On the frontiers of the America there exists a terrible law, yet it is
not this clause alone which renders it so--"Eye for eye, tooth for
tooth, blood for blood." The application of this law is evident in all
the ways of Providence, to those who observe the course of events here
below. "He who kills by the sword shall perish by the sword," says the
gospel.
But the law of the desert is terrible by reason of the majesty with
which it is invested, or claims to be invested.
This law is terrible in common with all laws of blood, and the more so,
since those who have recourse to it usurp a power which does not belong
to them, inasmuch as the injured party constitutes himself judge of his
own cause, and executes the sentence which he himself has pronounced.