Prostitution in London, with a comparative view of that of Paris and New York ... with an account of the nature and treatment of the various diseases, caused by the abuses of the reproductive function / By Michael Ryan.
- Michael Ryan
- Date:
- 1839
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Prostitution in London, with a comparative view of that of Paris and New York ... with an account of the nature and treatment of the various diseases, caused by the abuses of the reproductive function / By Michael Ryan. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![men was one of despair; their passions, severed from their usual objects, centred in one intense thirst for liberty, to be gained at whatever cost. Their faces were like those of demons. If a comrade was suspected of betraying their practices, he could no longer, with safety, sleep amongst them, but was separated to secure life. “ In 1834, a conspiracy was formed by the prisoners to destroy the military and seize the island. They were de- feated, and thirty-one of their number condemned to death. In 1835, I sailed to the island to prepare such of them as might be Catholic to meet their end. My unexpected ap- pearance, late on the night of my arriva], came on them like a vision. I found them crowded in three cells, so small as barely to allow their lying down together—their upper garments thrown off for a little coolness. They had for six months been looking for their fate. I had to an- nounce life to all but thirteen—to these, death. A few words of preparation, and then their fate. Those who were to live, wept bitterly; whilst those doomed to die, without exception, dropped on their knees, and, with dry eyes, thanked God they were to be delivered from so horrid a place. Who can describe our emotions? I found only three of the condemned to be Catholic—four others wished me to take them also to my care. During the five days permitted for preparation, they manifested extraor- dinary fervour of repentance. ‘The morning come, they received on their knees the sentence as the will of God. Loosened from their chains, they fell down in the dust, and, in the warmth of their gratitude, kissed the very feet that had brought them peace. Their death moved many of their comrades. On the two successive days of execu- tion and burial, I preached, from the graves of the dead, to their former associates. During the week still allowed before the departure of the ship, twenty conversions fol- lowed, and one hundred and fifty general confessions, I](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33028333_0066.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
