Trailt'S. Principes de législation, chap. XIll

3. Bowring, vol. X, p. 69 : Sundry Memoranda of Bentham, ma'lo in 1773-177'!. — l'unisiiment. — Origin of the Vindictivc Principle. Cl. Mss. Univ. Cuil. ii" %. — Fiinishnuiil, Us Knd. With resiKV't to llic Trogiess of Soiii-ty, we inayconci'ive liiree KfKjchs : dislinguishable in ide;>. tiio' riinning iiito one another iinpeiveplibly in fact. — The lirsl, \Nhich i> pasl, in which every niau actualed hy the vindictiveprinciph',inlliclingarà

(Pp. 96-98) NOTES. 311

arbitrary punishment for a reoeived offenco, moreor less intense according Xo the greater or less violence ofliis passion. — Tlie second, ^hich is présent, in which the Idea of a Public being formed and cstablished, the suprême power in the State, taking the rod of vengeance out of the hand of the Individual, uses it according to settled rules still governed however in great measure by llie saine principle. — The thirJ, which is yet to corne, in wliich ail traces of the vindictive principle being entirely obliterated. Prévention shall be the sole end and object of a Pénal Législation. — Bentliam ajoute, entre crocliets, cette observation irreligieuse : « In which vengeance will bc ieft to Ihat Sovereign to whom it belongs, and to him only ». — Les plus anciens manuscrits de Bentham que nous possédions, cl qui semblent remontera 1772 (Mss Univ. Coll. n» 73), contiennent, sous la rubrique Xonœtij diverses réfutations du principe de sympathie et d'antipathie; Dentham y critique les sentiments d'horreur irraisonnée qu'inspirent certains délits, tels que le Suicide, Tlnfanticide, la Pédérastie ; « To produce the reason which sways their opinion, to proportion the strength of their attachment toan opinion to the force of the reasons produced is a strain of candor and fair dealing not very common among men, I mean even of those wlio are not conscious of being swayed by any corrupt motives, and of whom the worst that can be said is, that they are carried away by tiieir préjudice ». Cf. Mss. Univ. Coll. n» 96 : sous le titre Punisliment lAfter End] liùjfU of — Death. — Varions persons at varions times hâve entertaineddoubts, concernîng the right of societies to inHict capital punisliment. — A situation full of unhappiness, when people are agitated with doubts whioh are of snch a nature as to admit of no solution : which is the case which happens in ail instances, where, as hère, the tcrms in which they conceive thcni hâve in reality no meaning ; the word « right » where disjoincd both from positive Law and from eipediency is of that sort : he who persists in seeking a third sensé for it niustexpect onlyto plunge himself more and more into darkness and distraction.