PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

Of Crimel and Punisl}mentl. 405
the distress and poverty, which the loss and employment
would produce to th~ industrious and valuable
part of the existing comnolunity ~ a rapid depopu~
Iation nlust take place, each generation becoming less
numerous than the last, till solitud e and ~arren.
ness over'pread the land; until a desolation similar
to what obtains in mal1Y couDtries of Asia, which
were once the most civilized and frequented parts of
the world, succeed in the place of cro\vded cities,
of cultivated fields, of h:lppy and well-peopled regions?
When we carry forwards, therefore, our
views to the more distarJt,' but not less certain con ..
sequences of these crimes, we perceive that, though
no living creature be destroyed by them, }~et "human
1ife is dilninished; tIlat an oHerlce, ~he particular
consequence of which deprives- only an individual of
a sOlall portion of his prGperty, and \\!hich even in
its general tendency seems to do nothing more than
obstruct the enjoyment of certaiIl public COIIVenien­
~es, may neverttlelc~s, by its ultinlate effects, con­
~J\lde in the laying ,\\Taste-of Iluman exi8tence. This
observation will enable tI10se who regard the di\,ine
rule of " life for life, and blood" for blood," as the
only authurized and justifiable measure of capital
punishment, t;') p~l·ceive, \vith respect to the effect.3
and quality cf the (1 :tions, a greater resemblance than
they suppose to exist, betweeIl certain atrocious frauds,
and those crimes which attack persollJl s~:fet)?
I In the case of forgeries thdr appears a substantial
~ifference between the forging of bills of exchange,
or of securities which are circulatc'd, and of w hirh
the circulation and currency are found to ser\7e and
facilit~te valuable purposes of conlmerce, and the
forging of bonds, leases, mortgages, or of instrumenrs
which are not commonly transferred from I
one hand to another; because~ in the former cas't!
*credit is necessarily given to the' signature, and, without
tl]at credit, the ncgodation of ~uch property could
not be carried on, nor the public utility ~ought from
it be attained; in the other case, alJ possibility of
drccit might be precluded, by a direct communication
t)ct\,ieel1 the parties, or l)y dllC CClrt-' in tl1c r.hoic~