Part 11 (1/2)

THE STORY OF JOHN HOWARD

In St Paul's Cathedral there stands a ht hand and a scroll in his left, whilst on the pedestal from which he looks down are pictured relics of the prison life of the past The man is John Howard, who travelled tens of thousands of land and the Continent, and in endeavouring to render prison life less degrading and brutalising Wherever he went prison doors were unlocked as if he possessed a ic key; and by his life and books he did more to help prisoners than any other man

It is only just over a hundred years since John Howard died; yet in his day persons could be put to death for stealing a horse or a sheep, for robbing dwellings, for defrauding creditors, for forgery, for wounding deer, for killing or oods to the value of five shi+llings, or even for cutting a band in a hop plantation And many persons ere innocent of any offence would lie in dungeons for years!

At his father's death John Howard ca a lady some years older than himself, settled down on his estate and passed three years of quiet happiness

Then a great grief came to him His wife died, and Hoas bowed doith sorrow

But the distress brought with it a longing to be a comfort to others; and he set out for Lisbon, which had just been visited by the great earthquake of 1755, with the hope of assisting the holand were then at war, and on his way thither he was captured by a French vessel and thrown into prison He was placed in a dark, daeon, and was half starved For two months he was kept a prisoner, and as soon as he was free he set about obtaining the release of his fellow captives

Soan visiting the prisoners in the gaol where John Bunyan wrote the _Pilgri the course of his visitations he was astonished to find that the gaolers received no salary, and that they lived on what they could make out of the prisoners As a result it often happened that those who had been acquitted at their trial were kept in prison long afterwards, because they were unable to pay the fees which the gaoler demanded

Horrified at the state in which he found the prison and at the abuses of justice that prevailed, John Howard deterdohout the country And fearful places he found theaol for the first time were put with old and hardened crieons were dark and unhealthy; and, unless prisoners could afford to pay for coed to sleep on cold bare floors, even delicate wo exempted from such cruel treat been fined one shi+lling each for soaolers and clerk of the peace When he visited Cardiff he heard abeen there ten years for a debt of seven pounds At Plymouth he found that three men had been shut up in a little dark rooh, so that they could neither breathe freely nor stand upright

Hundreds of cases as bad or worse than these did he discover and bring before public notice

He gave evidence before the House of Commons of what he had seen Then Acts of Parliaaolers should be paid out of the rates, that prisoners ere found not guilty should be set at liberty at once, that the prisons should be kept clean and healthy, and the prisoners properly clothed and attended to

Determined that these Acts should not re that what Parliament required was actually carried out

Not contented hat he had already done, he travelled abroad, inspecting the prisons of France, Russia, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, and other countries, in order to see how they coe to say, he discovered that in a number of cases they were in many ways better; and the prisoners, unlike their fellows in Britain, were generally employed in some useful manner

When he was in London on one occasion he heard that there had been a revolt in the aolers had been killed, and the rioters held possession of the building Howard set off for the prison, though he arned that his life would not be safe if he ventured inside Nothing daunted, he went ao back to their cells peaceably, prorievances before the authorities

At Paris he was unable for a long tireat prison house which then existed called the Bastille Try as he would, he could gain no adate of the prison, rang the bell and ood look at the building, then he had to beat a hasty retreat, and narrowly escaped capture; but by that time he had partly accomplished his object

When Hoas in Russia the e she desired to see hi his ti the palaces of rulers

At Roo and see the Pope, on the express understanding that he should not be obliged to kiss his holiness's toe; and he came aith a very pleasant remembrance of the Holy Father

At Vienna the Emperor Joseph II specially requested an interview

Howard refused at first to lish aht come of the visit, Hoent to see his majesty, and re which time he made the emperor acquainted with the bad state of soered by Howard's plainness of speech, but told the ambassador afterwards that he liked the prison refor made up his mind to see the quarantine establishh France, though he was so feared and disliked by the Governht in that country he would be thrown into the Bastille

He disguised himself as a doctor, and after some narrow escapes arrived at Marseilles and visited the Lazaretto (or place of detention for the infected), though even Frenchs of the place, and then went on a tour towith fury, and went ast the sick and fever-stricken, fearless of the consequences

In the course of his travels the shi+p in which he was a passenger was attacked by pirates, and John Howard showed hi abuses; for he loaded the big gun hich the shi+p was armed nearly up to the muzzle with nails and spikes, and fired it into the pirate crew just in time to save himself and his coave an account of his experiences were eagerly read by the public, and produced a profound effect