Imagine therefore my astonishment when contrary to all expectation, he began.
"My Lord and Gentlemen,
"I am in your power, and well aware that nothing can avert my impending doom, I scorn the tortures of the rack and bid defiance to every human effort, to force me to a confession of my crimes: You might tear my limbs asunder, and kill me by inches, and yet would never extort a single word from my lips, if I had no other reasons to deal candidly with you. However I will spare you that trouble, and honestly confess my crimes, their origin, and their progress; being strongly persuaded that the history of my life will afford a useful lesson to judges, and teach the guardians of the people to be careful how they inflict punishments if they will not make a complete rogue of many a hapless wretch, who would have been recalled to his duty, and preserved to the human society, by gentle"treatment
