William Cowper introduced into his poem on Charity" the following apostrophe to Howard : 66 "Patron of else the most despised of men, To traverse seas, range kingdoms, and bring home, The boldest patriot might be proud to feel. That pleads for peace till it disturbs the State, It would be tedious to describe in detail the various journeys which Howard made, the course of which was frequently erratic; and often it is only from incidental notices in his book that we are able to trace them. A table of those journeys, undertaken before the publication of the first edition of his book on Prisons, is added at the close of this chapter, and from this the reader will be enabled to form some idea of them, and can hardly fail to be astonished at the amount of ground which Howard covered, and the rapidity of his movements. He began by travelling from place to place with some moderate degree of comfort in a post-chaise. But very soon he discovered that his clothes were rendered so offensive by the pestilential atmosphere of the dungeons and dens of horror which he visited that he was unable to bear the windows closed. He therefore abandoned his carriage, at least in England, and was obliged to travel commonly on horseback. "The leaves of my memorandum book," he also tells us, 66 were often so tainted, that I could not use it till after spreading it an hour or two before the fire and even my antidote, a vial of vinegar, has, after using it in a few prisons, become intolerably disagreeable. I did not wonder that in those journeys many gaolers made excuses; and did not go with me into the felons' wards." 1 : A few further particulars of his mode of travelling are given by Aikin, partly from his own knowledge, and party from a gentleman who had himself had much conversation with Howard on the subject. "When he travelled in England or Ireland, it 1 The State of Prisons, P. 7. was generally on horseback, and he rode about forty English miles a day. He was never at a loss for an inn. When in Ireland, or the Highlands of Scotland, he used to stop at one of the poor cabins that stick up a rag by way of sign, and get a little milk. When he came to the town he was to sleep at, he bespoke a supper with wine and beer like another traveller, but made his man attend him, and take it away, while he was preparing his bread and milk. He always paid the waiters, postillions, etc., liberally, because he would have no discontent or dispute, nor suffer his spirits to be agitated for such a matter; saying that, in a journey that might cost three or four hundred pounds, fifteen or twenty pounds addition was not worth thinking about. When he travelled on the Continent, he usually went post in his own chaise, which was a German one that he bought for the purpose. He never stopped till he came to the town he meant to visit, but travelled all night if necessary; and from habit could sleep very well in the chaise for several nights together. In the last tour but one he travelled twenty days and nights together without going to bed, and found no inconvenience from it. He used to carry with him a small tea-kettle, some cups, a little pot of sweetmeats, and a few loaves. At the post-house he could get his water boiled, send out for milk, and make his repast, while his men went to the auberge." 1 Howard's earliest tours, which were made in the autumn and winter of 1773-1774 were not without immediate result, for in March 1774 he was examined before a Committee of the House of Commons. The attention of Parliament had been drawn to the condition of prisoners in gaol by a Mr. Popham, member for Taunton, who had actually introduced a Bill to effect the reform in the matter of fees which Howard so earnestly desired, as early as February 1773, some months before Howard himself had begun his investigations. The Bill after being read a second time was dropped in Committee, but was introduced again in the following session, in 1774. It was on this occasion that Howard was examined before a Committee of the whole House; and so great was the impression made by the evidence which, from his personal observations, he was able to give, that, upon the House resuming, the Chairman reported that "he was directed by the Committee to move the House, that John Howard, Esq., be called in to the bar, and that Mr. Speaker do acquaint him that the House are very sensible of the humanity and zeal which have led him to visit the several gaols of this kingdom, and to communicate to the House the interesting ob 1 Aikin's View, etc., p. 224. servations he has made upon that subject." 1 The motion was carried nem. con., and Howard was summoned to the bar to receive the thanks of the House, an honour which he greatly appreciated, as he showed a few years later by the dedication of his work on The State of Prisons "to the Honourable House of Commons, in gratitude for the encouragement which they have given to the design, and for the honour they have conferred on the author." It should be added that Popham's Bill for paying the fees of felons, discharged out of prison, from the county rate, became law in this session, as did also another Bill, introduced at the same time, for better providing for the health of prisoners. Unfortunately the machinery for enforcing both Acts was so faulty that, as Howard's subsequent investigations showed, the good done by them was very limited, and their provisions were frequently ignored and evaded. It was actually left for Howard himself, a private person, to have copies printed and sent round, at his own expense, to every gaol in the kingdom. Perhaps the gravest evil of all was the absence of any provision for inspection, an omission the importance of which Howard at once discerned. Nor is it unreasonable to suppose that it was largely due to this that he felt himself called on to continue his self-imposed labours, and for the rest of 1 Brown's Life, p. 133. |