A council of
mercy ought therefore to be appointed, with powers to report on each
case, to soften the penalty, or entirely to remit it, according to
circumstances.
With these precautions, the very first foundation of settlement must be
to call to a strict account those bloody and merciless offenders.
Without it, government cannot stand a year. People little consider the
utter impossibility of getting those who, having emerged from very low,
some from the lowest classes of society, have exercised a power so high,
and with such unrelenting and bloody a rage, quietly to fall back into
their old ranks, and become humble, peaceable, laborious, and useful
members of society. It never can be. On the other hand, is it to be
believed that any worthy and virtuous subject, restored to the ruins of
his house, will with patience see the cold-blooded murderer of his
father, mother, wife, or children, or perhaps all of these relations,
(such things have been,) nose him in his own village, and insult him
with the riches acquired from the plunder of his goods, ready again to
head a Jacobin faction to attack his life? He is unworthy of the name of
man who would suffer it.
Pages:
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648