cannot all be ſuppoſed to have committed acts of rebellion, yet all are involved in the penalty impoſed. This, they ſay, is to violate the firſt rule of juſtice, by condemning the innocent to ſuffer with the guilty.
This deſerves ſome notice, as it ſeems dictated by equity and humanity, however it may raiſe contempt, by the ignorance which it betrays of the ſtate of man, and the ſyſtem of things. That the innocent ſhould be confounded with the guilty, is undoubtedly an evil; but it is an evil which no care or caution can prevent. National crimes require national puniſhments, of which many muſt neceſſarily have their part, who have not incurred them by perſonal guilt. If rebels ſhould fortify a town, the cannon of lawful authority will endanger equally the harmleſs burghers and the criminal garriſon.
