CHAPTER THREE CURIOUS ANECDOTES RELATING TO THE HISTORY OF NEWGATE.
There resided in the castle at the same time with Mr. Wild oneRoger Johnson, a very GREAT MAN, who had long been at the head ofall the prigs in Newgate, and had raised contributions on them. Heexamined into the nature of their defence, procured and instructedtheir evidence, and made himself, at least in their opinion, sonecessary to them, that the whole fate of Newgate seemed entirelyto depend upon him.
Wild had not been long in confinement before he began to opposethis man. He represented him to the prigs as a fellow who, underthe plausible pretence of assisting their causes, was in realityundermining THE LIBERTIES OF NEWGATE. He at first threw outcertain sly hints and insinuations; but, having by degrees formeda party against Roger, he one day assembled them together, andspoke to them in the following florid manner:
"Friends and fellow-citizens,--The cause which I am to mention toyou this day is of such mighty importance, that when I consider myown small abilities, I tremble with an apprehension lest yoursafety may be rendered precarious by the weakness of him who hathundertaken to represent to you your danger. Gentlemen, the libertyof Newgate is at stake; your privileges have been long undermined,and are now openly violated by one man; by one who hath engrossedto himself the whole conduct of your trials, under colour of whichhe exacts what contributions on you he pleases; but are those sumsappropriated to the uses for which they are raised? Your frequentconvictions at the Old Bailey, those depredations of justice, musttoo sensibly and sorely demonstrate the contrary. What evidencedoth he ever produce for the prisoner which the prisoner himselfcould not have provided, and often better instructed? How manynoble youths have there been lost when a single alibi would havesaved them! Should I be silent, nay, could your own injuries wanta tongue to remonstrate, the very breath which by his neglect hathbeen stopped at the cheat would cry out loudly against him. Nor isthe exorbitancy of his plunders visible only in the dreadfulconsequences it hath produced to the prigs, nor glares it only inthe miseries brought on them: it blazes forth in the moredesirable effects it hath wrought for himself, in the richperquisites acquired by it: witness that silk nightgown, that robeof shame, which, to his eternal dishonour, he publicly wears; thatgown which I will not scruple to call the winding-sheet of theliberties of Newgate. Is there a prig who hath the interest andhonour of Newgate so little at heart that he can refrain fromblushing when he beholds that trophy, purchased with the breath ofso many prigs? Nor is this all. His waistcoat embroidered withsilk, and his velvet cap, bought with the same price, are ensignsof the same disgrace. Some would think the rags which covered hisnakedness when first he was committed hither well exchanged forthese gaudy trappings; but in my eye no exchange can be profitablewhen dishonour is the condition. If, therefore, Newgate--" Here theonly copy which we could procure of this speech breaks offabruptly; however, we can assure the reader, from very authenticinformation, that he concluded with advising the prigs to puttheir affairs into other hands. After which, one of his party, ashad been before concerted, in a very long speech recommended him(Wild himself) to their choice.