Page 379 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

It’s just because no man can trust his neighbour that every
mutiny falls to the ground.’
‘I suppose it must be so,’ said poor Meekin.
‘It is so; and, by George, sir, if I had my way, I’d have it so
that no prisoner should say a word to his right hand man,
but his left hand man should tell me of it. I’d promote the
men that peached, and make the beggars their own ward-
ers. Ha, ha!’
‘But such a course, Captain Frere, though perhaps use-
ful in a certain way, would surely produce harm. It would
excite the worst passions of our fallen nature, and lead to
endless lying and tyranny. I’m sure it would.’
‘Wait a bit,’ cries Frere. ‘Perhaps one of these days I’ll get
a chance, and then I’ll try it. Convicts! By the Lord Harry,
sir, there’s only one way to treat ‘em; give ‘em tobacco when
they behave ‘emselves, and flog ‘em when they don’t.’
‘Terrible!’ says the clergyman with a shudder. ‘You speak
of them as if they were wild beasts.’
‘So they are,’ said Maurice Frere, calmly.

For the Term of His Natural Life