Old friends cannot with
impunity be sacrificed for new ones.
Having impulsively, it is probable, and perhaps somewhat prematurely revealed the prime but private purpose of the Pequod's voyage, Ahab was now entirely conscious that, in so doing, he had indirectly laid himself open to the unanswerable charge of usurpation; and with perfect
impunity, both moral and legal, his crew if so disposed, and to that end competent, could refuse all further obedience to him, and even violently wrest from him the command.
Let us suppose an inhabitant of some remote and superior region, yet unskilled in the ways of men, having read and considered the precepts of the gospel, and the example of our Saviour, to come down in search of the true church: if he would not inquire after it among the cruel, the insolent, and the oppressive; among those who are continually grasping at dominion over souls as well as bodies; among those who are employed in procuring to themselves
impunity for the most enormous villainies, and studying methods of destroying their fellow-creatures, not for their crimes but their errors; if he would not expect to meet benevolence, engage in massacres, or to find mercy in a court of inquisition, he would not look for the true church in the Church of Rome.
Godfrey Ablewhite chose to keep the Diamond, he might do so with perfect
impunity. The Moonstone stood between him and ruin.
But what he most felt was that now surely, with the element of
impunity pulling him as by hard firm hands, the case was settled for what he might have seen above had he dared that last look.
The hope of
impunity is a strong incitement to sedition; the dread of punishment, a proportionably strong discouragement to it.
Such is the king to whom Viking chieftains bowed their heads, and whom the modern and palatial steamship defies with
impunity seven times a week.
Hence, there is no legal protection in fact, whatever there may be in form, for the slave population; and any amount of cruelty may be inflicted on them with
impunity. Is it possible for the human mind to conceive of a more horrible state of society?
In the first place, I saw darkly what the nature of the conspiracy had been, how chances had been watched, and how circumstances had been handled to ensure
impunity to a daring and an intricate crime.
The Scotia, divided into seven compartments by strong partitions, could brave with
impunity any leak.
"But surely," said she, "I may enter his county without
impunity, and rob it of a few petrified spars without his perceiving me."
They passed some little time at the camp; saw, no doubt, that everything was conducted with military skill and vigilance; and that such an enemy was not to be easily surprised, nor to be molested with
impunity, and then departed, to report all that they had seen to their comrades.