Our forefathers the Germans allowed almost nothing but pecuniary punishments. Those warlike, free men judged that their blood should be shed only with weapons in hand. The Japanese, [1] on the contrary, reject these sorts of punishments, under the pretext that the rich would elude punishment. But do the rich not fear the loss of their property ? Can pecuniary penalties not be proportionate to fortunes ? And finally, can we not add infamy to those punishments ?

A good legislator takes a happy medium : he does not always order pecuniary punishments, and he does not always impose corporal punishments.