The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-02-01

In such state Is at the mercy of the meanest
insect in creation. The wasp may fasten on
his eyelid, or the bug burrow in his ear, and
he cannot help himself If tears flow from
his eyes he cannot brush them off, The sense
of personal filth, which is the sorest trial of
prolonged and relaxing illness, is enforced on
man in the full vigor of an unusually robust
constitution, of a time Of the year when the
air of cell is like the air of an oven. Sup
pose such man to be suddenly
attacked with sickness, that he bursts
blood-vessel, that he has a it, that
he vomits violently, that he is seized by
cholera, how is he to summon help? He may
be too weak to cry so that his voice shall
pierce walls and bars or to ring the bell il
indeed bell be provided, with his teeth. 1t
is here that the spirit of torture, which origi-
nally suggested such a punishment as hand
cutting behind the back, most distinctly re-
veals itself. A man handcuffed in front
would be equally secured from doing violence
to himself or others-and for such a reason
only, it is manifest, ought handcuff-
ing or the strait-waistcoat to be
employed on the prisoners of a
country pretending to consider itself Chris
tian and civilized-but Handwriting in front
does not reduce q man to such condition
that, where his state is not like that of
cripple, it is more or less like that of
corpse. We wonder what may become the
favorite attitude of q man whose hands are
strapped behind his back for many hours
day, and many days together. The inge-
NOUS violence that is done to some of the
most delicate and complex nerves, muscles,
and vessels in the body is such that he can
hardly escape incurring the liability to aneur-
ism, or anchylosis, or some form of paralysis
Poerio was chined. But man who is chained
can at least lie down or sit down
fnlo g
cuffed behind the back can only lie down on
his breast and that in a form peculiarly in
furious to the action of the lungs and heart.
Unless his cell happens to be purposely pro-
vided with low stool, he cannot, weimagine,
sit down without very great discomfort.
Kneeling is of the few bodily adjustments
possible to him, the one that, perhaps, can
be longest endured, kneeling with one
shoulder leaned against a wall, varied by
walking backwards and forwards, and count
ing the few possible PAGES, and trying to null
tiply them into miles; we dare say that is the
way O'Donovan Rossa lodged mortal disease,
and kept his reason during those thirty
four days. This miserable man was not q
Minister of State, like Poerio, but he was,
so far as the will of one of the greatest of
the Irish shires could so make him, member
of the British Parliament This charge of tor
ture was made. 1t was denied again and
again, but it was true charge; and the peo-
pie of Tipperary marked then sense of its
truth by sending the name of ODonovau
Rosa to the head of the poll at the next
electian. This was turbulent and ungracious
manifestation of opinion, no doubt; but there
was much more excuse for it than we thought
at the time.
That the provocation given by O'Donovan
Rosa was of a very gross character, and that
he was most difficult subject to manage,
need hardly be said. Prison discipline must
be maintained over political offenders as we'll
as over pickpockets. Flog, if necessary; if it
be still more necessary, introduce martial
law into our prisons and shoot. But let what
ever punishment is inflicted on any man,
however guilty or unworthy, who bears the
character of British subject, be punish
ment according to the spirit as we'll as the
letter of English law, and according to the
custom of the courts of the United King
dom. If police magistrate at Bow Street
were to take it upon himself to order a thief
thirty times convicted before him to be hand
cuffed behind the back for thirty DAYS how
long would the Chancellor allow such a magis-
trate to hold seat on the bench Shall it be
tolerated that the governor of gaol is to use
the power that is given to him for purposes
of restraint until the punishment inflicted
becomes by accumulation one of the most
If it be necessary, let us return to severer
penalties; but let such methods of punish
ment, even in regard to our Irish political
prisoners, be inflicted only after an Act of
Parliament has been passed for the purpose
We hanged the governor of an island for en-
ploying torture in the last century. Have we
so degenerated as to allow the governor of a
gaol to use it under Queen Victoria?
Unfortunately this case, though by far the
worst, is not the only case in which charges
brought against the administration of the
prisons were substantiated to the satisfaction
of the commissioners. The Governor at Port
land, Mr.. Clifton, charged O'Donovan Rossa,
on the ground of an intercepted paper, "with
letter with the wife of another prisoner.
The paper in question was addressed to
Mrs. Mary Moore, for Mrs. OD., and was
evidently intended foH % Donovan Rossa's own
wife. The Governor, however, chose to
regard the insertion of the words "for
Mrs. O'D." as "a subterfHge," aud took
occasion to inform the prisoner
Moore of the relations which he believed ex-
listed between ODonovan Rosa and Mrs.
Moore The commissioners having gone
into the case carefully at ODonovan Rossa 8
request, hold him 'clear from the imputation
of any endeavor to carry on love intrigue, "
and regret that the Governor acted under
''misapprehension." They find, moreover,
that the Governor neglected, until he was
brought before them after an interval of four
years, to compare the letter incriminated by
him with Mrs. ODonovan Rosss's letter to
which it was a reply. Had he done so, they
add, ''such a comparison could not have
failed to prevent him from harbor-
ing such suspicion, or commu-
nicating it to others" ID is well for
MIR. Clifton that he does not form such sus-
picions, and communicate them to others
outside the wallis of his gaol. We're he to do
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