moral retribution is somehow more intelligent, just, and equitable than
the working of physical retribution. They have a nebulous notion that the
law of moral retribution is in some peculiar way God's law, while the law
of physical retribution is the law of what they call nature, somehow not
quite so much God's law as the other is. Such an absurdity only requires
to be stated to be exposed. The law of moral retribution is precisely as
blind, deaf, and meaningless, and entitled to be respected just as
little, as the law of physical retribution. Why, sir, of the two, the
much-abused law of physical retribution is decidedly more moral, in the
sense of obvious fairness, than the so-called law of moral retribution
itself. For, while the hardened offender virtually escapes all pangs of
conscience, he can't escape the diseases and accidents which attend vice
and violence. The whole working of moral retribution, on the contrary, is
to torture the sensitive-souled, who would never do much harm any way,
while the really hard cases of society, by their very hardness, avoid all
suffering. And then, again, see how merciful and reformatory is the
working of physical retribution compared with the pitilessness of the
moral retribution of memory. A man gets over his accident or disease and
is healthy again, having learned his lesson with the renewed health that
alone makes it of any value to have had that lesson. But shame and sorrow
for sin and disgrace go on for ever increasing in intensity, in
proportion as they purify the soul. Their worm dieth not, and their fire
is not quenched. The deeper the repentance, the more intense the longing
and love for better things, the more poignant the pang of regret and the
sense of irreparable loss. There is no sense, no end, no use, in this law
which increases the severity of the punishment as the victim grows in
innocency.

"Ah, sir," exclaimed the doctor, rising and laying his hand caressingly
on the battery, while a triumphant exultation shone in his eyes, "you