Through Prison Bars by William H. Render

Author:William H. Render [Render, William H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Philanthropy & Charity, Biography & Autobiography, Social Activists, Political Science, Civil Rights
ISBN: 9781504045827
Google: VcQjDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2017-06-06T03:17:38+00:00

Yet even now the indomitable philanthropist could not rest. As long as life lasted, it would seem, he must give himself no repose, however well earned. How could he retire, when the whole world was the province of his prison labours? when the salutary reforms which lay so close to his heart were in many places so imperfectly understood and as yet so imperfectly realised? Hear his own words: “To my country I commit the result of my past labours. It is my intention again to quit it for the purpose of re-visiting Russia, Turkey, and some other countries, and extending my tour in the East. Trusting, however, in the protection of that kind Providence which has hitherto preserved me, I calmly and cheerfully commit myself to the disposal of unerring wisdom. Should it please God to cut off my life in the prosecution of this design, let not my conduct be uncandidly imputed to rashness, but to a serious, deliberate conviction that I am pursuing the path of duty, and to a sincere desire of being made an instrument of more extensive usefulness to my fellow-creatures than could be expected in the narrower circle of a retired life.”

Along with these serious thoughts, however, Howard had a strong conviction that this journey would be his last. To one friend he prophetically said, “I have had several malignant disorders, yet I am persuaded that I shall not return, and be permitted to lay my bones in my native land.”

After taking a more than usually affectionate farewell of his relatives and friends, and seeing most carefully to the conditions of his will, so that even the humblest recipient of his charity was provided for he left England in the early part of July, 1789. In due course he reached Germany. His chief object was to convey to others the medical knowledge he had gained, and to furnish the prescriptions found beneficial for the Plague, making prison inspection and benevolence secondary. However, at Osnaburg, knowing how excruciating were the tortures formerly in vogue there, he penetrated to the deepest recesses of the gaol, discovering in a noxious cell below ground a man ironed hand and foot, and chained to the wall. Above, his unhappy wife was confined in a filthy, dark apartment, and with tears and entreaties she besought the philanthropist’s aid. At once he went to the governor and obtained relief for both.

Other German gaols and dungeons were inspected as he proceeded, and then he entered Russia. He knew the dreadful treatment of prisoners in this country, and the horrible places in which they were confined, but fearlessly he pursued his work. Thus at Riga he went into the so-called military hospital, in which were nearly 300 sick men crammed into two noisome wards with poisonous sewers adjacent, and many other poor victims were lying on boards saturated with infection. No wonder that between four and five hundred recruits had died in this pest-house early in the year! Thinking to do further

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