Page:A Declaration of the People's Natural Right to a Share in the Legislature (1775) (IA declarationofpeo00shar).djvu/19

[ ix ] down the same principle (though in different words) towards the beginning of Chancellor to the young Prince,‭) “‬you have heard of‭ ‬other enormities like to these,‭ ‬and some even worse‭ ‬than these‭ — ‬detestably and damnably perpetrated no‭ o‬therwise than under the colour‭ (‬or pretence‭) ‬of‭ ‬that Law, viz. Quod Principi placuit‭ (‬juxta Leges‭ ‬Civiles‭) ‬legis habet vigorem.‭” “‬Etiam et alia enormia,” ‭(s‬ays he,‭) “‬hiis fimilia,‭ ‬ac quaedam hiis deteriora,‭ ‬dum in Francia et prope regnum illud conversatus es,‭ ‬audisti non alio,‭ ‬quam legis illius colore ,‭ quæ hic ‬inferere, nostrum nimium dialogum protelaret,‭" &‬c.

Whether or not this particular mode of dispatching the‭ ‬French King's Subjects is yet in use,‭ ‬I know not‭; ‬but of‭ ‬this we are well assured,‭ that ‬private executions of persons unknown are still practiced there,‭ ‬which in effect are equally dangerous, and cannot be considered in any other‭ ‬light than that of so many wilful Murders,‭ ‬for which‭ ‬the Kings of France,‭ ‬and all those men whom they have‭ ‬intrusted with the administration of Justice,‭ ‬are most‭ ‬certainly accountable,‭ ‬and must one day answer in‭ ‬their own private persons as individuals,‭ b‬esides the‭ ‬enormous guilt which lies heavy upon that whole‭ ‬people as a nation,‭ f‬or passively permitting such notorious and crying iniquity to be practised among them‭ ‬under the borrowed name of the Law:‭ ‬And it is not only‭ ‬the dispatching of men‭ (‬to put them out of the way of‭ ‬opposition to Government‭) ‬that is intended by these‭ m‬idnight executions,‭ ‬but also,‭ ‬in some cases,‭ ‬to satisfy‭ ‬a base malicious revenge,‭ ‬by torturing the helpless victim with the cruel death of breaking on the wheel‭; ‬for,‭ ‬as both the name and crime of the sufferer are concealed,‭ (‬or perhaps a wrong name given out to prevent pity,‭) ‬it cannot be said that such cruelty is used‭ ‬by way of example to deter bad men from committing treason,‭ ‬or other particular crimes‭; so that