Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1857-05-29
THE LAsT nAYs oF JEFEREYs.



nX THOMAS u. MAcAuIAY.
On that terrible day which was succeeded
by the Irish Night the roar of great city
disappointed of It's revenge had followed JEFF
ircys TO the dravbrid ,e Of the Tower His
imprisonment was not strictly legal but he
at drst accepted with thanks and blessing the
protection which those dark walls, made ia-
NOUS 10y 500 many crimes and sorrows afford
ed him against the fury of the multitude
soon, however. he became sensible that his
life was stll In imminent peril. For a time
hc Battered himself with the hope that a
writ OF Ilabcas Corpus would libcrato him
from his confinement and that he should be
able TO steal away to some foreign country,
and to hide himself with part of his ill-gotten
wealth from the dctestation of mankind; but,
till the government was settled, there was
no court competent to grant a writof IIabeas
Corpus and, as soon as the government had
boon settled, the llabcas Corpus Act was sus-
pended. Whether the legal guilt of murder
could be brought home 20 Jeffreys, may be
doubted. But he was morally guilty of so
many murders, that if there had been no
other way of reaching his life a rotrospect-
i've Act of Attander would have been clam
orously demanded by the whole nation. A
disposition to triumph over the fallen has
never been one of the bcsetting sins of En-
glishmen; but the hatred Of which Johreys
was the object was without a parallel in our
history, and partook but too largely of the
savageness of his own nature. The people,
whore he was concerned. were as cruel as
himself and exulted in his misery as he had
been accustomed to cxult in the misery of
convicts listening to the sentence of death
and of families clad in mourning. The rab-
ho congrogated before his deserted mansion
i'm Duke Street, and read on the door. with
shouts of laughter, the bills which announced
the sale of his property. Even delicate wo-
mon- who had tears for highwaymen and
housebreakers, breathed nothing but ven-
gonco against him. The lampoons on him
which were hawked about the town were dis
tinguishcd by an atrocity rare even in those
days. Hanging would be too mild death
for him; a gra We under tho gibbet too
respectable a resting place he ought to be
whipped to death at the carts tail he ought
TO DE tortured like an indian he ought TO be
dcvourcd alive The street poets portioned
out all his joints with cnnnibal ferocity, and
computed how many pounds of steaks might
be cut from his well iattened carcass. Nay
the rage of his enemies was such that, in Lam
guago seldom heard in England, they pro-
claimed their wish that he might 20 to the
place Of wailng and gnashing of teeth, TO
the worm that never dies TO the fire that is
mover quenched. They exhorted him to hang
himself in his gartors, and to cut his throat
with his razor. They put up horrible prayers
that he might not be able to repent, that he
might die the same hard hearted, wicked JEFF
freys that he had lived. His spirit as mean
-. 4 =
pority, sank down under the load of public
abhowence. His constitution, originally bad
and much impaired by intemperance, was com
plotely broken by distress and anxiety. He
was tormentcd by a cruel internal disease
which the most sldllful surgeons of that age
were seldom able 90 relieve. One solaco was
left to him, brandy. Even when he had
causes to try and councils to attend he had
seldom gone to bed sober Now, when he had
nothing TO occupy his mind save terrible recol-
eotons and terrible lorebodings, he aban-
doned himself without reserve TO His lavorte
vice. Many believed him to be bent on short
oning his life bycxcess. He thought it better,
they said, to go of in drunken fit, than to
be hacked by Kotoh, or torn limb from limb
by tho populaco.
Once ho was reused from state Of abjoct
dospondency by an agreeable sensation, speed
lily followed 10y a mortifyng disappointment.
A parcel had been left for him at the Tower.
1t appeared to be a barrel of Colchester oys-
ters, his hyorito dainties IIo was greatly
moved; for there are moments whom those
who least deserve affection arc pleased to
think that they inspire it, Thank God he
exclaimed, i have still some friends left. -
lie opened the barrel: and from among a
heap of shells, out tumbod a stout halter.
IL does not appear that one of the hatter-
crs or buttons whom he had enriched out of
the plumber of bis victims came TO comfort
him in tho day Of trouble. But he was not
left in utter solitude. John Turchin, whom
he had sentenced TO be hogged every fort
night for seven years, made his way into the
Tower, and presented himself before the
fallen oppressor Poor Jellreys, humbled
TO the dust, behaved with abioct civility, and
called for wine am glad, sir, he said, TO
see YOU And am glad answered the
resontful whig, TO see Your Lordship in this
place served my MASTER said Jefreys,
! 4 was bound in conscience to do so. -
: Where was your conscience, said Turchin,
when you passed that sentence on me at
DorchostorH 'ltwas set down in my instruc-
tions answered Jeflreys, fawningly, that
was to show no mercy TO men of parts aud
courage. When I went back to court was
reprimandod for my lenity,' Even Turchin,
acrimonious as was his nature, and great as
were his wrongs, seems TO have been little
modified by the pitiable spectacle which he
had at first contemplated with vindictivo
pleasure He always denied the truth of the