CHAPTER XXXI

RELEASE LIKEWISE GRANTED TO EXILES IN THE ISLANDS

“FURTHERMORE, it is our command that all those who have been detained in the islands against their will should receive the benefit of this present provision; in order that they who till now have been surrounded by impassable mountains and the encircling barrier of the ocean, being now set free from that frightful and dreary solitude, may fulfil the fondest wishes of their hearts by revisiting their dearest friends. Those, too, who have prolonged a miserable life in the midst of abject and loathsome wretchedness, welcoming their restoration as an unlooked-for gain, and discarding henceforth all anxious thoughts, may pass their lives with us in freedom from all fear. For that any one could live in a state of fear under our government, whose glory it is to feel confident that we are the servant of God, would surely be a thing most absurd even to hear of, far more to believe as true; since the natural desire of our heart would be completely to rectify the errors of our predecessors in this respect.