Star.
London, England, 1812-10-30 00:00:00

0
11111"111""111111.1114.11,11
70 THE EDItOR OF THE STdR.

Stu—The manly and intrepid manner in which
you have devoted your services to the cause of the
brave,and unfortunate Russians, demands the warm-
' est thanks of every friend of humanity.
Hive long held opinions similar to those, at
which you have more than hinted in your columns
on the subject of repelling invaders, but I have best
~{earful lest the public mind was not yet sufficiently
sexasperated against the Usurper of the Thrones of
...Europe, or rather not sufficiently enlightened to
edmlt of its receiving impressions favourable to
the system on which I have long secredy
tared. •
Every exhibition of human' turpitude vb ieh' di.
rectly and violently threatens the property, the per-

sons, or the lives of the individuals of any commu-
nity, has, in all ages and countries, .INten held as a
crime, not merely calling for punishment after it has
been committed, but for the prompt exertion of the
assailed, or of his natural protectors, at the moment
ref perpetration, to repel the assault even at the ex-
*mice of the life of the. aggressor. This principle is

founded an the laws of Nature..-laws which can
rarely be violated, even on principles of humanity,
withoat'erposing the assailed to fresh dangers,
This doctrine, in the "mason and more frcqoent
.occurrences which endanger, at times, individual or
domestic safety and social order, is so generally un-
derstood, that its accuracy receives daily practical
illustration in the conduct of individuals and the
approbation of communities 5 but the philosophy of
preventive infliction, as applicable to the aggregate
of national villainy and the numberless murder, with
which it is ever accompanied, has hitherto received
but little attention : or rather the voice of Nature
bar been stilled, the dictates of Reason have been
silenced, the demands of Justice disregarded, and
the loud calls of Humanity smothered under the de-
testable jargon of spurious compassion, misapplied
tenderness, and false morality.
The man whose life is threatened on the high-
way, not only performs an act of justice to himself,
and of benevolence to his family, if he kills the vil-
lain upon the spot, but renders a real benefit to the
community.
Isolated lawless Individuals, who in quest of plun.
der do not hesitate to commit even murder, are
highly dangerous ; but the danger from an individual
is not to be compared with that which is threatened
by an association, or, to speak more intelligibly to
modern politicians, a too:federation of robbers and as-
itassins.—When a band of robbers, bent on depreda-
tion and murder, attack a dwelling, and meet with
',lead; in the enterprise—perhaps from a single vigo-
rous arm—as happened not long since in Ireland,
who can be found to bewail their fate? Who does not
applaud the manly courage of the determined defender
of his home, his wife, his children !—Reverse the case
for a moment. The merciless wretches have plun-
dered the cottage, violated the females, murdered
the whole inhabitants, and consummated their crimes

by burning their dwelling. Who can hear the re-
cital without horror ! Who cries not for vengeance ?
If a Williams murders a whole family in the dead
of night, what an alarm follows !—ls he suspected
to have had associates ?—the very idea fills the mind
with apprehension and dismay. But what are these
petty dealers in blood compared with organised
bands marching in the face of day, at the command
of one arbitrary ruffian, to rob, spoil, and murder by
wholesale ? Behold that widow lamenting the
death of a husband and two sons, who were killed in
the meritorious attempt to defend a wife, a mother,
and a sister from the brutal violence of the execrable
monsters ! See these seven helpless children—their
parents destroyed— the invaders devouring the only
morsel which was left to sustain life for another day.
What do we say ? That widow ! —seven chi) dten
Cast your eyes on that multitude! Who are they
The wretched survivors of thousands of families who
only yesterday had homes and every domestic com-
fort, now flying to escape the sword, without cosset-I
ing, refuge or sustenance I—their husbands gone
their fathers, their biothers gone !—their property,
their habitations involved in a devouring confla-
gration ! -
Who are the authors, the perpetrators, the instill- ,
merits, the abettors of all these infernal atrocitieS,f-F.,
If a human being upon earth ever has one of them,
in his power, upon the very soil too that has been
polluted with their crimes, and suffers him to escape
with his life, does he not become an accessary to
every future murder which that individual may be
instrumental in committing ?
• Whence then comes that distortion of intellect
which teaches men to give quarter. to invaders ?
It arises from a misapplication of a principle 'which
is beneficial in organised communities, where the
body corporate can stretch forth an arm possessed of
power sufficient to protect or slop the injured in-
dividual. In such circumstances, atrocities perpe-
trated upon an individual, are crimes against the
State. Has
*the culprit survived the crisis of the
dutrageand escaped ?—the civil officers pursue him.
isle ii caught : but private vengeance may not now
touch him—there is no necessity that it should ; for
the, public arm will avenge him.—Does the criminal
:mist the arrest ? He'is killed upon'the spot. toes