Page:Essay on Crimes and Punishments (1775).djvu/159

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by future generations with eternal gratitude, are either unknown or rejected. A restless and trifling spirit, the timid prudence of the present moment, a distrust and aversion to the most useful novelties, possess the minds of those who are empowered to regulate the actions of mankind.

CHAPTER XXXV.

Of Sanctuaries.

ARE sanctuaries just? Is a convention between nations mutually to give up their criminals, useful?

In the whole extent of a political state, there should be no place independent of the laws. Their power should follow every subject, as the shadow follows the body. Sanctuaries and impunity differ only in degree, and as the effect of punishments depends more on their certainty, than their greatness, men are more strongly invited