Defence of Criminals 



amiability, and the most sincere readiness to 

 assist their brethren, an adherence to their religious 

 opinions which no persecutions and no bribes 

 can shake, a capacity for heroic, transcendent, 

 and prolonged self-sacrifice, may be found in some 

 nations, in men who are habitual liars and habitual 

 cheats." Again he points out that thriftiness 

 and forethought — which, in an industrial civilisa- 

 tion like ours, are looked upon as duties " of 

 the very highest order " — have at other times 

 (when the teaching was " take no thought for the 

 morrow ") been regarded as quite the reverse, 

 and concludes with the general remark that as 

 society advances there is some loss for every gain 

 that is made, and with the special indictment 

 against " civilisation " that it is not favorable to 

 the production of " self-sacrifice, enthusiasm, 

 reverence, or chastity." 



The point of all which is that the so-called vices 

 and defects — whether we regard them as limita- 

 tions or whether we regard them as raw materials 

 of character, whether we regard them in the 

 individual solely or whether we regard them 

 in their relation to society — are necessary elements 

 of human life, elements without which the so-called 

 virtues could not exist ; and that therefore it is 

 quite impossible to separate vices and virtues into 

 distinct classes with the latent idea involved that 

 one class may be retained and the other in course 

 of time got rid of. Defects and bad qualities 

 will not be treated so — they clamour for their 

 rights and will not be denied ; they effect a lodg- 



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