XXIX. This is the common way of their revenging themselves in general, but their malice and resentment towards particular people is the most pernicious to the public; those who are most threatened with their vengeance, being such as have in any shape been instrumental in their confinement, or in having them brought to justice. XXX. The second way, by which delays in criminal prosecutions afford occasions for delinquents to escape with impunity, is not so palpable, nor so obvious as the first, but in general is more successful, and oftener takes effect. I will explain what I mean. When a notorious crime is newly committed, all minds are sharpened against the offender, and filled with horror at the outrage. Even the most mild call out for punishment, and the injured person, invokes heaven and earth for it. The public in general seem filled with resentment, and breathe nothing but severity. All this indignation, in the course of a short space of time, begins to lessen, and by little and little, this fierce fire proceeds to vanish in smoak; and the further we advance from the æra of the fact, the less impression of the deed is left on the mind; and in our conversation on the subject, we begin to mix apophthegms of compassion with theorems of justice; and by so much the longer the cause is delayed, by so much the more our zeal abates; we pass from hot to lukewarm, and from lukewarm to actual cold. The suspension of half a year, changes the burning heats of July, to the cool air and frosts of January. People breathe nothing but pity, and every thing seems in favour of the culprit, except his crime. The supplicants in his behalf are numerous, many from compassion, and some from friendship or interest. When the tempers of people are brought to this disposition, the culprit, who but a little before, in the universal opinion, was deemed deserving of a halter, is released from prison, without undergoing a punishment that is equal to a pat with the open hand. XXXI. I have often wondered at the favourable manner in which criminals are sometimes treated, when there does not appear any reason, or motive, for being favourable to them; but it should be remembered, there is always a motive for bringing them to justice. God commands it, and the public safety requires it; and the community has a right to demand, that delinquents should be chastised; for the impunity of evil deeds multiplies the number of evil doers. In consequence of saving one malefactor from the gallows who is deserving of death, many innocent people may afterwards lose their lives, or their fortunes. O mercy ill understood! O impious compassion! O tyrannic pity! O cruel pity!