Suffragists -- United States; Women -- Suffrage -- United States
“Hence, civilized states distinguish between actions concerning which
good men may reasonably differ, and actions which all good men condemn.
The latter, if permitted to prevail, would disintegrate and destroy the
social life of mankind; the former, if successful, would simply
reorganize it, on a different basis . . . . The objects may, in one
generation, be branded as crimes, whilst in the next those who fail to
make them triumph and suffered as malefactors are exalted as patriot
martyrs, and their principles incorporated amongst the foundation
principles of the country’s constitution.
“Attempts to effect changes by methods beyond the conventions which
have the sanction of the majority of a community, may be rash and
blameworthy sometimes, but they are not necessarily dishonorable, and
may even occasionally be obligatory on conscience.”
As to the incumbency upon a government to differentiate in punishments
inflicted upon these two classes of offenders, he further says: “When a
Government exercises its punitive power, it should, in awarding
sentence, distinguish between the two classes of offenders. To confound
in a common degradation those who violate the moral law by acts which
all men condemn, and those who offend against the established order of
society by acts of which many men approve, and for objects which may
sometime be accepted as integral parts of established order, is
manifestly wrong in principle. It places a Government morally in the
wrong in the eyes of masses of the population, a thing to be sedulously
guarded against.”
George Clemenceau:[1]
[1] Clemenceau in a speech before the French Chamber of Deputies, May
16th, 1876, advocating amnesty for those who participated in the
Commune of 1871. From the Annals de la Chambre des Deputies, 1876, v.
2, pp. 44-48.
“Theoretically a crime committed in the interest of the criminal is a
common law crime, while an offense committed in the public interest is
a political crime.” He says further, “That an act isolated from the
circumstances under which it was committed . . . may have the
appearance of a common law crime . . : while viewed in connection with
the circumstances under which it is committed (in connection with a
movement) . . . it may take on a political character.”
Maurice Parmelee:[1]
[1] “Criminology” by Maurice Parmelee, Chap. XXVIII. Author also of
“Poverty and Social Progress,” “The Science of Human Behavior,” “The
Principles of Anthropology and Sociology in their relation to Criminal
Procedure.” During the late war Dr. Parmelee was a Representative of
the U. S. War Trade Board stationed at the American Embassy, London;
economic advisor to the State Department, and Chairman of the Allied
Rationing Committee which administered the German Blockade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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