It is also to be observed, that
the creoles, who enjoy a short but a merry life, are much addicted to
the pleasures of the table, and balls generally succeed the festival,
when the passions, excited by previous stimulants, predispose to a
captious and jealous susceptibility; and wine and women reign paramount
in the assembly. To this circumstance may be superadded the constant
dissensions in colonial politics, where the representatives of the
place are often in collision with the government; and it is to be
lamented, that too frequently the crown lawyers themselves, instead
of endeavouring to check the evils that must arise from such a want
of concert and harmony, are the first to disturb the public peace;
and attorney-general and solicitor-general are occasionally the most
troublesome and pugnacious members of society.
A very severe lesson was given to a noted French duellist in Jamaica,
by the captain of a West Indiaman, which is worthy of record. Henri
d’Egville was a creole of St. Domingo, and had obtained great notoriety
from the frequent quarrels and fatal duels in which he had been
engaged. He was dining one day at Kingston, in company with several
persons, amongst whom was a Scotch captain, of the name of Stewart. The
meeting was convivial, and various songs and toasts were called for
and given. At last D’Egville requested Stewart to sing a Gaëlic song,
which the Scotchman declined on the plea of his ignorance of that
language. The Frenchman insisted, when Stewart sang a Scotch drinking
song, which D’Egville, who understood but little English, took for a
Gaëlic strain. Here the matter ended, the party broke up, and Stewart
repaired to his vessel, accompanied by a friend, when the conversation
turned upon duelling, and the reputation that D’Egville had obtained of
being a dangerous man. Stewart expressed his horror of duelling, and
admitted that it had been his misfortune to kill one of his intimate
friends, of the name of Cameron, in a hostile meeting, occasioned by
some difference between them concerning a lady, when Cameron had struck
him. The Scotchman expressed his deep sorrow for that melancholy event,
which had ever since embittered his existence.
While the parties were thus conversing, they perceived a boat pulling
towards the ship, and Stewart recognised in it a Captain Wilthorpe,
an officer in the Columbian service, a professed duellist, and the
constant and worthy companion of D’Egville. Stewart had strange
forebodings at this unexpected visit, which were soon realised.
Wilthorpe came on board, and, after politely saluting the captain
and his friend, delivered a message from Henri d’Egville, who had
considered himself mystified by Stewart’s having sought to impose upon
him an English song for a Gaëlic specimen.
The Scotch captain expressed his surprise at this communication, and at
the same time declared his firm resolution not to fight a duel after
the melancholy result of a former one in which he had been engaged.
Wilthorpe withdrew and returned to his boat. Stewart, shortly after
having occasion to go on shore, met D’Egville on horseback, when the
latter rode up to him, struck him with a horsewhip, and galloped off.
Stewart, greatly indignant at this outrageous conduct, formed the
resolution of ridding the world of such a pestilence; and at the same
time perilling his own life by compelling the Frenchman to fight a
duel which would render the fall of both of them certain. He sent
him a message, and requested a meeting behind the Iguanna rocks. He
then, accompanied by two of his men, proceeded to the rendezvous, and
directed them to dig a grave sufficiently deep to receive two bodies.
D’Egville soon appeared, and Stewart proposed, as conditions of the
duel, that they both should stand in the grave, holding their pistols
in one hand and the end of a pocket-handkerchief in the other. The
sun was shedding its parting rays on the wild spot he had selected.
Stewart was firm and calm: the Frenchman, despite his efforts to appear
undismayed, betrayed evident signs of perturbation.
The seconds, one of whom was Wilthorpe, drew lots for the word of
command--the fatal signal of death. The parties descended into the
pit; Stewart with an undaunted step, D’Egville with much trepidation.
The handkerchief was placed in their hands, firmly grasped by the
Scotchman, tremblingly held by the creole: the word “Fire” was about
to be given, when the ruffian swooned and fell at the feet of his
adversary. Stewart spurned him with his foot, as a dastardly and
contemptible coward, and left him to the care of his worthy companion
and friend.
In the same colony, a fatal duel of a most singular nature took place
in 1830. Two planters, having made rather free at a merry dinner,
quarrelled and determined to fight a duel with muskets. Their boon
companions consented to the meeting; but, knowing the friendship that
had long existed between them, and the absurdity of the dispute, they
determined to load the pieces with powder and without ball. The parties
met, fired by signal, when, to the utter dismay of the seconds and
the party assembled to witness the sham fight, one of them was shot
in the back and dropped a corpse. Recovered from their surprise, they
carefully examined the surrounding bush, when at last they discovered
a negro concealed under a tree, and armed with a carbine. The man was
seized, and confessed that he was the assassin. The motives that had
impelled him to this deed were most singular. It appeared that the
preceding day, one of the planters had passed by a gibbet on which a
negro was hanging, when he wantonly put a pipe in the mouth of the
culprit. It was a companion of the unfortunate man, who, on beholding
the action, resolved on punishing the planter as soon as a favourable
opportunity might present itself. He was present when the duel was
decided on, and he hastened to his cabin, loaded a carbine, and
concealing himself behind a tree, near the scene of action, intended to
fire upon his victim; but the darkness of the night led to the fatal
mistake, which deprived the offender’s adversary of life.
It is not only in the British colonies that law officers show the
detestable example of duelling. In 1829 the attorney-general of
Martinique shot a French count, in consequence of some ill-timed jokes
in a ball-room. Not long ago, the governor of one of our transatlantic
possessions fought a duel with the chief-justice of the island. Nor can
we be surprised at these disgraceful occurrences, when it is notorious
that the judicial and legal situations in the colonies are not always
conferred on merit, legal attainments, or proper qualifications, but
often upon persons who merely possess patronage; and any tyro who is
called to the bar is considered fit for the judicial bench of a colony,
or the duties of a crown lawyer. The same abuse of power became the
curse of the Spanish American possessions; whenever a _hidalgo_ was
ruined, or too poor to live in the mother country, or unfit for any
situation at home, he was sent out to _Las Indias_ to make a fortune.
It seems to be the destiny of all colonies to be subject to misrule and
oppression; and one might imagine that to _colonize_, imports creating
future _enemies_.
Amongst people of colour duels are not uncommon: at Hayti, the greatest
insult is to call a man a mulatto, an offence which induced one of
their generals of the name of Lapointe to order the legs of a negro to
be sawed off.
The evils of colonization are every day becoming more evident in
Algeria, a possession which will prove to France a drain of blood
and treasure, and the tranquillity of which is frequently disturbed
by disputes and duels, both amongst military men and civil officers.
There, as in America, party spirit runs high; and the greater the
difficulties public functionaries have to encounter in the discharge of
their duty, and their care of personal interest, the more liable will
society be to a want of harmony and difference of opinion. Colonies may
be considered as republics belonging to monarchical governments, and
many anomalies must necessarily prevail in their administration.
The subject of duelling in the United States, and the many causes of
its frequency to which we have alluded, cannot be better illustrated
than by the following extract from the works of our poet Moore:--
“The rude familiarity of the lower orders, and indeed the unpolished
state of society in general, would neither surprise nor disgust, if
they seemed to flow from that simplicity of character, that honest
ignorance of the glass of refinement, which may be looked for in a new
and inexperienced people. But when we find them arrived at maturity in
most of the vices, and in all the pride of civilization, while they
are still so remote from its elegant characteristics, it is impossible
not to feel that this youthful decay, this crude anticipation of the
natural period of corruption, represses every sanguine hope of the
future energy and greatness of America.”
Although we cannot agree with our author in the latter part of his
opinion, as America is daily rising to power and eminence, yet there
is no doubt that the rancorous hostility which will long prevail
between the democrats and the federalists, the wealthy and the poor,
the northern and the southern, will prove for a considerable time an
endless source of discord in a land where licentiousness is considered
liberty.