“Nothing whatever; that case was disposed of years ago. Whatever guilt may attach to those who escaped, the law cannot recognize now. They were acquitted, and they are innocent.”
“That may be good law, sir, but it's strange justice. If I owed you a thousand dollars, and was too poor to pay it, I 'm thinkin' you 'd have it out of me some fine day when I grew rich enough to discharge the debt.”
Layton shook his head in dissent at the supposed parallel.
“Ain't we always a-talkin' about the fallibility of our reason and the imperfection of our judgments? And what business have we, then, to say, 'There, come what will tomorrow of evidence or proof, my mind is made up, and I 'm determined to know nothin' more than I know now'?”
“What say you to the other side of the question,—that of the man against whom nothing is proven, but who, out of the mere obscurity that involves a crime, must live and die a criminal, just because there is no saying what morning may not bring an accusation against him? As a man who has had to struggle through a whole life against adverse suspicions, I protest against the doctrine of not proven! The world is too prone to think the worst to make such a practice anything short of an insufferable tyranny.”
With a delicacy he was never deficient in, Quackinboss respected the personal application, and made no reply.
“Calumny, too,” continued the old man, whose passion was now roused, “is conducted on the division-of-labor principle. One man contributes so much, and another adds so much more; some are clever in suggesting the motive, some indicate the act; others are satisfied with moralizing over human frailties, and display their skill in showing that the crime was nothing exceptional, but a mere illustration of the law of original sin. And all these people, be it borne in mind, are not the bad or the depraved, but rather persons of reputable lives, safe opinions, and even good intentions. Only imagine, then, what the weapon becomes when wielded by the really wicked. I myself was hunted down by honorable men,—gentlemen all of them, and of great attainments. Has he told you my story?” said he, pointing to his son.
“Yes, sir; and I only say that it could n't have happened in our country here.”
“To be sure it could,” retorted the other, quickly; “the only difference is, that you have made Lynch law an institution, and we practise it as a social accident.”
Thus chatting, they reached the hotel where they were to lodge till the packet sailed.