what the wretch chose to term the insults offered to him by his master, in the way of reproof. The secondary one, which probably determined him as to the time, was the hope of plunder. The sensation caused by the atrocious deed, will not easily be forgotten by those who, with the author, were only a few hours before dining with the deceased, and being waited upon by his murderer. It is not necessary to recall the circumstances which accompanied the horrid deed. Too often is the imagination injured, and the mind sickened, by similar recitals of human depravity.
The prison is spacious, and will contain from 3 to 400 criminals. In the summer of 1827, above that number were, for some time, in confinement. The prisoners sleep on dirty pallets, and many of the cells are in a filthy state; but as the rooms are tolerably well ventilated, they are on the whole healthy, and jail fever is unknown. The severest tortures have been here inflicted upon innocent persons, in order to induce confession; but I have been assured the practice was discontinued long before the revolution.
The processes in the criminal courts against offenders, are so long, and involved in such a multitude of forms and writings, as to render it impossible to do justice either to the prisoner or the public. Bad as was the state of things in
