The Government, mindful, perhaps, of Dr. Hessers nation- ality, has
expressed its regret for his detention and has paid his passage to Brazil, while the public is subscribing liberally to a compensation fund. Dr. Hessel himself has furnished an account of his captivity to the Daily News, in which he states that after his remand he was taken to Clerkenwell Prison, stripped, and examined by the surgeon, ordered to go into a hot bath, and compelled to eat without either knife or fork. At night all his clothes, even his pocket-handkerchief and his towel, were taken away, and he was left to sleep bare in a bed with three blankets, but no sheets, and Was waked once an hour by a warder, who asked if all was right. His wife was only allowed to see him for ten minutes each day, and then outside the grating, though he might see his solicitor in the consultation-room. He was obliged to scrub the floor on his knees, to wash the table and chair, and to sweep down the wane, while he was ordered when the Governor came to stand at attention. In gratitude for some attention about books, he offered to shake hands with the chaplain, who, however, drew back, saying he "never shook hands with prisoners." Dr. Hemel suffered no worse than our own countrymen suffer, but the whole system is monstrously unjust. An untried prisoner should be treated like a prisoner for debt,—in strict custody, but otherwise unpunishable.
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