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WILLIAM WEMMS AND SEVEN OTHERS. 475

implanted it there, and we can annihilate ourselves, as easily
as root out this affection for ourselves. It is the first and
strongest principle in our nature; Blackstone calls it ‘“‘the
primary canon in the law of nature.”’ That precept of our
holy religion, which commands us to love our neighbor aa
ourselves, doth not command us to love our neighbor better
than ourselves, or so well; no christian divine hath given
this interpretation. The precept enjoins, that our benevo-
lence to our fellow men should be as real and sincere as our
affections to ourselves, not that it should be as great in de-
gree. A man is authorized, therefore, by common sense, an@
the laws of England, as well ag those of nature, to love him-
self better than his fellow subject; if two persons are cast
away at sea, and get on a plank (a case put by Sir Francis
Bacon), and the plank is insufficient to hold them both, the
one hath a right to push the other off to save himself. The
rules of the common law, therefore, which authorize a man
to preserve his own life at the expense of another’s are not
eontradicted by any divine or moral law. We talk of liberty
and property, but, if we cut up the law of self-defense, we
eut up the foundation of both, and if we give up this, the
rest is of very little value; and, therefore, this principle
must be strictly attended to, for whatsoever the law pro-
nounces in the case of these eight soldiers will be the law to
other persons and after ages. It would have been better if
all the persons that have slain mankind in this country,
from the beginning to this day, had been acquitted, than that
a wrong rule and precedent should be established.

T shell now read to you a few authorities on this subject
of self-defense. Foster, in his Crown Law, says, in the case
of justifiable self-defense, the injured party may repel force
with force, in defense of his person, habitation, or property,
against one who manifestly intendeth and endeavoreth, with
violence or surprise, to commit a known felony upon either.
In these cases, ho is not obliged to retreat, but may pursue
his adversary, till he findeth himself ont of danger, and if
in a conffict between them he happeneth to kill, such killing

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