Great Britain -- Social conditions -- 19th century -- Fiction
“If in the three days between this boy's murder and his burial your
direct representative and agent does not come here and examine this jail
and sift the acts of those who govern it, on the fourth day I lay the
whole case before her majesty the queen and the British nation, by
publishing it in all the journals. Then I shall tell her majesty that,
having thrice appealed in vain to her representatives, I am driven to
appeal to herself; with this I shall print the evidence I have thrice
offered you of this jailer's felonies and their sanguinary results.
That lady has a character; one of its strong, unmistakable features is a
real, tender, active humanity.
“I read characters; it is a part of my business; and, believe me, this
lady once informed of the crimes done in her name will repudiate and
abhor alike her hireling's cruelty and her clerks' and secretaries'
indifference to suffering and slaughter. Nor will the public hear
unmoved the awful tale. Shame will be showered on all connected with
these black deeds, even on those who can but be charged with conniving
at them.
“To be exposed to national horror on the same column with the greatest
felon in England would be a cruel position, a severe punishment for a
man of honor, whose only fault perhaps is that he has mistaken an
itch for eminence for a capacity for business, and so serves the State
without comprehending it. But what else can I do? I, too, serve the
State, and I comprehend what I owe it, and the dignity with which it
intrusts me, and the deep responsibility it lays on me. I therefore
cannot assent to future felonies any more than I have to past and
present, but must stop them, and will stop them--how I can.
“So, sir, I offer you the post of honor or a place of shame. Choose! for
three whole days you have the choice. Choose! and may God enlighten you
and forgive me for waiting these three days.
“I have the honor to be, etc., etc.”
To this letter, whose tone was more eccentric, more flesh and blood,
and WITHOUT PRECEDENT, than the last, came an answer in a different hand
from the others.
“--acknowledged receipt of the chaplain's letter.
“Since a human life has succumbed under the discipline of ---- Jail, an
inquiry follows immediately as a matter of course. The other inducements
you have held out are comparatively weak and something more than
superfluous. How far they are in good taste will be left to your own
cooler consideration. A person connected with the Home Department will
visit your jail with large powers soon after you receive this.
“He is instructed to avail himself of your zeal and knowledge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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