If these princes had shown a tyrannic disposition, it would be much to
be lamented. We have no others to govern France. If we screened the body
of murderers from their justice, we should only leave the innocent in
future to the mercy of men of fierce and sanguinary dispositions, of
which, in spite of all our intermeddling in their Constitution, we could
not prevent the effects. But as we have much more reason to fear their
feeble lenity than any blamable rigor, we ought, in my opinion, to leave
the matter to themselves.
If, however, I were asked to give an advice merely as such, here are my
ideas. I am not for a total indemnity, nor a general punishment. And
first, the body and mass of the people never ought to be treated as
criminal. They may become an object of more or less constant
watchfulness and suspicion, as their preservation may best require, but
they can never become an object of punishment. This is one of the few
fundamental and unalterable principles of politics.
To punish them capitally would be to make massacres.
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