The Dynamiter - Stevenson, Robert Louis

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Résumé :
Purchase one of 1st World Library's Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - - Gentlemen, - In the volume now in your hands, the authors have touched upon that ugly devil of crime, with which it is your glory to have contended. It were a waste of ink to do so in a serious spirit. Let us dedicate our horror to acts of a more mingled strain, where crime preserves some features of nobility, and where reason and humanity can still relish the temptation. Horror, in this case, is due to Mr. Parnell: he sits before posterity silent, Mr. Forster's appeal echoing down the ages. Horror is due to ourselves, in that we have so long coquetted with political crime; not seriously weighing, not acutely following it from cause to consequence; but with a generous, unfounded heat of sentiment, like the schoolboy with the penny tale, applauding what was specious. When it touched ourselves (truly in a vile shape), we proved false to the imaginations; discovered, in a clap, that crime was no less cruel and no less ugly under sounding names; and recoiled from our false deities. But seriousness comes most in place when we are to speak of our defenders. Whoever be in the right in this great and confused war of politics; whatever elements of greed, whatever traits of the bully, dishonour both parties in this inhuman contest; - your side, your part, is at least pure of doubt. Yours is the side of the child, of the breeding woman, of individual pity and public trust. If our society were the mere kingdom of the devil (as indeed it wears some of his colours) it yet embraces many precious elements and many innocent persons whom it is a glory to defend. Courage and devotion, so common in the ranks of the police, so little recognised, so meagrely rewarded, have at length found their commemoration in an historical act. History, which will represent Mr. Parnell sitting silent under the appeal of Mr. Forster, and Gordon setting forth upon his tragic enterprise, will not forget Mr. Cole carrying the dynamite in his defenceless hands, nor Mr. Cox coming coolly to his aid.

Biographie:
Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer Robert Louis Stevenson is well renowned for his classic fiction books, which include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Stevenson, who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, was supposed to become a lighthouse engineer because his family was in the business, but he chose to follow his love of books instead. Essays and travelogues marked the beginning of Stevenson's writing career, but it was his young reader adventure books, such as Treasure Island (1883) and Kidnapped (1886), that brought him global recognition. These books have endured as children's literary classics because of their compelling stories, colorful characters, and engrossing locations. Stevenson battled ill health most of his life, yet he was nevertheless a prolific writer who created books that have enthralled readers for decades. He now holds a permanent position as one of the finest writers of the 19th century thanks to his literary accomplishments....