{"id":"01KG8AMJWFWTRSHR20NJ7AQ29E","cid":"bafkreibv3bq4k5q2yfgqcgodseg46bqzl73qrmiqiiwxwfjbm4kf4uv7ui","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":5836,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.271Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":5790,"text":"to the impressment of such crowds of dissatisfied men. And in high\r\nquarters it was held that if, by any mode, the English fleet could be\r\nmanned without resource to coercive measures, then the necessity of\r\nflogging would cease.\r\n\r\n“If we abolish either impressment or flogging, the abolition of the\r\nother will follow as a matter of course.” This was the language of the\r\n_Edinburgh Review_, at a still later period, 1824.\r\n\r\nIf, then, the necessity of flogging in the British armed marine was\r\nsolely attributed to the impressment of the seamen, what faintest\r\nshadow of reason is there for the continuance of this barbarity in the\r\nAmerican service, which is wholly freed from the reproach of\r\nimpressment?\r\n\r\nIt is true that, during a long period of non-impressment, and even down\r\nto the present day, flogging has been, and still is, the law of the\r\nEnglish navy. But in things of this kind England should be nothing to\r\nus, except an example to be shunned. Nor should wise legislators wholly\r\ngovern themselves by precedents, and conclude that, since scourging has\r\nso long prevailed, some virtue must reside in it. Not so. The world has\r\narrived at a period which renders it the part of Wisdom to pay homage\r\nto the prospective precedents of the Future in preference to those of\r\nthe Past. The Past is dead, and has no resurrection; but the Future is\r\nendowed with such a life, that it lives to us even in anticipation. The\r\nPast is, in many things, the foe of mankind; the Future is, in all\r\nthings, our friend. In the Past is no hope; the Future is both hope and\r\nfruition. The Past is the text-book of tyrants; the Future the Bible of\r\nthe Free. Those who are solely governed by the Past stand like Lot’s\r\nwife, crystallised in the act of looking backward, and forever\r\nincapable of looking before.\r\n\r\nLet us leave the Past, then, to dictate laws to immovable China; let us\r\nabandon it to the Chinese Legitimists of Europe. But for us, we will\r\nhave another captain to rule over us—that captain who ever marches at\r\nthe head of his troop and beckons them forward, not lingering in the\r\nrear, and impeding their march with lumbering baggage-wagons of old\r\nprecedents. _This_ is the Past.\r\n\r\nBut in many things we Americans are driven to a rejection of the maxims\r\nof the Past, seeing that, ere long, the van of the nations must, of\r\nright, belong to ourselves. There are occasions when it is for America\r\nto make precedents, and not to obey them. We should, if possible, prove\r\na teacher to posterity, instead of being the pupil of by-gone\r\ngenerations. More shall come after us than have gone before; the world\r\nis not yet middle-aged.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRBP8WW7ATFWPYWQXFEQ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMJWDW8TP3FM1CN3MSYBM","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMJWFHKM81E7SDJECESSW","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:41.871Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:47.398Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}