We merely cheat ourselves into
thinking that our liberty is something different from French
liberty because we have a lot of laws upon our statute books
that are there only to be disregarded and would have to be
repealed instantly if enforced.
Take, for instance, the celebrated provision of the penal laws
that the failure of an accused to testify in his own behalf
shall not be taken against him. Such a doctrine flies in the
face of human nature. If a man sits silent when witnesses
under oath accuse him of a crime it is an inevitable inference
that he has nothing to say--that no explanation of his would
explain. The records show that the vast majority of accused
persons who do not avail themselves of the opportunity to
testify are convicted. Thus, the law which permits a
defendant to testify in reality compels him to testify, and a
much-invoked safeguard of liberty turns out to be a privilege
in name only. In France or America alike a man accused of
crime sooner or later has to tell what he knows--or take his
medicine.
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