The New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

October 9. A private letter from Dublin informs us, that as two young officers were drinking a glass in a tavern, a dispute arose relative to a young lady, whom one of them paid his addresses to, and involved them in a quarrel, which, by the interposition of a gentleman present, was at that time compromised; but the next morning one of them sent a challenge to the other, who instead of accepting it, returned the following answer:

SIR,

"I reckon it my peculiar happiness that I can produce officers and soldiers, who witnessed my behaviour in America during the late war, as evidence of my courage. You may endeavor, if you please, to propagate my refusing your challenge, and brand me with cowardice: but I am fully convinced that nobody will believe me guilty—and every body will see you are malicious. The cause in which we quarrelled was a trifle; the blood of a soldier should be reserved for nobler purposes—love is blind—resentment mean, and taste capricious—and it ought to be considered, that murder, though palliated by a false shew of honor, is murder still, and calls for vengeance."

An instance this of a nobleness of nature, that challenges unlimited admiration; and indeed, as every soldier is a servant of the public, he can be accounted nothing but a deserter who risks his life unnecessarily, which should be reserved to fight in the cause of liberty and his country.