Certainly the calls upon his time were many and various. Now for the first time, in consequence of the great complaints made against the county gaols, arising chiefly from the want of separate cells, the Penitentiary became the receptacle for soldiers sentenced to imprisonment by court-martial. And with the introduction of this new element he brought about his ears a crowd of new questions and new difficulties—a different dietary scale, different labour, and a great accession of misconduct of a new description; above all, new officials to deal with, and plenty of punctilious red-tapism, to which, as a civilian, he was altogether unaccustomed. Then, through strong representations made to the Government of the scandalous manner in which female transports were shipped to the penal colonies, it was decided that most of those who came from a distance should be lodged in Millbank to await embarkation. All these women were the scum of the earth, and added greatly to the governor’s trials. They came to the Penitentiary in a miserable state of rags and wretchedness, shoeless, shiftless, and filthy. They were often accompanied by their children of all ages, from infancy to fourteen or fifteen years; and in nearly every case the conduct of all was violent and outrageous beyond description. Knowing they had nothing to gain by a conformity to the rules of the establishment, and that by no possibility could they escape transportation, they gave vent to their evil passions and set all authority at defiance. Another vexation, which pressed perhaps more sorely on him than any I have described, was the invasion of his territory by a Roman Catholic clergyman, appointed under a recent Act of Parliament to visit Roman Catholic prisoners. I do not suppose that Mr. Nihil was more intolerant than were others of his cloth in those days, when antagonism between churches ran unusually high, and there is much excuse for the remarks he makes on the subject. By the Act provision was made for the payment of the priest from the prison fund. This Mr. Nihil characterizes as tantamount to “establishment.” He does not see the necessity for anything of the kind, especially as the scruples of all the Roman Catholic prisoners have hitherto been most punctiliously respected. He foresees trouble and difficulty: Where was the line to be drawn with respect to discipline? Would not friction and difficulty arise from the Roman Catholic prisoners placing themselves under the patronage of the Roman Catholic priest in opposition to the governing authority of the prison? Happily, these anticipations proved almost groundless, and, except in one or two trivial instances, which are hardly worth recording, no evil results followed the occasional admission of the priest to the Penitentiary. CHAPTER VII INGENIOUS ESCAPES