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Untitled Article
the enforcement of those principles of humanity and Christian forbearance towards the guilty which were dearest to his heart . * Well do I remember how deeply I lamented the overthrow of all
my hopes in the early part of the former revolution , when the most precious blood of France was poured out on the scaffold ; and now my chief object of anxiety is that the French nation may finish , with magnanimity and humanity , the glorious work it has so well begun . I allude to the situation of the wretched individuals who have been
the cause of all this commotion , and who are deeply stained with the blood of their fellow-citizens , but to whose criminal temerity it is owing that France is free . Will she require their blood in return ? I hope not . I should be sorry to see the same unsparing maxims acted upon by a free government , as have in all ages characterized despotic monarchies , to whom the ultima linea rerum , is always at hand ; but it is time that Europe should change its maxims , and that an example
should be given which should not derogate from the character that France has already obtained , and show that a better era is opened upon society . What ! it may be asked , would you suffer these traitors to their country to go unpunished ? By no means ; but I would punish them in a manner more consistent with the character of a great nation , which has nothing to fear , than by depriving them of life . '—vol . ii . p . 387 .
So firmly did our venerable philanthropist adhere to his emphatic declaration in c Lorenzo de Medici / that * no end can justify the sacrifice of a principle , nor was a crime ever necessary in the course of human affairs . '
While adverting to Mr . Koscoe ' s interest in the subject of criminal jurisprudence and prison discipline , we cannot forbear remarking on the mingled independence of judgment and love of human sympathy which appears so strikingl y manifested in the memorials of his zeal in this cause . We all know that he was
frequently regarded and often spoken of by some of those whose opinions he highly valued , with some slight degree of disdain , as a benevolent visionary , whose ideas could never be realized oa earth . Now those who know this , ought also to know that Mr . ltoscoe was not a man who could harden himself against these things . He felt , keenly felt them . His heart was too susceptible
and too affectionate not to long for the suffrages of all who were dear to it . He did not want to feel superiority over any human being , not even over a child , if he could but bring that child into a participation of his views . There was not in his composition one spark of the pride of being original for originality ' s sake , or of the
wilfulness of opposition . Altogether , perhaps no lriJin ever existed whose benevolent purposes were pursued with more entire simplicity and singleness of heart , who was less fettered b y his human attachments , and yet more alive to their value . He was essentially social ; sympathizing with and taking to his heart at once all in whom he perceived the bright beamings of good will to man ,
Untitled Article
672 On the Life and Character of the late Mr . Roscoe .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1833, page 672, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2624/page/12/
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