"
I have often said, "Why complain? You knew the consequence of
detection." "Yes," would be the reply; "but look at the case of Tom ----
and Bill ----. Not that I am sorry they have got off; but is it not a
shame to give me a _lifer_, and they only a month each?" Such answers
are always given when any attempt is made to reconcile them to their
fate. They carry this feeling with them to the hulks, where they amuse
each other with all the tales of hardship within their knowledge;
meditating revenge, by which they mean becoming more desperate in crime,
and making reprisals on the public, when they shall be again at large.
They become imbued with a notion the judge has more to answer for than
themselves. Opinions of this nature are very common among them, and
prevent the discipline to which they are submitted having its proper
effect. Minds in the state of theirs seize on any supposed injury to
brood over and stifle their own reproaches. Of this _dernier ressort_
they would be deprived, if equal sentences were passed on all for like
offences. They are now all ill-used men, by comparison with others who
have been more fortunate.
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