THINGS got so bad that Parliament ordered a Committee to inquire into it, and they began their sitting in Feb. 25, 1729. But, previously, the prisoners had petitioned the Lord Chief Justice and other justices without effect, and those petitions with Huggins' (who was the Warden) replies were published in a folio pamphlet, which contains much information.[110] The first petition was in 1723, and it was mainly addressed to the extortions of the Master, the sixth Article alledging that the fees exacted by the Warden were in excess of those settled by Law, Nov. 14, 1693—instanced as follows:

Warden. Legal.
For liberty of the House and Irons at first coming in £2 4 4 1 6 8
Chaplain 0 2 0
Entering every Name and Cause 0 0 4
Porter's fee 0 1 0 0 1 0
Chamberlain's Fee 0 3 0 0 1 0
The Dismission Fee for every Action 0 12 6 0 7 4
Turnkey's Dismission 0 2 6
————————
£3 5 4 £1 16 4
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The eleventh prayer of this Petition was, "And lastly, that for the better suppressing Prophaneness and Immorality among us, and that the Misery of Imprisonment may in some measure be alleviated by the Observance of good Manners, Cleanliness, and Quietude, we humbly pray your Lordships would enable us to regulate our selves in such Manner as the Prisoners in the King's Bench are empowered to do by a Rule of that Court, 20 die post festim Sanctæ Trinitatis. 11 Anne."

Huggins replied to all the petition, but his answer to No. 6 was "The Warden saith, That so soon as the Fees were settled by this Honourable Court, he caused a Copy thereof to be framed and hung up in the Common Hall of the House, signed by Sir George Cook; also a Copy of the Rules and Orders of the House, which said copies the Prisoners were pleased to burn, tear to Pieces, and obliterate; and the Warden denies that he has taken or receiv'd, or any for him, to his knowledge, more, or greater, Fees than were contained in the said Copy of Fees hung up in the said Prison."

And as to the Eleventh prayer of the Petitioners "The Warden saith, that the Prisoners in general, are so very ungovernable, that they have tore up the Trees around the Bowling Green, and cut down several of the Trees in the back part of the Prison, set by the Warden some years since, for the better Accommodation of the Prisoners; also broke down the Stocks in the said Prison, and the Houses of Easement were fitted up lately by the Warden, they have torn it almost to Pieces, and committed other Outrages, and most of them, altho' two Years in Arrears of Rent to the Warden, refuse to pay him any Part thereof, and will by Force, and in defiance of the Warden and his Officers, keep in Possession of the Rooms and Furnitures, Swearing to stand by each other."

Petition after petition was sent from the Prisoners to the Lord Chief Justice about the oppressions of Huggins and his myrmidons, and duly answered in some shape by the Warden, but there was one, in which the fourteenth Charge is as follows. "That the Warden, on the Death of any Prisoner detains the Body from his Friends and Relations untill they will pay him, what Chamber Rent was due from the Deceased; and in the mean Time his cruel and unchristian like Practice, is to make the best Bargain he can with the poor Family of the Deceased, for the Purchase of the Dead Body, in order to give it Christian Burial, at their own Expence, by which means he often extorts large Sums of Money, for granting the Relations the Liberty of taking away and burying the Dead Body; which tho' a very natural and reasonable Desire, is nevertheless often frustrated by their Inability to purchase it at his Price, and, rather than accept what may be in their Power to give him, he often suffers the Dead Body to lye above Ground seven or eight Days, and often Times eleven or twelve Days, to the great endangering of the Health of the whole Prison, by the nauseous Stench, which being often times the Case, is very offensive all over the House; and when he has refused what he thought not worth his Acceptance, he buries them in the common Burying place for Prisoners, when the Body is often taken up by their Friends to be bury'd their own Way, and the Warden seizes to his own Use the Cloaths, Furniture, and what ever else there is for Fees and Chamber Rent, which he pretends to be due from the said deceased Prisoner."

Huggins' reply to this was diabolically insolent. "For Answer thereto, My Lords, the Deputy Warden saith, That scarcely a Prisoner hath died on the Masters-Side, that was not largely indebted to him; and therefore, possibly, he might have used endeavours to get what part of the Money was due to him, as he could fairly from the Deceased's Relations."

But the Cup of his iniquities was rapidly filling. He made one Thomas Bambridge "A Newgate Sollicitor, and a Person of abandon'd Credit" (as the petition in the case of Mr. Mackphreadris describes him) his deputy warden, and then, things came to a climax. As we have seen, Parliament took cognizance of the scandal, and issued a Commission to inquire into the matter, and their first sitting was on Feb. 25, 1729. Their report was presented to Parliament on March 20th of the same year—so that no time was lost in looking into the evils complained of.

It recites that Huggins by a gift of £5,000 to Lord Clarendon "did by his interest, obtain a grant of the said office (i.e., Warden of the Fleet) for his own and his son's life.