I shall therefore order that
you receive two tablespoonfuls of castor-oil daily, until the pleasure of
the court be further known."
When the sentence was concluded, the prisoner acknowledged in a few
scarcely audible words that he was justly punished, and that he had had a
fair trial. He was then removed to the prison from which he was never to
return. There was a second attempt at applause when the judge had
finished speaking, but as before it was at once repressed; and though the
feeling of the court was strongly against the prisoner, there was no show
of any violence against him, if one may except a little hooting from the
bystanders when he was being removed in the prisoners' van. Indeed,
nothing struck me more during my whole sojourn in the country, than the
general respect for law and order.
MALCONTENTS. (PART OF CHAPTER XII. OF EREWHON.)
I write with great diffidence, but it seems to me that there is no
unfairness in punishing people for their misfortunes, or rewarding them
for their sheer good luck: it is the normal condition of human life that
this should be done, and no right-minded person will complain at being
subjected to the common treatment. There is no alternative open to us.
It is idle to say that men are not responsible for their misfortunes.
What is responsibility? Surely to be responsible means to be liable to
have to give an answer should it be demanded, and all things which live
are responsible for their lives and actions should society see fit to
question them through the mouth of its authorised agent.
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