A CONSIDERATION- OF SUICIDE. 799 



the law has, therefore, ranked this among the highest crimes, making 

 it a i^eculiar species of felony, a felony' committed on one's self. And 

 this admits of accessories before the fact, as well as other felonies ; 

 for if one persuades another to kill himself, and he does so, the adviser 

 is guilty of murder. A felo-de-se, therefore, is he that deliberately 

 puts an end to his own existence, or commits any unlawful, malicious 

 act, the consequence of which is his own death." The English laws 

 further provided for the forfeiture of the goods and chattels of a 

 suicide to the King. In the State of New York, a felo-de-se does not 

 incur the penalty of forfeiture of property ; but " every person de- 

 liberately assisting another in the commission of self-murder shall be 

 deemed guilty of manslaughter in the first degree." (2 R. S. 661, § 7.) 

 If a condemned criminal, on the eve of his execution, takes poison, he 

 commits suicide. If, while standing on the scaffold, some one hands 

 him a knife, with which he takes his life, he commits suicide, and the 

 person who furnishes him with the means of death is guilty of man- 

 slaughter. If, just before the drop falls, some well-intentioned 

 friend, deeming a speedy death preferable to a slow one, sends a 

 bullet through the heart of the condemned, the friend is guilty of 

 murder. 



The relation of suicide to human laws it is not the purpose of this 

 article to consider. Undoubtedly the tacit contract between the gov- 

 ernment and the individual, while it demands on one side protection 

 to the individual, demands on the other side service to the state ; 

 and it rests with neither party to the contract to terminate it at plea- 

 sure. Every person, to a certain extent and within proper limitations, 

 places at the disposal of the government under which he lives, his life, 

 liberty, and property. The government becomes the trustee, and, as 

 long as the trust is properly executed, the individual — the cestui que 

 trust — has no right to interfere. But we are to consider suicide mor- 

 ally, not legally. The question to be answered is this : Is suicide ever 

 justifiable ? 



What is suicide? The voluntary termination of one's own life. 

 And this is very different from submission to or acquiescence in invol- 

 untary death. A man may long for the approach of death ; he may 

 embrace it eagerly when it comes ; but this is not the voluntary ter- 

 mination of life. The voluntary termination of life implies some act 

 or failure to act on the part of an individual, which has for its object, 

 in whole or in part, the death of the actor. Suicide, then, is the 

 voluntary termination of one's own life. Is it of any consequence 

 that the involuntary termination is inevitable ? Unquestionably not. 

 Death, whether soon or late, is a creditor who never releases his 

 debt ; and, if in one case the certainty of death is pleaded in extenu- 

 ation or justification, the same plea may be offered in every case. 

 Does the proximity of involuntary death furnish any excuse for vol- 

 untary death ? Certainly not. The hastening of death is the volun- 



